Thank you! I did not know about the difference of el and elohim, that has helped me understand it better. Btw it would help a lot if you would share your experience with taking to Jehovah Witnesses.
Alright, yes, let me tell you more about my experience.
So, ever since I have been born again, God has given me a heart for the lost, and so I always am excited when I have a chance to witness to people.
I studied Jehovah’s Witness doctrine, before I had a chance to speak to any Witnesses, and then when they came to my door I was more than happy! They started the conversation by asking what I do to please Jehovah, and I am always passionate about God and gave them a long list of many things I do out of love for Him (“Do everything as unto the Lord”). They were surprised by my passion toward God, and when they asked about a weekly Bible study I said yes!
So, they came back the next week to begin.
My first approach was to shower them with the LOVE of God. I gave them smiles and hugs! And I had freshly baked muffins for them. They turned them down (they were health-conscious elderly ladies), but every time they came I made sure to offer them something healthy and delicious to eat or drink. I absolutely believe that living out the love of Christ is vital – for the Gospel has a shocking message:
- Their own religion teaches them to “be good, to be accepted” by God, but we give them the opposite news – they are not good enough (no one is) to earn eternal life, but God knows all their flaws and LOVES them enough even to die for them, to provide salvation and eternal life!
This is a shocking concept to those who have been treated their whole life like their level of Goodness determines how loved they are. For example: If an adult child of a J.W. rejects the faith and lives in sin, the family will cut off all contact and “disfellowship” them forever, until they go back to Behaving the Right Way.
Okay, but as soon as the first Bible Study began, we ran into a difficulty immediately: They did not want to simply study the BIBLE. Like, I said, “Let’s read through First John” or “What about Romans? Ephesians? Where do you guys want to start?”
And they said, “Oh, no no. We go through these Booklets.” And they pulled out these booklets written by the Governing Body of the J.W. Organization. And I said: “Oh, but those are written by man. We would be studying man’s doctrine rather than just the Word of God.”
One of the two of the ladies kept arguing and arguing, saying “But it gives Bible references, it all found in the Word of God,” and I would say, “That’s what we are here to discuss, yes, but you have to at least notice that it’s in their words. Even if the doctrines are Biblical, it’s not just quoting the Bible but putting ideas into their own words – thus, it’s the word of man.” And the other lady, Ruby, she agreed with this position – that it was Biblical doctrine, but in the Words of Man. The first lady, Phyllis, she kept insisting that this wasn’t the words of man but was literally a Bible Study.
We came to a compromise: We would spend half the time in the booklet, and half the time reading the Scripture itself by itself.
However, by the next week, Phyllis backed out of the compromise and said that she ONLY was willing to study the booklet with me. I agreed to it because it was better than nothing. You see, the Watchtower organization does a great job sealing off their members from all outside contact. Most Witnesses have never heard the Gospel explained to them, because they are not involved in secular activities (their schedule is kept chalk full of what the Organization demands of them) and are not generally allowed to have non-J.W. friends. They are not allowed to research the organization online, and are not permitted to read “Apostate literature.” So if you ever hand them a Gospel tract or book, they are not permitted to read it and cannot hear the Gospel that way. The brief contact they have with Christians during their evangelistic efforts is the One chink in the armor, the one way that outside information can come in. So I really valued every moment I had with them, and did my best to keep them coming back rather than getting frustrated and giving up and not coming back.
Here is something important:
They hate to hear statements they disagree with. They are more open to questions.
So with all my disagreements, I made great efforts to phrase it **as a question.** If I wanted to prove to them that the Holy Spirit is a spirit person (not just a force), then I wouldn’t SAY: “The Holy Spirit is a person,” but rather would ask: “What is a spirit person?” and “How would we know if the Holy Spirit is one?” and “So if the Holy Spirit had a mind, will, and emotions, would you then agree that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit person?”
Or instead of reading to them a verse and saying: “Therefore, as you can clearly see, Jesus has existed forever.” I would say: “In this verse that speaks about Jesus, why do you think the Scripture uses the word OLAM to tell us how long He has existed?” [Ruby actually ended up acknowledging, the next week, that sure enough the Hebrew word OLAM does mean from eternity. It is applied to Jesus in Micah 5:2:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting [OLAM].”
They do love to do Greek and Hebrew word studies, because otherwise the differences between their Bible and our Bible are too great to come to any agreement about. They think our Bible is corrupt, and we think their Bible is corrupt, but looking at the original language helps.
In the end, they studied with me for over a year, but, eventually stopped because the organization encouraged them to stop “wasting time” with me.
It was not surprising. The Organization does try to keep their members safe from outside perspectives. I knew it was only a matter of time until they would be disallowed from seeing me. But you have a special situation, because this Witness you know is your friend already!!
They do like it when we use the name of God. Jehovah is kindof like His name, but, Hebrew does not have a J. So, it’s a Germanic pronunciation. I use the original pronunciation: Yahuwah
They did like the fact that I use a name for God, rather than just calling Him by His title (God). And because I know the name of God, I was also able to try to show them that Jesus’ name proclaims Him as God, for His name in Hebrew is Yahushua - meaning: Yahuwah-Our-Salvation
