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Can anyone enlighten me on what Jehovah's witness is? Is it a form of christianity? Or something else? What sort of beliefs do they hold?
I don't want any kind of negativity, just the facts and am truely curious as to what this is because I am working with someone who is one. I don't really know her well enough to really get into things with her and don't want to offend her with any questions which may be silly to her.
I think that JW's have some different theology from (I guess 'mainstream' is the best word to use?) Christianity. Some beliefs are the same though.
I'm pretty sure there are some JW's on here who will be able to clarify.
You are very thoughtful Lilas...
I believe (as Nelle said there are some JW's in our community no doubt who will correct me)
that
* it is important to name God as Jehovah
* to "witness" (by going door to door & speaking about Jehovah to those that you come in contact with)
* the literal interpretation of both the old testament & the new testament are taken. Though I am not clear on why that means that JW's eat pork etc. No doubt someone will help me with that too.
* only Jehovah should be celebrated & thus birthdays should not be celebrated.
* as it is believed by some that the time of the year that Christmas is celebrated was adopted from the old religion and the Sabat of Yule - Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas as it is seen as a pagan festival...
* AI also beleive that there is quite a large amount of study on the last book of the bible and thus the apocolyptic side of this. I actually find that fascinating...
* That Jesus will come again & there will be paradise on Earth
* The passover though is celebrated as in keeping with the following of the old testament
I know something else that came to mind...
I think that why passover is celebrated is because some things in the old testament were "cancelled out" (obviously my wording isn't correct) by the new testament & other things were not.
I *think* that might be why the pork thing is okay for JW's - because maybe it was cancelled out by the new testament. I do know that taking "the life blood" of another isn't okay & this has been interpreted by this faith from the new testament but I can't quite remember what the particular area in the new testament that this is from..
HTH
I had a friend who is a JW and they don't believe in accepting blood (transfusions...don't know if it means organs as well?).....not sure why! Anyone?
My DH was one (his mum & sisters still are, but his dad never was), and it has been very interesting learning about what he grew up with. I wouldn't say he & his family were necessarily the strictest, but they do witness every chance they get. Not at me, much, which is good. DH even got a cryptic text message from his mum on his birthday last year! "So what's it like being 34years old??" - we reckon his mum is softening in her old age. ;)
I don't pretend to know anything about the religion specifically, but we did have a spectacularly humerous conversation about creation vs evolution.
Generally, I find them to be nice people, and if you choose to put a line in the sand re: witnessing, it is respected. Technically speaking, I know that DH is meant to be outcast from the family & 'church' for leaving. They can only technically speak to him if they are trying to bring him back to the fold. DH's best mate has had a terrible time (years!) coming to terms with this with his own family - who are a lot stricter than DH's family.
ETA: I think it's really good to learn about other religions in a non-judgemental way. Good for you for starting this thread. :)
There are a few other JW's on the site lilias, but I'm pretty sure I'm the loudest of them all :rofl: I'm happy to try and answer any questions you have...
Believe me, she won't be offended! We get it all the time, and honestly, it is really appreciated that you take the time to ask. Some people have such strange ideas about our beliefs, and I honestly don't know where they come from, so its best to get it from the horses mouth so to speak :):
Our biggest differences from mainstream Christianity is that we don't believe in the Trinity, we don't believe in immortality of the soul, we don't believe everyone goes to heaven, and we don't believe in hell, or any sort of afterlife for that matter. These beliefs are all based on the Bible, and I or your colleague would be happy to go into more depth with you if you wanted to.:
Definitely, this is why we are called 'Jehovah's Witnesses'. In the Bible, God tells us His name, Jehovah. He also tells us to cultivate a strong relationship with Him, and how can you have a relationship with someone if you don't know and use their name?:
Yes, all JW's go witnessing/doorknocking/preaching, whatever you want to call it. Again based on the Bible :):
* to "witness" (by going door to door & speaking about Jehovah to those that you come in contact with)
Inanna's further answer was correct, in that the Mosaic Law, the one that set down what animals were clean and unclean, was superceded by the Messianic covenant, which came into effect when Jesus died and was resurrected to heaven.:
* the literal interpretation of both the old testament & the new testament are taken. Though I am not clear on why that means that JW's eat pork etc. No doubt someone will help me with that too.
WRT literal interpretations, most Biblical prophecies had a literal fulfillment soon after they were penned, in particular in regard to Ancient Israel, but they also had further application to more modern times. Many of these have been fulfilled, and a few we are still waiting on.
The Bible actually has 2 accounts of birthday celebrations. The 'birthday boys' were not followers of Jehovah, and both celebrations ended with the death of an enemy, in one case, John the Baptiser. The celebration of a persons birthday actually has pagan roots, and is also the most important celebration for a person following Satanist beliefs.:
* only Jehovah should be celebrated & thus birthdays should not be celebrated.
Jehovah also instructs us to be meek and humble at all times, not glorifying one person over another, as we are all imperfect.
TBH, I've never heard of Sabat of Yule - is it related to the celebration of Saturnalia?:
* as it is believed by some that the time of the year that Christmas is celebrated was adopted from the old religion and the Sabat of Yule - Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas as it is seen as a pagan festival...
The traditional Christmas story tells of shepherds that were out herding their sheep, that were told of the birth of Jesus Christ by angels. The Bible confirms all of this, as well as the star in midheaven that the astrologers, or 'wise men' saw.
However, this time of year in modern Bethlehem, it is winter, and snows pretty heavily - therefore the shepherds would not have been living out doors with their sheep. Also, Jesus was born in Bethlehem because of a decree by Caesar that everyone was to return to their cities of ancestry to be registered for a census. At the time, the Jews were not happy under Roman rule, so its not likely that Caesar would've made them travel during the middle of winter :)
The institution of a celebration on the 25th of December is actually a celebration of the rebirth of the Sun after the Winter Solstice, when the days start getting longer. It was adopted as a Christian celebration under the rule of Constantine, around 300 years after Jesus was born.
So do I Inanna! Yes, we study Revelation in depth - if you've ever read it, you'll realise it can't just be skimmed over :):
* I also beleive that there is quite a large amount of study on the last book of the bible and thus the apocolyptic side of this. I actually find that fascinating...
Some yes, some no. We believe that Jesus will be given rulership over the earth by Jehovah for 1000 years, after Armaggeddon. I think what Inanna is referring to is 'The Rapture', where Jesus comes back to earth and takes his followers to heaven. I'm not sure which mainstream Christian religions believe this, but JW's aren't one of them.:
* That Jesus will come again & there will be paradise on Earth
As for Paradise on earth - I'm looking forward to it :)
We memorialise Jesus' death on Nisan 14 every year, as He instructed whilst celebrating the Passover. The Passover was actually a rememberance of Jehovah releasing the Hebrew nation from Egyptian slavery, and refers to the angel sent by Jehovah to kill the firstborns, as part of the 10 plagues. The Hebrews were told to spread the blood of a lamb over their doorposts, hence when the angel saw the blood, he knew that Jehovah's followers were inside, and passed over their house.:
* The passover though is celebrated as in keeping with the following of the old testament
As Jesus knew he was shortly going to be killed, becoming a Ransom for mankind's sins, the Passover did not need to be celebrated any more, and so Jesus instituted the memorial celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal, and instructed his disciples 'keep doing this in rememberance of me'
As I said Lilias, asking questions is the only way to learn anything, so I'm happy to answer questions, and so will your colleague be. We understand that some people are genuinely curious but not necessarily looking to change :)
This is because the Bible tells us to abstain from blood. Jehovah also views blood as sacred and life sustaining, saying in the Bible that our soul is in our 'lifeblood'.:
On a medical note, it is very risky to accept blood, even your own, after it has left the body, as it changes. More and more surgeons are choosing bloodless medicine as they realise that blood is unnecessary. The body continues to make more blood, it is generally volume that is lacking, which saline solution / plasma expanders can take care of while the body boosts the blood naturally. :)
JW what you refer to as the rebirth of the sun & the winter solstice is called the Yule in some parts of the world. So- I think we possibly were referring to the same thing but calling it different names!
Thankyou for sharing your faith. :hug:
Thanks Sunflowa :)
Like you said, I'm not out there to change my views....but I dont' really have any, so I like to learn about all sorts.
I just remember watching a TV show once (a baby story) where the woman was a JW and after the birth of her baby, she was bleeding out and the docs said she needed blood. She left it for a good while saying about her faith, but in the end decided to take it. It would be a very hard decision I guess. She was sat there in the bed with a brand spanking new baby!
What happens if you do 'sin'.....do you have to repent and that makes it all better again?
Do you mean sin in terms of taking blood? Or just in general? If we do the wrong thing and are genuinely repentant, then Jehovah will forgive us. But we don't do an official 'confession' like some religions do, as it can lead to a wrong attitude - as in, I can do what I want because I'm confessing on Sunday anyway.:
With more serious sin, something that the Bible specifically says NOT to do, things have to be taken more seriously, as the rest of the congregation needs to be protected as well. Again, if you are genuinely sorry for what you've done, everything's fine, but if you're not, then the rest of the congregation has to be protected. This is a part of our beliefs that many mock, and most outsiders don't agree with. I'm happy to explain further on this point over PM's, but there are a few members that I believe are in this situation, and I don't want to offend or embarrass them, so I would like to keep it off the boards :)
On a side note MM, was this show a documentary or a tv show? JW's not accepting blood has been portrayed on many medical soap operas, and sadly the only one I ever saw happen the right way was All Saints! The rest were all wrong - JW goes in for surgery, surgeon decides to give them blood despite their clear wishes, JW goes off their nut when they find out, cut to shower scene with JW trying to 'get the tainted blood out'. It's amazing how wrong tv shows can get it, when we're so willing to answer questions! :rofl:
Yeah I guess I meant in general.....but maybe relating to the blood thingo.
The TV show was a documentary, and the woman was very adamant about not receiving any blood (or blood products?). The doctors knew her wishes and respected them, but their job was to save her, so I guess it was hard for the both of them. Like I said, she did decide to take the blood because she was hemmoraging I think.
When it comes to confessions, in other religions....I don't quite get it. To me it just means, like you say, people can do what they want and then just say 'sorry' at church on the weekend!
Thanks so much for sharing, and thanks lilias for starting this thread. It's good to learn things like this. It keeps your mind open and makes you more accepting of people in general, regardless of what religion we are talking about :)
Thankyou everyone, sunflowa girlie in particular. You have opened my eyes to new concepts :)
I did think of ome more q's to ask as I was reading (which I should have written down...:rolleyes:) but I'm not in much of a posting mood so I will come back another time to ask ;)
Thanks again!!
Thank you so much Sunflowa_girlie, I really enjoyed reading your posts.
I have a friend who is a Jehovah's Witness and she had a serious PPH after the birth of her first baby. The doctor's reccomended a blood transfusion but she asked for a 2nd opinion and upon establishing that she would feel terribly ill without it, but would not be in any actual danger, she refused.
For her 2nd baby she had an elective cesarean and again had a major PPH. However this time she had made sure she was in a hospital will a cell saver machine which reused her own blood. She was very well after this birth.
However I was very sad for her that there were something like 14 people in the room for her caesarean, according to her husband most of them were there to see it all go wrong so they could say "we told you so". I felt so sad my beautiful friend was viewed as a disaster waiting to happen for her beliefs.
Thanks for sharing, I always find it so interesting to learn about other religions.
Lilias, I had 2 woman at work that were Jehovah's Witness' and they were always more than happy to answer questions, I always had many!
Best thing too was they would work xmas day cause they didn't celebrate it, meant others could have it off!
Thank you for this thread. I work with JW colleagues and it has given me some more understanding into their beliefs.
I don't want to hijack the thread, but does anyone know about Christadelphian beliefs? They seem similar to JW (don't celebrate Christmas, will not gamble, etc) so I thought it might be a good spot to ask! :lol:
Thank you for sharing your story :):
Sadly this is often the case when dealing with doctors/surgeons - blood transfusions have been given 'just in case' for so long that it can be viewed as a safety net. I'm sure parents who choose not to vaccinate will understand the ridicule they face from certain medical professionals, and it doesn't matter how much research they have done into the subject.
On a happy note though, more often than not the JW pulls through without a blood transfusion, which has turned some of our most vocal opposers into great allies when it comes to blood transfusions!
I wanted to say thankyou to everyone who's posted in this thread - I feel that everyone has been very respectful, which is not always the case, so it's very refreshing! By the same token, I have attempted to be sensitive to others beliefs as I realise they most likely won't be the same as ours, particularly in regards to Christmas - however if I have offended anyone, please let me know :)
Nettie - not sure about Christadelphians TBH! I've heard of them, but only rarely, so I don't actually know anything about their beliefs. I would be interested to learn however!
:bump:
No Christadelphians out there? :o
I used to work with a Christadelphian. he was a lovely boss, a really nice person. We used to have bible discussions and i learnt that their beliefs are quite different to mainstream christianity...even moreso then JW's:
it was quite a few years ago now so my memory is hazy, but i do remember one of their main teachings is that they dont believe in the Devil...who is a fairly prominent bible character. They believe that 'satan' is actually the evil inside each of us.
they do view themselves as christians, they dont know much of the bible, they dont have bishops or priests specifically but similarly to JW's all members are teachers (except for females). they have a 'creed' which are their fundamental teachings which are used as the basis for their meetings. At their meetings individuals will be assigned to give a talk and it can be about anything so long as the talk abides by the creed and does not introduce new ideas or change the existing creed in any way.
they are also a very small community and tight knit... similar to a bretheren type community. There are only 5,000 in either the whole of australia (or possibly just victoria, my memory is a little fuzzy on that)
I have a massive issue with Christadelphians.
Mainly because they had a place of worship near me with the sign out the front
"God hates homosexuals".
ETA - oh sorry, it was actually "God hates Homosexuality"...my bad
Ooh, just stumbled across this thread... I will stick my nose in and ask a couple more 'silly' questions as DH and I often get visits from some lovely JW's (they usually come every Sunday arvo to discuss some teachings with us) and our last discussion has me a bit confused...
I'm just wondering specifically about the concept of heaven and hell, and the idea of an 'afterlife' in general? What is the JW stance on this one? On their last visit, we got conflicting stories - the young lady spoke to me about heaven and hell, and how everybody goes to 'sleep' when they die, awaiting resurrection and judgement, and that those who are faithful and 'good' will go to Paradise... but the man who visited with her was having a separate conversation with DH (about the same topic) and said his belief was that we die, that's it, no soul, no memories, no thoughts... I just don't think I understand? I mean I get the bit about going to 'sleep' and awaiting Judgement Day, but if we are resurrected as 'clean slates', then what are we judged upon?
Sorry if I have this waaaaay wrong or I've misunderstood something that was said :) I hope I'm not being disrespectful at all, I'm just genuinely curious and really want to learn more - as I said, we get lots of visits from the JW's and we're always happy to learn more and discuss their beliefs and teachings, and DH and I are greatly interested in learning all about this stuff from the perspectives of all different religions, I was just hoping to clear it up a bit :)
TIA :D
I struggle with this one too, Glamourcide.
The basic belief, the one that's in the little brown explaining book, is that on earth, our body dies.
That's it for that body, we're dead.
IF you are one of the chosen 144000 then you go to heaven and become an MP (well, that's how I understand it: Jesus is called "King" but is more like a prime minister). If you are not, you go for the long sleep of death.
Then comes the day of judgement. This lasts for 1000 years.
It's basically to see if you are willing to accept Jesus as your saviour. If you, in life, have believed and trusted in Jesus and followed his commands, you pass. If you haven't heard of him, but are willing to live as a Christian should live, you pass. If you refuse to follow Jesus then you die properly - no resurrection. That's the "hell fire" bit: your spirit is burnt up and unable to come back. You're well and truly dead. Not that you suffer eternally (well, you do as you don't get to see all your loved ones, but you're dead so you don't feel the suffering).
HTH.
Wow, only just found this thread.
Thankyou to all of you, I have found this fascinating.
they are really saying the same thing, just in different ways.:
The paradise doesnt come straight away...its for a futre time. The bible teaching is that a person doesnt have a soul, but IS a soul. So when a person dies, they loose all consciousness and are in a sleeplike condition. there is no life after death until the resurrection....which has not occured yet.
the resurrection is the hope that in the near future, Jesus will bring all who are in that state of sleep/death back to life into an earthly paradise.
They will not be judged on their past life because they have already paid for all those errors thru death, but rather they will be judged on their behavior once they have had time to learn about Jehovah God and submit to his authority. They will be given 1000 years to come to an accurate knowledge and accept God in their lives.
The ones who will be resurrected are both the good and the bad...those who knew God in their previous life, and those who didnt....this would include children/babies who have died too.
I hope this clears up the misunderstanding, but please feel free to ask if its still not clear.
I'm just wondering where in the bible does it teach that a person doesn't have a soul? Mathew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.:
This verse tells me that our body and sould are two.
Regards,
Dianne
Ah, thanks ladies, that does make things a lot clearer in my head :) I appreciate it, I'd been thinking very long and hard about it over the past few days!
In English, Soul means Body - honestly! You think about the SOS - you think those people want you to pray for an immortal part of them? No. "Save our souls" they cry: come and rescue us.
Adam was a living soul (Gen 2:7, 1Cor 15:45), Noah's ark carried eight souls (Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives).
I think the Matthew verse you quoted was for emphasis, maybe "the body and the life in the body" but not the spirit, the personality, which we see will live beyond death when we are resurrected with new life and a new body. The word of God can also split apart the soul and the spirit (Heb 4:12).
Also, Ecclesiastes 12:7 - this talks about the dust returning to earth upon death but the spirit returning to God, who gave it, and will keep it safe until the resurrection.
Ok, so doesn't this mean that when we die our body stays on earth and our spirit goes with God? So then how can our soul be our body? Sorry still confused.:
Regards,
Dianne
I don't understand what you're asking. Our soul turns to dust and is nothing, our spirit returns to God, the giver of life. Soul = body, they are the same thing.
i know its confusing, but when we understand the meaning behind 'soul' and 'spirit' we see that they are not the same thing.:
If i was to say, "so and so is in high spirits today" you'd know that i was talking about their personality and character. Lady Zaidie explained its difference to 'soul' very well...""the body and the life in the body" but not the spirit, the personality"
IOW, the soul is the physical body whereas the spirit is the life force within that body...its what animates the body.
We know the soul can die from this scripture:
Ezekiel 18:3 "Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die"
then we see the state of death is unconsciousness in this scripture
Ecclesiasties 9:5*"For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all"
and we are also told the the spirit does not live on in this one because all 'thought' perishes so obviously the spirit is not a conscious thing
Psalm 146:4 "His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground;
In that day his thoughts do perish"
So from these scriptures, both soul and spirit die. The soul because it is the physical body, and the spirit because it is the life force within that body. Its the life force within the body that God remembers and when he creates a new physical body in the resurrection, he will put his memory of that persons spirit into it.
Thank you.
Regards,
Dianne
Ohh, thanks for the extra questions girls, this is really interesting!
i have two questions - after seeing Berenice post about how she doesn't vote - did a quick google search and it says that jehovahs witness are discouraged to vote how come? (i dont mean to offend i just wondered why)
the other is all the jehovahs witness churchs/places of worship i have seen seem to be very fenced in - more then other Christian places of worship and was wondering why that is - or if its just the ones i've seen?
^ The JW bloke who visits us on a weekly/fortnightly basis was discussing this with us just this weekend gone. He said it was because he believed Church and State should be entirely separate, and that God's law is the only one he feels compelled to follow - that, and he thinks it's ridiculous that we are forced to vote when we're a so-called democracy, so he kind of does it on prinicple, too (he and DH get on like a house on fire, they're both very interested in NWO and government conspiracy theory so sooner or later our conversations turn to that ;) ). I could well be wrong that this is what most JW's believe, but I for one agree with it :) But voting or not, and being forced to in Australia, is a topic for a different thread entirely! :)
It pretty much has to do with our allegience. We beleive that when we get baptized we are declaring our allegience to Gods kingdom. 'Thy Kingdom Come' is a very well known christian prayer.:
If we were to become involved in the politics of this world and start voting for human leaders, we are in effect denying our allegience to God and his rulership. We've voted for Jesus and his Kingdom and therefore thats what our vote is. I believe Jesus would make a far better ruler then Mr Rudd if you know what i mean. ;)
With regard to fences around the kingdom halls, i've been to numerous halls that do not have fences. But like all properties, secrurity is fairly important and if fences are erected, i can assure you its not to keep everyone out. Our halls are open to the public for all our meetings and most kingdom halls will display the times and days of the meetings, so everyone is welcome to attend. The gates are always open when a meeting is in progress.
Ditto to Peg - JW's are always neutral because we believe that no man/woman will ever completely fix the worlds problems, the only one who can do that is Jehovah. Everyone else always has an ulterior motive ;)
WRT the fences, the Kingdom Hall I go to opens the gates for people to come in but closes them during the meetings - we're in a fairly high crime area and there's nothing worse than coming out from the meeting all upbeat only to find your window smashed. It's definitely not meant to make people uncomfortable ;)
ahh thanks ladies! it makes sense with the voteing! to not get fined do you put down religious reasons or just pay the fine? (sorry if thats out of line)
and the fences. yep. fairly rough neighborhoods that i have seen the halls in - maybe because they looked nice and clean and well kept.
you may not realise this but we get a 'get out of jail free card' :p:
No, not really. There is a clause in the voting laws (and i am not 100% but i think it may have come about due to the stand that JW's have taken) that allows the choice of voting. If you've ever had one of the fines you'll see that you have the option of ticking a little box about why you didnt vote.
one of the legitimate reasons why you didnt vote is because you are a "Conciencious Objector"
So we do get the fine, but because we tick conciencious objector we dont have to pay it. The requirement to state your reason for being a consciencious object has to be valid and being a JW is a valid reason.
Recently i was still registered on the roll at my old address and because I didnt put a vote in at the state election I recieved a fine. I called them up to explain that i had moved to a new electorate and was on the roll in my new electorate (yes we still have to be registered to vote), I was told that some people who are failing to vote were ticking that box to get out of paying the fine....i guess they know that there are only 65,000 odd JW's in australia and they were probably getting a lot more 'consciencious objector' forms back then they should have. So he said i should writer the name of my congregation and the name of one of the elders in order to confirm that I am a JW. I dont know if all JW's are doing this or have to do this, but It was the first I heard about it.
Hi ladies, I thought I'd post a couple of questions that I have after our recent discussions! Now I'm not trying to debate here, but I am interested in how you get to the beliefs you have :)
1. Now I know that you have your own scripture that you use to illustrate your point, but WRT the trinity, and Jesus - how do you go about the verse in Philippians 2 that Cricket quoted in the previous thread? How about in Genesis 1:26 when it says "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..."
2. Now please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've read (and heard) that the watchtower (which I believe is the authority under which JW's reside) have on a number of occasions changed/added to or updated the scriptures? How does that work? Does that not go against Revelation 22:18-19?
I had thought of other things that Ive forgotten now :redface: I'll most likely be back :)
Geez SS, we're getting into the deep stuff now! :rofl: Thats alright, I'll try to explain it and hopefully it'll make some sense :)
1. After looking through my bible, I'm guessing the reference is Philippians 2:5-7? In the New World Translation, that actually reads: 'Keep this mental attitude in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slave's form and came to be in the likeness of men.' So here, Paul was using Jesus as an example when explaining to the Philippians the need for humility. He was showing that Jesus obviously held Jehovah as higher than himself, and therefore didn't even consider himself an equal. Interestingly, look at how some other Bible translations read -
'Who, being in the form of God, did not regard it as a thing to be grasped at to be on an equality with God' - The New Testament
'He - truly of divine nature! - never self-confidently made himself equal to God' - Das Neue Testament
'Who, although being in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a think to greedily make his own' - La Bibbia Concordata
'He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force she should try to become equal with God' - Today's English Version
'Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped' - The New Jerusalem Bible
Sometimes it's claimed that these renderings imply that Jesus already had equality but didn't want to hold onto it, or he didn't need to grasp at equality, because he already had it, which is another basis for Trinitarian beliefs. But if you look at the original Greek text (har pa'zo) it means to seize, or snatch violently, which wouldn't be necessary if Jesus was part of God or equal to God.
As for the scripture you quoted in Genesis - I don't understand how that can be used to support the Trinity? It seems quite clear, at least to me, that Jehovah is talking to another person, using 'our' and 'us', rather than 'me' or 'my'!
2. Firstly, our authority is Jehovah and the Bible - the Watchtower is just a tool used to help us learn. It is used to explain different facets of the Bible so that we can understand :) In regards to changing or adding to the Bible, we absolutely do not change it, or add to it. While we use a different bible to what most other people use, The New World Translation, you only need to compare it to many other generally accepted bibles to see that it is the same. Also to this point, I would like to respectfully ask if your bible uses God's name, Jehovah? That is probably the only 'change' we have made, and even then, God's name has only been put back into the Bible, whereas other translations took it out and put in 'Lord' or similar. So, not so much a change as a restoration.
In regards to changes made when translating from ancient languages, a LOT of effort went into reading and understand the old language before translating it into the new. This requires, not just reading the verse in question, but reading the verse in context with what is around it, and understanding the different meanings that can be applied to old world languages. This is where most doctrinal problems come in, through translations that are not as accurate, or translations that have been coloured by the translators own understanding.
Something else you may have heard, which is similar, is that our core beliefs change, and this may be interpreted as changing the bible. Definitely, there have been major changes in our understanding of the Bible. For instance, we used to celebrate Christmas and birthdays. We used to smoke. At one time it was firmly believed that the end of this system would come in 1975! The first two examples were a lack of understanding, and once Jehovah helped his 'slave' understand that we were wrong, we quickly changed. As for the end of the system in 1975, this was caused by relying on man's understanding, rather than Jehovah's. A lot of people stopped being Jehovah's Witnesses when the system didn't end, but it has to be asked - were they actually serving Jehovah, or were they serving because they thought they knew the deadline? Proving our love for Jehovah means nothing if we know when our reward will come. Like, if I knew the end wouldn't come for another 5 years, I could go out, do whatever I wanted, and then make sure I'm back serving Jehovah before Armageddon - and that would only prove Satan's point, that humans only serve Jehovah for the reward. But, if we don't know when it will come, we have to serve Jehovah through the good and the bad, and that REALLY proves Satan to be a liar :)
I hope all that made sense, feel free to ask more questions!