Jehovah's Witnesses

Ever had someone come to the door with a pamphlet inviting you to their event or service?  The pamphlet usually says Awake! or The Watchtower.  Sometimes they even bring a small book that says "What Does the Bible Really Teach?".  They are usually very intriguing questions on the cover or colorful pictures that draw you in.  Mormons are another group that comes to the door as well but I am not going to talk about them here.  In my experience, most JW's(that is shorter for Jehovah's Witnesses) give you a pamphlet and run.    I have tried numerous times to engage them.  Back in 2004ish(?) while visiting my In-Laws in Myrtle Beach, SC, I actually went to their temple service because one such JW invited me and wanted to engage more about what I believed.  So I prayed and fasted about it and went trusting in God to lead me.
The message given was actually mostly on key with what the bible says.  However, the errors made were huge and big implications in their view on God, the Holy Spirit, and more.  I can't remember word for word what was said so I don't want to critique in this blog what was said then.  I left my notes in NC=)  After the 2-3 hours of services, I sat down with one of the leaders and with the guy who invited me who was a recent convert to JW.  It did not go well.  I could not defend enough of what I believed.  I tried and I had some good arguments but with their intense training in how to defend what they believed they dominated the conversation and I don't know if God used that in their lives or not.  God did use it in my life to challenge me to prepare for the next time I would have to share with a JW about what I believe and how it is different.  I did run in to a few JW's since then but most would run and not engage me since I had prepared myself in how to share the Gospel in light of their doctrine.  I was given a copy of their bible called The New World Translation and marked all the errors in it where they had not translated the Greek properly.  I left that in NC as well.
I really didn't think I would run in to a such a strong presence of JW's in the Dominican Republic.  However, every Sunday morning they gather at a house here in Los Ciruelos (neighborhood of Montellano) and go around and knock on doors.  I have been praying that they would come by.  This past Sunday they happen to come to the Makarios house as we were leaving to go to Templo Biblico for service.  I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to talk to them and so we did not end up going to service.  Dlacey(sp?) who was in his mid-40's and spoke only Spanish, knew his JW bible and beliefs very well.  Another guy named Yelso(sp?) was in his early 20's and spoke Spanish and decent English.  So Yelso was able to translate and help with the conversation since I am still learning Spanish.  After an hour plus, I stumped them enough to where they said they had to go back and research and come back later at 5pm that day.  They returned and we conversed for an hour.  They felt pretty proud of themselves for proving their points and in their minds proved that there was no Trinity (God in 3 persons) and that Jesus was not God.  No matter how many verses I showed them (in context) that showed the diety of Jesus they would move on to their next defense.  Right at the end of the conversation, it occured to me that Jesus was killed for one reason.  He claimed to be God.  So, I asked them why Jesus was killed and they had no good answer.  I have never been so exhausted!  They were very good but also good at ignoring my questions once they were stumped.  I will admit that it was exhausting to show them the diety of Jesus when they were adamant that I was wrong.

Here are just the tip of the ice berg of their arguments and how I handled them wrong:

• Ephesians 4:4-6 ESV "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

• Their argument was that this says that there is only one God and thus proves that Jesus is not God.  The Father is God only.  Jesus was just the son of God. (they actually didnt know that The Watchtower teaches that Jesus was Michael the Arch-Angel)
• I engaged in discussing the trinity and defending that Jesus is God.  They came to teach not to learn so they will never learn anything I show them because they view me as wrong to begin with.  They just get more flustered with you and excited that they are right.  They play "bible hopscotch", skipping from one verse to the next and it is impossible to talk about context when you are all over the Bible and not to mention they are in "teaching mode" not learning.  
• I should have told them that I will study a passage with them and allow the Bible only to speak for itself.  Jumping all around is a downward spiral and leads to them being more excited that their point is proven.  Also I learned not to discuss the diety of Jesus with them first!  Its better to focus on your relationship with Jesus and what that means to you and that salvation is a free gift.  They believe you have to work to get to heaven.  

• John 17:1-5 ESV "...that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent..."  
• Their argument is that it says there is one God therefore Jesus can not be God... the funny thing is when i asked them why their bible says in John 1:1 that "the word is a god" (word referring later in vs 17 that it is Jesus, they said "He is not a  God just a little god.  What??? Ok do you sense the silliness in that?!  The ESV says that the "Word was God".  I even showed them in the Greek text where this was wrong and that didn't help.  They said I was not interpreting the Greek properly.  No point in going down that road unless they are willing to learn.
• At the end of the day you cant argue with them, just listen, love, and keep asking though provoking questions to get them to start to question the authority of the Watch Tower.  Your goal is not to win the conversation but to get them questioning and most Christians they think are mean to them so what if we took up all their time and they never could go to other homes?  What if all Christians loved on them and took the inconvenience to chat with them?  I do warn you to be careful and pray through this as it is difficult sometimes spiritually.  You will be challenged in what you believe so be prepared and warned.  I got some good help here:  http://www.towerwatch.com/Witnessing/the_donts.htm  - website is little rough - scroll all the way down but content was helpful and  http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/how-to-witness-to-a-jehovahs-witness-1408500.html - i liked this since it is a very quick way to engage them if you don't have much time and it is a way to share the Gospel and to get control of the conversation quick. There are a lot more resources so email me if you want more.

I have a lot of studying to do and they will be back!  Pray for them that they will know the real "One true God" and that next time I can focus more on sharing the Gospel rather than debating because they really want to debate...  

Utterly dependent upon God more every day~Josh