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Questions 1-10

1. The WTS claims it uses the Bible as its "supreme authority". Where in the

Bible does anyone count their time in preaching on a slip of paper and are

assigned record cards of activity, determining this as a "gauge to their

spirituality"? Where in the Bible are Pioneers, Auxiliary Pioneers,

Bethelites, and Kingdom Halls? Where in the Bible does it say that anyoneborn after 1935 can not go to heaven, that Christians are required to attend

five meetings a week, that men are prohibited from wearing beards, and that

after a prophecy fails, if the prophet admits he made a mistake, he is no

longer a false prophet (see Deut 18:20-22)? Where does the Bible say that a

person must belong to an organization that will start in the late 19th century

and be headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, in order to survive Armageddon? 

Considering that all  Christian denominations today practice things thatwould have been foreign to the 1st Century Christians, this is more aquestion of nit-picking and fault-finding in the way Jehovah's Witnessesoperate on an organizational  level than a search for truth or whether wecarry out matters in a Bible-based manner. For example, 1st CenturyChristians didn't even possess personal copies of the Scriptures, which atthat time were contained in dozens of unwieldy individual scrolls andletters that were copied and circulated among the congregations. Also,the early Christians met in private homes and in public places. There wereno churches, no cathedrals, and no kingdom halls. As proof of that,consider Paul's greeting at Colossians 4:15 to a woman named "Nymphaand to the congregation at her house." Incidentally, besides meeting at

our kingdom halls, Jehovah's Witnesses also regularly meet in smallgroups in private homes—like the early Christians.

As for the organizational structure of the early Christian church, atEphesians 4:11 Paul wrote that God provided the congregations withvarious gifts in the form of men; "some as apostles, some as prophets,some as evangelizers, some as shepherds and teachers." While allChristians are called upon to make a public declaration of their faith, someearly Christians were outstanding preachers. Phillip, for example, wascalled "the evangelizer."  The so-called pioneers among Jehovah'sWitnesses are also referred to as full-time evangelizers  because they

spend a significant amount of time in their ministry.

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Circuit overseers and district overseers today are following the pattern ofthe apostle Paul and Barnabas, in that the apostle and his companionstraveled in a circuit, visiting and revisiting brothers and congregations andwriting letters of encouragement and instruction. For that matter, Mark 6:6reports that Jesus also "went round about to the villages in a circuit,

teaching." One function of our modern CO (Circuit Overseer) is when hemakes his semi-annual visit to each congregation; he not only teaches,but discusses the spiritual qualifications of any prospective elders inconsideration of appointing them to an office. At Titus 1:5, Paul instructedTitus to do that very thing on the Island of Crete. It reads: "For thisreason I left you in Crete, that you might correct the things that weredefective and might make appointments of older men in city aftercity, as I gave you orders." Jehovah's Witnesses have in many respects copied the model andmethods of the original Christians. The actual organizationally-assignednames of various positions of responsibility may not be found in the recordpreserved in the Greek Scriptures, but the positions of responsibility can  be found therein. The naming is merely a convention, exercised by all  denominations. Concerning the recording of time spent in the ministry and there beingkept a "card of activity," while there isn't an actual incident of this in theBible, neither is there a prohibition of such; simply put: the Bible is silenton the matter, either way. As for men wearing beards; there is no Scriptural justification for dictatingmatters of personal grooming. And the Watchtower does not expresslyforbid men from growing beards. But, there is no question that it is subtlydiscouraged by the Watchtower leadership.

Finally, concerning the false prophet accusation, that question will beaddressed further down. 

2. The WTS teaches that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will not reside with

Christ in his heavenly kingdom. If this is so, then how do you explain Mt

8:11 in which Jesus says, "But I tell you that many from eastern parts and

western parts will come and recline at the table WITH Abraham and Isaac

and Jacob IN the kingdom of the heavens"? 

The "table" of Abraham is a reference to the kingdom of God. That'sbecause the covenant that Jehovah originally made with Abraham is what

ultimately produces the messianic kingdom. For example, Paul addressedboth the Jewish and non-Jewish anointed sons of God as being the actual

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seed of Abraham. Galatians 4:26-29 reads: You are all, in fact, sons ofGod through your faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who werebaptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew norGreek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male norfemale; for you are all one person in union with Christ

Jesus. Moreover, if you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham's seed , heirs with reference to a promise." The promise that Paul was referring to is the promise God made toAbraham concerning his seed becoming a blessing for people of all thenations. In that sense Abraham, while not actually in the kingdom of God,certainly is a fitting symbol for it. How do we know Abraham is not going toactually go to heaven to rule with Christ in his kingdom? Jesus himselfsaid that no one can enter the kingdom unless they have first been bornfrom the water and the spirit. That means that only baptized spirit-anointed Christians are called by God to heaven.

Jesus further revealed that the opportunity to go to heaven did not openup until John the Baptist introduced Christ to the world. Matthew 11:11reads: "Truly I say to you people, among those born of women therehas not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist; but a personthat is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than heis. But from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom ofthe heavens is the goal toward which men press, and those pressingforward are seizing it. For all the Prophets and the Law, prophesieduntil John." If John was the greatest prophet of God, as Jesus said, and yet he islesser than the least one in the kingdom, then that means John is not inthe ruling kingdom. And since, according to Christ, no one before Johnentered the kingdom, then it is evident that neither has Abraham enteredthe kingdom, as many wrongly suppose. Most people have been taughtby Christendom that all "good" persons go to heaven. That is not what theBible teaches. The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the heavens, as itis also called, is a government composed of Jesus and 144,000 chosenfrom his followers. That heavenly kingdom is going to rule over theearth—including the resurrected Abraham.

3. If there is no conscious awareness after death, how could the "spirits in

prison", who lived during "Noah's days", be preached to by Christ after His

death (1 Pet 3:18-20) and how could the good news be "declared also to the

dead" (1 Pet 4:5-6)? If the "spirits in prison" of 1Pet 3:19 refers to demonic

angels, instead of the just people who died before the resurrection of Christ,

then why would Jesus "preach" to demonic angels? 

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According to the most reliable authority on the matter, God's own Word,the Bible informs us that the dead are unconscious. The Bible says inmany places, more numerous to mention, that the dead are in a sleep-likestate of unconsciousness. Here is an online Watchtower article thatexplains the Bible's simple teaching on that topic. Reasoning on the matter: long after Jesus was resurrected as the"firstborn from the dead," Paul, on several occasions, referred to followersof Christ who were at that time still "sleeping in death."  The hope ofmankind is not that we have a deathless soul that endures forever, butthat God has the power and the desire to bring the dead back to life fromtheir inanimate and unconscious condition.

The idea that humans have some sort of immortal soul that survives deathis not a biblical teaching at all but comes straight to us from the ancientmystic religion of Babylon. So, when we come to a verse that seems to

contradict the Bible's clear teaching, what do we do? Untaught readersare prone to take difficult passages in the Scriptures at face value and runwith them. Peter lamented that the untaught twisted all the Scriptures—totheir own destruction. Teachable persons, however, look for ways toresolve the riddles of God's Word.

In the case of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison, we should notsuppose that "preaching" is always synonymous with an appeal torepentance. Preaching can also signify announcing God's judgment ofdoom upon the condemned.

The "spirits in prison" are not the disembodied souls of dead humans asmany apparently assume. They are the disobedient sons of God whomaterialized as men and sexual relations with women before the flood. Asa matter of fact, their act of rebellion was the reason God caused theglobal deluge in the first place. At 2 Peter 2:4-5, the apostle makes it clearthat the imprisoned spirits are the so-called fallen angels. It reads:"Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned , but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits ofdense darkness to be reserved for judgment; and he did not holdback from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of

righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a delugeupon a world of ungodly people." The angels that became the demons are not imprisoned in the sense ofbeing incarcerated—not yet anyway. Jehovah threw "them into pits of dense darkness"  in the sense that he put them out of his family ofenlightened heavenly sons. Jehovah would have no more dealings withthem, and apparently after the Deluge, God confined them by taking awaytheir power to materialize as humans again. Furthermore, the demons arein a state "reserved for judgment,"  in that they are as if on death rowwaiting to be executed.

Even though in Eden God decreed the final judgment that the serpent and

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his vile seed would be crushed out of existence by the messianic seed ofthe woman, it still remained to be seen whether Christ would remainfaithful to God under trial. If the Devil and his desperate demons wouldhave somehow gotten Christ to compromise his integrity while he was onearth, then they would have proven their contention that no creature can

remain true to God under test. The demons were fighting for their verylives. But, when Jesus was faithful to God to the very end, enduring thecruelest death imaginable, his last words were: "It has beenaccomplished." Jesus' faithfulness to God clear to the end proved theDevil was a liar. The death and subsequent resurrection of Christ sealedthe Devil's doom and that of his demons as well.

Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison has to do with his serving noticeon the demons that his victory over death meant that the demons whocaused Jesus' death would themselves be put to death by Christ and hisvictorious 144,000. That's why Paul wrote to his fellow anointed Christians

in the last chapter of Romans, telling them that God "will crush Satanunder your feet shortly." 

The Bible teaches very simply that the dead are unconscious in the grave.However, the Bible sometimes refers to people who do not have arelationship with God as being dead—spiritually  dead that is. Forexample, Jesus once said: "Let the dead bury their dead." Christ said thatto indicate that unless we have a living relationship with him and hisFather we are as good as dead in their eyes, even though we may beliving according to all appearances.

So it is that the other verse in question is referring to people of the world,those whom in the context are described as fleshly-minded, who are deadin God's sight, but who were nevertheless given an opportunity to hearGod's message preached to them.

It is interesting that 2 Peter 3:16 says that there are some things in theBible that are hard to understand, and because of that, the untaught andunsteady twist the Scriptures to their own destruction.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach the truth about the condition of the dead and

the nature of the demons. There is really no excuse for any professedChristians to be ignorant regarding these fundamental Bible teachings.

4. Is it true that the WT's prophecy that Armageddon will come before "the

end of the generation of 1914" is no longer taught as "the Truth"? If so, then

does this mean that this teaching of the WTS, which they have taught as "the

Truth" for decades, was really a false teaching? Since the WTS claims that

they are the "one channel that the Lord is using during the last days of thissystem of things," and that the governing body is "the mouthpiece of 

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Jehovah God", does this mean that God changed His mind about this

teaching and the definition of "generation"? Is it possible that God could

change His mind? Has the WTS ever changed their mind before about a

teaching that they once taught as "the Truth"? The WTS has taught that

Armageddon was going to occur in: (Excerpted for brevity) Since Deut

18:20-22 says that a false prophet is anyone who claims to speak for God andmakes a prophecy that does not come true, doesn't this make the WTS a

modern day false prophet according to scripture? (Excerpted for brevity)

WTS Quotes 

First, the Watchtower did not invent the prophecies of the last days and awar called Armageddon. Those prophecies originated within the mind ofGod many centuries ago and our faith is unfazed that God's words arecertain to eventually come true. Because of our interest in the Bible andits promises of a new world, we have been keenly interested in theoutworking of prophecy, particularly as it relates to the return of Christ.The fact that our heightened kingdom expectations have so far led todisappointment does not of itself discredit our faith. For a certainty ourfailed expectations have been an embarrassment for us and a stumblingblock for many, but in that respect it seems that the Watchtower is guiltyof falling into nearly the same trap as did the apostles.

Please consider the implications of the account found in the last chapter of the book of John, where we read in the NWT: Accordingly, when hecaught sight of him, Peter said to Jesus: "Lord, what will this man

do?" Jesus said to him: "If it is my will for him to remain until I come,of what concern is that to you? You continue following me." Inconsequence, this saying went out among the brothers, that thatdisciple would not die. However, Jesus did not say to him that hewould not die, but: "If it is my will for him to remain until I come, ofwhat concern is that to you?" The man in question was the writer—John. Jesus had just told Peter thesort of death Peter would undergo and Peter wanted to know what wouldbecome of their friend John. Jesus' comment gave the apostles theimpression that John would still be alive when Christ returned.

Consequently, the account says that the word went out from the apostlesamong the brothers, to the effect that John would survive to see the Lord'sreturn.

According to the NIV, the 23rd verse reads: "Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die." What is interesting about this is that John wrote his book about 60 yearsafter Christ said those words. Apparently the rumor was as long-lived asthe aged apostle himself. We might even suppose that toward the end ofhis life, the brothers that still believed the rumor took John's pulse at

frequent intervals to gauge the nearness of Christ's return. The very factthat John, the last-surviving apostle, saw fit to dispel the rumor and set the

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record straight toward the end of his life, indicates that the rumor theapostles started persisted during the entire apostolic period. The question,then: So what?

Well, the apostles were given authority over the entire organization of

believers back then. Their words carried a lot of weight because theypersonally knew Jesus and could recall to the later believers all the thingsthat Jesus said and did. So, when the apostles spoke, the brothers andsisters listened. And when the apostles started a rumor that John wouldsurvive until the coming of Christ, what Christian could doubt theirinterpretation? But, obviously, the apostles were wrong. Theymisunderstood Jesus. And their earnest desire to see the realization ofJesus' promised return inclined them to jump to hasty conclusions. The misunderstanding that arose is not really any different than what hasoccurred among Jehovah's Witnesses with our assumptions concerning

the 1914 generation that would not pass away. The apostle John was  their generation that would not pass away—before he passed away. Andhis finally dispelling the rumor is not that much different than what theWatchtower has done by redefining a generation. Another question we ought to ask is this: Did God judge the apostles asfalse prophets? No, obviously not. So, if we are honest andstraightforward in our reasoning, we will not jump to shallow-mindedconclusions about the Watchtower's past indiscretions and failedexpectations. If anything, our premature expectations fit the pattern of

those who anxiously await the Master's return.

5. If the spirit of a man has no existence apart from the body, why does

Stephen just before his death in Acts 7:59, pray to Jesus to "receive my

spirit"? How could Jesus, who was in heaven, receive Stephen's spirit if a

man's spirit ceases to exist when the body dies and if no one could enter

heaven until the year 1914? Similarly, if the soul ceases to exist after the

death of the body, why does Paul say that he would rather be "absent fromthe body" so he could go make his "home with the Lord" (2Cor 5:8), and

why would he say that he would rather depart from this life so that he could

go be with Christ (Phil 1:23)? How could Paul be "with Christ" and make

his "home with the Lord" if no one could enter heaven until 1914? 

Virtually every religion that has ever existed, from the most primitive to themost sophisticated, adheres to the notion of an immortal soul. However,the Bible simply does not teach such a thing as an immortal soul. It is ironic that Jehovah's Witnesses are frequently labeled as

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"brainwashed," but the truth of the matter is that all of mankind is underthe mind-blinding, malevolent influence of the religious system thatRevelation calls "Babylon the Great." Unless we understand the basictruth of God's Word in this instance, that mankind does not  have animmortal soul, we will be vulnerable to being deluded by the insidious lie

that mankind is somehow immortal.

So, because of being taken in by the original lie that the Devil first peddledin Eden, namely, that "you will not die,"  the person reading select versesis inclined to jump to erroneous conclusions such as these.

Again, Paul made mention of the fact that some of the initial members ofthe congregation, who had been eyewitnesses  of Christ's resurrection,had passed away in death. At 1st Corinthians 15:6, Paul said they had"fallen asleep in death."  That is not a difficult concept to understand.When we sleep at night we are not aware of what takes place around us.

We are in an unconscious state. That is what death is—an unconsciousstate. Paul made this comment in the context of discussing theresurrection of anointed Christians, and he wrote to the Corinthians someyears after Stephen had been martyred; yet at that time Paul was pointingto a future time when the dead would be raised up. So, Stephen was oneof those who were sleeping in death that Paul referred to.

So what did Stephen mean when he asked Jesus to receive his spirit?Well, Jesus made a very similar expression when he expired. At Luke23:46 he said: "Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit ." Was Jesus

expecting to instantaneously go to heaven because he had an immortalsoul? No. Jesus died. He was dead for parts of three days. He entrustedhis spirit to God in the sense that he was trusting God to bring him back tolife. By the way, to expire means to lose one's animating spirit. The spiritis simply the life force that Jehovah infuses into us while we are alive. It isthe spark of life that causes us to breathe the breath of life. If we die ourfuture life's prospects rest with Jehovah; and of course, since hisresurrection, Christ has been appointed by his Father to perform allsubsequent resurrections when the time comes for those to begin.

So, it was appropriate for Stephen to entrust his spirit with Christ the same

as Jesus had entrusted his spirit with Jehovah when he died.

As for Paul making his home with Christ, we should not suppose thatexpression supports the idea of an immortal soul. Paul was simply voicinghis preference for being with Christ in heaven as opposed to living as ahuman on earth. 

6. On page 7 of the booklet Should You Believe in the Trinity?, unreferenced

quotes from Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian,

Hippolytus, and Origen are made. Why are these quotes unreferenced? Also

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on page 7 of this same booklet, the statement is made, "Thus, the testimony

of the Bible and of history makes it clear that the Trinity was unknown

throughout Biblical times and for SEVERAL CENTURIES thereafter."

Based on the quotes below, how can the Watchtower Society make these

claims? (Quotes not appearing) 

As a doctrine, the Trinity did not take its present form until severalhundred years after Christ. The Watchtower is correct in that. While thoseearly theologians began to introduce the idea that Jesus was more thanthe Son of God, the idea of the three-in-one trinity had not beenintroduced into Christian teaching even at that point. They are correct insaying that the Trinity was not taught by those early churchmen.

The Bible is the only real authority in these matters and it certainly doesnot teach that God is part of a triad. The word "trinity" or "triune" does noteven appear in the Bible and neither does the concept espoused byTrinitarians.

7. The Bible says in Zeph 1:18, "...but by the fire of his zeal THE WHOLE

EARTH WILL BE DEVOURED, because he will make an

EXTERMINATION, indeed a terrible one, of ALL the inhabitants of the

earth." If the WT's teaching that the present earth will never be destroyed

or depopulated is correct, then why does the Bible say that the "wholeearth" will be "devoured", and "all" the inhabitants of the earth will be

exterminated? What do the words "devoured" and "all" mean to you? How

can a great crowd of people continue to live on forever in paradise on earth

after Armageddon if "ALL the inhabitants of the earth" will be

exterminated? 

The questioner may not be aware of the fact that the Bible also says thatthe earth will endure forever, and instead of literally destroying it,Revelation 11:18 says that God is going "to bring to ruin those ruiningthe earth." So, how do sincere Bible students resolve this seemingcontradiction? Either the earth is going to be destroyed or it is not. It can'tbe both  ways. And it is not merely a matter of ignoring one set ofscriptures and embracing our preference. We must actually solve aseeming paradox if you want to know God's truth. One way we may dothat is by analyzing the import of a prophecy instead of merely seizingupon select words to prop up a pet doctrine.

So, if we were to actually read and reason upon the prophecy ofZephaniah we ought to come to appreciate that, like all the Hebrew

prophets, the book of Zephaniah applied initially to the Jews andsurrounding nations of that time. Through Zephaniah, Jehovah

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pronounced judgment on Judah, Philistia, Ammon, Moab, Ethiopia, andAssyria. Jehovah's decree was that the entire region should be crushedunder the Babylonian juggernaut. That's how the prophecy was fulfilled inancient times. Obviously, though, the Chaldeans did not destroy planetearth or exterminate every soul. But they did ruthlessly subjugate a very

large portion of the world at that time. So, in that way the whole earth wasdevoured by Nebuchadnezzar's rapacious horde, as Zephaniah foretold.

But, Jehovah's judgments also apply on a much larger scale to literallyencompass the entire world, which is why the prophets used suchexpansive, seemingly exaggerated, language to begin with. Ultimately thewhole earth being devoured is an indication of the totality  of God's  judgment in his utterly destroying every vestige of the present globalcivilization.

But, as for the simplistic notion that God is literally going to destroy this

beautiful globe and completely eradicate mankind that is made in theimage of God, that is not  what the Bible teaches. In fact, throughZephaniah, Jehovah holds out hope for survival when the present systemis destroyed. Zephaniah 2:2 reads: "Before there comes upon youpeople the burning anger of Jehovah, before there comes upon youthe day of Jehovah's anger, seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of theearth, who have practiced his own judicial decision. Seekrighteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed inthe day of Jehovah's anger."

If the meek ones are concealed in the day of Jehovah's wrath, it isapparent that the foretold extermination is not total. Zephaniah's prophecyoffers salvation to the meek ones of the earth and is in harmony withJesus, who also held out the promise that the meek will inherit the earthafter the expression of Jehovah's anger destroys the present wickedcivilization that occupies the planet.

8. If the dead will be resurrected during the millennial reign of Christ and

  judged according to their deeds during that time, why does the Bibleexplicitly say in Rev 20:4-5 that the "(The rest of the dead did not come to

life UNTIL the thousand years were ENDED)"? How could they be judged

according to their deeds during the 1,000 year reign of Christ, if they will not

come to life until after this period is over? Why does the NWT have

parentheses around this verse? Similarly, if the dead will be resurrected

during the millennial reign of Christ and judged according to their deeds

during that time, why does the Bible say that the dead will come out of their

tombs and "those who DID (past tense) good things to a resurrection of life,

those who PRACTICED (past tense) vile things to a resurrection of 

  judgment" (Jn 5:28-29), and why does the Bible say that men are "to die

once" and "after this (i.e. death) a judgment" (Heb 9:27)? 

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 Our questioner lacks a basic sense of biblical language. To underscorethis type of spiritual illiteracy, consider Jesus' simple comment to "let the dead bury their dead." If we merely, unreasoningly, read words on a pageand accept them at face value, Jesus' words might conjure up in our

minds macabre images of grave-digging zombies. However, if we actuallyuse our power of reason to discern what Jesus was trying to tell us, itbecomes apparent that Jesus was referring to living persons as beingspiritually dead unless they came to life by becoming his followers.

Paul referred to persons being dead in their sins and trespasses. Thatmeans that a person, even though living momentarily, remains under thecondemnation of death. So, when Revelation says, parenthetically, that"the   rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended,"  it is really contrasting two sorts of resurrections. That's why theverse goes on to say: "This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy isanyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the seconddeath has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of theChrist, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years." The first resurrection pertains to those who receive a heavenlyresurrection and who serve with Christ as kings for the thousand years.Elsewhere, the Bible indicates that these 144,000 receive immortality.That's why the second death has no authority over them, because theycannot be destroyed by any means.

So what does it mean that the rest of the dead did not come to life untilafter  the thousand years? Let the reader take note of the fact that theverse does not say that they are resurrected at the end of the thousandyears, but merely that they do not come to life until such time. Is there adifference? Yes, there is a big difference. The Bible teaches us that all ofmankind is under God's condemnation of death because of Adam's sin,which we inherited. In God's eyes we are dead. We have no right toendless life. Even the masses of mankind that will be resurrected byChrist during the 1,000 years will still be dead, in that they will notinstantaneously become sin-free. Their ultimately coming to life, then,means that the condemnation is lifted so that mankind is not subject to the

sin of Adam any longer.

According to Paul's writing in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, Jesus isto rule mankind and destroy every enemy of God and man and the "last enemy, death,"  will also be brought to nothing. That means that by theconclusion of Jesus' 1,000-year rule, after the dead have beenresurrected during the 1,000 years, that mankind will, by the end of themillennial reign of Christ, be uplifted out of our present dying state. In thatsense all humans living then will have fully "come to life"— the life theAdam and Eve originally possessed.

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 9. (Quote from forward of Kingdom Interlinear Translation deleted for

brevity) The NWT translates Jn 14:14 as, "If you ask anything in my name, I will do

it." If the NWT is the most accurate word for word translation of the Bible,

why does it completely omit the word "me" after the phrase "If you ask",

even though the word "me" is in the original Greek. See Kingdom

Interlinear Translation (KIT). If the NWT correctly translated Jn 14:14

from the original Greek and included the word "me" after "ask" in this

verse, how would this verse read? How could a person "ask" Jesus for

something without praying to him? How can the NWT be "rendering the

truth of his inspired Word as purely" as possible, and how can it be "as

literal a translation as possible" when the "translators" knowingly omit this

word ("me") so that this verse does not contradict the teachings of the WTS? 

First, there is no such thing as a "word-for-word translation." No moderntranslation is a word-for-word translation. Furthermore, the Watchtowerhas never claimed that the NWT itself is a word-for-word translation. Theclosest thing to a word-for-word translation is what is called atransliteration . Here is a link to an online Interlinear and transliteration.

Translating concepts from an ancient language to a modern languagerequires more than merely a 'this-word-means-this, that-word-means-that'approach.

As for the verse in question, the questioner only partially quoted the verse,isolated from its context. John 14:13-14 reads: "Also, whatever it is thatyou ask in my name, I will do this, in order that the Father may beglorified in connection with the Son. If you ask anything in my name,I will do it."

According to the literal translation in the Interlinear, the 14th verse reads:"If ever anything you should ask me  in the name of me  this I shalldo." Common sense tells us that a literal word-for-word rendering is veryawkward. Of course, a biased Trinitarian would have us believe that theverse must be so translated so as to appear to prop up the unscripturalteaching that Jesus was God. However, the context indicates otherwise.

The NIV renders this verse somewhat clumsily, saying: "You may askme for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Obviously, if the apostles understood Jesus to be saying that they shouldpray directly to him, as if he were actually God, then it would seemredundant for Jesus to tell them to pray to him in his name . Instead, thecontext makes it plain that Jesus was taking on the role of an intercessor

and facilitator between his disciples and Jehovah. Christ was, in reality,introducing himself as the mediator in relation to their common God and

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Father.

Other translations render the verse similar to the NWT. For example, theNLT renders it: "Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!" The CEV renders the verse as: "I will do whatever you ask me to do." Young's Literal Translation words it thusly: "If ye ask anything in myname I will do it." 

10. If the present earth will never be destroyed or depopulated, why does

Zeph 1:2-3 say, "I shall without fail finish everything off the surface of the

ground,' is the utterance of Jehovah. 'I shall finish off earthling man andbeast... and I will cut off mankind from the surface of the ground, is the

utterance of Jehovah"? The Hebrew word translated here as "finish off" in

the NWT is "cuwph" (Strong's # 05486) which means "to cease; to come to

an end", according to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary. How can this be if the

WTS is correct and faithful Witnesses will survive Armageddon and live

forever in paradise on the present earth? In addition, Isa 65:17 says, "For

here I am CREATING new heavens and a NEW earth, and the former

things will not be called to mind..." If the present earth will never be

destroyed, why will God be "creating" a "new" earth? (Rest of question

deleted for brevity) 

Again, we must point out that the questioner is simply illiterate in thespiritual dialect of the Scriptures. In further answer to this line ofquestioning, we refer the reader to Genesis 11:1, which reads: "Now allthe earth continued to be of one language and of one set of words."

We now pose the question to those who read the Scriptures at face value:What language does the earth speak? Is the above verse saying that ourterra firma speaks in "tongues," or something of that nature?

Or, would it be more reasonable to conclude that the word "earth," as it isused in the Bible, does not always  mean the literal planetary sphere?Obviously, Genesis 11:1 is referring to the world of mankind as being "all the earth." The prophets also used "earth" in a figurative way. If we readthe context in Isaiah it becomes apparent that God created a new heavenand earth by re-establishing the nation of Israel. Peter used the sameexpressions "new heavens and new earth" to symbolize the change thatwill take place under God's administration; when the "old" demonic"heavens," and their associative governing institutions ruling over mankindare replaced by God's heavenly kingdom government. The old earth is the

present wicked civilization, which will be replaced by a new world societycomposed entirely of those dedicated to Jehovah. Such a radical

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makeover from the present system is best described as being a newheaven and earth.

Furthermore, while Zephaniah says that Jehovah will "finish off" man andbeast, at Genesis 8:21b God said to Noah, after the Deluge: "And never 

again shall I deal every  living thing a blow just as I have done." Inview of the seeming contradiction of these two statements, it becomesapparent that the prophecy of Zephaniah is not to be taken literally; as itwas originally speaking to the completeness of God's judgments againstthe nations that fell under his condemnation in the 5th Century B.C.E.