WHAT DOES THE BIBLE Really TEACH?

Spanish version

Introduction

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.)

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

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.

At this point, it is best to just skip over what is written from the bottom of page 9 to the bottom of page 12.

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From page 12 to the middle of page 15 the book discusses the importance of using the word "Jehovah" as the name for God. Jehovah’s Witnesses put a very strong emphasis on the use of the name Jehovah. In fact, they repeat it so many times and so lightly that it is almost sickening. There is a lot of information that you can show the Witness at this time.

Question: I am rather confused as to why the Watchtower Society puts such strong emphasis on the name "Jehovah" for the name of Israel’s God when in reality it is a false rendering! If you check in just about any dictionary or encyclopedia, you will find that it is a false rendering and the correct pronunciation is "Yahweh." A few examples:

In the 1984 Watchtower brochure The DIVINE NAME That Will Endure Forever, on page 17, it states that the word "Jehovah" first appeared in A.D. 1278 and was put forth by Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk.

Furthermore, with the restoration of pure Hebrew in the 1930’s it is clearly known that the accurate pronunciation for God’s name is "Yahweh" and could not be "Jehovah."

When discussing the name "Jehovah" with a Jehovah’s Witness he or she will use two contradictory types of reasoning. The Witness may tell you that the Christians have taken God’s name out of the Bible and it is the Jehovah’s Witnesses who have put it back. But then if you show them that the word "Jehovah" is a false rendering for God’s name he or she will say, "Well the name ‘Jehovah’ is the name that most people are familiar with, so it is best to use the name that people are familiar with. Most people are not familiar with the name ‘Yahweh.’" So in one breath the Witness will say that God’s name has been deliberately taken out of the Bible and thus is an unknown name. But in the next breath they will defensively say, "The word ‘Jehovah’ is very common--which most people know--so we use the word people are familiar with." If God’s name has really been taken out of the Bible and is not in common use, then how come so many people are familiar with the name "Jehovah"?

There is another contradiction when it comes to using God’s name. When the many changes in doctrines, teachings, and practices down through the history of the Watchtower Society are pointed out to Witnesses, they will be quick to say, "At least when the Society realizes its mistakes it is willing to admit them and change." (The Watchtower Society never admits to any mistakes. It will just come out with a new teaching or say "it is up to your conscience," but it never confesses that the old teaching was wrong and apologizes for the mistake. The Society claims to be "theocratic=run by God." If this is true, then how can it make mistakes? Also, if the Society admitted to making mistakes and was truly sorry for them, it would need to make restitution. However, it has never done this.)

There is something else that is very strange along this line. In the August 8, 1998 Awake magazine, in the Spanish edition on page 15, there is a question, "What is the most accurate pronunciation for God’s name?" The answer is given on page 27, and that is "Yahweh." (This never came out in the English edition, even though the Society states that all their publications worldwide teach the same thing.) Since it is well known that the most accurate pronunciation for God’s name is "Yahweh," then why does the Watchtower Society not correct this mistake and teach people what God’s real name is if that is so important to use it all the time? How can it say it is glorifying God by using an "erroneous, made-up, false name" for God? (The Witness might try to tell you that "Yahweh" is the Hebrew pronunciation for God’s name and that "Jehovah" is the English rendering. This is not true. If they do say something like this, ask them to show you some scholar who will confirm such a statement.)

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You might want to show them that God has more than just one name. (All these quotes are taken from the NWT Bible.) Psalm 68:4 states, "As Jah, which is his name." (Jah is the first part of Yahweh.) Isaiah 57:15, "And whose name is holy." Isaiah 63:16, "Our Repurchaser [Redeemer] of long ago is your name."

Question #1: Wouldn’t it be better to teach people the proper name for God, "Yahweh," than to continue to use the erroneous pronunciation "Jehovah" even though it is more familiar? What good is it to pass on a false name simply because it has come down through years of tradition? Shouldn’t we be more interested in accuracy than in tradition?

Note: Jesus referred to the Father about 350 times. In doing so, He used the name "Yahweh" very sparingly. In the NWT (the Watchtower New World Translation) there are only twenty places recorded where Jesus used the name "Jehovah." Most of these were quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures (This is how the Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to the Old Testament.). By contrast, Jesus used the word "God" over 180 times and "Father" roughly 175 times. Never did Jesus address the Father as "Yahweh," nor did He ever tell His followers to address the Father as "Yahweh." By His example in Matthew 6:9 He taught that we should address God as "Father."

Question #2: If it is so important to continually use God’s name in Hebrew, then why did Jesus only address Him as "Father"?¾ and why did He teach His disciples to address Him as "Father"?

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At the top of page 16, paragraph 19, it asks the question: "How can you draw close to God?" One of the biggest problems a Jehovah’s Witness (or anyone else) has in coming to know Christ as his or her own personal Savior is the fact that he or she does not have a Biblical concept of sin. Jehovah’s Witnesses will pray and say, "Forgive us of our faults and mistakes." This is quite different from saying, "Lord, I am proud, self-centered, self-righteous, tell lies, have anger, jealousy, wrath in my heart. I think impure thoughts and do those things that are unpleasing to you. Please forgive me and wash my heart in the blood of Christ." Here is a good opportunity to help them realize what sin does in our relationship to God.

Question #1: What is it in man that separates him from God? (Ephesians 2:12 states that by nature we are separated from God. Try to get the Witness to name specific sins that separate us from God. Then you might add other sins, particularly inward sins, and ask what effect they have on our relationship to God.)

Question #2: I have a very serious problem here and would like to know, from the teachings of the Watchtower Society, how this problem is solved? Jesus taught that by birth and choice we are children of the Devil and he is our father. John 8:44 states, "You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father." (I have never known any parents who had to teach their children how to sin!) Since Satan is our father by nature, then he has authority over us. Acts 26:18 declares: "Turn them…from the authority of Satan." We know that Satan is very powerful and he is not going to let us get out from under his control without a struggle. But we read in Matthew 6:9 that some are able to call God "Father." Since by nature we are children of the Devil, then it seems quite obvious that there is some transaction necessary to get us out from under the dominion of Satan to the place where we can call God "Father." The Bible speaks in places of people being "born from above," "born of God," and "born again." Would you please explain to me the complete process¾ as a Jehovah’s Witness, how you got out from under the dominion of Satan and can now call God "Father"? (Jehovah’s Witnesses are never sure that they are in the family of God and will not fall back under Satan’s dominion once again. They will say they are trying their best and hope they are on the path that might lead to everlasting life, but they can never be sure. They constantly quote Matthew 10:22, "But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.")

This question is at the very crux of the gospel. You are not being argumentative, since you are asking for an answer. I have personally used this question very effectively a number of times. Once I met a Jehovah’s Witness mother with a 16-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son who were on a street corner passing out Watchtower literature. I stopped and talked to them and then asked them the above question. This is what the mother said to me: "We go from door to door and meet those ‘born-againers.’ I do not know what it means to be born again. Would you please tell me?" So for twenty minutes, very quietly and slowly, I told these three Witnesses what it means to be born again. It was then time for them to leave. I was just visiting in that city, but I am sure if I was residing there I could have made arrangements to meet again with them.

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On page 16, paragraph 19, John 17:3 is quoted. It is rendered rather differently in the NWT than in most Bibles. From it there are a number of thought-provoking questions you can ask. (You might not get a good answer, but you have been able to point out a difference in translation which might stick with them.)

Question #1: I note that John 17:3 is translated rather differently in this book. Most translations read, "This is everlasting life." This has a very clear ring of certainty to it. It indicates that eternal life is something that can be possessed with absolute assurance in this life. The rendering as written here in this book, "This means everlasting life," seems to indicate that it is a process rather than a definite act! Does the Watchtower Society teach that it is possible be 100% certain that you have everlasting life right now through faith in Jesus Christ, or is it a process that takes time and can only be obtained in the next life? (Listen carefully to what they say. It is not possible for a Jehovah’s Witness to obtain everlasting life in the present world. It is something they might "merit" on the new earth. If they are honest with you, they will have to tell you it is a "process.")

If they tell you it is not possible to be certain now, ask them to explain a few verses to you. Take them to John 10:28: "And I [Jesus] give them everlasting life, and they will by no means ever be destroyed, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." This verse states that "everlasting life" is something that is given by Jesus Christ. A person can never work for a gift, for then it is no longer a gift. Ask them to explain this verse to you. (You can point out things, but ask questions to make them think it through. Also, don’t let them go to some other verse but urge them to explain this verse.)

Next take them to John 5:24: "Most truly I say to you, He that hears my word and believes him that sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life." Here Jesus is saying that a person can have everlasting life in this present world! What does it mean when it says, "He does not come into judgment"? What is this death that this person has passed out of, and what life has this person entered into? (This verse gives the answer to the question above as to how we can get out from under Satan’s dominion and into the family of God. Don’t let them go to another verse to get you off the track. Keep them to this verse. Remember, you are not out to win an argument at this stage but to plant thought-provoking seeds of doubt that take time to mature.)

Question #2: I note that there is another difference in the way this verse (John 17:3) is rendered. In the NWT Bible it reads, "Their taking in knowledge…" Most translations say, "That they may know." To me there is a big difference between "Taking in knowledge" and "Knowing." You can read about a person and obtain a lot of facts, but you really can’t "know" a person until you actually meet them and come into a close association with them. The only possible way you can "Draw close to God" is to know Him in a personal and intimate way. Do you as a Jehovah’s Witness just know a lot of facts about God, or have you been born by His Spirit and have a personal, intimate relation with Yahweh? (Listen carefully to what they have to say at this point. They won’t want to tell you they don’t have a direct relationship with God, but they can’t say they really do. If they do say they have a direct relationship, ask them to explain in complete detail how this happened. Sometimes a Witness might tell you he or she has a relationship with God¾ but it is not a direct relationship. The Society teaches that only the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society has a direct relationship with God, because they are supposed to be of the "anointed" class and "have God spirit." But since the Witnesses have a relationship with the Governing Body as a Witness, then they feel they have an indirect relationship with Yahweh.)

Question #3: Since the Watchtower Society teaches that this "taking in knowledge" is a "process," how long does this process ordinarily take? (They will usually give you a very indefinite answer and say that it is up to the individual. You can ask them how long it took them to acquire this "accurate knowledge.")

Question #4: Does this "taking in knowledge" end when you are baptized into the Watchtower Society, so that now you are certain that you have everlasting life? Or is baptism more or less the start of the journey and you have to continue to take in knowledge, so that maybe sometime in the future you might obtain everlasting life? ((I am almost certain that the Witness will tell you it is a "process." It will be difficult for them to give you a straightforward answer at this juncture, but listen well to what they have to say.)

Question #5: The Bible does not seem to indicate that coming into a personal relationship with God is a long process. For example, in Luke 23:39-43 it took the thief on the tree next to Jesus just a very short time to take in enough knowledge to get into paradise. (By the way, do not argue about the fact that the comma in verse 43 is placed after "today" instead of before "today" like in most Bibles, but use this passage of Scripture as a way of witnessing and giving the gospel.) This thief had admitted his own personal sins and that he was dying as a just punishment for them. He believed that Jesus Christ was perfect and was dying for his sins. He believed that this dying man, Jesus, was going to rise from the dead and set up a kingdom. He prayed to Jesus. He confessed his sins and asked for forgiveness. Then he received a promise that he would be in paradise. Don’t you agree that the process of "taking in knowledge" was very short? (Jehovah’s Witnesses are not certain that they will make it onto the new earth. They might fall way.) (Note: We know that "paradise" means heaven, but you can get in a good point from the Society’s belief that the "paradise" mentioned in Luke is earthly, while in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 it is heavenly. The new earth of the Watchtower Society is 1000 years long. But the first six or seven hundred years on this earth are not "paradise" because the Witnesses have to clean up all the debris of Armageddon and build paradise by sheer manual labor. So this thief had the amazing promise that he would not have to do any of the "dirty work" but would be resurrected when all the work had been done! That is really a good deal!)

Question #6: On the day of Pentecost 3,000 people were saved after hearing just one sermon from Peter. In Acts 8:26-40 the Ethiopian eunuch was saved and baptized after a very short discussion with Philip. In Acts 10 Cornelius and many of his family and friends took in enough accurate knowledge after the one sermon by Peter to be baptized. In Acts 16:25-34 the Philippian jailor took in enough accurate knowledge to be baptized in not less than 6 hours, from midnight until dawn. Paul’s explanation didn’t take very long; to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" Paul’s answer was rather short, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." What is it that this jailor believed about Jesus? Not just that He was a good man whose example we should try to follow, but that He shed His blood upon the tree for the sins of all mankind.

Since the Bible gives a number of incidents where people were baptized in just a very short time after hearing the message about Jesus, then why does the Watchtower Society teach that this "taking in knowledge" is a long process?

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What is written on page 17, paragraph 22, is a very subtle way in which the Society tries to get prospective Witnesses to expect opposition and to make them think that this opposition is from the Devil, who doesn’t want them to get into "the truth." It is true that when a person expresses to family members or friends that he or she is studying with a Jehovah’s Witness, in many cases it will end up in an attack on the Watchtower Society. But trying to point out that it is a false cult and should be shunned will not work. These "well-meaning" people are not against the person reading the Bible but against them studying with a Jehovah’s Witness. The Watchtower Society is here preparing the inquirer, and this kind of attack will only drive the person further into the Society rather than stopping the studies. For this reason it is best not to attack a person studying with a Witnesses but use a positive approach. If someone says he is studying with a Witness you can say, "Would you please do me a favor? I have lots of questions that I am seeking answers for. If I ask you the questions, will you try and get an answer from the Witnesses for me?" In this way you can plant seeds of doubt in the inquirer; and in most cases the questions you ask, the Witness can’t answer. After a while, the Witness will be the one who stops the so-called "Bible studies."

Page 17, paragraph 23, lines 5-6, state: "And children, as we know, ask lot of questions. God wants you to find the answers." Use what is written here to reinforce the fact that you will have lots of questions and are looking forward to their "clear-cut" answers. (At first Witnesses will make all kind of promises to get you into a "Bible study"¾ but they are not prepared to answer thought-provoking questions that are off the beaten path. You can often use what is written in the Watchtower literature to your advantage!)

Chapter Two

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.

To prove that the Watchtower Society clearly teaches that a person cannot come into the truth by just reading the Bible on his or her own, I would like to quote from an article in the February 15, 1981, Watchtower, page 17. "From such experience it can be seen that Jehovah God caused the Bible to be written in such a way that one needs to come in touch with his human channel before one can fully and accurately understand it. True, we need the help of God’s holy spirit, but its help also comes to us primarily by association with the channel Jehovah God sees fit to us." (Many more such quotes can be found in Watchtower literature.)

Since the Society teaches that almost all of the Jehovah’s Witnesses today are not of the "anointed class," but of the "great crowd," then the greater majority of Witnesses cannot read and understand the Bible themselves. They must have it explained to them. The Society says that the Bible must be "illuminated," and this can only be done by the men on the Governing Body. It presents this illumination in the Watchtower publications, so the Jehovah’s Witnesses read these instead of the Bible. When a Jehovah’s Witness speaks about a "Bible study," he actually means reading and studying what the Watchtower publications teach, rather than letting the Bible speak for itself.

In addition, though the Society claims to believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, from what is written in paragraph 5 on pages 5-6 it is clear that the Watchtower Society believes in "thought inspiration," instead of "verbal inspiration" as most Bible-believing Christians do. "Thought inspiration" means that God merely gave the main ideas to the authors and then they worked out the details in their own words. "Verbal inspiration" means that God not only guided in the main ideas but also in the choice of words the human authors used.

As a matter of information, there is an important comment in the previous book used by the Watchtower Society for its propaganda purposes, KNOWLEDGE That Leads to Everlasting Life, but left out of this book, which I want to mention. (This is found on page 12, paragraph 3.) "But if you were given a legal document outlining what you had to do in order to receive a valuable inheritance, would you not take the time to study it carefully? If you find certain parts of the document hard to understand, likely you would get the help of someone experienced in such matters."

The above statement is a very subtle way of getting people to buy into the Watchtower Society’s propaganda that the Bible is really a very difficult book to understand and you need some "specialist" to tell you what it actually means. (I started reading the King James Bible daily when I was saved at the age of 14. I didn’t find it forbiddingly difficult to understand, but was surprised to find out just how personal it was! Often I felt like someone had followed me around with a camera and was now portraying my life. I wondered how the Bible, which had been written thousands of years earlier, knew me so well! Yes, there are some difficult parts, but most of it is understandable by the average person.) Of course, like some other religious groups, it teaches that it is the only organization that has the authority to interpret the Bible. If the Society can convince a person on this point, then it can control the person’s mind and teach almost anything it wants to without ever being questioned. (Of course, the book doesn’t mention the fact that the Society has been trying to find out what the Bible really teaches for over 100 years, but it hasn’t gotten it right yet, because it constantly keep changing its teaching--often completely reversing its teachings.)

For years the Watchtower Society used the Bibles that were on the market. In 1929 it printed the Holy Bible, American Standard Version of 1901. It printed the King James Version in 1942, the Diaglott New Testament also in 1942, and then The Bible in Living English, by Steven T. Byington in 1972. In 1961 it completed its own Bible, known as the New World Translation (NWT), and revised it slightly in 1984. I realize that this Bible has been intentionally corrupted; yet even so—though I avoid the controversial, corrupted passages¾ I still use the NWT instead of any other Bible when conversing with a Jehovah’s Witness. There is a good, sensible reason for doing this. Too often when another Bible is used in witnessing you get into an argument as to which Bible is correct instead of discussing what the Bible teaches.

Probably the most glaringly corrupted passage in the NWT is found in Colossians 1:16-17 where Paul speaks about Jesus Christ being the Creator. (Note carefully the use of the added word "other" in brackets "[]".) "Because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities, all [other] things have been created through him, and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist." You cannot find the words "other" added in any other version of the Bible. Since the Watchtower Society teaches that only the Father is eternal, that He created the Son and then the Son created everything else, if these verses were left standing as they are actually found in the original Greek text they would prove the Watchtower Society’s teaching in error when it states that Jesus was created. Thus the Society changed the Bible to conform to its teachings instead of changing its teaching to be in accordance with the Bible. When reading the NWT, you will soon note that the word "Jehovah" is found about 6000 times in the Old Testament and 231 times in the New Testament. If the Watchtower Society had of been consistent with it own rules for inserting the word "Jehovah" in the New Testament, there are at least 72 places where this would prove that Jesus is Jehovah God¾ but of course it could not do that, since it would disprove its own teachings about Christ.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the NWT is a very "scholarly" translation and the most accurate. Below I will give a number of indirect questions that might cause the Jehovah’s Witness you are dealing with to question its scholarship. But first I need to give some important information that will help you understand the questions.

The committee for working on this new translation of the Bible for the Watchtower Society was set up in 1950. The committee was headed by Frederick Franz, who was then vice-president of the Society, Nathan H. Knorr, president, and three other men serving in the Brooklyn, NY, headquarters, Albert D. Schroeder, George D. Gangas, and Milton Henschel¾ who later became the president of the Society. The Society has never come out with a list of the men on the committee; in fact, its publications say that the men on the committee were very humble and did not want their names to be mentioned so that God would receive the glory. (If you were to ask a Witness why the men were not named, he might point out that neither are the men’s names mentioned who did the American Standard Bible of 1901. Yes, their names are not written within the Bible, but you can go on a computer and very easily find the names.) The NWT names, however, are omitted for a very obvious reason, and that is because none of the men were Greek or Hebrew scholars¾ the languages the Bible was originally written in. Of the five, only Frederick Franz had any formal college education and that was for only three years. He had, at best, only three years of formal Greek and one year of Hebrew. This in no way makes him a scholar. George Gangas was a Greek by birth, but not a language scholar. The other three had never studied Greek or Hebrew. So the very important question comes, "How can you have a scholarly translation if no scholars were involved on the committee?" As far as I have been able to determine, the committee took about 25 different Bibles in English and then began picking and choosing from the translations whatever they wanted.

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses might claim that Frederick Franz was so brilliant that he was offered a "Rhodes Scholarship" with the privilege of going to Oxford or Cambridge in England. This claim has been investigated and found to be false.

Since Frederick Franz was the only one that had studied even a little Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, let me quote from the Douglas Walsh Trial Transcript, Tuesday, November 24-25, 1954, when Frederick Franz (four years after he started working on the NWT) was examined under oath in a court of law in Edinburgh, Scotland, and failed a simple Hebrew test.

"Have you also made yourself familiar with Hebrew?"

"Yes."

"So that you have a substantial linguistic apparatus at your command?"

"Yes, for use in my biblical work."

"I think you are able to read and follow the Bible in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and French?"

"Yes."

The following day, Franz was put on the stand again, and the following interview took place.

"I do not speak Hebrew."

"You do not?"

"No."

"Can you translate that into Hebrew?" (He was asked to translate a simple Bible text: Genesis 2:4-6.)

"Which?"

"That fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis."

"You mean here?"

"Yes."

"No. I won’t attempt to do that."

When dealing with a Jehovah’s Witness, there is one thing about the NWT that you can use to your advantage. If you have access to this Bible, you will notice that there are a lot of cross-references. After a word or phrase you will find a letter of the alphabet, and when you look in the center of the page for the same letter you will find one or more Scripture references where that word or phrase is used. This often helps you understand the usage of the word or phrase better. It so happens that the Watchtower Society did not produce these references itself but bought this information from someone else, who was evangelical. Apparently the Society never checked out these references because they often prove what Bible-believing Christians believe instead of what the Watchtower Society teaches. Thus many times you can use the references in the NWT Bible to disprove the Society’s teachings and help re-enforce what you believe. Let me give you just one example. Remember, the Watchtower Society teaches that birthdays are "pagan" and should not be observed. But by using the references in the NWT you can show that Abraham had a birthday party for Isaac on the very day he was three years old. Surely Abraham was not a pagan! Genesis 21:8 reads, "Now the child kept growing and came to be weaned;e and Abraham then prepared a big feast on the day of Isaac’s being weaned." When you look at the reference to "e" in the center column it refers you to 1 Samuel 1:22. This verse speaks about when Samuel was weaned. Then after the word "weaned" in this verse there is a reference that refers you to 2 Chronicles 31:16. This verse reads, "Apart from their genealogical enrollment of the males from three years of age upward, of all those coming to the house of Jehovah as a daily matter of course, for their service by their obligations according to their divisions." By referring to these verses we learn that a child was weaned at the age of three. Thus Abraham had a large birthday party for Isaac on the very day he was three years old, which proves that birthday parties are not "pagan" or forbidden by Yahweh like the Society teaches. This is only one of hundreds of illustrations where these references prove the teachings of Bible-believing Christians.

· · ·

Page 19, paragraph 4 states, "In whole or in part, the Bible has been published in more than 2,300 languages and thus is available to more than 90 percent of the world’s population."

Question #1: I think it is really wonderful that the Bible is in so many languages and that most of the people in the world can read it. Could you please tell me how the Bible was translated into so many languages? (The Witness you are talking to is probably not aware of the Christian groups who have been and are active in translating the Bible into other languages. The purpose of this question is to get the person to think.)

Question #2: This seems to show that there are many groups beside the Watchtower Society who are interested in getting the Bible into the hands of people in their own languages so they can read it. Don’t you think so?

Question #3: I see or understand that the Watchtower Society has produced its own Bible. Will you tell me by whom and when it was translated? (He or she might be able to tell you that the whole Bible was first published in 1961 but will give you no details about who translated it. He or she might give you the argument mentioned above that the men who did the Bible were humble men and didn’t want to receive any glory.)

Question #4: Would the Watchtower-produced Bible be considered a "scholarly" Bible? (To this question you will probably receive an emphatic "Yes.")

Question #5: Since you consider the NWT a scholarly Bible, was it translated by scholars inside the Watchtower organization or did it request the help of recognized scholars? (They will probably tell you that it was done by members of the Watchtower Society.)

Question #6: Will you help me understand something? I understand that most of the people who go to the headquarters, some spending their life there, go immediately out of high school. Would that be a true assessment of the people at the headquarters? (You should receive a "Yes" answer.)

Question #7: I have heard that for many years the Watchtower Society has been against its followers going to college, let along going to graduate school¾ which would be absolutely necessary for anyone to even claim to be a scholar. Is what I have heard correct? (He or she should say, "Yes.")

Question #8: (This is the question you have been working up to.) Since the men who worked on the translation committee were all from within the organization and had never gone to college, let alone graduate school, then where would these scholars come from who translated the Bible? (At this point, you are not necessarily interested in the answer they give but you have planted the seed that it is impossible for the NWT to be a scholarly translation. If they should happen to say, "They were self-educated men," you can ask them how they know such a thing if they do not know even the names of the men who did the translation in order to check out the claim? Spend some time on this question and cause the Witness to wrestle with this problem.)

Question #9: How many different languages has the New World Translation been translated into? (They might be a little vague, but as of 2006 the Society claims to have translated the whole Bible or the New Testament into 42 languages. I just checked with the Society and received these figures.)

Question #10: As we have seen, it would have been difficult to have any scholars who knew Hebrew and Greek work on the English translation of the NWT. Do you know for certainty that all of these other 42 (or the figure they give) translations of the whole Bible or the New Testament were translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek languages? (You probably won’t receive a clear answer. In this case, ask them to investigate and bring you back an answer. You will probably have to ask many times to get an answer.)

(Note: I am able to read Japanese and I noted that a number of the different renderings in the English NWT turned up in the Japanese. Furthermore, I have a friend whose native tongue is Spanish, and he also knows Portuguese, Italian, and some French. He likewise noted the same changes in these languages. So I have long suspected that all the translations of the NWT into other language were taken from the English NWT. Then I found the answer in The Watchtower magazine of October 15, 1997. In an article starting on page 8 titled HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO US, on page 12 I found my hunch was correct, that all the translations into other languages were taken from the English. Here is what is stated in this article. "Translating from English, rather than working directly from the Hebrew and Greek, offers important advantages. Besides shortening translation time, it makes possible greater unity of expression in all languages. Why? Because it is much easier to translate precisely from one modern language into another than to translate from an ancient language into various modern ones. After all, translators can consult with native speakers of modern languages but not of languages spoken thousand of years ago." Therefore, all the errors in the English NWT are automatically continued in the other languages in which the NWT has been translated.)

Question #11: Was the New World Translation ever the first translation of the Bible in any of the languages the NWT is translated into? (The answer should be "No.")

Question #12: Since the Watchtower Society is active in many countries where it does not have it own translation, then what Bible do the Jehovah’s Witnesses use? (They will have to say they use the translation that is available in that language.)

Question #13: Since the Watchtower Society sanctions the translations of the Bible in many different languages then it apparently admits that there are other groups that are able to produce an accurate and reliable Bible. Would this be true?

Question #14: How many languages is The Watchtower magazine translated into? (If they have the correct information they will say, "About 100 languages.")

Question #15: This seem strange to me. This Watchtower book we are studying is explaining how important the Bible is, but in actuality it seems like it is more important to translate The Watchtower publications into foreign languages than it is the Bible! Can’t you see this possibility? (You are planting seeds of doubt.)

Question #16: Since it is so important to have an accurate translation of the Bible in the hands of all people, and still 10 percent of the world’s population does not have the Bible in its native language, does the Watchtower Society have any people, financed by the Society, who are working full time translating the Bible into these other languages? (I once asked a J.W. I was dealing with this question and he said he was not sure and would get back to me. I kept pressing him but he never answered me because I think he knew the Society does not have any such work. Jehovah’s Witnesses are never the first people to go into a country or tribe to evangelize. They only come after seed has been planted and they are able to mislead people.)

· · ·

Page 26, paragraph 20, states: "The Bible truly is a book from God. It is a book that is to be read, studied, and loved. Show your gratitude for this divine gift by continuing to peer into its contents."

Question #1: I believe what is written here is wonderful advice. Since you are going to be my teacher, I was wondering if you make it a practice to read the whole Bible, every word from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, once every year? (It is important to say "Every word," otherwise they will give a false answer. I am almost sure that the person will not give you a firm positive "Yes.")

Question #2: How many times would you say you have read the complete Bible from cover to cover since you became a Jehovah’s Witness? (You will probably get a very vague answer. They might say, "I really don’t keep track." Ask them if they can’t give you some idea. Is it once, twice, or how many times?) (Note: I have never met a J.W. who makes it a practice of reading the Bible through every year on his or her own. I once met a Jehovah’s Witness who was a circuit overseer [that is, over 30 congregations] for twenty years. He admitted to reading the Bible completely through only two times since he became a Witness. I talked to another man who had been a J.W. for forty years, and he said he had read the Bible through only four times.)

Question #3: Would you say that most of the J.W.’s make it a practice to read the Bible through every year? (I don’t think you will receive a positive answer.)

Question #4: Does the average J.W. spend more time reading the Bible than they do Watchtower publications? (The Bible-reading schedule set out by the Watchtower Society calls for the J.W. to read two hundred pages of the Bible in a year¾ which very few do. Following this plan, it would take a J.W. over five years to read the whole Bible, while if they read just the Watchtower and Awake magazines¾ which most do¾ they will read about 1,500 pages of Watchtower material in a year. This shows that Watchtower publications are more important than the Bible.)

Chapter Three

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.

You might start by saying, "I am quite impressed by what is written about the beautiful new earth in Chapter 3. I’m interested in the mechanics of how this new world will come about, so I ask your patience in answering the many questions I have about this chapter. I imagine you had the same questions when you started studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, so these questions should be very easy for you to answer!"

But first I have a question about the verse found on the top of page 28 at the end of paragraph 2. Here we read, "The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it."—Psalm 37:29. (I used the following questions quite effectively once when my wife and I were witnessing to a J.W. couple. These questions are a very excellent means of presenting the true gospel as found in the blood of Jesus Christ.)

Question #1: This verse limits those who go on this new earth to "the righteous." Who are the righteous and how does one become righteous? (To be "righteous" means to be cleansed from all sin.) (You are not going to receive a very clear answer. The Witness has only thought of the words "reside upon it" and not what the Bible says about getting on it.)

Question #2: Since you do not seem to be exactly sure how one becomes righteous, would it be okay if we looked at a few Bible verses to see if you agree with them? (While you are going through this presentation, the Witness might try to get you off the subject by wanting you to looking at other verses that do not pertain to the subject, but ask him or her to let you present your material first.) Romans 3:10. "Just as it is written: ‘There is not a righteous [man], not even one.’"

Question #3: Would you agree with this verse? (The real problem with Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they do not have a proper understanding of sin. They do not feel they are "bad" sinners, so they do not need a big Savior. I have had two Witnesses say to me, "If Jesus Christ is God, then the sacrifice was too great." Just about everyone will say, "No one is perfect and we all make mistakes." But this is different from admitting, "I am proud, self-centered, self-righteous, have anger, jealousy, wrath in my heart, and have told lies and cheated.")

Isaiah 64:6. "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags" (NKJV). We see from this verse that we are not able to produce a righteousness that would be pleasing to God by our own efforts.

Question #4: Would you agree with this?

Question #5: (Romans 3:21-30. Read the passage in their NWT and then ask the following questions.) Verse 22 says that this righteousness comes "through the faith in Jesus Christ." What kind of faith do we need in Jesus Christ that makes us righteous? (We know that this faith is that Jesus Christ died and shed His blood for our personal sins and rose bodily from the grave.) Depending on how the conversation goes, you might ask:

Question #6: "What is the difference between the faith that Jehovah’s Witnesses have in Jesus Christ and the faith millions of Bible-believing Christians have? These all believe that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, that He lived a sinless life, that He died and shed His blood for the personal sins of mankind on the tree! (The Witness might leave you under the impression that he believes the same, but he does not. The Watchtower Society teaches that Christ died only for the sins we inherited in Adam. Our personal sins are something we must take care of. If he or she gives you a misleading answer you might need to ask him or her to explain their answer more in detail.)

Question #7: In verse 24 it announces that this righteousness is "a free gift." Wouldn’t this mean that righteousness is something that we cannot earn or merit, but something that is given to us by God?

Question #8: In verses 24, 26 and 28 it speaks about our "being declared righteous," which would refer to something that was done for us in the past. What does it mean to be "declared righteous" through faith in Jesus Christ?

Question #9: Again in verse 30 we note that this righteousness comes through "faith." Would you say that the Watchtower Society teaches exactly what we have just read?

Question #10: (Other verses you can use on righteousness are: Rom 1:17, 4:6,9,11.22; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9; Titus 3:5; Heb. 11:7 and 2 Peter 1:1.)

Question #11: 1 John 2:29. "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (NKJV). We note from this verse that a person has to be "born of Him" or "born again" in order to be considered righteous by God. Would you consider yourself one who has been born again? (The Watchtower Society teaches that only those who are members of the 144,000, known as the "anointed," are born again. There are very few of these who are living today. Therefore it is almost certain that the one you are talking to will not claim to be born again. Also, those who are "born again" are going to heaven and not going to live on the new earth like the Watchtower Society says Psalm 37:29 refers to. You can point out that there seems to be a very obvious contradiction in the teachings of the Watchtower Society. You will probably not see the Witness saved by going through these verses on righteousness, but you have planted a lot of good thought-provoking seeds of doubt.)

Question #12: Psalm 37:29 indicates that a person must be declared righteous in this life before they move into the next. Would you agree with this? (Don’t get into an argument. Move on to the next questions.)

· · ·

A description of the new earth promised by the Watchtower Society is presented under the heading "A NEW WORLD IS AT HAND! on pages 33-36. Here are the many questions you can ask. As the responses will vary from person to person, the ones I give are only a possibility so you need to be prepared for different ones.

BACKGROUND. The Watchtower Society teaches that everyone on the earth will be destroyed during the battle of Armageddon except the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This means that over six billion people will die or be killed and the six million surviving Witnesses will have the job of getting the earth back in shape following the almost compete destruction at Armageddon.

This will obviously be a monumental task for those survivors. They will first need to dispose of the billions of bodies. Their books state that worms and birds will help with this task, but then the masses of worms and birds of carrion will need to be reduced to reasonable levels.

Once the cleansing has begun, the Witnesses must build houses, plant gardens, and do the hundreds of other things that need to be accomplished before the surviving Witnesses have any kind of decent living conditions; and then they must make adequate preparation for those who will be resurrected in the future. All this will have to be done by manual labor, since all machinery will have been destroyed in the battle of Armageddon. Their books declare that it might take one hundred years to get the earth ready for God to begin resurrecting a few of the dead.

(Until backed into a corner, the average Jehovah’s Witness will equivocate and attempt to hide what the Society actually teaches in this regard. To get him or her to admit these facts is like pulling eyeteeth. But be persistent. Often the answer you receive will be, "Jehovah is going to help us." This is a "cop-out." Witnesses claim everything they believe can be proven from the Bible. Have them give you chapter and verses, which they probably can’t do. Tell them if they can’t prove it from the Bible then you cannot accept what they say.)

Question #1: The book’s description of the new earth sounds very inviting, but I have a problem understanding how the earth and its inhabitants are transformed from the present evil condition into the beautiful, paradise-like conditions described and the picture on page 35 shows. Does something just go "poof" and this "new world order" suddenly appears?

Response: Well, it’s not exactly like that. You see, before the new world order comes forth, Armageddon must occur.

Question #2: When will Armageddon occur?

Response: It will occur very soon.

Question #3: What happens at Armageddon?

Response: (At this point they will be vague on purpose, but the Society does teach that just about all the buildings on the earth will be destroyed. Keep after them until you get some kind of a reasonable reply.)

Question #4: How is all this destruction going to occur?

Response: (Again you will probably receive a vague answer, but the Society’s books and magazines contain vivid pictures of massive earthquakes, the earth swallowing up people, large buildings crumbling, fires destroying cities, and floods causing people to drown and float down the rivers. They also declare that people will kill each other, and those who do not die in these ways will be killed by God’s angels. If you have my documentary packet, refer to the copies from the 1958 Watchtower publication From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained on pages 208-211.)

Question #5: Will every one living upon this earth be killed at this time?

Response: (Their answer might be vague on purpose, but the Society does teach that only Witnesses in good standing with the Society will survive Armageddon. They might say that there are others who are not Witnesses who will survive, but what they mean is there might be just a few people of the earth who have not yet heard the message of the Watchtower Society and so will survive. But since the Witnesses believe they have presented the Society’s message to almost everyone in the world, there would be very few in this category.)

Question #6: How will it be possible that only Jehovah’s Witnesses survive when everyone else will be killed?

Response: Jehovah in some miraculous way will protect us. (Some have said that they would just stay in their house while all this destruction is going on, but eventually they have to go out to start the clean-up work.)

Question #7: You mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses will live through this horrible disaster, witnessing these people being killed, and will have to listen to the blood-curdling screams as people die in agonizing pain?

Response: I imagine that will be the case.

Question #8: After all this awful destruction, how is the "new world order" going to come about?

Response: (If they are honest with you, they will explain that the six million Jehovah’s Witnesses must completely rebuild this earth, so that it becomes a paradise resembling the pictures contained in its publications.)

Question #9: It seems to me that the first thing the surviving Jehovah’s Witnesses will have to do is to get rid of the six billion dead bodies lying all around! How is this going to be done, since dead bodies begin to decay and stink in just a day or so?

Response: Worms and birds are going to eat them up.

Question #10: Ugh. You mean the first thing the surviving J.W.’s must do is stand around and watch the worms and birds eat those dead bodies?

Response: I guess so.

Question #11: This doesn’t sound like it would be very enjoyable!

Response: We will endure for Jehovah’s sake.

Question #12: After the worms and birds have devoured all that flesh, you will still have to dispose of the skeletons, won’t you?

Response: Apparently so. (Watchtower publications state that for "seven prophetic months" the Witnesses will be burying the bones of the six billion who died at Armageddon.)

Question #13: The Watchtower publications picture everyone as living in beautiful homes on the new earth, with enough land for family gardens. But first the destroyed buildings must be gotten rid of. How is this going to be done, since all powered machinery will have been destroyed? (When it comes to the describing of the destruction at Armageddon, the Witness will be very vague. But to help the Witness realize how vast the destruction will be, as depicted in the description and pictures in the various Watchtower publications, you can say, "In the pictures I have seen of the speculated new earth of the Watchtower Society, I have never seen any paved roads, apartment houses, row houses, business complexes, skyscrapers, factories, etc., so I would imagine that all of these will be destroyed at Armageddon! This would mean that most of the buildings on this earth will be destroyed and all the paved roads will have to be torn up and disposed of!" Can you just imagine the vast amount of work it would be to tear up all the paved roads and then dispose of the concrete and asphalt!)

Response: I don’t really know.

Question #14: Apparently the survivors will have to dig deep holes manually and bury all the rubble. It this right?

Response: I don’t really know. (Note: They should know, if they have been a Jehovah’s Witness for any length of time, because on the back cover of the October 8, 1991, Awake magazine there is a picture of the destroyed earth and people with wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes cleaning up the debris.)

Question #15: How are they going to get a foot of topsoil back on the land where the buildings were torn down, since they will have no trucks and few passable roads?

Response: I don’t know.

Question #16: When Armageddon occurs, will all the people who go on to the new earth immediately have perfect health and be perfect in all their actions?

Response: (If they are truthful they will have to tell you that this is going to be a long process that takes hundreds of years.)

Question #17: To me, this creates a very great problem. There are many people living today that have to have medicine to stay alive. With the complete destruction at Armageddon, I don’t see how there could be any pharmaceutical companies in operation and there would be no drug stores to dispense the medicine! Since a person cannot store up prescription drugs for more than a few months, there would be no possible way to get medicine, thus many people will die on this new earth for the lack of medications. In writing, how has the Watchtower Society solved this very serious problem?

Response: (You are not going to get one. I have never read a single word in any Watchtower publication about this, so that is why I put in my question "in writing." Ask them to show you some concrete plan by the Watchtower Society to solve this major problem. Once again I state, you are not going to receive a good answer but you have given them something to think about.)

Question #18: Since people will not be perfect immediately in their moral lives, then it is only reasonable to believe that there will be sin upon this new earth, at least at the beginning!

Response: (Probably none.)

Question #19: I want to understand exactly what the Watchtower Society teaches concerning the building of this new earth. To me, it sounds like a lot of hard work for hundreds and hundreds of years! Am I correct in surmising that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are building this new earth just for the surviving Jehovah’s Witnesses at Armageddon?

Response: No. Just about everyone who has ever lived will gradually be resurrected and given a fresh start on this new earth.

Question #20: Wow! How many people have the Watchtower Society estimated will be resurrected and get a fresh start on this new earth?

Response: Nearly all the people who have ever lived. (In the 1988 Watchtower publication INSIGHT on the Scriptures, Vol. 2, page 792 it states, "A very liberal estimate of the number of persons that have ever lived on earth is 20 billion." I have heard other Witnesses estimate that it is 22 billion. Either figure, that is a lot of people.)

Question #21: You mean that God is going to resurrect most all the wicked people who have lived on this earth and then have the Jehovah’s Witnesses work hard for hundreds of years to provide beautiful new homes and surroundings for them to enjoy?

Response: That seems to be the case.

Question #22: How many Jehovah’s Witnesses are in the world today?

Response: A little over 6 million.

Question #23: How can the Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoy the new living conditions they worked hard for so many hundreds of years if they have to continue working to build homes and make all the other necessary preparations for the billions of people who will be resurrected?

Response: You need to understand that it will be a great joy to work for Jehovah!

Question #24: How can you say you are working for Jehovah when you are building houses and making preparations for billions of wicked people to be resurrected and enjoy the hard work of the "righteous" Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Response: (I am not sure of the answer you will receive.)

Question #25: How are people going to make a living on this new earth?

Response: (If they are familiar with the Watchtower teaching, they will say that people are going to be farmers and grow their own fruits and vegetables.)

Question #26: Would I be correct in presuming that before any of the billions of people could be resurrected that adequate housing with furniture, farm lands that are producing vegetables and fruit-bearing trees, etc., would have to be prepared?

Response: (It should be "Yes." If they answer "No," then ask them how they are going to live when they are first resurrected, as it could take years to build a house by themselves, and all are not carpenters, and there is the problem of where the building material will come from after the world is destroyed¾ and it also would take a long time to prepare fields and fruit trees so they would be productive!)

Question #27: It would seem to me utterly impossible for six million Jehovah’s Witnesses to survive the awful destruction of Armageddon, clear away the dead bodies and bones, then the debris, and after that to build sufficient housing for themselves, let alone six million people build houses, prepare fields and fruit trees for 20 to 22 billion other people! Would you explain to me how so few people could build sufficient houses for the billions of people who are to be resurrected? Could you show me from some Watchtower publication an actual step-by-step blueprint of how this will be done?

Response: (I am not sure what they will say but I am positive the Society has no blueprint.)

Question #28: Since this old system will be destroyed at Armageddon, there will be no lumberyards where you can buy lumber, cement, and other necessary building materials. This is something you will have to accomplish from scratch. In many places, trees are not available and will need to be transported long distances. How will this material be obtained?

Response: (Probably: I don’t know.)

Question #29: These houses will need furniture and the people will need clothing. Where will you get these, since there will be no factories?

Response: I guess we must make all this.

Question #30: Who are going to teach these billions of resurrected people Yahweh’s rules and regulations for living on this new earth?

Response: This will be the privilege of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Question #31: You mean that in addition to building these billions of houses, preparing farm land and planting fruit trees, that you will have to spend a huge amount of time teaching these resurrected people?

Response: I guess so.

Question #32: In other words, Witnesses will not only be busy rebuilding the earth, but will be very busy teaching! I don’t think they will have much free time!

Response: It looks that way.

Question #33: What happens to the people who do not respond to this educational process?

Response: I guess they will be annihilated.

Question #34: Then you will have death during this period of time?

Response: I guess so.

Question #35: I understand that you teach that there will be no funeral parlors or graveyards in the Millennium, so who is going to bury these people and where?

Response: I don’t know.

Question #36: Would I be right in saying that this new earth will be far from a perfect place because many people will have to keep digging up their yards to bury these dead bodies?

Response: (I don’t think you will get one.)

Question #37: Am I to believe that it will be a wonderful thing to survive Armageddon, get rid of all the dead bodies and bones, clean up all this awful destruction, and then work extremely hard to build a beautiful earth so that all the wicked people who have ever lived can be resurrected and enabled to enjoy what the Witnesses have worked so hard for?

Response: (If you get any kind of an answer, I think it will be a weak reply.)

Question #38: Am I correct in understanding that the Watchtower Society teaches that during the Millennium these 20 to 22 billion people who once lived on this earth will be gradually be resurrected and given a fresh start on the new earth?

Response: That is correct.

Question #39: Will you please help me out me out? I read in Revelation 20:4 that there is one resurrection before the Millennium. Then in verse 5 it states, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended." In verses 11-15 it tells what will happen to those who are resurrected after the Millennium. I never read anywhere in the Bible where it states clearly that people will be resurrected during the thousand year reign of Christ. Will you please show me from the Bible where this teaching comes from?

Response: (The only response I have heard to this question was taken from Ezekiel 47:1-5. Here we have water that is just a "trickle" in verse 2. In verse 3 it is up to the "ankles." In verse 4 it is up to the "knees" and then the "hips." In verse 5 it becomes "a torrent that could not be passed through." By no stretch of the imagination could this mean that there will be a gradual resurrection during the Millennium. If the Witness does use this, you can point them to what the Bible clearly states in Revelation 20:5, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended." Ask them if the Bible contradicts itself? The passage in Ezekiel is very vague and has nothing to do with a future resurrection but the one in Revelation 20:5 is very clear.)

Question #40: As I look at the picture on page 35 of this book I see vast rolling acres with not one single house in the foreground or in the background. We have six billion people in the world today and things are getting rather crowded. I do not see how it could be possible for 20 to 22 billion people to live on this world and still have so much open space? How does the Watchtower Society solve this humongous problem?

Response: (Probably none, but hopefully you have made them think.)

(Lay aside for a moment the fact that the Bible does not speak of any resurrection during the Millennium, the following questions can be very thought-provoking. The first questions are to get the Witness to tell you what the Watchtower Society believes.)

Question #41: On what grounds will the billions of people be resurrected and given the possibility of obtaining eternal life on the new earth?

Response: Christ died for the sins that we inherited in Adam so it is on this ground that these people will be resurrected. (Witnesses do not believe that the death of Christ has anything to do with our personal sins.)

Question #42: Then what happens to all the personal sins of these people who will be resurrected and go onto the new earth?

Response: You see, when people die physically they pay for their own sins. Romans 6:7 states, "For he who has died has been acquitted from [his] sin." Thus all these people have died and paid for their personal sins and will be given a fresh start on the new earth.

Question #43: (Remember, I stated before that the major problem with Jehovah’s Witness, along with other cults and religions, is that they do not have a Biblical view of sin. Thus this question is probably one of the most thought-provoking questions you will ask. I have spent six weeks asking the previous questions in this chapter for this one question.) When I previously asked when Armageddon would occur, you said that it was very close. Then when I asked who would survive you said "all the Jehovah’s Witnesses living at that time." If it is actually true that one’s own personal sins are forgiven by the death of that person and the people who survive Armageddon never die physically, then when do these people pay the wages for their sins?

Response: (I have never had a Jehovah’s Witness ever attempt to answer me. Only dead silence.)

Chapter Four

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 annihilated¾ 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."

Be careful that you don’t get into a discussion of the Trinity. This is what the Witness you are talking to would just love to do. One of the last barriers for a Jehovah’s Witness to cross is a belief in the deity of Christ and the Trinity. You need to take very small steps in this direction and place some doubts in their minds before you deal with the issue. In this chapter there are a number of question you can ask to make them think and question the Society’s teachings. What I present in this chapter is entirely new to the Witness you are talking to and he or she has never really wrestled with the issue of who Jesus Christ really is. I have talked to a number of ex-Witnesses and asked them if they understood, and they all said "No."

Do not discuss every paragraph in this chapter. I will point out the main things to discuss and ask questions on. You want to get the Witness to identify the pre-existent Jesus as Michael and to admit that after the death of Christ he was, according to the Society, the re-created Michael.

· · ·

On page 41, paragraph 10, we read, "The Bible teaches that Jesus lived in heaven before he came to earth."

Question #1 In what form did Jesus Christ exist before He came to this earth?

Response: (It will probably be that He existed as "a spirit person.")

Question #2: Could you please be a little more specific than just saying, "He was a spirit person," since all the angels are "spirit persons"? Did He have a name that He was identified by? (You want to get them to admit that the Society believes that the man Jesus did not have a pre-human existence but it is Michael the Society is referring to.)

Question #3: (If they say it was Michael then you do not need this question, but if they have not identified him use this question.) It seems to me that I heard somewhere that the Watchtower Society identifies Jesus Christ as Michael the archangel before He came to earth! Is what I have heard correct? (At this point they ought to identify Him as Michael.)

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On page 42, paragraph 14, we read, "Jehovah’s only-begotten Son willingly left heaven and came down to earth to live as a human… He transferred the life of his first-born Son from heaven to the womb of a Jewish virgin named Mary."

Question #1: By taking this statement literally, I come to the conclusion that Michael, who is a spirit person, came down and dwelt in the human body that Mary gave him in the form of Jesus. Thus the one who was born would be both human and an archangel. He would have a dual personality, the one of Michael and the one of a human. Is this correct? (Since the Society teaches that Michael did not actually dwell in Jesus, and he was only a man, they will not be able to agree with this statement. The Society really teaches that at the conception or birth of Jesus, Michael willed himself out of existence. You will probably need to ask some more question to get a little clearer answer but you will probably not get a "clear-cut" answer.)

Question #2: If Jesus was not both divine and human, then what does this book mean when it states, "He transferred the life of his first-born Son from heaven to the womb of a Jewish virgin named Mary"? (They will probably say that it was just the "life force" that came down.)

Question #3: This "life force" is a new expression to me. Would you please explain to me what a "life force" is in an angel and just exactly what part of Michael entered into Jesus if He is not both human and divine? (You will still probably not receive a clear answer. You might even get some very stupid statement.)

Question #4: Maybe it would help me to understand what this "life force" is if you explain to me how humans have a "life force" and just what it is. (With this question you should receive the reply that the "life force" in humans is the breath that keeps the human body alive. If this is the answer you receive, proceed with this next question.)

Question #5: Since Michael was a "spirit being" without a human body and lungs, it would only be logical that he could not breathe and thus did not have a "life force"! So how could something that doesn’t exist be transferred into the womb of Mary?

Question #6: Since the Society teaches that Jesus was not both human and divine, and nothing from Michael was in Jesus, then did Michael still exist in heaven? (At this point they might tell you that he willed himself out of existence. If you receive this reply, then ask this next question.)

Question #7: If it is true that Michael willed himself out of existence, then how did he do it? I know of only two possible ways. (1) The Father would have had to kill him. But this would not be a possibility because the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)" and since Michael was perfect and never sinned, the Father could not be just and kill Michael! (2) Michael would have had to kill himself by committing suicide! I don’t think this would be a possibility either because the Bible teaches that suicide is a sin. Would you please help me solve this difficult problem? (I have used these types of questions with Jehovah’s Witnesses and found them very effective because they are not the standard questions presented to Witnesses, so they do not have answers.)

Question #8: This is all very confusing and sounds like a "great mystery." If Michael did will himself out of existence in some unexplainable way, then he would have been dead and there would be no "life force" to transfer into the womb of Mary! Please help me out.

Question #9: (To make Jesus God at this stage in your witnessing it is too much for a Witness to accept, but here is a step towards this goal which you might use. What I state in this question is what the Watchtower Society believes and teaches, but you don’t want to let the Witness know that you know too much about his or her religion.) I understand that there are some religious groups who believe that in the days of Noah (according to Genesis 6:2) "the sons of God" were actually wicked angels who saw "the daughters of men" and went down and took these women for their wives and lived upon this earth. But when the flood came and the physical body drowned, the angel part separated from the body and went back to heaven. Wouldn’t this be an answer as to what happened in the case of Jesus and Michael? Michael came down and dwelt in the man Jesus, but they were separate and did not amalgamate into one? (It will be hard for them to agree with you and also to disagree, but you have planted a seed.)

· · ·

There is a contradiction recorded on page 41 that I would like to mention and then present a question. In paragraph 10, line 2-4 we read, "Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and also said that his origin was ‘from early time.’ (Micah 5:2)" This verse reads in the NWT, "And you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, the one too little to get to be among the thousands of Judah, from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel, whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite." In the NKJV the words "time indefinite" are rendered "from everlasting." Go down to paragraph 11, line 5, where we read, "This means that Jesus is the only one directly created by God." Next go to paragraph 12, line 3, and it says, "Obviously, then, he had a beginning." So the Watchtower Society teaches that the Son was created and had a beginning, in spite of the fact that the Bible says that Jesus is "from everlasting." Let me go back and quote the entire previous sentence. "Obviously, then, he had a beginning, whereas Jehovah God has no beginning or end. (Psalm 90:2)" This verse reads in the NWT, "Before the mountains themselves were born, or you proceeded to bring forth as with labor pains the earth and the productive land, even from time indefinite to time indefinite you are God." In the NKJV the last part of this verse reads, "Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

Question: (After going through what I just wrote above, you can continue with this question.) We see that exactly the same words¾ "from everlasting" or "from time indefinite"—that are used of the Son, Jesus Christ, are also used of the Father. If you go and check in a Hebrew lexicon you will see that the Hebrew word is the same in both cases. This being true, then why does the Watchtower Society teach one thing from Micah 5:2¾ that "from everlasting=from time indefinite" means that the Son was created and had a beginning¾ and then in Psalm 90:2, where exactly the same word is used, the Society teaches that the Father had no beginning or end? (You need to press the Witness you are dealing with hard on this point. Ask him or her to go and check if he or she does not believe you. Micah 5:2 is a very strong verse, proving Jesus is eternally God.)

· · ·

In the very last sentence on page 41 it states, "The only-begotten Son never even considered trying to be equal to his Father." You still do not want to go into detail about the deity of Christ and the Trinity, but there is a point you can make here and then just move on. Do not let them take you to other verses like John 14:28 where the Witnesses like to use part of the verse, "The Father is greater than I am." (What is written just before these words, "I am going my way to the Father," the Society denies. It teaches that Jesus went into the grave never to be seen again.) Stick to the point.

Question: I notice what is written here on page 41, "The only-begotten Son never even considered trying to be equal to his Father." I am rather puzzled at this statement. In John 5:23 Jesus said, "In order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him." This verse seems rather plain to me and doesn’t need any interpreting. If I am to honor the Son exactly as I honor the Father, then doesn’t this make the Son equal with the Father?

· · ·

On page 45, paragraph 20 it states, "Jesus set the finest example of loyal obedience to God. He remained faithful to his heavenly Father under all kinds of circumstances."

Question: To me, this is a rather strange statement. 1 Timothy 1:15 states, "Faithful and deserving of full acceptance is the saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am foremost." Since the Bible teaches the purpose for Jesus Christ coming to this earth was to die on the tree and shed His blood for the remission of our sins in order to save us from our sins, then why does the Watchtower Society teach that His purpose in coming was to just be faithful to the end? (You are not so much desiring an answer as you are in presenting the gospel in your question.)

· · ·

On page 46, paragraph 21, starting from line 8, we read, "However, on the third day after Jesus died, his heavenly Father resurrected him back to spirit life (1 Peter 3:18.) A few weeks later, he returned to heaven." This is probably one of the most deceitful statements made by the Watchtower Society. The Watchtower Society clearly teaches that man does not have a soul that is separate from the physical body and leaves the body at death. Rather, the "soul" is the entire person, identical with one’s physical body. It also believes that the "spirit" is the breath or "the life force that enables that person to be alive. The spirit has no personality, nor can it do the things a person can do. It cannot think, speak, hear, see or feel." (Quoted from the 1968 Watchtower book THE TRUTH that leads to ETERNAL LIFE, page 39.) With this Watchtower definition in mind, then what does it mean when the book states, "His heavenly Father resurrected him back to spirit life"? It means that the archangel Michael¾ who the Society claims willed himself out of existence when Jesus was conceived or born¾ was re-created three days after the death of Jesus. Then he impersonated Jesus in a number of different bodies, including even the body with the nail and spear scars (John 20:27) that the Society teaches had already gone back to the elements—fooling everyone. Furthermore, Michael in his pre-human existence was only "a god," but at his re-creation he became "Mighty God." (In the future, after the Millennium is over, he will be demoted once again to "a god." Please don’t ask me to explain this.) I asked various Jehovah’s Witnesses about this for eight years before I finally had one explain that this "resurrection back to spirit life" means that Michael was re-created. (There are only two places where I have found this written in Watchtower literature. One is on page 2600 of the reprints of the April 1, 1900 Zion’s Watch Tower. It reads, "By a resurrection—a raising up to life; being created again, the same identical being, yet more glorious, and exalted even to ‘the express image of the Father’s person.’ (Heb. 1:3)." The other one is on page 155, paragraph 23, in the 1974 book God’s "Eternal Purpose" Now Triumphing for Man’s Good: "He resumed his pre-human name, Michael, so that again there was a ‘Michael the archangel’ in heaven." If people realized this teaching, most would not become Witnesses.

In other places, instead of saying "spirit life," Watchtower literature says Jesus was resurrected as "a spirit." The Society takes the word "spirit" from 1 Peter 3:18 "in the spirit," and "a" from 1 Corinthians 15:44 "a spiritual body," and comes up with the words "a spirit." One of the few places in the Bible where the expression "a spirit" is used is in connection with the resurrection of Jesus. It is found in Luke 24:39 when the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus and thought He was "a spirit," but Jesus clearly denied this. He said, "For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." The Bible speaks over one hundred times about the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, but in spite of this, the Watchtower Society still teaches that Jesus Himself was not resurrected but it was Michael who was re-created.

Some Witnesses do not understand what I have just written. Others do, but do not want to tell you this early in your studies. You might need quite a few of the following questions. If you have received the desired answer that it was Michael who was re-created then you can proceed with other questions. But if you just can’t get them to tell you that it was the re-created Michael then you might say, "Just a minute. It seems like I have heard or read somewhere that the Society teaches that this "spirit life" or "a spirit" was actually the re-creation of Michael. Am I correct?" If they deny this, then ask them to do some research and come up with a clear answer.

Question #1: I am rather confused here. What does it mean "His heavenly father resurrected him back to spirit life"? (They will probably tell you that he was raised as "a spirit.")

Question #2: What happened to the physical body of Jesus?

Question #3: Where does the Bible teach that His body went back to the elements?

Question #4: The Bible speaks in over one hundred places about the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Not once do we have the very words "a spirit" in connection with His resurrection, except when Jesus Himself denied that He was raised just as "a spirit" in Luke 24:37-40, so why does the Watchtower Society make it "a spiritual resurrection"?

Question #5: This book quotes only one verse, 1 Peter 3:18, to try to prove this concept of "a spiritual resurrection." But this verse does not teach that! It says, "Being made alive in the spirit." Other Bibles read, "Made alive by the Spirit"(NKJV, NIV, etc.). In other words, Jesus Christ was raised up by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:1, "At the mouth of two witnesses or of three every matter must be established." Could you please give me three verses where it clearly teaches that Jesus Christ was raised just as "a spirit"? (It is interesting to note that the Watchtower Society uses this Corinthian verse when it comes to convicting an accused Witness of child molesting. There are many of these molesters. If there were anyone else watching, then there would be no molesting! But you can use back on them this verse that the Society uses.)

Question #6: How could something that never died be resurrected? The Bible in Matthew 27:50 states, "Again Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and yielded up [his] spirit." (In a footnote in the NWT it says, "He let go of the spirit.") Where did this "spirit" of Jesus go that "He let go of"? The answer is found in Ecclesasties12:7: "Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the [true] God who gave it." (The Watchtower Society teaches that the body goes back to dust at the time of death, thus taking the first part of this verse to be literal; then why doesn’t it take the second part literally? The spirit does not die.) Since the spirit of Jesus never died, it couldn’t have been resurrected, could it? Please give me something in Jesus that actually died and was resurrected.

Question #7: I am still very much confused. By just reading the Bible a person would never come to the conclusion that that it was a spiritual resurrection of some kind and not a physical resurrection. Look at John 2:18-22. The sign that Jesus gave to the Jews was that when His body was destroyed¾ died on the tree¾ in three days it would be raised up. It clearly says that Jesus was not talking about "a temple of stone" but His physical body. The people who heard Jesus speak these words understood "the temple" to be Jesus’ physical body. Matthew 27:62-63 reads, "The next day, which was after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together before Pilate, saying: ‘Sir, we have called to mind that that imposter said while yet alive, "After three days I am to be raised up."’" Upon hearing this, Pilate ordered a guard for the tomb for three days. Doesn’t this clearly indicate that Jesus taught His physical body would be raised? (To try and get around this section in John 2:18-22, the Society teaches that the "temple" was the spiritual church and that after three days the church began to be established. However, even this is a contradiction, because the Society teaches that God did not begin to call out people for His "spiritual temple" until 40 days latter, at Pentecost, and not three days after his death!)

Question #8: Does the Watchtower Society teach that "the spirit" in man is the seat of his or her personality and can think, speak, hear, see and feel? (They will have to say "No.")

Question #9: Since "a spirit" has no personality and can’t think, speak, hear, see or feel, then what was actually resurrected? The word "resurrect," means that "something that fell down stood up." Please give me something that lived on this earth that was resurrected.

Question #10: (By this time, if they have said nothing about Michael being re-created then you can come out and ask:) This is very complicated! It seems to me that somewhere I heard or read that the Society teaches that it was actually Michael who was re-created. Is this true or not?

Question #11: (If they do say it was Michael, you can continue by asking this question:) Excuse me, but this is still very confusing. Why doesn’t the Watchtower Society come out and clearly present what it believes¾ that when the man Jesus died and was buried, within three days His body was dissolved back into the elements, since it didn’t see corruption, and at this time Michael was re-created?

Question #12: If it is really true that it was Michael who was re-created, then it was Michael and not the man Jesus who appeared to the disciples and others on quite a number of occasions! On occasions Michael appeared in a physical body just like the one that was on the tree, because it had nail prints in the hands and feet and a spear wound in the side (John 20:27). To me this amounts to "fraud," since the archangel Michael would be impersonating the man Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t you agree?

Question #13: In the Bible, angels appeared a number of times in the form of man, but in all of these cases they were identified as angels. If it was really Michael the archangel who appeared for 40 days after the death of Christ, then wouldn’t it seem logical that at least in a couple of places where Michael impersonated Jesus he would be identified as an angel?

Chapter Five

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 purpose¾ 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 death¾ 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!

This is a teaching of the Society that causes a real problem for many Witnesses when you present them with the fact that Jesus Christ was more than just a perfect man. (Notice how many times the words "perfect man" occur in this chapter.) In the NWT 1 Timothy 2:5-6 reads, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all—[this is] what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times." (In the NKJV these verses read, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.) The NWT has added the word "corresponding" before the word "ransom." The adding of this word "corresponding" is the stumbling block. The Society teaches that before Adam sinned he was "a perfect man," and so the one to pay the debt for Adam’s sin had to be exactly of the same rank. Thus, since Adam was at first a perfect man, then Jesus could only be a perfect man¾ since the sacrifice had to be equal. When a Jehovah’s Witness is confronted with the Biblical teaching that Jesus Christ was more than just a perfect man, he or she will often respond, "Then the sacrifice was too great." The Society does not recognize the fact that we do not only need to be saved from the sins that we inherited in Adam, but that we need to be "ransomed" from our own personal sins which we are responsible for!

Many Christians who do not understand the teachings of the Watchtower Society accuse Witnesses of trying to work for their salvation. But according to the Society it is impossible for anyone to earn or merit salvation now on this present earth. The working for and meriting of salvation can only come during the Millennium! The Society teaches that since 1914 only those who die in the good graces of the Watchtower Society or who are in good standing at the time of Armageddon will enter onto the new earth. Thus the Jehovah’s Witnesses are working hard to satisfy the Watchtower Society so that in the future they will be able to work and merit salvation!

According to the Society, the death of Christ has nothing to do with our personal sins. When people die, they pay the wages for their own personal sins. The Society tries to prove this belief by misinterpreting Romans 6:7, which reads, "For he who has died has been acquitted from [his] sin." (This section is speaking about a person who has been born again. There has been a change in the heart. Before we were saved we loved to sin, but after we are saved this love for sin is crucified. Yes, we will sin, but it is not the desire of our heart, and we are greatly grieved when we do sin.)

I doubt if the Witness you are speaking with fully understands what the Society teaches on the subject of "the ransom." Also, at this point, the Witness does not want you to fully understand the Society’s teaching¾ so that he or she can deceive you into thinking the Society’s teachings are similar to those taught by traditional Christianity.

Jehovah’s Witnesses might strongly object if you would accuse them of not believing in "salvation by grace." But what the Witness means is that if it were not for the grace of God no one would have the privilege of working for his or her own salvation on the new earth. The Watchtower Society clearly teaches (1) that salvation can only come through the Watchtower Organization, (2) that it is a process that can’t be completed in this present life, and (3) if obtained, it is something that a person merits. Thus we need to look at this chapter in the light of what it actually is teaching and not in the light of the terms we use in Biblical Christianity. Thus you will need to ask the one you are conversing with a number of questions to get him or her to explain what the Society teaches¾ or help to clarify in his or her own mind what the Society teaches. You might not need all of the following questions or you might have to use more. Since understanding "the ransom" is the heart of Christianity, it is important that you do all you can to get the Witness to think seriously about this important truth. In this section, you can present much of the true gospel in your questions. (When you try to impress upon a Witness that it is possible to know that your own personal sins are forgiven because of the ransom of Christ, he or she will quote Matthew 24:13 to you. It reads, "But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved." To a Witness, this is an absolute truth and one can never know the outcome of all his or her efforts until the very end of the Millennium.)

· · ·

On page 48, paragraph 3, we read, "Put simply, the ransom is Jehovah’s means to deliver, or save, humankind from sin and death. (Ephesians 1:7)" (This verse in the NWT reads, "By means of him we have the release by ransom through the blood of that one, yes, the forgiveness of [our] trespasses, according to the riches of his undeserved kindness.")

Question #1: I want to be sure I understand what is written here, so please help me. This seems to be a rather accurate definition of the word "ransom" and agrees with what we as Bible-believing Christians believe. Let me explain. Bible-believing, born-again Christians believe that by nature we are slaves of Satan. (John 8:44, "You are from your father the Devil.") We believe that Satan has power over those whom he controls. (Acts 26:18, "To turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God." 2 Thessalonians 2:9, "Is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents.") We believe that we are not only born with a sin nature but also we sin knowingly, of our own free will and choice, and thus are responsible for our own personal sins. When we speak of sin we mean, pride, self-centeredness, self-righteousness, anger, wrath, jealousy, lying, cheating, gossiping, having an unforgiving spirit, fighting with brothers and sisters, disobedience to parents, etc. We believe that when a person recognizes his or her own personal sins¾ and what an awful offense they are in the sight of God—and repents, confesses his or her own personal sins and believes that Jesus Christ died on the tree for these sins, then at that moment he or she is taken out of the dominion of Satan and is transferred into the kingdom of the Son and becomes part of the family of God.

I noted on page 53, paragraph 15, that Colossians 1:13-14 is referred to. Let us read these verses. "He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins." Is this not what these verses teach? I note that it says "forgiveness of our sins," which I take to mean our "personal sins" and not just the sins we inherited from Adam! Wouldn’t the verses 1 John 1:8-9, mentioned at the end of this same paragraph, mean what we as Bible-believing Christians believe? 1 John 1:8-9 reads, "If we make the statement: ‘We have no sin,’ we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If we have been cleansed from "all unrighteousness," doesn’t that make us stand right now perfect in the sight of God? Since we have been taken out of the dominion of Satan and become a child of God (John 1:12, "However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name.") then does that not put us under the protection of Almighty God as one of His children! (Yes, as children of God we might sin, but we do not lose our "sonship" but only our "fellowship.") When we become children of God, by the new birth, we come under the protection that Jesus promised in John 10:28: "And I [Jesus] give them everlasting life, and they will by no means ever be destroyed, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."

Is this exactly what you believe as a Jehovah’s Witness¾ that your past, present and future sins have all been forgiven because of the ransom provided by Jesus when He shed His blood for sinners upon the tree?

Response: (They will probably be very vague but will answer something like this.) We believe that Christ died for our past sins.

Question #2: What do you mean when you say "Our past sins"?

Response: These are the sins we inherited in Adam.

Question #3: What does it means for us in the future that Christ "ransomed" us from the sins we inherited in Adam?

Response: It means that most people will be resurrected and given a new start on the new earth.

Question #4: Since Jesus Christ paid the ransom only 2000 years ago, then what about the people who lived before the time of Christ?

Response: Most of them will be included in the ransom.

Question #5: In other words, it doesn’t take any particular faith in Jesus Christ to benefit from the ransom but it is something that is unconditional?

Response: Yes. That is right.

Question #6: I thought that the new earth was going to be a perfect place, but you are now telling me that billions of sinners are going to be resurrected onto this new earth. How can you have so many sinners and have a paradise?

Response: The Bible teaches in Romans 6:7 ("For he who has died has been acquitted from [his] sin.") that when these people die they pay the wages for their sin¾ so that when these people are resurrected they are given a fresh start.

Question #7: What happens to those who become Jehovah’s Witnesses but later on do not prove faithful¾ by sinning and refusing to repent¾ or those who have a falling out with the Society and remain in that condition? Will these people also profit by the ransom and be resurrected to go on the new earth when Armageddon occurs?

Response: No. These people have declared themselves unworthy and will be eternally annihilated.

Question #8: So in the cases of those who become Jehovah’s Witnesses, "the ransom" is conditional upon their relationship with the Watchtower Society, and they will not be included like the people who knew nothing about Christ before He was born?

Response: Apparently, that seems to be the case.

Question #9: Since I have never been a Witness and "the ransom" is unconditional for "most other people," then it would seem best that I do not become a Jehovah’s Witness¾ because I can be 100% sure of going to the new earth. But if I became a Jehovah’s Witness there is the possibility that I could prove unfaithful or decide to walk away, and in that case I could not go to the new earth. So it seems I have a much better chance on going onto the new earth than you do as a Witness!

Response: It is not exactly like that. You see, now if a person has a chance to hear the message of the Watchtower Society and learns how to please Jehovah and does not respond, he will not be given a chance to go onto the new earth but will be eternally annihilated at death, or if he is living when Armageddon occurs then he will be destroyed and so have no chance of going onto the new earth.

Question #10: This is very confusing to me. If I understand you correctly, from the time of Adam until the Watchtower Society came on the scene people entered onto the new earth because of "the ransom" that Jesus Christ provided when He shed His blood upon the tree and died, but since the Watchtower Society was organized, the unconditional ransom through Christ was negated and now the Watchtower Society is doing what Christ used to do! Would I not be correct in saying this?

Response: (I am not sure of the answer you will receive, because it would be difficult for them to respond "Yes" and it would be hard for them to say "No.")

Question #11: (I know I am repeating here, but since facts don’t sink in too fast when talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses you will have to repeat many times.) I am a Bible-believing Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ paid "the ransom" by dying on the tree for both the sins I inherited in Adam and the sins I have willfully committed. I read my Bible daily so that I can learn what pleases Yahweh and what displeases Him, so that I can live a life that brings glory to God. I want to obey His commandments. I believe in practicing holiness and living a righteous life. I believe in being good to my neighbor. But are you telling me that this not enough to escape annihilation at death or when Armageddon occurs just because I am not a Jehovah’s Witness?

Response: (At this juncture the Witness will probably begin to back off and become rather vague.) It is really hard for me to say, because God is the final judge and we do not know what the outcome will be.

Question #12: In other words, what you are telling is that maybe the Watchtower Society is not the only organization that is doing God’s will, but there is the possibility of other religious groups out there who are pleasing in the sight of Yahweh?

Response: (At this point they will probably be very quick to respond) We know that we have "the truth."

Question #13: Could I ask you a personal question? How many other religious groups have you investigated in depth on your own before or after you became a Witness so that you are able to compare them with the teachings of the Watchtower Society¾ so that you can say with confidence you have "the truth"?

Response: I know that the Watchtower Society has "the truth" so I don’t need to investigate.

Question #14: But the people in the other religions would tell me exactly the same thing. I can’t understand how you can be so confident if you have never investigated.

Response: I know that I have the truth and don’t need to investigate.

Question #15: The conclusion I have come to after this conversation concerning "the ransom" is that for almost 6000 years the ransom was unconditional, so that with a few exception just about all the people who have lived will be resurrected and given a second chance on the new earth to walk pleasing to Yahweh. But since the Watchtower Society was organized this unconditional ransom is no longer in effect, and now the only possibility of entering the new earth and maybe meriting eternal life is through the good graces of the Watchtower Society. Would this be correct?

Response: (You will probably receive a vague answer, but you have planted seeds of doubt.)

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On page 50, paragraph 9, we read, "Since a perfect human life was lost, no imperfect human life could ever buy it back. (Psalm 49:7,8) What was needed was a ransom equal in value to what was lost." Then in the same paragraph, line 8, it is stated, "another perfect human life was the ‘corresponding ransom’ that was required—1 Timothy 2:6." This verse reads, "Who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all—[this is] what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times."

Question #1: I am greatly confused at what is written here because I have never heard or read of a "corresponding ransom." "Ransom" yes, but not "a corresponding ransom." I checked this verse in other Bibles and none of them have the word "corresponding." If a person is demanding a $100,000 ransom I do not think the person would object to receiving $200.000 in ransom money instead of the demanded $100.000. Almost always the person who is paying the ransom is richer than the one who is demanding it! The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:1, "At the mouth of two witnesses or of three every matter must be established." On the basis of this verse, could you give me three verses in the Bible where this concept is clearly presented and able to be comprehended by the average reader? Also, not just in the NWT but in other Bibles.

Response: (You will not receive any verses. The purpose of this question is to plant seeds of doubt.)

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Page 50. All of paragraph 10. (I doubt if you received a clear answer when you asked before, "What came down from heaven when this life-force was transferred into the womb of Mary?" You can ask the following question to re-enforce your previous question.)

Question: I am greatly perplexed by what is written here. It says that the Father "sent one of his perfect spirit sons to earth." Then continuing it reads, "He transferred the life of this Son to the womb of Mary" and the outcome was that "Jesus was born as a perfect human." This doesn’t make any sense to me. The Society says that "the only-begotten Son" was "transferred from heaven to earth." But this one that came down was an angelic being. Usually if a person is transferred because of his job from New York to Chicago it is exactly the same person. Yet you have an angel transferred from heaven to earth but the end result is that there is nothing of the angel that is left and you end up with something entirely different¾ and that is "a perfect human"! I could see a body being prepared for an angel to live in on this physical world, but when you start out with "A," an angel, and end up with "B," a human man, it doesn’t make sense. It seems to me that the angel completely disappeared and something entirely new took its place! In John 16:28 Jesus declared, "I came out from the Father and have come into the world." Jesus says that once He, the person talking, existed in heaven and now He is living on earth. I would like to know exactly what was transferred from heaven at the birth of Jesus and what was this life from heaven that actually dwelt in Jesus?

Response: (You probably still won’t receive a clear-cut answer, but keep pressing.)

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On page 51, paragraph 13, lines 5-6, we read, "On the third day after Jesus died, Jehovah raised him back to spirit life."

Question #1: What happened to the physical body of Jesus Christ after these three days?

Response: It apparently was dissolved, because the Bible says that His body did not see corruptio