WHAT DOES THE BIBLE Really TEACH? A WT book—Chapter 17 "Praying to Jesus--What does the Bible Say?"

DISCLAIMER--I will, by no means, exhaustively write about each and every error in each and every chapter of this book—that would require a book several times the size of this WT book. I will pick out a topic or two from each chapter to write about. Some will be a “mole hill” in the landscape of Bible doctrine and others will be a “Mt. Everest.”

Chapter 17 “Draw Close to God in Prayer” You can see in this Chapter that one should pray to Jehovah. Never, the WT tells their followers, should one pray to Jesus. JW’s are to pray to Jehovah in the name of Jesus. And, of course, the WT claims that this is Biblically based as it directs its followers to read John 14:14, but it must be read in the NWT only. Why?

John 14:14 – “If you ask ME anything in MY name, I will do it.” New American Standard

Here Jesus is instructing his disciples to direct their prayers to Him and in His name. The clear teaching is that Jesus can be prayed to and we can ask Him to answer our prayers. In the OT the phrase, “call upon the name of the Lord,” is used time and again and means that we can worship, adore, and pray to God. Psalm 116:4 says, “Then I called upon the name of the LORD: ‘O LORD, I beseech Thee, save my life!’” Now look at I Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:” Paul was well versed in Jewish doctrine and knew the significance of Psalm 116:4 and yet he applied that phrase to Jesus. It is clear—prayer can be directed to Jesus.

John 14:14 is a stinging rebuke of WT doctrine that holds that Jesus is a created being and thus not worthy to accept prayer.

The WT solution to this apparent problem is simple—change the verse.

John 14:14, in the WT’s Bible (The New World Translation) reads: 

“If you ask anything in MY name I will do it.”

The JW’s have left out one little word – “ME.” Why? Because with the WT change, it looks like Jesus is just telling His disciples to ask in his name—not to ask Him in His name. The changed verse now neatly fits into WT doctrine. 

However, John 14:14 in the JW’s own Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (KIT) states in the original Greek: 

“if ever anything you should ask ME in the name of ME this I shall do.” 

Below is John 14:14 from the JW's KIT.

Does the WT conform their doctrine to the Bible or change the Bible to conform to their doctrine?

But isn’t changing the Word of God serious business? What if a Witness looks into this and asks about the Bible being changed? No problem says the WT. Why?

“We should go along with the Lord’s theocratic organization and wait for further clarification, rather than balk at the first mention of a thought unpalatable to us and proceed to quibble and mouth our criticisms and opinions.” (The Watchtower, February 1, 1952, page 80).

Scripture is quite clear that prayer can properly go to Jesus but the WT denies honor and glory to God by stating that Jesus is a created being and not worthy to receive prayer.

What Does the Bible Really Teach--A WT Book Chap. 18 is here.