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You are going to need a lot of patience whenever you witness to a Jehovah’s Witness. Whenever you ask one of them a question, he will give a lot of explanations--as if you do not know anything about the Bible--and this will take a long time. It can be tiring to have to listen so much, but it is important to listen well, because Jehovah’s Witnesses will very often contradict themselves and you can point this out later to your advantage. Also, when you ask a question for which they don’t know the answer, they will often begin a long explanation about another subject. When this happens, remember your question. When they get finished with this long explanation about something you are not talking about, go back to the original question and ask it again. Do not pick up on something you are not discussing and go "chasing rabbits."
Remember that you are not only dealing with a Jehovah’s Witness but the Lord will be dealing with you, and He is able to teach you many things. You are going to need patience—to be longsuffering, kind, gentle, loving--and should spend a lot of time in prayer. At first your two main goals are (1) to build a friendly working relationship; there are no shortcuts, and this will take time. (2) To cause them to think, by asking thought-provoking questions which they are not used to being asked. (This booklet is filled with such questions.)
The full text of this book is available for download as a pdf file:
Response To "What Does The Bible Really Teach?"
What follows below is an introductory summary of each chapter.
Introduction
Is This What God Purposed?
It is very important that you do not fall into the trap that is presented at the top of page 7 in the Introduction of their book. The usual procedure used when you are studying with a Jehovah’s Witness is for them to read a paragraph or two (sometimes they will request you to read) and then ask you the questions at the bottom of the page. They expect you to repeat a portion of what they or you have just read. A simple example of what they are doing is: You have just read, "Jack is a big black dog." Question: "What is Jack?" Of course, the answer is "A dog." Next question: "What is the dog’s name?" Answer, "Jack." Question: "What color is the dog?" Answer, "Black." Question: "What is his size?" Answer, "He is big." The questions in the Watchtower book are designed to get you to repeat what has been stated there--as if it is true. You are not to discuss anything to see if the material that is presented is accurate or not. You are just to accept it. You do not want to study with them in this way. Often they are very insistent, but don’t give in to them. You can explain to them that you like to think about things before you answer so you will read the material before the study and come up with your own questions.
They will often say, "But this is the way we always do it." You can give them a surprised look and say, "God has made all of the billions of people on this earth different and your organization wants to treat everyone the same way? Some people learn better by using one process and others learn better using another process! Is this the common practice of the Watchtower Society, to treat everyone alike and not as individuals?" Be polite, but stick to your guns. Since the Witnesses are anxious to conduct "book studies" they will usually go along with you.
Chapter One
What Is the Truth About God?
Pages 8 & 9 of this Watchtower book explain how children ask questions and declare that it is good for them to keep asking until they get an understandable answer. At this point, you can explain that you have many questions and want to get a promise out of them that they will answer your questions in a way that you can understand. This is very important, because later on you will be asking many questions that they do not have an answer to or ones that they don’t want to answer early in your studies. Usually the questions that Christians and others ask are standardized, and the Witness will have an answer for them. Jehovah’s Witnesses spend one hour every week learning how to answer these standard questions through mock conversations. But they are not prepared to answer thought-provoking questions that are not on the list. They will either get you some printed material from a Watchtower publication (which might discuss the issue you brought up but does not really give a good answer) or else they want to "shelve" the question, which they never come back to on their own. Thus, before they know where you are coming from, it is good to get from them a commitment to answer questions in the manor that this publication says is a good thing to do, as stated above.
Chapter Two
The Bible—A Book From God
Generally, what is presented in this chapter about the Bible is rather accurate. However, even if it might sound good on the surface, you need to understand what it comes out to in reality. While the Watchtower Society claims to believe all the Bible and that it is the inspired Word of God, yet it still teaches that the whole Bible was written only for the 144,000, referred to as the "anointed," so it does not believe the Bible can be read and understood by the average person. The Society continually quotes the conversation between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch to try to prove that the Bible must be interpreted. Acts 8:30-31 reads, "Philip ran alongside and heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet, and he said: ‘Do you actually know what you are reading?’ He said: ‘Really, how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?’ And he entreated Philip to get on and sit down with him" (NWT). Of course, the Society ignores the promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us into truth as found in John 14:26.
Chapter Three
What Is God’s Purpose for the Earth?
Your main purpose in going through Chapter 3 is to ask thought-provoking questions about the building of the new earth, so it is best to skip over most of what is written there.
Usually most Jehovah’s Witnesses have not wrestled with any of the details of the process of getting from where we are in this present world to where the new earth becomes a paradise—as has been promised by the Watchtower Society in writing accompanied by many Disney Land-like pictures. 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Revelation 2:7 and 22:2 teach that "paradise" and "heaven" are the same. The Society admits these verses teach "a heavenly paradise" but says the reference to "paradise" in Luke 23:43 refers to the later conditions on earth during the Millennium. It is obvious that at the beginning of the new earth conditions will not be paradise-like since the world system will have been completely destroyed at Armageddon. So paradise, according to the Watchtower Society, will not occur until after maybe six or seven hundred years of hard manual labor building it. This is what a Witness admitted to me once after I went through the questions I have presented below.
I am not endorsing the Watchtower Society’s teaching about the new earth. Rather, I am suggesting that you ask these questions to make the Witness think about the long process if what the Society teaches is true.
Chapter Four
Who Is Jesus Christ?
As can be expected, the teaching about Christ in this chapter is greatly perverted because the Watchtower Society refuses to give Jesus Christ the same place the Bible gives Him. (Philippians 2:9-11. He is worthy of worship.) While saying it believes in Jesus Christ, the Society goes to great length to dethrone Him from His appropriate position in the Godhead. It makes vague statements but never explains them. It does not come out clearly and present its beliefs, but covers them up in a lot of "double-talk." For instance, it believes that Jesus Christ was only a man and that when He died and went into the grave He was annihilated? meaning the physical body disintegrated and went back into the elements or gasses, never to appear again as a human. When it speaks of Jesus’ resurrection, it teaches that Michael the archangel was re-created three days after the death of Jesus. To cover this up, it says that Jesus was raised as "a spirit." But in this chapter it does not even hint at its true belief about Michael, so a person who is unaware would think it believes that Jesus actually rose from the grave. For this reason, you will have to ask many questions to get the Jehovah’s Witness you are talking with to explain what the Watchtower Society actually teaches. This will be hard, but be patient and persistent.
In this chapter it says that Jesus Christ is the "Messiah" and that He fulfilled prophecy. Born-again, Bible-believing Christians do not have any problem with this. However, we do not agree with the Watchtower Society as to what the Messiah actually did. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the primary purpose for Jesus coming to earth was to "glorify the Father by remaining faithful unto death." It states that Adam proved "unfaithful" while Jesus proved "faithful." On the other hand, true Christians believe that Jesus came for the purpose of dying on the tree in order to shed His blood for our personal sins, and all who confess their sins and accept Christ are born into the family of God. The Society teaches that one must come to the Watchtower Society in order to gain salvation in the future. The Watchtower, November 15, 1981, page 21 states, "Come to Jehovah’s organization for salvation."
Chapter Five
The Ransom—God’s Great Gift
People need to be aware that the Watchtower Society uses the same Biblical words and expressions in its publications as evangelical Christians do, but with entirely different meanings. Otherwise, people might come to the conclusion after reading this chapter that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are just another branch of Christianity. But this is not the case. The Society couches its true teachings in a very obscure manner on purpose, in order to deceive. You cannot truly understand what is written in this chapter of their book if you take it at face value. You need to understand what this deceitful book is really saying.
Let me state what the Watchtower Society teaches about the "ransom." It believes that Jesus Christ died for only the sins that we inherited in Adam. Because of the sinful act of Adam, mankind lost physical life in a paradise here on earth. It believes that Jesus Christ, just as a perfect man, died to pay for the sin of Adam. As an unconditional result just about everyone—except Adam and Eve, the people in the days of Noah and maybe the people in Sodom and Gomorrah and a few others—all individuals who lived and died before 1914 (I will explain later) will be resurrected onto the new earth during the Millennium and then given a fresh start with the possibility of meriting everlasting life at the end of the 1000 years. This will happen by their passing the final test—by remaining faithful to Jehovah when Satan is re-created at the end of the Millennium and goes forth to try to get people to follow him. No Jehovah’s Witness has the assurance that he or she will pass this final test. The Society believes that many will fail, so instead of obtaining everlasting life the Witness will be eternally annihilated. It does not take a particular kind of faith in Jesus Christ to be resurrected onto the new earth.
But this "ransom" only applies to those who died before October 1, 1914 and is no longer valid today. The Society claims that in 1914 Christ began to reign in heaven and since that time the Jehovah’s Witnesses have proclaimed their message all over the world, so now only those who respond and are faithful Witnesses—meaning, are in good standing with the Watchtower Society at the time of their death? will be resurrected and go onto the new earth along with the other Witnesses who survive Armageddon. In other words, the Watchtower now claims to be doing what Christ was supposed to have accomplished for mankind from the time of Adam until October 1, 1914.
The Society teaches that at the end of the Millennium some people will merit and receive eternal life; however, this has nothing to do with the death of Jesus Christ, but is the result of their response to Jehovah’s new teachings during the Millennium. The Society derives this idea from Revelation 20:12, where we read, "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds." These scrolls will be opened during (not after, like the Bible teaches) Christ’s 1000-year reign, and they contain new rules and regulations which one must live by in order to merit everlasting life. Apparently the people who do not respond to these new teachings and regulations after a long education process will be annihilated sometime before the end of the Millennium and will not be around when the final test is given!
Chapter Six
Where Are the Dead?
Since the Watchtower Society does not believe in the Biblical teaching that humans have an eternal soul which separates from the body at the time of physical death and then exists in heaven or hell, it has to use a lot of double-talk to try to justify its belief? that man does not possess an eternal soul, and that when a person dies there is nothing conscious that continues to exist. The Watchtower Society’s false teaching that "hell" is "the common grave of mankind" is the very foundation for all the rest of its false teachings. This belief has a domino effect. If man is not basically sinful (which is what the Society believes) so that the unrepentant do not deserve any punishment in the hereafter, then man can make himself acceptable through his own merits by following the instructions of the Watchtower Society. Thus man does not need a Divine Savior who is very God. There goes the Deity of Christ! All man needs is a "little help"--so Jesus as a "perfect man" set an example for us to follow, and His death gives just about everyone a second chance on the new earth to possibly merit eternal life. If man is not basically sinful, then he does not need the Holy Spirit to work sanctification, thus the Holy Spirit is reduced to "an influence." The Society has a group of men in Brooklyn, NY, at its headquarters who think they know what the Bible teaches. No need of the Holy Spirit to lead us into the truth of the Bible.
Many unresolved problems arise out of its teaching that man does not have a soul that is separate from the human body at death, and one of these is in what form are the 144,000 when they go to heaven--since the Society teaches that physical bodies cannot go to heaven. The Society states that the 144,000 in heaven are "spirit beings." But since the Society teaches that man is only body and spirit, which is the breath that keeps the body alive, and nothing continues to exist when the body goes into the grave, then there is absolutely nothing available for the 144,000 to exist in heaven. The Society is very evasive and unclear as to what it actually believes, so you can use questions from this chapter to point up this problem and hopefully get the Witness to admit this problem and see the contradictory teachings of the Society.
In this chapter it is best to stick to some main questions and not spend a lot of time on issues that are not important.
Chapter Seven
Real Hope for Your Loved Ones Who Have Died
Much of the material in this chapter has already been discussed in the previous chapters. If you did not receive satisfactory answers before, you should now repeat some of the questions as they come up in this chapter. You will find that you often have to ask the same questions over and over. There don’t seem to be any short cuts.
Chapter Eight
What Is God’s Kingdom?
Much of what is written in this chapter you will not have to discuss in detail because most Christians believe in a Kingdom in which Christ will rule over the earth for 1000 years and at the end Satan will be defeated. However, the major difference between Bible-believing Christians and the Jehovah’s Witnesses is "who" reigns over this Kingdom. Christians believe that it is the resurrected Christ, who is both man and God, who reigns over the Millennial Kingdom. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that it is Michael the archangel (though they never clearly state this), who was re-created three days after the death of Jesus, and that along with 144,000 assistants he will rule over this Kingdom. But the Society is very deceptive in the way it presents this material, so you will need to be on your guard and probe deeply to understand what the Society really believes. A number of the following questions are designed to uncover this deception and make the Witness think. Maybe the one you are speaking with is not aware of this deception.
Chapter Nine
Are We Living in "the Last Days"?
For over one hundred years the Watchtower Society has been telling people that we are living in "the last days" and that Armageddon is "just round the corner." But for some reason we never come to that corner. To most of the following questions you will not receive a very satisfactory answer. However, the purpose of the questions is to make the Witness think.
Chapter Ten
Spirit Creatures—How They Affect Us
There is not much in this chapter that needs to be discussed because Christians also believe in wicked spirits and condemn fortune telling and spiritism. But there is a difference. Because the Jehovah’s Witnesses have never been born into the family of God they do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them to give them the power to resist Satan and the evil spirits. Witnesses have a tremendous fear of Satan and demons. They are taught to believe that demons are just around every corner waiting to possess them, and if they dare to enter a Christian church Satan is waiting over the entrance and will pounce on them and they will become "demon possessed."
Witnesses will not buy any clothing, a bust of a musician, books, etc., at a yard sale because they might have demons connected with them, and if they took them home these demons could have an evil influence in the home.
Chapter Eleven
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
In the beliefs of the Watchtower Society, Satan has a much more important part than God or Jesus Christ. The Society teaches that the Father has been resting for the past 6000 years and will continue to do so for at least another thousand years. Even though Christ (actually Michael, according to the Watchtower Society) was supposed to have begun to reign in 1914, his present rule is only in heaven? but Satan still has a compete run of this earth. On page 108, paragraph 6, lines 6-7, we read, "The real ruler of this world is Satan the Devil." The Society teaches that Satan is in control of everything, even the weather and anything connected with it, and that he has a free hand to work out his schemes in any way he wishes. The Watchtower Society teaches that the history of mankind will only last for 7000 years until the eternal state occurs. During this time, the Father is resting and has nothing to do with the earth. Jesus Christ will rule for only 1000 years, but Satan gets to rule unhindered for 6000 years. Strange teaching indeed!
There is little that needs to be discussed in this chapter. I know I have mentioned the disfellowshipping policy of the Watchtower Society before, but I think it is a good place to bring it up again.
Chapter Twelve
Living in a Way That Pleases God
The advice given in this chapter about living a godly life is good; however, Witnesses do not live this kind of life. It takes more than "morality" to be in a right relationship with God. Sometimes a person is able to make him- or herself moral and look good on the outside in public, but only God can change the heart through the new birth. Jehovah’s Witnesses have never had this personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Many of them labor under severe guilt because they know they are not able to live up to the standards set forth by the Society. But while "mouthing" high moral standards, Witnesses violate many of the principles set forth by the Society.
For instance, on page 122 it speaks about "sexual immorality." There is a large problem of child molesting among the Witnesses. A group of ex-Witnesses has revealed this information.
Chapter Thirteen
A Godly View of Life
The main purpose of this chapter is to present the Watchtower Society’s belief that blood transfusions are forbidden by the Bible. I have done a lot of research and believe that a very conservative estimate is that at least 200,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses have died because they refused a blood transfusion since it became a disfellowshipping policy in 1961. A large number of these casualties were children, who had no say in the decision made by their parents.
When the Society first came out against blood transfusions, in 1945, it declared that God forbade not only whole blood but also any parts of blood. Here is a quote proving the above statement. It is found in the February 15, 1963 Watchtower, on page 24: "If the answer is ‘Blood,’ he knows what course to take, for it is not just whole blood but anything that is derived from blood and used to sustain life or strengthen one that comes under this principle." But in spite of what is clearly stated here, gradually this policy has been changed so that about half of the components of blood are now acceptable and half must be refused. The following parts of blood can be accepted: (1) albumin, (2) immune globulins, (3) Factor VIII, (4) Factor IX, and (5) circulating blood. The following must be refused: (1) plasma, (2) red cells, (3) white cells, (4) platelets, and (5) stored blood. There is one major problem here. In order to recover the "acceptable" parts of blood the blood must be stored outside the body, and storing blood outside the body is forbidden!
Chapter Fourteen
How to Make Your Family Life Happy
The advice given in this chapter on how to have a happy family life is good. The only trouble is that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not live like what is presented here. A person is sometimes able to make him- or herself look good on the outside in public by a lot of his or her own effort, but the inner heart has never been changed by the new birth that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Because Witnesses have never had a true conversion, they do not have the Holy Spirit to help them to overcome sin and give them true victory in their lives. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses labor under severe guilt because they know they are not able to live up to the standards promulgated by the Society.
But while "mouthing" high moral standards, the Watchtower Society itself violates the very principles it sets forth. While saying that husbands and wives should be loving and understanding, the Society itself is very controlling? with no leeway or love at all. You either submit to the rules and regulations or you are out and completely cut off from all your previous contacts! While telling husbands and wives that they should be faithful to each other, the Society has been very unfaithful to the Word of God. The more I investigate the New World Translation of the Bible put out by the Watchtower Society the more I see how it has deliberately changed the Bible in many, many places to conform to its teachings and practices. Its many publications are also very deceiving, including this book.
Chapter Fifteen
Worship That God Approves
This chapter talks about "true worship" and of course implies that only the Jehovah’s Witnesses are serving Yahweh in the proper way. However, even though they may speak about "worship," the Jehovah’s Witnesses do not set aside even one of their five meetings a week as a worship service. Hence this chapter has nothing to do with worship but is an attempt to prove that the Watchtower Society is the only religious group that is actually doing God’s will and pleasing Him.
Chapter Sixteen
Take Your Stand for True Worship
To a Jehovah’s Witness, what is written in this chapter touches on what is probably one of the most important aspects of their religion. The major problem with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, along with all the other cults and religions, is an improper view of sin. Since Witnesses do not believe that they are "big" sinners before God, they do not need a mighty Savior in the person of Jesus Christ who is both God and man. I have had several Jehovah’s Witnesses say to me, "If Jesus Christ is truly God, then the sacrifice was too great." In other words, they are not such bad sinners, who need this kind of help. It is very humbling for us to have to admit that we are such ungodly, wicked sinners that only God Almighty can solve our problem! But when people are off on their concept of sin, they will be off on all their teachings about God.
To a Jehovah’s Witness, sin is (1) observing birthdays, (2) celebrating holidays, (3) taking a blood transfusion, (4) participating in governments by voting or working in government or military offices, ( 5) saluting the flag, (6) not attending all of the five (boring) Kingdom Hall meetings a week (usually a one-hour meeting on Tuesdays, plus two one-hour meetings on Thursdays and on Sundays), and (7) not going door to door at least ten hours every month spreading the Watchtower propaganda. (Your "spirituality" is determined by how many meetings you attend, how many questions you answer at these meetings, and how many magazines you distribute when you’re out in "field service.")
Because of the above misunderstanding about sin, Witnesses are very determined in condemning birthdays and holidays in order to openly maintain their own self-righteousness. They will probably defend the practice of not observing these customs more strongly, and at a greater sacrifice of their emotions, than they do the aberrant doctrines of the Watchtower Society.
This is a very divisive chapter because of its "distinctives," so you can easily get into a heated debate. It is best not to try to argue them into disobserving or omitting these things. However, there are a number of questions you can ask that should cause them to question the Watchtower Society’s reason for shunning these civic practices. For over fifty years of its history, Witnesses actually observed the very things they condemn so strongly today.
Chapter Seventeen
Draw Close to God in Prayer
What is written in this chapter is good advice, but do not get the idea that the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs are close to those of evangelical, Bible-believing Christians. This book was written to deceive and not to present clearly what the Watchtower Society really teaches. It will use terms but does not explain how these terms are being used; this is done only later in the Society’s propaganda process. Just because a religious group speaks about God, Jesus Christ, prayer, and uses the Bible, does not mean it is truly Christian. The Watchtower Society uses the same words as Bible-believing Christians, but it has put entirely different meanings to these words. This is how this chapter must be read. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses have never been born again through faith in the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have no personal relationship with God, even though it is mentioned in this chapter. This is very clearly seen in the fact that Witnesses always address God as "Jehovah God" and not just as "Father."
In order to properly understand Watchtower articles, you frequently have to read to the very last paragraph--which is often the most important, and will actually negate all that was written before. (For instance, I read in The Watchtower magazine a five-page article on reading the Bible that was very good. But then the last paragraph stated, "But don’t let your Bible reading interfere with your reading of the wonderful material the Society has provided." In other words, the Watchtower publications are more important than the Bible. I read another article on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It sounded exactly like what evangelical Christians believe except for four words. The article spoke of the resurrection of Christ and then inserted the words "as a spirit person." This put a completely different meaning to the article since the Society does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ but in the re-creation of the "spirit person" Michael the archangel.)
Jehovah’s Witnesses do very little praying on their own. In private or public they will never mention a needy person by name. Witnesses say that this is "exalting a person," even though in public they always pray for and thank Jehovah God for the Governing Body (men) of the Watchtower Society and the wonderful publications that it produces to give them "spiritual food at the proper time."
Chapter Eighteen
Baptism and Your Relationship With God
This chapter pertains to the final step required for a person to become affiliated with the Watchtower Organization, and that is baptism. Of course, before this occurs one must be willing to follow all the requirements that will be necessary after he or she becomes a Jehovah’s Witness. Up to the time of one’s baptism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses will all be very sweet and will "love bomb" the prospective convert, but once the person has been baptized and is "hooked" into the Organization, he or she will no longer receive the personal attention that was previously shown. The person becomes just "a number" (each Jehovah’s Witness has an identity number that is used for ordering materials and when turning in reports) and now exists only for the good of the Organization.
Chapter Nineteen
Remain in God’s Love
This final chapter ends with an appeal to become associated with the Watchtower Organization so that you can go onto the new earth and possibly merit everlasting life at the very end.
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