Jehovah's Witnesses: Is Jesus a true God, or a false God?

First I would like to respond to Keiichi's answer regarding the Son being an exact image of God. Do JWs of the Org realize that we can make a mirrored image of software and that software is no different than the original? I can legally clone my hard drive into another hard drive, and this mirrored image is the exact same copy as the original, even the license key for the Windows Operating System is exactly the same the Microsoft can't tell the difference.

There are scam artists who sell bootlegging software on the internet, but who can tell the difference when exploring the software inside that CD that was carefully copied from the original CD? The external appearance of the CD may be slightly different, but the software image that is inside is exactly the same as the original CD! Jesus being the exact image may have a slightly different outer appearance since He is a different person, but inside He is the exact mirrored image as God!

Now another answerer said Jesus is "neither" the True God nor a false god. The Bible specifically mentioned there is only one True God, and there are no other gods in the Bible that were mentioned as true gods. Take a look at everything around you...there is only one True Tim F, and there may be some trolls who want to clone my avatar and name and go around pretending to answer my questions for the sake of evil intentions. There is ONLY one Tim F, and all other Tim F's are false, right?

I am still waiting for a JW of the Org to come up and face my challenge I asked a while back. I said to them to find anything that exists that is neither true nor false. Find gold that is neither true gold nor false gold, diamond that is neither true diamond nor false diamond, fur that is neither true fur nor false fur, leather that is neither true leather nor false leather...etc...!

Then the JWs of the Org will have to find a Christian who is neither the True Christian nor a false Christian, a Witness of Jehovah who is neither the True Witness of Jehovah nor a false witness of Jehovah, and even find a Christ who is neither the True Christ nor a false Christ! Such things cannot exist!

And don't try to compare things that are "true nor false" to "black or white" or "good or bad", this is such a weak analogy to compare with! There is no such thing as a God/god that is neither the True God nor the false god, like all other things that have to exist as "either" true or false. Finding something that is "neither" true nor false is simply not there, non-existent, nothingness!

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Bar-Anerges...Are you against the teachings of the leadership? There are no such words as "a true god" for Jesus in the Watchtower Library CD over the past 60 years, and you know this fully well! Go right ahead and find it!

Question: Is Jesus a true God, or a false God?

Jesus is a Image or copy of the true God who was created rather then being the original. The Greek word alēthinos while translated into English as True is closer to meaning genuine.

"A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true (alēthinos) tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."

Note a false tabernacle on earth would not fit in the context. Instead the earthly tabernacle is a copy or image of the heavenly, as is Jesus Christ.

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature"

Question: Do JWs of the Org realize that we can make a mirrored image of software and that software is no different than the original?

Making a mirrored image of software would create two copies of Software. Making a mirrored image of God would then create yet another Almighty God. Instead, Jesus is a reflection of his father and God rather then being a second true Almighty God.

Jehovah God:

- No one has seen the true God at any time. (John 1:18)

- The true God is King Eternal. (1Ti 1:17)

- The true God can not die. (Hab 1:12)

Jesus Christ:

- Jesus Christ was seen as a reflection of his father. (John 14:9)

- Jesus was a prince prior to his father making him king. (John 1:18)

- Jesus died for mankind. (1Th 4:14)

Is Jesus Christ a false God since Christ can die where the True God can not? No, the Greek word "alēthinos" is not a strict true verses false as it is in English. If it were then Jesus would be a false deity with in the trinity since john 17:3 shows only Jehovah is the True God.

This is a false dichotomy.

Jehovah's Witnesses accept what Jesus himself said, that the Father is "the only true God." (John 17:3) That's "God" with a capital "G." Therefore, that Jesus is a "god" with a lower-case "g" is not the same, and there is no conflict whatsoever. "Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6) is capitalized in English only because it is a title. There are no capitals in the Hebrew text.

Jehovah is the true God; Jesus is truly a god because he is the divine Son of God.

Trinitarians cause the conflict because they teach that the Son is God -- capital "G:-- the Father is God -- capital "G" -- and the Holy Spirit is God -- capital "G." Therefore, it is Trinitarians who have created three Gods, even though they attempt to deny it.

The Bible makes it clear that there are other divine beings, and that they are called gods in the sense of being "sons of God." Even men who act with divine authority are called "gods" in the Scriptures, as Jesus himself alluded to. They are true gods in their being God's sons, or men acting in God's authority. (Job 1:6; 2:1; Psalm 82:1, 6; 136:2; John 10:34, 35)

They are truly what they are, but none of them, including Jesus, is God, the Almighty.

This question is a false dichotomy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dichotomy

When the entire Bible is taken into consideration, and every verse is understood in its context, then it is possible for Jesus to be a god while Jehovah is the "only true God."

Deuteronomy 32 is talking about the false gods of the nations. It speaks of the false gods that apostate Israelites had turned to. It is these false gods had no part in anything that God had done, since they were lifeless. Therefore, the context of Deuteronomy 32 makes it clear that Jesus is not being considered, the “gods” under consideration are the impotent idols of the nations.

Also, that Jehovah is "the only true God" doesn't mean that all other gods have to be false. For example, Hebrews 8:2 speaks of the "true tent" in heaven. That doesn't mean that the tent that the Israelites set up - that God himself required - was somehow "false."

Most people don't realize that they read the Bible with a modern, western view of monotheism. Yet, the Bible wasn't written with that view. The Bible has an ancient, Jewish view of monotheism. In the modern western view, "God" usually means 1) The God, or 2) a false god. The ancient Jewish, biblical view allows for a wider meaning of the word "god."

Jesus can be a "Mighty God" in Isaiah 9:6. He can be "a god" in John 1:1. Just like the faithful angels can be called "gods" in Psalms 8:5 (Although most translations hide that fact, the Hebrew calls them "gods." See Hebrews 2:6-8 for an inspired Christian understanding of Psalms 8:5). Moses can be called God. Exodus 4:16. Human judges are called "gods." Psalms 82.

Jehovah's Witnesses have the correct understanding of who and what can be called a god in the Bible. They basically agree with what was written in this reference work:

"In Israel's early traditions, God was perceived as administrating the cosmos with a retinue of divine assistants. The members of this divine council were identified as 'sons of God' and 'morning stars' (Job 1.6; 38.7), 'gods' (Ps[alm] 82) or the 'host of heaven' (Neh[emiah] 9.6; cf. Rev[elation] 1.20), and they functioned as God's viceregents and administrators in a hierarchical bureaucracy over the world (Deut[eronomy] 32.8 {LXX}; cf. 4.19; 29.26). Where Israel's polytheistic neighbors perceived these beings as simply a part of the pantheon, the Bible depicts them as subordinate and in no way comparable to the God of Israel." - The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Metzger, Bruce Manning

Likewise, the Bible depicts Jesus as subordinate to God and in no way comparable to the God of Israel.

I am a JW. In here however is a copy of the King James Version Of The Holy Bible. Now... you have never read the entire bible I gather? 2 Corinthians 1:19 "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea." I guess that if you have a son he will be a... duck? No? How about a human! Jehovah is the A#1 God. Eternal. Psalms 83:18 "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." Jesus Christ is his son, thus obviously he is a... duck? DUH... he is a god!

Jesus said in prayer: “Father, . . . this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:1-3, RS; italics added.) (Most translations here use the expression “the only true God” with reference to the Father. NE reads “who alone art truly God.” He cannot be “the only true God,” the one “who alone [is] truly God,” if there are two others who are God to the same degree as he is, can he? Any others referred to as “gods” must be either false or merely a reflection of the true God.)

In reference to John 1:1 The Greek word translated “Word” is logós; and so Dr. James Moffatt’s New Translation of the Bible (1922) reads: “The Logos was divine.” The Complete Bible—An American Translation (Smith-Goodspeed) reads: “The Word was divine.” So does Hugh J. Schonfield’s The Authentic New Testament. Other readings (by Germans) are: By Boehmer: “It was tightly bound up with God, yes, itself of divine being.” By Stage: “The Word was itself of divine being.” By Menge: “And God (=of divine being) the Word was.” By Pfaefflin: “And was of divine weightiness.” And by Thimme: “And God of a sort the Word was.”

John 1:1, 2 gives the heavenly name of the one who became Jesus, saying: “In the beginning the Word [Gr., Lo′gos] was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god [“was divine,” AT; Mo; or “of divine being,” Böhmer; Stage (both German)]. This one was in the beginning with God.” Since Jehovah is eternal and had no beginning (Ps 90:2; Re 15:3), the Word’s being with God from “the beginning” must here refer to the beginning of Jehovah’s creative works. This is confirmed by other texts identifying Jesus as “the firstborn of all creation,” “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Col 1:15; Re 1:1; 3:14) Thus the Scriptures identify the Word (Jesus in his prehuman existence) as God’s first creation, his firstborn Son

In 1984 there appeared in English a translation from German of a commentary by scholar Ernst Haenchen (Das Johannesevangelium. Ein Kommentar). It renders John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and divine [of the category divinity] was the Logos.”—John 1. A Commentary on the Gospel of John Chapters 1-6, page 108, translated by Robert W. Funk.

You answer your own question. Your scriptural quote:

"Now this is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

That is exactly what we believe.

(John 10:31-37) 31 Once more the Jews lifted up stones to stone him. 32 Jesus replied to them: “I displayed to YOU many fine works from the Father. For which of those works are YOU stoning me?” 33 The Jews answered him: “We are stoning you, not for a fine work, but for blasphemy, even because you, although being a man, make yourself a god.” 34 Jesus answered them: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said: “YOU are gods”’? 35 If he called ‘gods’ those against whom the word of God came, and yet the Scripture cannot be nullified, 36 do YOU say to me whom the Father sanctified and dispatched into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, I am God’s Son? 37 . . .

The gods here referred to were the Jewish leaders.

(Psalm 82:6) . . .“I myself have said, ‘YOU are gods, And all of YOU are sons of the Most High.

Moses is called Aaron's God.

(Exodus 4:16-17) . . .And he must speak for you to the people; and it must occur that he will serve as a mouth to you, and you will serve as God to him. 17 And this rod you will take in your hand that you may perform the signs with it.”

So exactly what is your argument?

http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm

Jesus is not God.Christians simply miscomprehend John 17:3 the verse explicitly stated that there's only ONE GOD and that Jesus Christ was sent by Him.absolutely,no contradiction only misconception

Jesus is God's son and also a god, but not Almighty God.

In Isaiah, also- Jehovah states over and over that HE is the only god, the only Savior, that He ALONE made everything, He alone is Rock He alone is judge He ALONE.... yet Jesus is Savior, Rock, creator..

Oh wait- Jehovah was lying, right???? I didn't do it alone- I used an "agent" or angel... ya right