1 · UNDERSTAND
What is the disputed claim?
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Christian Ruptures · Watchtower Movement · Long dossier
Does the proposed language preserve the one divine essence together with the real and eternal distinction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

START HERE · FOR THE SEARCHER
This study states the movement’s claim and identifies any Catholic doctrine, biblical text or sacramental form that it still uses. It then tests the point of departure, chronology, authority claim and contradiction with the apostolic rule of faith. The survival of a Catholic element does not justify the separation or the errors joined to it.
1 · UNDERSTAND
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
2 · WHY IT MATTERS
The dispute reaches the identity of God, the divinity of Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation and the credibility of a modern governing authority.
3 · WHERE THE EVIDENCE LEADS
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
READ IN THIS ORDER
This optional layer verifies the conclusion instead of merely repeating it. It identifies the controlling terms, dates the decisive witnesses, links the primary texts and states which premise the strongest contrary case must deny.
TERMS AND SCOPE
A mystery exceeds created comprehension while remaining coherent; contradiction affirms and denies the same predicate in the same respect. In Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the distinction governs how the following evidence is read: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Open Key terms in ordinary languageCHRONOLOGICAL CONTROL
Keep the published sequence distinct: Russell’s Bible Student chronology, the expectations attached to 1914 and other dates, Rutherford’s organisational and doctrinal changes, later revisions of the “generation” and Governing Body claims, and the current official formulation. Earlier publications must not be read through later corrections as though they had said the same thing.
Open What happened, in chronological orderPRIMARY EVIDENCE
For Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the source sequence beginning with Who Is Jesus Christ? states both documentary use and evidential limit.
STRONGEST CONTRARY CASE
The replies on Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son return each inference to Who Is Jesus Christ? and to a specific evidential control: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
Open The strongest replies considered fairlyDegree of certainty. Dates, texts and institutional acts are judged with historical or documentary certainty. Once the relevant Catholic doctrine is established from Scripture, Tradition and the Church’s judgement, a contradictory proposition is false; conjectures about private motives receive no such certainty.
Start with the claim
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The main first-party source is Who Is Jesus Christ? (current edition), especially pre-human Michael and created Son. It is read in its own historical setting before later interpretations are considered.
Does the proposed language preserve the one divine essence together with the real and eternal distinction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit? The decisive documentary datum is this: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
Watchtower teaching is dated because formulations and organizational claims change. Current jw.org explanations are read beside archived publications, the New World Translation and the historical chronology of the Bible Student movement. Begin with this concrete point: The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
The comparison begins with Who Is Jesus Christ? (current edition), especially pre-human Michael and created Son, and tests it against Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (325 / 381). Each source is weighed according to its genre, date and authority.
The documentary comparison turns on ‘person from essence’ and ‘generation from creation’. Begin with the exact proposition and earliest secure witness, then identify the claimed authority and the consequence for creed, worship, sacrament or communion.
Both explanations must account for the same public evidence. Catholic continuity must be documented rather than presumed, and the alternative must explain the same public apostolic evidence. The first practical task is to collect the full scriptural predication rather than isolated proof texts.
The central question
The dispute turns in part on the distinction between mission from inferiority and mystery from contradiction. Without that distinction, a real datum can be made to support conclusions that do not actually follow from it: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
A coherent account must explain Who Is Jesus Christ?, Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the relevant scriptural passages by the same evidentiary rule; it may not change that rule when the conclusion becomes difficult.
The central question is: Does the proposed language preserve the one divine essence together with the real and eternal distinction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit? The question is sharpened by an established datum: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
The opposing position usually seeks to protect monotheism by reducing personal distinction, generation, consubstantiality or the Spirit’s divine agency. That claim should first be tested in Who Is Jesus Christ?, not in a hostile summary or an anonymous internet claim.
Plain language
A mystery exceeds created comprehension while remaining coherent; contradiction affirms and denies the same predicate in the same respect. In Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the distinction governs how the following evidence is read: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Tested against Who Is Jesus Christ?.
Essence answers what God is; person answers who subsists in the one divine nature. Distinguishing them avoids both tritheism and the collapse of Father, Son and Spirit into modes. In Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the distinction governs how the following evidence is read: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively.
Tested against Who Is Jesus Christ?.
The Son is eternally begotten from the Father’s own being, not made from nothing as creatures are. Biblical sonship cannot be reduced to the status of the highest created agent. In Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the distinction governs how the following evidence is read: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
Tested against Who Is Jesus Christ?.
The Son’s obedience and the Spirit’s mission describe the economy of salvation and relations of origin; they do not imply a lesser divine nature. In Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the distinction governs how the following evidence is read: The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
Tested against Who Is Jesus Christ?.
Why it can appeal
In Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the countercase protects a real good within Jehovah's Witnesses: Authority, Prophecy and Christology: The strongest Witness case presents the organization as a restored, disciplined and globally united community that uses the divine name, rejects later creeds and expects God’s kingdom to replace the present order. Its strongest factual premise in this study is therefore stated without ridicule: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
The first documentary anchor is Who Is Jesus Christ? Its significance in this study is: The exact Watchtower Christology in its own public explanation. A fair treatment reads the relevant wording at pre-human Michael and created Son, identifies who issued it and when, and then asks whether the authority or interpretation claimed for it is independently authenticated.
The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively. The question is whether that datum proves the larger counterclaim: The opposing position usually seeks to protect monotheism by reducing personal distinction, generation, consubstantiality or the Spirit’s divine agency.
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed operates at a different evidential level. It may establish a doctrinal boundary, wording, reception or later judgement, but it cannot by itself settle every causal reconstruction attached to Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son. Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
Collect the full scriptural predication rather than isolated proof texts; an isolated verse, scandal or abuse cannot carry the whole conclusion.
Chronology
Who Is Jesus Christ? (current edition), especially pre-human Michael and created Son, supplies the first documentary layer selected for analysis. At this level it establishes the following datum: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (325 / 381) provides the second control. Read beside Who Is Jesus Christ?, it tests whether later language clarifies, corrects or reverses the principle already in evidence. The relevant datum is: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively.
A third documentary checkpoint is What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe? (current online edition), especially official belief summaries and linked FAQs. Its relevance is direct: A current first-party account of Watchtower doctrine and practice. The source is used as a comparative control, not as a substitute for first-party evidence.
The relevant historical frame is 1870s to present · Bible Student and Watchtower development. The sequence keeps Who Is Jesus Christ? (current edition), Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (325 / 381) and What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe? (current online edition) distinct. This prevents a later denominational or doctrinal system from being projected backward before its constitutive claims existed.
Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
1870s to present · Bible Student and Watchtower development
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Source control
The exact Watchtower Christology in its own public explanation.
Reception control
The normative conciliar confession of consubstantial Son and life-giving Spirit.
Documentary evidence
For Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, the source sequence beginning with Who Is Jesus Christ? states both documentary use and evidential limit.
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society · pre-human Michael and created Son
The exact Watchtower Christology in its own public explanation.
Use in this study. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. In the argument over Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, this datum is compared with the other primary anchors rather than treated as a self-interpreting verdict.
Limit. It establishes the wording and authority claimed by Who Is Jesus Christ?; it does not automatically establish the later historical reconstruction applied to Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son.
Open exact source or internal reader routeNicaea I and Constantinople I · creed and doctrinal canons
The normative conciliar confession of consubstantial Son and life-giving Spirit.
Use in this study. The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively. In the argument over Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, this datum is compared with the other primary anchors rather than treated as a self-interpreting verdict.
Limit. Its evidential force is documentary rather than magical: Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed must still be compared with chronology, genre and contrary witnesses before it can decide Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son.
Open exact source or internal reader routeWatch Tower Bible and Tract Society · official belief summaries and linked FAQs
A current first-party account of Watchtower doctrine and practice.
Use in this study. Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit. In the argument over Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, this datum is compared with the other primary anchors rather than treated as a self-interpreting verdict.
Limit. The source can show what Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society taught or remembered, but the truth and apostolic origin of that teaching remain the question under examination in Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son.
Open exact source or internal reader routeWatch Tower Bible and Tract Society · John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1; Revelation 7
The movement’s translation and notes must be examined directly in contested Christological and eschatological passages.
Use in this study. The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person. In the argument over Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, this datum is compared with the other primary anchors rather than treated as a self-interpreting verdict.
Limit. This witness from Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society prevents caricature; it remains insufficient by itself because the resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person. and a first-party claim cannot authenticate the authority on which its own system depends in Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son.
Open exact source or internal reader routeApostles and presbyters at Jerusalem · Acts 15
The apostolic pattern joins debate, testimony, authoritative judgement and a binding letter.
Use in this study. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. In the argument over Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, this datum is compared with the other primary anchors rather than treated as a self-interpreting verdict.
Limit. The document fixes one layer of Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son, namely the datum that jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. It must not be made to prove every later interpretation, nor may its inconvenient wording be replaced by a smoother summary of Acts and Decree of the Council of Jerusalem.
Open exact source or internal reader routeThe biblical test
Baptism is commanded in the one name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, while the risen Christ claims universal authority and enduring presence. The triadic formula belongs to Christian initiation before later conciliar vocabulary. Application to Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
John distinguishes the Word from God and identifies the Word as God, creator and incarnate revealer. Any Christology must preserve both personal distinction and the uncreated divine predicates of the Logos. Application to Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively.
The Son is addressed as God, described as creator and bearer of the divine glory, and contrasted with angels as belonging to a different order. Textual details must be read within that cumulative argument. Application to Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
What Christianity must preserve
Nicene doctrine is not a fourth-century replacement of Scripture but a grammatical boundary drawn from baptism, worship and the canonical pattern: the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit acts and is glorified as God, yet God is one. Its relevance to Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son begins with this concrete datum: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
First, the Catholic answer preserves this truth: Collect the full scriptural predication rather than isolated proof texts. This receives what is true without treating the claim as a new rule of faith: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively.
Second, the evidence also requires this distinction: Distinguish person from essence. Applied here, it clarifies both the force and the limits of this evidence: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
The distinction between person from essence and generation from creation keeps the synthesis from collapsing into institutional triumphalism on one side or doctrinal relativism on the other. The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
Who Is Jesus Christ? and Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed are read together because they perform different tasks. One fixes a disputed claim or historical witness; the other supplies a doctrinal, scriptural or conciliar cross-check. Neither is permitted to authenticate itself by circular appeal.
Where the evidence leads
Begin with the strongest form of the alternative claim: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively.
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
Questions answered
The replies on Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son return each inference to Who Is Jesus Christ? and to a specific evidential control: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
Biblical monotheism excludes multiple independent gods, while the same canon distinguishes Father, Son and Spirit and assigns divine names, works and worship. Nicene grammar states the coherent relation of those data.
Applied to this study. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Documentary control. The wording is checked against Who Is Jesus Christ?, especially pre-human Michael and created Son.
Comprehension of the infinite divine essence is not required for coherent knowledge. Mystery exceeds exhaustive grasp; it does not affirm three persons and one person in the same respect.
Applied to this study. The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively.
Documentary control. The wording is checked against Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, especially creed and doctrinal canons.
The creeds are tested by the Bible’s whole predication, while Watchtower renderings and created-Son theology must meet the same test. Simplicity is not secured by omitting texts that strain the system.
Applied to this study. Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
Documentary control. The wording is checked against What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?, especially official belief summaries and linked FAQs.
Why it matters
Accepting the counterclaim in Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son changes the rule of Christian certainty. The believer must identify which later confession, council, organization or prophet may correct the previously visible Church while accounting for this evidence: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
The practical consequence is worship: whether the Father, Son and Holy Spirit confessed and adored are the one eternal God of the apostolic faith.
A second implication follows from the documentary record: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively. The conclusion therefore reaches worship, conscience, ministry or communal identity rather than remaining an abstract terminological dispute.
Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit.
Historical memory is also reorganized by the claim: The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person. The narrative used to justify rupture must therefore be calibrated rather than treating every earlier witness as either proto-denominational or wholly apostate.
No conclusion about Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son licenses contempt for persons. Objective propositions, ecclesial authority and personal culpability are distinct judgements; truthful charity requires clarity about each.
Continue carefully
The Rule of Faith: Scripture, Tradition and the Teaching Church belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: What public authority can identify the apostolic deposit, settle a binding controversy and remain accountable to the revelation it serves? This study contributes this datum: The New Testament attributes creation, worship, divine names and personal agency in ways that must be explained cumulatively. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: The New Testament never presents Scripture, apostolic preaching and ecclesial judgement as rival authorities. The same apostles preach orally, write inspired texts, appoint ministers and require communities to hold the traditions received by word or letter.
Read the related studyDevelopment of Doctrine and the Charge of Corruption belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: Does the later formulation unfold principles already present in the apostolic deposit, or does it reverse the identity of the thing previously confessed? This study contributes this datum: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: A doctrine may become explicit because controversy forces the Church to distinguish meanings that earlier worship and preaching held together without technical vocabulary.
Read the related studyThe Holy Spirit belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: Does the proposed language preserve the one divine essence together with the real and eternal distinction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit? This study contributes this datum: The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Read the related studyThe Trinity belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: Does the proposed language preserve the one divine essence together with the real and eternal distinction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit? This study contributes this datum: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person.
Read the related studyThe New World Translation belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: Which text, canon and interpretive authority are being claimed, and how is that claim historically known rather than merely assumed? This study contributes this datum: Calling Nicene doctrine pagan does not account for pre-Nicene baptismal, liturgical and martyrial confession of Father, Son and Spirit. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: The New World Translation renders several Christological texts distinctively and inserts “Jehovah” into the New Testament where extant Greek manuscripts read Lord or God.
Read the related studyArmageddon and the New Earth belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: Does the proposed account of death, judgement, resurrection and final communion fit the whole biblical and apostolic witness? This study contributes this datum: The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: Jehovah’s Witness teaching presents Armageddon as God’s imminent destruction of the present wicked system, followed by an earthly paradise under the heavenly Kingdom.
Read the related studyFailed Predictions and Doctrinal Revision belongs beside Christ, Michael and the Claim of a Created Son because it tests the connected question: Does the proposed chronology follow from the primary data, and what happens to the authority claim when the predicted event is not publicly observable? This study contributes this datum: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The related study adds a distinct documentary control: Watchtower history includes changing expectations connected with 1914, 1918, 1925 and the generation associated with 1914, though the degree of explicitness differs by publication.
Read the related studyThe main Jehovah's Witnesses: Authority, Prophecy and Christology hub supplies the timeline, searchable dashboard and the remaining dossiers. For a complete judgement, compare this study with the cross-cutting treatments of the rule of faith, indefectibility and doctrinal development, because those questions determine how continuity and rupture are judged.
The evidence supports a calibrated conclusion: Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person. That conclusion judges propositions, sources and authority claims; it does not pretend to measure the personal culpability of individual believers.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR SEARCH
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, identify the prehuman Christ with Michael and describe the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a divine person. The resurrection question is equally central: apostolic proclamation concerns the same Jesus raised bodily, transformed but not replaced by a recreated spirit person.
This judgement concerns propositions and evidence, not the human worth of every person who holds them. Truth, personal culpability and pastoral charity must be distinguished without treating contradictory claims as equally true.