Matt Slick of The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) asks that very question (Is the Jehovah's Witnesses religion Christian?) and conveniently supplies the reader with the answer. Here is a quote taken from the no defunct CARM website: "The answer to the question is, 'No. It is...
e-watchman.com
August 29th, 2010
Matt Slick of The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) asks that very question (Is the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion Christian?) and conveniently supplies the reader with the answer. Here is a quote taken from the no defunct CARM website:
“The answer to the question is, ‘No. It is not Christian.’ Like all non-Christian cults, the Jehovah’s Witness organization distorts the essential doctrines of Christianity.”
What “essential doctrines of Christianity” have Jehovah’s Witnesses distorted? The next sentence enumerates three:
“It denies the deity of Christ, His physical resurrection, and salvation by grace. This alone makes it non-Christian.”
So, according to CARM’s criteria for determining what constitutes true Christianity, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ teachings are not Christian because they deny the deity of Christ; the nature of Christ’s resurrection and “salvation by grace.”
Briefly, let us examine each point.
Accusing Jehovah’s Witnesses of denying the deity of Christ is akin to saying that Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that Jesus was an alien being from Mars, which is, of course, true: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that Jesus was a Martian. But Jehovah’s Witnesses do not deny that Jesus is the Son of God. The reason we are accused of denying the so-called “deity of Christ” is because Jesus never personally claimed to be God; so why should anyone else make that claim? It is simply not a Bible doctrine. It is a human doctrine.
But even so, it is not strictly true that Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the deity of Christ. The Scriptures make it plain that Jesus is the exact representation of Jehovah and while he was a spirit in heaven Jesus was himself a god. In other words, he possesses divine nature. However, according to what Paul stated in Philippians Jesus emptied himself of his divinity when he became flesh. So, it is proper to refer to the deity of Christ as it relates to his heavenly existence; however, when Jesus was on earth he was a mere man, albeit a perfect man.
Consider, too, that in the four gospel accounts Christ never once said that he was God—not so much as once! He certainly had many opportunities to do so, and no doubt he would have plainly stated that he was God if it were true. Jesus wanted people to know the truth about himself and his unique relationship with God. That is why he frequently declared that he was the
Son of God—and a worshipper of Jehovah God. A man whose sinless life corresponded to the value of the first perfect man – Adam. That is why Paul referred to Jesus as “the second man.”
Given the facts, thinking persons would do well to consider why it is, then, that trinitarians have made Jesus’ supposed godship one of the “essential doctrines of Christianity.”
Of course, in the minds of those who are steeped in trinitarian dogma, the father and son and holy ghost are all the same person,
only different persons. As nonsensical as that is, that is exactly how the Trinity is “explained.” Here is how CARM explains it:
“The Father is not the same person as the Son who is not the same person as the Holy Spirit who is not the same person as the Father. Each is divine, yet there are not three gods, but one God. There are three persons individual subsistences, or persons.”
Although ardent believers insist that each person of the Trinity is his own individual, still, there is only one god, not three gods in one. How can three separate persons be the same entity? No one knows. Like all Trinitarians, CARM also admits that the Trinity is an unknowable “mystery.” (An incomprehensible
mythology would be more accurate.)
The fact that Jesus repeatedly declared himself to be God’s son means nothing to a person who has been mentally conditioned to believe that Jesus is God. The doctrine of the Trinity is like a house of mirrors. Nothing is as it seems. For instance, Trinity believers apparently believe that fathers beget themselves as sons and sons beget their own fathers, too. Except in the mythological world of the Trinity, the Father did not beget the son at all. The son has always existed just as his father has always existed. Apparently, though, for some strange reason the trinitarian god likes to pretend that there is some sort of father-son relationship between his multiple personalities. Just why the godhead explains his existence in terms of his being a father and son to himself is anyone’s guess. No wonder believers declare their own mystification over the Trinity doctrine.
In reality the Bible says absolutely nothing about some mysterious triplets making up a single god. Certainly the apostles and first century Christians made no mention whatsoever of any sort of divine trio comprising a single godhead. The truth is that neither the word trinity nor the concept of three persons rolled into one God is found in the Bible. Yet, somehow, it is considered one of the essential doctrines by Trinitarians.
But if it is not biblical, just where did the mystery trinity concept come from anyway?
The worship of three divine personages predates Christianity by thousands of years. Evidently the Babylonians first conceived of a triad of gods. Later the Egyptians worshipped the triad of Osiris, Isis and Horus. During the time of Christ, the Romans idolized Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. (See
The Two Babylons—originally published in 1853)
How then did a pagan form of worship become the central teaching of Christendom? It is well known that after the apostles died off, Christianity became increasingly corrupt. As a result of an apostasy from Jehovah and under the influence of the demons, Jesus was gradually elevated from being the Son of God to God the son.
Finally, in 325, the Roman Emperor Constantine hosted a conference of bishops in
Nicaea, where it was decided that Jesus was God. Amazingly, over the course of a few hundred years the Roman emperors went from feeding Christians to the lions to playing a major role in determining Christian doctrine! Although it would take several more centuries for the truth to be entirely snuffed out, eventually the trinity was institutionalized as the central teaching of Christendom.