Why 'Witnesses deny Jesus' ends the conversation

Don't use

The Witness answer holds up. Do not lead with this one.

The claim to stop making

You will hear Christians say that Witnesses deny Jesus, or do not believe in him. It is false.

Say it at a door and the conversation is over in ten seconds.

What they actually believe about Jesus

They believe Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. They believe his death is the ransom, and that salvation depends on it.

They believe he has reigned as King since 1914. They believe all creation came through him.

They hold the Memorial of his death every year. They preach about him at doors.

Where the real difference is

They teach that the Son is God's first creation. They identify him with Michael the archangel.

He is a god, they say, but not Jehovah God. Prayer and worship go to the Father only.

That is close to the old view called Arianism, which the church rejected at Nicaea in 325. That difference is worth talking about for hours.

Why the false version costs you

Every Witness has heard it. They can refute it from their own books in seconds.

Once you have said something false, nothing true you say afterwards gets weighed.

How strong is this argument?

Do not use this one. Use the translation cases instead.

Ask whether a created angel can be given the titles in Hebrews 1. Ask about Thomas in John 20:28, which even their Bible leaves as "My Lord and my God!" And note that no verse anywhere calls Jesus Michael.

That link is drawn from two verses in Daniel and Jude.

What to say

"I know you believe in Jesus. What I want to understand is why you believe he was created."

A home Bible study using the Watch Tower book What Does the Bible Really Teach?

How they answer this — at its strongest

They believe in Jesus, and they will say so at your door in seconds.

Witnesses affirm it without hesitation. Their jw.org FAQ says: 'We believe in Jesus, who said: I am the way and the truth and the life.' They observe the Memorial of his death every year. They preach the good news about Jesus door to door. They hold that no one comes to the Father except through him.

They simply decline to identify the Son as Almighty God. They decline on biblical grounds, as they read them. And they share that position with a long minority stream of Christian history.

The verdict

Do not use this one. It is false, and the Witness knows it is false.

The accusation, as popularly phrased, is simply false. And the Witness at your door knows it. It is flagged avoid so that this site never repeats it.

The adjacent conversation is a real one. Is Jesus a created archangel? Can a creature bear the titles of Hebrews 1? Can a creature receive Thomas's confession in John 20:28, which the NWT leaves intact as 'My Lord and my God!'? The translation cases cover that properly.

One irony is worth keeping. Nothing in Scripture identifies Christ as Michael the archangel. That link rests on inference from two verses in Daniel and Jude.

Open this case in the full study tool →