I found the following on the Murray Ledger & Times and I wanted to make a few clarifications:
MLT: The Jehovah’s Witness organization teaches that Jesus is an angel, namely Michael the Archangel.
Reply: The speculation that Jesus may have been an angel and Michael the Archangel is a notion that has been around for centuries and held by respected Church authorities. See Jesus as the Archangel Michael - The Evidence and Jesus as the Archangel and Jesus as the Angel of the LORD
MLT: Thus, they deny that Jesus is God the Son
Reply: "God the Son" is as unbiblical a phrase as "God the Holy Spirit."
MLT: but rather in their New World Translation they translate John 1:1 as “the word was a god”...Standard translations of the Bible properly translate this phrase as “the Word was God” not “a god.” The article “a” is not found in the Greek text and to add it changes the original meaning of the text.
Reply: The MLT is not being completely honest here, or perhaps they are depending on the ignorance of their readers. The Greek has definite articles ("the") but no indefinite articles ("a"). However, to bring out the proper sense in English, indefinite articles have to be added. For instance, the Revised Standard Version has the indefinite article "a" in 1641 verses in the New Testament. The King James Bible has the indefinite article "a" 1911 times in the New Testament, even though the Greek does not have it. NOT adding the "a" can actually change the original meaning of the text. Now let's take a look at the Greek in John 1 in the older Uncial Greek tests: ENARCHHNOLOGOSKAIOLOGOSHNPROSTONQEONKAIQEOSHNOLOGOS which word for word is: in beginning was the word and the word was with the god and god was the word.
Notice that the first mention of God here has the definite article (THE God), and the second mention does not, so as to differentiate the two. After all, the Word cannot be the same God he is with.
"There is a distinction in the Greek here between 'with God and 'God'. In the first instance the article is used and this makes the reference specific. In the second instance there is no article and it is difficult to believe that it's omission is not significant."~The Translator's New Testament
As a result many Bibles translate John 1:1c as "the Word was a god" or "the Word was divine" or "the Word was a divine being." etc. So when the Murray Ledger & Times writes that "Standard translations of the Bible properly translate this phrase as 'the Word was God' they are again relying on your ignorance in this matter. The "standard translations" are very poor translations in this area and are simply bowing to a poor but traditional translation of this text that their buyers demand.
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