Has the Jehovah's Witnesses' god performed the greatest act of love?

Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of God’s Greatest Love

According to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, God is not a trinity and Jesus is not God in flesh. Because of their position, I sometimes ask the question, from your perspective, has Jehovah performed the greatest act of love?

Now, the Jehovah's Witnesses will give me different answers, but because they have not been indoctrinated by the Watchtower magazine according to this question, they often actually think on their own instead of repeating whatever the Watchtowers told them.

Still, the Jehovah's Witnesses almost always say that the greatest act of love was performed by God when He sent His Son to die for us. Now, this is a pretty good answer, but is it correct? See, I then quote them what Jesus said in John 15, 13.

He said this, Greater love hath no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. The King James puts it this way, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Now the Jehovah's Witness Bible, the New World Translation says this,. No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friend. We can see that the greatest act of love is to sacrifice one's own life for another.

Note that Jesus said that this self-sacrifice is the greatest act of love. I then again ask the Jehovah's Witness, from your perspective, has Jehovah performed the greatest act of love? This is when the real problem arises for the Jehovah's Witness.

I tell them that as a Trinitarian, God has performed the greatest act of love. Jesus is God in flesh. That's John 1 .1 .14, Colossians 2 .9, Philippians 2 .5 -8. Therefore, God has laid down his life for a friend.

He has performed the greatest act of love that someone can do, just as Jesus said. I then ask the Jehovah's Witness, why do you want me to give up the greatest act of love performed by my God for your God who cannot perform the greatest act of love?

They really don't have a good answer. Okay, so what I want to do now is give you, just briefly, the following as an outline to help clarify this issue so that, hopefully, you can use this with Jehovah's Witnesses.

God Is Love

Now remember, the greatest act of love is to lay your life down for someone else. And in the Trinity doctrine, Jesus being God in flesh, that's exactly the case. The first point is that God is love. 1 John 4 .16 says,.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us, and God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. The New World Translation says,. And we ourselves have come to know and have believed the love that God has in our case.

God is love. And he that remains in love remains in union with God, and God remains in union with him. The second point is that God demonstrates the greatest act of love. God is infinite. He is holy, loving, and no one can demonstrate these qualities better than God.

God has full ability to demonstrate his own nature. Thus, we need to ask if anyone can outdo God in showing love. Hopefully, they'll say, of course not. That's good. The third point is that Jesus accurately represents the Father.

The Exact Representation of God’s Nature

Hebrews 1 .3 says,. And he is the radiance of his glory, and the exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things by the word of his power, when he made purification of sins he set down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

The New World Translation says,. He is the reflection of his glory, and the exact representation of his very being. And he sustains all things by the word of his power, and after he made purification of sins he sat down on the right hand of the majesty in lofty places.

Also, John 14 .9 says this. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. The New World Translation says,. He that has seen me has seen the Father. The fourth point that we need to look at is this. In John 15 .13, as I've already gone over but need to reiterate, Jesus says,.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. And again, the New World Translation says,. No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul on behalf of his friends.

Jesus, the Trinity, and the Greatest Act of Love

The conclusion is summarized by asking either or both of the following questions. If Jesus is not God and he laid down his life, then isn't he doing something greater than the Father can do? And if Jesus is God and he laid down his life, then isn't God performing the greatest act of love?

These are good questions to ask the Jehovah's Witness. Hopefully this might be used, O Lord, to bring the Jehovah's Witness to the true and living God who loves us so much that he became man, died for us, and showed us the greatest act of love.