I concocted the following imaginary conversation between a Jehovah's Witness and a mainstream evangelical Christian sometime in the 1980s. I have resisted the temptation to hone it some more as it is a long time ago that I studied the Watchtower Followers. When I created the imaginary dialogue below my conversations with the JWs and the contents of their books (on which the dialogue was based) were still fresh in my mind. I have on occasions attempted to place the dialogue before evangelicals, but unless they are a captured audience in a home group they stay well clear. The fact is that apart from some obvious unorthodoxy such as the notoriously difficult and contentious questions over the nature of Christ in relation to God, the JWs can make a statement of salvation that approximates very closely to the evangelical one. However, there is definitely an observance based streak in the JW's concept of salvation. But to be fair my contact with fundagelicalism has also revealed a very observance based faith; fundagelicals can be very scathing about the standing before God of those who do not assent to their verbal formalisms and practices to the letter. Hence, I'm as sympathetic to the JWs as I am to many a sectarian fundagelical.
***
What do you do when someone like this knocks on your door ?; I'm sure it will ring a bell with you ....
A :(Knocks on door & door opens) Hello. I have just been discussing with your neighbour the present state of the ...
B: Are you a Jehovah's Witness?
A: Yes, how did you know?
B: Sorry, but I'm a Christian and I don't believe what the Jehovah's witnesses say.
A: But what we say is only what the Bible says.
B: That's not true.
A: Can you give me an example?
B: Well, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have said the world would end and it hasn’t. That couldn’t have been from the Bible!
A: We have never said that.**
(...Pause. Bill knows that he can’t prove it so he tries again)
B: Er... Well, you don't believe in the Trinity.
A: You won't find any mention of the Trinity in the Bible. Jesus couldn't have been God because he said "The Father is greater than I am"
B: But Jesus said "I and the Father are One" (John 10:30).
A: Look at John 17:22. The disciples were "one", but they weren't one person: it just means that they were in harmony with one another.
B: What about John 1:1 where it says "The Word was God"?
A: Look at verse 18 of that chapter; it says "No one has ever seen God" -but men have seen Jesus, so he can't be God. This is why the Greek text actually says "The word was divine" and not "The word was God". Further proof can be found in Colossians 1:15 where it says "He is the firstborn ..". This shows that Christ was created and therefore couldn't be God.
B: (silence)
A: What religion do you belong to?
B: I.. err... am a Christian.
A: Do you go to a Church?
B: Yes.
A: What denomination is it?
B: It's the Vineyard fellowship, but we're not denominational.
A: Do you use God's name in your services?
B: What do you mean?
A: If you write a letter to a person do you address it with their name?
B: err ... yes.
A: Then do you think that during your worship you should address God by his name Jehovah?
B: What is wrong with addressing Him as father as mentioned in Romans 8:15?
A: You have to remember to whom that reference applies. Who was the Old Testament written for in the first place?
B: The Jews.
A: Do you think then that the sacrificial practices should apply directly to us?
B: No.
A: In the same way most of the New Testament is not directly applicable to us but only to a little flock with a heavenly hope. These are the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7:4 who are anointed by the Holy Spirit, and who are resurrected to heavenly life as spirit creatures as Jesus was. This is why you can't apply Romans 8 to us now - unless you are one of those few Christians anointed by the Holy Spirit and therefore a member of the 144,000.
B: If most of the New Testament doesn't apply to you, what is the basis of your salvation?
A: The basis is Christ's ransom sacrifice. Jesus willingly laid down his life in sacrifice for us. Let me read 1 Peter 2:24 ... "He Himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness." That is a marvellous expression of God's love for mankind. Let me also read John 3:16 "God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed, but have everlasting life". By exercising faith in this Ransom we can enjoy a clean standing before God and come under His loving care. In Revelation 7:9 it says "before me was a great crowd that no-one could count standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb". Jehovah's witnesses are the great crowd who have exercised this faith.
B: So Salvation is only available to Jehovah's Witnesses - I can't find that in the Bible.
A: What you have got to do is identify the marks of the true worshippers of God. One of their marks is the widespread publishing and honouring of his name. If you are to gain salvation you must honour the name of God. What religious group is most prominently publishing the name of God? If you were to talk to your neighbour and refer repeatedly to Jehovah, with what organisation would they associate you?
B: Why does that prevent salvation being available to those who have nothing to do with your group?
A: Surely if you follow the Bible commands you must be in one organisation. In the Old Testament there was only one channel of truth and that was Israel. Today it is the Jehovah's witnesses. What other religious organisation have the identifying marks of true discipleship. Are there any other organisations of which you could say that all members are in unity, love one another and teach the same things ?
B: Well, what about the Mormons and Moonies?
A: But they aren't in agreement with the Bible are they?
B (After a pause): It seems to me that this debate has missed the point. Faith is not based on academic opinion, or logical or illogical human reasoning; but on fact and reality; God can actually be known in real experience; what's important is whether we know him.
A: I agree, we need to know God and His working in our lives and through His organisation, and if we know Him we will know the truth.
"B", (call him Bill) certainly fails to do justice to himself and his faith in this confrontation with "A" (call him Andy), the Jehovah's Witness and appears to readily fall into the traps long planned by the JW doorstep evangelism system. But Bill is in fact a stooge placed to illicit some of the stock of preprogrammed responses of this system enabling us to put it under the microscope. Perhaps, DV, we can, at some later stage, consider in detail some of the puzzles and questions that the above dialogue raises like: Can a cult member be a Christian? What is faith? What is unity?. What is a church ? What is wrong with JW theology? And certainly not least: How ever do you witness to cult members? In the meantime any of your own reactions and comments to the above are welcome. (I never got any comments! - ed)
Footnote
** This is misleading. There is much documentation drawn from old Watchtower sources to indicate that their attempts to predict world events, based on their reading of the Bible, have failed. Many doorstep JWs are not aware of this documentation and of course do not know that the Watchtower has made significant false predictions. Therefore these JWs can genuinely deny that such predictions have been made by the organisation. This strategy is largely unconscious, but it clearly enhances the organisation’s survivability in a hostile environment. (see The Spiritual Rat Run for a discussion on the similarity between cults and organisms)
c. T. V. Reeves, September 1995
c. T. V. Reeves, September 1995
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