John 4:23 quotes Jesus as saying, "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers" (NASB).
As the late Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes explain in their helpful book Correcting the Cults, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only the Father is to be worshiped. They believe that Christ should be shown "obeisance"1 or reverence, but nor be worshiped.
However, as Geisler and Rhodes explain, this is not what the New Testament actually teaches:
"The same Greek word used for worshiping the Father (proskuneo) is used of worshiping Christ in the New Testament. Jesus was worshiped by Thomas (John 20:28), angels (Heb. 1:6), wise men (Matt. 2:11), a leper (Matt. 8:2), a ruler (Matt. 9:18), a blind man (John 9:38), a woman (Matt. 15:25), the women at the tomb (Matt. 28:9), and the disciples (Matt. 28:17). In the Book of Revelation, the worship that the Father receives (4:10) is exactly the same as the worship received by Jesus Christ (5:11-14).2
Clearly, the weight of the evidence demonstrates that Jesus was indeed worshiped in the NT.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
Footnotes:
1. Watchtower, 15 February 1983, 18) as referenced by Geisler and Rhodes.
2. Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes, Correcting the Cults, p. 166-167.
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