Witnessing to my Jehovah's Witness friends....

[Stan]

His followers, his close ones, were with him at least 3.5 years, and some a lot more. Even they did not fully understand his divinity.

This is a case in point.

[skyblue888]

Of course. As Adventists we are the same way. We have been with Him since 1844 and we still don't understand! Not one in one hundred does! (1 S.M.360)

This thread is not about bashing JW but about trying to understand what they teach and comparing that with Scripture.

sky

[John317]

Good for you Gail. Yes, Heb.1:8 is a great text and so is Rom.9:5. But it is strange indeed that their Bible reads, "God is a throne" instead of "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." Amazing to what lenghth their leaders are willing to go in corrupting the word of God (2 Cor.2:17) or handling the word of God deceitfully (2 Cor.4:2) as they also have done for John 1:1 and Isaiah 9:6 I believe.

Grammatically-- that is, according to the strict rules of Greek grammar-- their translation is possible. It reads the same in Moffatt's and Goodspeed's translations, and they were among some of the best scholars of the biblical languages.

However, althought their translation of Heb. 1: 8 is linguistically possible, it is not the best way to translate it (and therefore not probable) when you consider the context. In fact, their way of translating does not make sense when full context is considered.

The writer of Hebrews is contrasting the nature of Christ with the nature of the angels. Christ is far superior, and in fact He is Deity. Therefore to say that God is Christ's throne does not make the point as well as referring to Christ Himself as God. When translated in this way, Heb. 1: 8 is making the same point as Heb. 1: 10--- that Christ is really God and the Creator of everything. By contrast, the angels are creature-servants of God and of Christ.

[John317]

Disclaimer: ...

My friends deny the divinity of Jesus, and this is a dangerous position to be in. These verses come to mind:

Act 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Mat 7:22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'

Mat 7:23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

How can I be a better witness to my friends and bring them to the truth....?

Jehovah's Witness's believe that while on this earth, Christ was altogether human and not divine at all. They believe the pre-existent Christ emptied himself completely of all divinity and came to this earth only as a perfect human of exactly the same value as unfallen Adam. It was only after His resurrection that Christ was given divinity and immortality by His Father, Jehovah.

Therefore, it is really incorrect to say they don't believe Christ is divine. It is more accurate to say that Jehovah's Witness don't believe Christ is Deity, or God. For them, Christ is "a god," or a God-like creature made in God's image. But they do believe that Christ existed as a spirit creature prior to His conception on earth, and they also believe that it was Christ whom Jehovah used to make the world. However, they reject the concept that Christ was the "co-Creator," etc.

How to witness to them and bring them to the truth?

They will almost never let you give them a Bible study about your beliefs, nor will they read the literature or books that you give them. They are taught that the literature that opposes JW beliefs is a tool of the devil.

The only way to witness successfully to Jehovah's Witnesses is to first make friends with them and show them your love for Jehovah and His word. Once you gain their trust and affection, you will have opportunity to show them little by little what you believe on the basis of the Bible. When studying with them, use one of the Bible's published by the Watchtower organization. I suggest the American Standard Version (1901) or the Bible in Living English translated by Stephen Byington. The ASV is best. Try also to get the New World Translation (1961), not the newer edition. The older edition (1961) reads "worship" at Hebrews 1: 6.

The Bible in Living English is actually anything but living English, but it is accurate.

The truth is that the Jehovah's Witnesses are among the hardest to "study with" and bring to "the truth." Why? For one thing, they are as convinced-- and perhaps even more convinced--- that they are right and have "the truth" as Seventh-day Adventists are.

Two things are most important when working to bring Jehovah's Witness to the truth:

1) You absolutely MUST help them to see that they cannot trust the Watchtower organization to teach them the truth. As long as they trust the Watchtower organization-- the ones who write and publish their books, etc.-- you will have no chance of persuading them to change from the Jehovah's Witneses to the Seventh-day Adventist church. They believe their organization is superior to anything any other "organization" in the world has, and if we are only referring to "organization," they are right.

If they don't lose their trust in the Watchtower organization, you could prove them wrong by the Bible, and they would still reject what you say because their real faith is in the Watchtower organization.

2) The best and most likely candidate for change is a fairly recent convert to the Jehovah's Witnesses. So look for people who are either just beginning to study Jehovah's Witness material or ones who have not been in the organization very long.

If other Jehovah's Witnesses see another Jehovah's witnesses studying with you for the purpose of being taught contrary to their own beliefs, they will be urged to stop studying or reading what you give them.

There are a number of very helpful books published about witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses, which you will find in most Christian book stores. One of the best is titled, Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses, by Ron Rhodes. Another one is titled, How to Answer A Jehovah's Witness, by Robert A. Morey.

Having said all this, just remember that the only way to really witness to them is to show yourself a loving, kind, thoughtful, courteous, Christian friend, who obeys the Scriptures.

You could have all the right answers, but if the Jehovah's Witness is not ready to listen to you, all those right answers of yours won't matter one bit. That's why I say the most important thing is a Christ-like attitude and a lot of prayer for both yourself and the Jehovah's Witness.

[Gustave]

There should be some common ground between the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists...

...Both believe themselves to be "the Remnant".

...Both believe Jesus previously existed as Michael the archangel.

...Both believe in soul sleeping.

...Both believe in the lost becoming as if they never existed in the first place.

...And both believe that The Christ could have sinned, lost His salvation & eternally cease to exist.

George Storrs convinced William Miller he only needed to apply the ancient Karite Jew calendation....

...And re-calculate off that calendation system to reach 22 October 1844.

...George Storrs was the mentor of Charles T.

...The rest is history.