Jehovah’s Witnesses at the Door - Part 1

A few folks have asked me to address this, so here goes. 

Perhaps you’ve had the experience of opening up the door to two individuals carrying pamphlets from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.  These two upstanding individuals are part of a quasi (but not really) Christian group known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Who are these folks?  What do they believe?  And how do we respond?  We'll look at three tactics one can take.

What Do these Folks Believe?

Back in the 19th century there was a fella named William Miller who predicted the end of the world would come in 1843.  That didn’t pan out.  After this great disappointment the group fractured into smaller groups.

One person influenced by those groups was Charles Taze Russell.  He founded the Watchtower Society 1879, which became the central publishing house for the group now known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Their belief system begins with the assertion that the true faith established by Jesus and the Apostles was utterly destroyed at some point in an event known as the “Great Apostasy”.  Thus, every existing Christian group is regarded as a perversion of the true Christian faith which was restored by Mr. Russell.

The most famous belief of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – and the one that prevents them from rightly being called Christians – is their denial of the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation.  Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the guy we call Jesus is actually a human version of Michael the Archangel.  Michael / Jesus is therefore not the same being as God, but is the first and most glorious creation of God.  Further, they insist on God being called “Jehovah God” with vigor which borders on the obsessive compulsive.

Next, they deny the immortality of the soul.  This means that when a person dies, nothing remains of that person.  He is utterly annihilated by death – retaining no conscious existence - a condition which persists until the resurrection. 

Lastly the JW’s use a “translation” of the Bible known as the New World Translation.  It reads like a wooden attempt to mimic the King James Version.  It also has tons of revisions that remove all mentions of the Trinity, Christ’s divinity, the afterlife, and other things.

Manage your Expectations:

When dealing with JW’s at your door, the important thing to remember is that they constantly train in apologetics.  Think you have a Scripture passage that will stump them?  Think again.

Think you can critique the veracity of the New World Translation – get ready to be lecture on Greek translating by a person who likely doesn’t know a word of Greek.

In other words, you’ll get nowhere by arguing Bible passages.  Instead, I would propose three questions that can help get your foot in the door and hopefully planet that all-important seed of doubt.


A Question of Authority and Trustworthiness:

Question 1: Why should I listen to what the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society says? 

There are three reasons to ask that question.  First, the Watchtower Society has a history of making false predictions about the end of the world.  Here’s some examples:

• They have predicted that the last stage of human history began in 1914, and that some people alive at that time would see the conclusion of history. 

• They predicted the resurrection of the righteous Hebrews of the Old Testament, who would then take control of Israel, would occur in 1925.  

• That the end of the world would occur no later than 1975.

Given that venerable history of false prophesy, why would a person trust anything they say?

Further, the New World Translation has undergone multiple revisions – not because of the discovery of new and better Greek manuscripts, but to respond to arguments against their group.  One example is Hebrews 1:6, which says:

"And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let all God's angels worship him.'"

Prior to 1971, the New World Translation had that verse as you see it above.  But Trinitarian apologists pointed out that this shows the divinity of Jesus, because God wouldn’t tell anyone to violate the 1st Commandment.  So, despite no change in the Greek, the NW Translation now reads:

“But when he again brings his Firstborn into the inhabited earth, he says: 'And let all of God’s angels do obeisance to him.'”

So if the Watchtower society feels free to alter the text of the Bible to suit their theology, why trust them?  

The last reason to ask this question is more basic.  Even if they didn’t have that abysmal history of failed predictions and Bible revisions… why listen to them anyway? 

Who made them into God’s prophetic spokesman?  On what basis do they propose their authority to teach doctrine?

Why can’t a person just learn Greek themselves, read the New Testament, and come to his own conclusions?  Or why not put his trust in a different translator he feels is more credible?

Now, they may be prepared for people pointing out these revisions and false predictions, so be prepared for a well-rehearsed answer.  Tomorrow we’ll finish this off with two arguments from history which they won't be ready for.  See you then. [LINK]