Most of Christianity believes Jesus died on a cross, so
why do Jehovah's Witnesses believe he died on a "torture
stake"? Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus died with
his hands together, one over the other, nailed one time above his
head in a vertical position. They do not belive he died on a
cross in a "t" position with nails going through both hands.
Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the religion did believe
Jesus died on the cross. Judge Rutherford, the second
President of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, changed the
belief to its current position on this matter.
In the NWT, John 20:24, 25 makes it clear that Jesus
died on a cross, not a torture stake.
"But Thomas, one of the twelve,
who was called The Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
Consequently the other disciples would say to him: 'We have seen
the Lord!' But he said to them: 'Unless I see in his hands
the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the
nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not
believe.'"
NOTE: The words "hands" and "nails" are
plural. If he died on the torture stake as Jehovah's
Witnesses claim, then Thomas would have said, "Unless I see in his
hands the print of the nail..."(nail would have been
singular).
The versus in 26-29, go on to tell us how Jesus came back again
to let Thomas do just that. Verse 28 & 29
concludes with Thomas acknowledging that Jesus is God.
"In answer Thomas said to him:
'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him: 'Because you have
seen me have you believed? Happy are those who do not see and
yet believe.'"
In addition to the cross proof, this also proves Jesus is God,
(See Deity
of Christ page) something Jehovah's Witnesses deny. If
Jesus was not God, would Jesus not have reprimanded Thomas?
Jesus had no problem reprimanding and correcting people when they
were wrong. No, Jesus did not correct Thomas, because he is
God.
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society seems to take
every measure to teach Jehovah's Witnesses to be different from
Christianity (from denying the Deity of Christ to dying on the
cross), so as to claim all other Christian religions are false
religion.
However, in John 8:24, NWT it says:
"Therefore I said to YOU, YOU
will die in YOUR sins. For if you do not believe that I am
[he], you will die in your sins."
NOTE: The NWT took the word "am" out of caps and
added the word in brackets [he] to infer
I am Jesus. But other scriptures in the Bible using the
phrase "I AM" clearly show that I AM is God. (See more
information on this on the Deity of Christ page.)
If you are deceived about the small things, how can you trust those big leaps of faith?
If the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society will go through such
great lengths to say Jesus did not die on a cross, yet in their own
Bible it proves otherwise, then how can they be trusted on much
larger leaps of faith?
In my opinion, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society seems to
take every measure to teach Jehovah's Witnesses to be different
from Christianity (from denying the Deity of Christ to dying on the
cross), so as to claim all other Christian religions are false
religion.
NWT Scripture shows Jesus died on a cross
In the NWT, John 20:24, 25 makes it clear that Jesus
died on a cross, not a torture stake.
"But Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called The Twin, was
not with them when Jesus came. Consequently the other
disciples would say to him: 'We have seen the Lord!' But he
said to them: 'Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and
stick my finger into the print of the the nails and stick my hand
into his side, I will certainly not believe.'"
NOTE: The words "hands" and "nails" are
plural. If he died on the torture stake as Jehovah's Witnesse
claim, then Thomas would have said, "Unless I see in his hands the
print of the nail..."(nail would have been singular).
The Opposite of Love is Fear
Having been raised in a fear-based culture, I now know that
being coerced to practice a religion out of fear, is not
loving. 1 John 4:18 (NWT), "There is no fear in love, but
perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a
restraint. Indeed, he that is under fear has not been made
perfect in love."
