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Jehovah's Witnesses - 04_04 - The Holy Ghost - Person or Force

 

1. Even the NWT identifies the Holy Ghost as a person – by having him speak in reference to himself with personal pronouns (I, and me).  So, it is bizarre that Watchtower publications reject what these plain texts teach and choose to "conclude" the exact opposite, in such opposing statements as these:

 

a. "it is logical to conclude that the holy spirit is the active force of God.  It is not a person but is a powerful force…" (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p 381), and

 

b. "Does the Bible teach that the 'Holy Spirit' is a person? … What is the reasonable conclusion? That the first texts cited here employ a figure of speech personifying God's holy spirit, his active force, as the Bible also personifies wisdom, sin, death, water, and blood."  (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p 407)

 

2. To answer the Watchtower's question, I think that the "reasonable conclusion" is to believe what the text actually says:

 

a. It says that the Holy Spirit refers to himself with personal pronouns ("I" and "me"), and refers to himself as "God", so we should conclude that he is a person, and "God", as he said. (Acts 13:2; Acts 5:3-4)

 

b. It does not say that the Holy Spirit is God's active force, so we shouldn't conclude such a thing extra-biblically.

 

3. The arguments cited in Watchtower publications that try to compare these passages (such as Acts 13:2) with the personification of wisdom, sin, death, blood etc are simply silly.  Personification of such non-living things is an appropriate and useful literary tool to convey a concept, and God's word employs that tool perfectly in every case.

 

4. Notice that those personified entities NEVER speak in the first person, with use of personal pronouns ("I" or "me").  Conversely, in the passages that I have cited, the Holy Spirit DOES speak in the first person with use of personal pronouns. The men of the Watchtower are simply comparing apples and oranges in this, to make it look like they have a valid argument when and where none exists.

 

5. Therefore, my original point remains true that the Watchtower contradicts what is taught in God's word regarding the Holy Spirit.  And it is confirmed by the fact that the Watchtower contradicts its own material on this issue, publishing personal pronouns for the Holy Spirit in the NWT and then contradicting and negating that clear fact with publications that say the Holy Spirit is NOT a person. (This is simply confusion, Terry, and God is not the author of confusion.)

 

6. God's word declares that God is a Spirit (John 4:24).  It doesn't say that God HAS a Spirit.  And it certainly doesn't say that God has a FORCE with which he causes men to speak, or through which he causes men to speak. A FORCE cannot and does not teach you what you ought to say.

 

7. The Holy Spirit, the one who speaks, and refers to himself as "I" and "me", can and does teach you what you ought to say.  Do you have an ear to hear what the Spirit sayeth in his word, or do you prefer to "conclude" what the men of the Watchtower would like you to believe instead? (Rev 2:7)