Interpretations in John

1. Is Jesus God? 1:1, 1:14, 5:16-18, 8:40, 8:58, 10:30-31, 10:38-39, 14:9, 14:28, 20:17, 20:28

2. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
   But how could Jesus be with God in the beginning as this verse says, if, as the Watchtower teaches, Jesus was created by God? And how could Jesus be "a god" and yet be with God during the creation, if God was speaking truthfully in Dt 32:39 when he said, "there are no gods with me"? 1:1

3. Is it OK to drink alcohol? 2:3-10

4. "Woman, what have I to do with thee?"
   And his most blessed mother said unto him, "I'm your fucking mother, you jerk." (Or words to that effect.) 2:4

5. Jehovah's Witnesses deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus, saying instead that he was raised as a "spirit creature." If so, then how could John say that "he spake of the temple of his body?" 2:19-21

6. Troubled Waters
   The earliest and best manuscripts lack the explanation for the "troubled waters" given in verses 3-4, which was later added by scribes. 5:3-4

7. Does Hell exist? 5:28-29

8. Jesus says we must eat his flesh and drink his blood if we want to have eternal life. This idea was just too gross for "many of his disciples" and "walked no more with him." (They are called Protestants nowadays.) 6:53-66

9. The woman caught in adultery
   This is one of the best-known and most-loved of all Bible stories, but it shouldn't be in the Bible. For although some manuscripts put it here, others after John 7:36 or 21:35, or Luke 21:38,  it is not found anywhere in the oldest and best manuscripts. 7:53 - 8:11

10. Does God approve of capital punishment? 8:3-7

11. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
    This verse is was inscribed on US military rifle sights. 8:12

12. The Watchtower tries to change the meaning of Jesus' words ("Before Abraham was, I am.") by having him say, "Before Abraham came into existence I have been." I suppose this is supposed to mean that he was around as the Archangel Michael back then or something. (The NWT translates "ego eimi" as "I am" everywhere it occurs except in this verse.) 8:58

13. Who was the greatest prophet? 10:8

14. The Book of Mormon identifies the "other sheep" to be the Nephites who would be visited by Jesus in the New World after his resurrection. 10:16

15. "I lay down my life ... No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself."
    Did Jesus commit suicide? 10:17-18

16. Jesus takes off all his clothes, wraps a towel around himself, and then washes the feet of his disciples using the same towel. 13:3-5

17. "There was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved." Was Jesus gay? 13:23-25

18. Will Jesus' second coming be visible to all? 14:19

19. He that hateth me hateth my Father also." Oh, that's a good one. If you don't like Jesus, then you don't like God. (You're a damned God hater.) On the Jews and Their Lies (Part 12) 15:23

20. Jehovah's Witnesses, like Jesus, are hated by the world and are not of the world. Thus they don't vote or take part in any human organizations outside the Watchtower Society. 15:18-19, 17:14

21. Is it OK to gamble? 19:23-24

22. "The disciple standing by, whom he loved" Was Jesus gay? 19:26, 21:20

23. Did Jesus die on a torture stake or a cross? 20:25

24. If Jesus (like the Jehovah's Witnesses) didn't believe himself to be God, then why didn't he correct Thomas when he said, "My Lord and my God"? 20:28

25. "These are written, that ye might believe."
    The gospel of John seems to come to an end with verses 20:30-31, with the next chapter tacked on as a later addition. This is, in fact, what most scholars believe today. 20:30-31