Jehovah’s Witnesses

A couple times a month, JW’s come to visit the industrial estate where I work. They’re always welcoming and we always have a healthy debate, but everytime I ask the question why they don’t believe Jesus is God they stop talking and direct me to their website.
I can’t understand how someone who reads the same scriptures that we do, does not believe that Jesus is Lord? Or are they reading different scripture? As they’re trying to convert me, I offer counterpoints to make them think about what they believe. I’m not bashing JW’s. I just can’t fathom how you can read the same book, but come to a different conclusion of who/what God is. Thoughts?

My previous landlord was a JW and would do the exact same thing. He would say he cares for me and does not want to see me going down the wrong path. Then he would say that the born again's bible removed the word Jehova. He also does not believe in hell and after the tribulation we will all live on the new earth and resume where Adam and Eve were before they sinned. Surprisingly they believe in the seven year tribulation and that we are so so close to it.

They're deceived, that's all there is to it really. All you can do is lovingly not buy what they're selling and maybe God will lead them to the truth eventually; He's the only one who can. Arguing and debating with someone who is in the depths of deception is a fruitless and thankless task.

Yeh, they’re real nice people when you speak to them but as soon as you have a few questions they kind of back off. Their beliefs baffle me and I’m quite saddened by it really, that they don’t see Jesus the way we do!

Yeh false doctrine is strong with them. I can feel it when talking to them, they’re fully deceived but it saddens me how you can be so close yet so far!

Hi Samuel94- Last JW I spoke with pointed out scripture in her "bible", I pointed out her "bible" hadn't been created when Charles Taze Russell created the JW's.
Anymore, when mormon's or jw's encounter me Holy Spirit manifests palpably and I can them teach them truth.
The last mormon team that stopped, the elder was training a younger, Holy Spirit manifested and I was able to teach them truth, the young was was very receptive especially when I explained there is no "the one true church" as they teach, the ecclesia is the body of believers and we were always intended to experience God, NOT just talk about Him.
They don't stop and talk to me anymore, lol!

JWs have been indoctrinated into their false beliefs and it is a total waste of time to get into discussions with them. They have even changed their New World Translation to make Jesus into "a god" (John 1:1) and also altered other passages.

If He leads me to encounter a jw, I must seek His guidance in how to minister.

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For a home-spun, Bible-based religion whose origin is relatively recent, the
Watchtower Society has done pretty well for itself. Beginning with one man
shortly after the American Civil War, it currently numbers approximately 8.7
million evangelical members spread out in approximately 118,000
congregations worldwide. The grand total-- evangelicals and non
evangelicals --is estimated to be something like 20 million.

My first encounter with a Watchtower Society agent (a.k.a. Jehovah's
Witness) occurred in 1969. At the time I was young and inexperienced; and
thus assumed that the missionary coming down my dad's driveway was a
typical Christian.

But when I talked this over with an elder; he became alarmed; and urged
me to read a little book titled "30 Years A Watchtower Slave" by William J.
Schnell; whom the Society at one time demonized as an agent of Satan. I
would not be surprised if it still does.

After getting my eyes opened by Mr. Schnell's book, I was afterwards
steered towards another book titled "Kingdom Of The Cults" by Walter
Martin. No doubt the Society demonizes Mr. Martin too.

Around late 1980, my wife and I attended a series of lectures sponsored by
a local church titled "How To Witness To Jehovah's Witnesses". The speaker
(call him Pete) was an ex JW who had been in the Watchtower Society
system for near three decades before terminating his involvement; so he
knew the twists and turns of its doctrines pretty good.

Pete didn't train us to hammer the Society's missionaries in a debate
because even if you best them scripture for scripture, they will not give up
on the Society. Their mind's unflinching premise is that the Society is right
even when it appears to be totally wrong. They are thoroughly convinced
that the Society is the voice of God, while your voice has no more validity
than that of a squeaky little gerbil.

Later on, I read a book titled "Why I Left The Jehovah's Witnesses" by Ted
Dencher. I also read the Society's little brown book titled "Reasoning From
The Scriptures".

(This was all before the internet and the ready volume of information
available online, e.g. YouTube.)

From all that vetting, study, and training I quickly discovered that although
the Watchtower Society uses many of Christianity's standard terms and
phrases, those terms and phrases mean something entirely different in the
JW mind than what you'd expect because the Society has re-defined the
meanings of those terminologies.

So your first challenge with Jehovah's Witness teachings is to scale the
language barrier. That by itself is an Herculean task because you'll not only
be up against a tangle of semantics, but also a Jumanji of twisted scriptures,
double speak, humanistic reasoning, rationalizing, and clever sophistry.
_

So it’s almost like a cult, basically?

Yeh haha, don’t get me wrong it’s not like we’re angry at each other when debating. They’re very calm people, but I can see when I talk to them they’re not hearing me. They just want to give me a leaflet and move on.

They have their own perverted version of the scriptures.

I used to hang out in an area near my local library early in the morning to piggyback on their Wi-Fi. One morning this woman comes up to me from a building next door and said she'd seen me hanging out and wanted to talk. She started giving me a bunch of JW nonsense and I politely told her I didn't believe JW teaching. I tried to be cordial, asked her about herself and we talked for a bit. After that I quite hanging out in that spot for quite awhile. The next time I saw her she wouldn't even speak to me! She had an angry look on her face and just kept on walking. I don't know if she was mad because I didn't buy her JW stuff of because I left and she had no one to preach to. LOL

Im always amazed when a cult or sect arises and makes claims and assertions that never were anybpart of church teaching, they claim all the church through out history is wrong and they are right. As if the the church vanished from earth in the first or second century but is now back due to this new prophet. Its absurdity. JWs are proof for the Dunning Krueger affect and its accuracy.

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With Passover on the horizon, this is an opportune moment to discuss the
Watchtower Society's version of Jesus' resurrection.

Were John Que and/or Jane Doe Watchtower Society missionary to be
questioned if they believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, I can assure
you they would answer in the affirmative. However, they and the interviewer
wouldn't be speaking the same language as the conversation would be
talking about two very different processes that go by the same name. In
other words: the interviewer would soon find themselves thrown off by
semantic double speak.

In Watchtower Society theology, an angel named Michael volunteered to
come to the earth to die for humanity's sins. But in order to do so; he had to
relinquish his angel existence to become a human existence seeing as how
in Society theology it is impossible to exist as a spirit being and a material
being simultaneously. However, when Michael expired, he didn't go completely
out of existence. Instead, his so-called "life force" remained intact and was
transferred to a human form.

"the transferal of the life of his firstborn Son from the spirit realm to earth.
Only in this way could the child eventually born have retained identity as the
same person who had resided in heaven as the Word." (Aid to Bible Understanding,
1971, p.920)

"He had to become a perfect man and yet not lose his continuity of life. His
life-force was not to be extinguished but would be transferred to the ovum
of the virgin girl, Mary." (Watchtower magazine, 2-15-82, p.7)

But Michael's existence as a material being was only temporary. When his
human form passed away on the cross, the Society claims that God
transferred Michael's life force back into his angel corpse thus restoring him
to his former spirit existence; leaving the corpse of his human existence in a
permanent state of decease.

In other words: The Watchtower Society's Jesus is still dead, and his
remains are squirreled away on Earth somewhere in a condition and a
location known only to God.

Jesus' remains pose a difficulty for the Watchtower Society. In order to
confirm that his crucified dead body stayed dead, the Society is going to
have produce it. A piece of evidence of that significance can't be allowed to
just slip through a crack unnoticed as if it makes no difference. As Carl
Sagan once said: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Till
then, we should reckon that when the Bible speaks of Jesus Christ's
resurrection, it's talking about a human's corpse rather than an angel's.

FAQ: What about Jesus' post resurrection appearances?

REPLY: Those weren't really Jesus. The Society would have us believe they
were Michael disguised in a materialized body, i.e. an avatar. I used the
word "disguised" because never once did their Michael give himself away to
his friends, rather, he let them all believe the real Jesus was back from the
grave.
_

Hey Samuel

JW's actually do not read the scriptures as Christians read them. The reason for that is that JW's have their own translation (done by people who do not have the credentials to translate) and that version is what they follow. That version and their very own very special book that is just as important. Their translation is called 'The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures'

This actually clears things up. Thanks a lot

Glad I could help and by the way, you can find out all about the translation online. I once worked with a JW and it was interesting to say the least.

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● John 3:5-6 . . . Jesus answered: Most truly I say to you: Unless anyone is
born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Some years ago I asked an experienced Jehovah's Witness if he was born of
the spirit. He answered no, he did not expect to undergo the spirit birth in
either this life or the next because that's for folks bound for Heaven. His
hope is down here in a kingdom on the Earth.

My friend was somehow unaware that nothing Jesus discussed with
Nicodemus was related to Heaven.

● John 3:12 . . . If I have told you earthly things and yet you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

In other words: the kingdom of God, to which Jesus related the spirit birth,
will be on Earth rather than up in Heaven.

It's both tragic and ironic that the Watchtower Society's door to door
missionaries go worldwide advertising a kingdom that they themselves will
never be allowed to enter: not because they didn't work hard enough to
deserve it, but simply because they were led to believe themselves exempt
from the spirit-birth requirement.
_

They don't read the same Scriptures you do... they have their own version (NWT).

Example: John 1:1

This verse in the NWT 2013 reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”

Our Bibles do not say that...


John 1:1 + 14a