When a Jehovah's Witness comes knocking at your door, how do you engage them with the gospel? There is a rather easy way to do this. All it takes is a little understanding of their belief system. You've seen the TV shows where the villain will attack the hero with a block of wood. It looks so threatening. But then the hero takes the 2x4 out of his hands and bonks his foe in the head with it. That's really all you have to do with the Jehovah's Witness. Their own beliefs are your greatest weapon. You don't have to be afraid because you can use their folly against them. What do JW's believe? Jehovah's Witness believe that God and Jesus are two different spirit entities. Jehovah God is the highest being and Jesus is his firstborn son. To put it another way, Jesus is divine in essence, but he is not God. God is the monarch, and Jesus the first thing God created. Even though Jesus is not God, the Jehovah's Witness claim that he is the "exact representation of his [i.e. God's] very being" (Heb. 1:3). What's more, they would state that in Jesus "all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily" (Col. 2:9). Okay, cool. Let's roll with that. Let's take the board out of their hands and begin to clank them with it. We only need to ask, "What kind of essence does God have?" Once we start poking around Jehovah God's nature, we will find that Jesus is not the exact representation of God nor does the fullness of deity dwell in him. God is Unchangeable If you ask a Jehovah's Witness if Jehovah God is unchangeable, he will say yes. They may even cite a Scripture, such as...
Herein we find a contradiction. Jesus was created, which means he changed. He once was not alive, but he underwent a change to become alive. God is Eternal If you ask a Jehovah's Witness if Jehovah God is eternal, they will say yes. They may cite a Bible passage, such as...
Again, Jesus cannot be the exact representation of God nor have the fullness of the deity dwell in him. For Jesus is not eternal, being that he at one time was created. God is Self-sufficient God is completely complete. We call this his independence or self-sufficiency. What we mean is that the Lord does not depend upon anything else for life (Acts 17:25). He created everything and is independent from all created things. Smack! Take that board and give them a good wallup: If Jesus is a created being, he is completely dependent on another for his life. God is Sovereign & Possesses All Power in Himself. A God who is a king is one who has absolute sovereignty and power. That means he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He is not limited by any other creature, for all power is in and of himself. But, according to the JW's, Jesus' does not have absolute sovereignty. As a created being, his power is dependent upon Jehovah God. Moreover, he cannot do whatever he wants. His will is subject to a will that is higher than his. God is All Glorious A Jehovah Witness will likely admit that Jehovah God is full of glory. They will likely say that Jesus is full of glory too. But Scripture clearly teaches, "I am Jehovah. That is my name; I give my glory to no one else." Isaiah 42:8 Obviously, if this is true, God could not share his glory with Jesus. But, if Jesus does not have the exact same glory, he is not the exact representation; neither or does all the fullness of the deity dwell in him. Here's a real kicker: Jesus even says that he had glory with the Father before the world began. Jesus said, "Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." Jn. 17:4. That's like a double crack in the head. Yikes! THE WORD WAS A GOD? Have you had an encounter with a JW and been given the runaround over John 1:1. The text says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word with God and the Word was God." This passage is a clear proof that Jesus was one with God, very God of very God. But the JW will argue 'til they're blue in the face saying that it really is supposed to be translated like this... "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a god." Don't let that bother you. You don't have to get into the finer points of the Greek language. You can use that against them! Turn them to Isaiah 45:5 and trap them in their own words. Isaiah announces with the highest bit of prophetical clarity, "I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no God."
1 Comment
John Marino
6/28/2019 04:00:38 pm
When a Jehovah's Witness would take my Greek teacher to John 1:1, he would say, "Is an anarthrous noun always translated with an indefinite article?" After he asked that, he said that they were painted into a corner but they didn't know what corner they were in and they didn't know what color the paint was.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Kindled Fire is dedicated
to the preaching and teaching ministry of Matt Timmons. Matt is blessed to be a husband, father, and pastor in Ashland, Ohio. Got Problems?
Get Biblical Counsel Social Media
Join the conversation! Check Out
Matt's Original Hymns This is Matt's book. You should buy it.
Categories
All
Archives
November 2020
|