Bud asked:

I realize that Jehovah's Witnesses say they are Christians. I have always been of the understanding
that Christianity is a belief in Christ as God (as in the Trinity). Can you explain to me how Jehovah's
Witnesses can state they are Christian when they say that Christ is not God?

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I have a copy of a book published by the Jehovah's Witnesses titled Reasoning from the Scriptures.It
is given to members of the field ministry, the ones who come knocking on your door, it is like an A-Z
of their beliefs, with sections for objections that could be raised to these beliefs and set responses to
them. My favorite section is titled: 'How to respond to potential conversation stoppers.' I'm not sure if
non-members are allowed to have a copy of this book, so don't tell anyone, Here is what the book
says about JC:

They believe, not that Jesus Christ is part of a Trinity, but that, as the bible says, he is the Son of
God, the first of God's creations; that he had a prehuman existence and that his life was transferred
from heaven to the womb of a virgin, Mary; that his perfect human life laid down in the sacrifice
makes possible salvation to eternal life for those who exercise faith; that Christ is actively ruling as
King, with God-given authority over all the earth since 1914

Witnesses worship Jehovah as God; Jesus for them is the Son of God, the one who showed us how
to worship God properly. They don't believe in the Trinity because it is not a bible teaching, (there is
no direct scriptural support for the doctrine), but is rather a attempt to think about God rationally, in
philosophical terms, which produced a theological dispute in the early church; the Arian controversy,
which lead to the councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). It was with Augustine however
that idea of trinity was clearly formulated.

Even if you don't agree with their beliefs, the (literal) interpretation of scripture by Jehovah's
Witnesses, and perhaps particularity this issues of the trinity present us with a wider and
philosophically interesting problem, namely the nature of the relation between the two great heritages
of the west: Athens and Jerusalem, Greek and Jewish thinking. Can the ideas on one be translated
into the other or does the doctrine of the trinity show that trying to understand God in philosophical/
metaphysical terms of form and substance, hypostasesand ousiafor example over the ethical
relationship to God, the covenant of Jewish belief show that there is a fundamental divergence, a
schizophrenia in the western mentality?

Brian Tee

Hi. I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. That's true that we do not believe that Christ is not God but
rather that they are separate people. Jesus Christ is the son of God and if you read the Bible you will
see that Jesus never once proclaimed that he was God but rather God's son. who then is God? I
don't know what religion you are but the Bible says that God's name is Jehovah. Some Bibles have
removed this name for various reasons. If you have anymore questions you can ask any Jehovah's
Witness, they will be happy to talk with you.

Natalie Kate