How to Refute Jehovah's Witnesses

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How to refute Jehovah’s Witnesses.

[This is intended to be a Christian only read.]

I’m going to try to keep this short and to the point. This absolutely works to stump them every time. Their leaders will not be able to refute what I am about to share with you. I know this because I presented this argument to several Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they told me that they’ll get back with me, and that they have to take it to their leaders to give them the response they should give me, and each time, they were told that they did not have an answer and their leader told them to end all conversations with me. In fact, one time their leader gave them this verse to give to me—Titus 3:10 “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him.” And then they abruptly ended all further discussions with me.

That’s not fair. They try their best to convince us (Christians) that our bible and faith are wrong, and they are so confident they have it right, but when they get stumped, they don’t want to look further into it to get the real truth. And the message they are giving by giving me this verse is that Satan won the argument. How can Satan win against the godly using God’s word to do it? Why not look further into it for yourselves? If their leaders get stumped, they tell the Jehovah’s Witness to not look into it anymore. Most Jehovah’s Witnesses who come to us don’t know that that is the end outcome if they get stumped by us. They don’t expect to get stumped by us. So my suggestion to you if you do decide to have this discussion with them is to anticipate this end outcome and use tact to avoid it going that far. When they first sit down with us, they usually say something like, “I know that you have been a Christian for many years and have learned from your parents and your church about the Trinity. But please have an open mind because what I am going to show you will go against everything you learned. It will go against what your pastor told you in Church. But isn’t it more important to you to get to the truth than to continue following tradition even if your parents and pastor were wrong with what they were telling you your whole life? The truth of God should be above everyone else, so please give what I am about to tell you sincere consideration.”

That is their normal pitch when they first sit down to talk to you. But since the outcome will be the other way around (you will stump them) then this is your important opportunity to say, “Okay, I agree. So let me offer you the same suggestion you offered me. Please truly consider, for the truth of God that if I show you that you are wrong, that you will look into it and conform to the truth even though it goes against what your leaders have told you. I will agree to change or look more into it, if you stump me, if you too agree to change or look more into Christianity if I stump you with what I have to say. That way, you might prevent that end outcome when their leaders tell them to just brush you off. There is too much time involved with talking to them to waste your time.

Okay, in order to stump them, you will need a copy of their version of the bible. It is called “The New World Translation.” This is their universal single bible that they go by. It is a truly flawed translation of the Scriptures. I’m not going to get into the history of it pointing out why it is flawed unless someone asks me to. But basically, all the verses in the Christian bible that shows that Jesus is God, has been altered in their bible to say that he is inferior to God and is not God at all. Here is one example: John 1:1. Christians, you know this verse, but here it is in their edition: “In [the] beginning the Word was God, and the Word was a god.”
That is an absolute treachery to the Greek texts. They say “a god”? And they lowercased the word “god” on top of that. The word “a” really does not exist in the Greek language. The word “God” is listed twice in this verse, and it is true that there is a little difference in the Greek construction of the word from the first time it says “God” to the second. A Greek study bible will show you the construction of each word. On top of the first “God” in this verse is the construction “art/nn”. And on top of the second “God” word is the construction “pr/an, nn.” These are grammatical notations. “Art” stands for “definite article.” “Nn” stands for noun. “Pr” stands for predicate. “An” stands for anarthrous (this is unique to the Greek language). So in the verse: In the beginning the Word was God, and the Word was a god, the first “God” in Greek, the construction of the word is a definite article, and a noun. The second “god” in the Greek for this verse is a pronoun, anarthrous, and a noun. Okay, we know what definite articles and nouns are so I don’t have to define those. But “anarthrous” is unique to the Greek language; and it [Quoting my Greek study bible]:

“refers to a word or group of words which appear without a definite article (ho, he, tó). Greek has no indefinite article, “a” or “an” in English. Sometimes it is best to translate an anarthorous word by supplying “a” or “an” before it. In fact, due to reasons of English style or Greek idiom, the word “the” is even an appropriate translation in some cases. However, there are many times when supplying an article would be incorrect. Anarthrous constructions are most often intended to point out the quality of something. [they quote a sentence in Greek] “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” Heb. 12:1.”

What all of this means is that an anarthorous emphasizes the word, and does not take quality away from it. Look at the example my Greek dictionary gave in Hebrew. It is emphasizing that it is a cloud. But the translators of the New World Bible have used the Greek construction the wrong way to take away quality from and that is erroneous. In fact, the earliest Greek manuscripts were written in all capital letters, (and without punctuation.) So it is up to the translators to decide whether or not to capitalize or lowercase a word, so their lowercasing “god” here means nothing. Furthermore, going back to that verse in John, and referring to the construction of the second word “god,” it is the same construction as “God” in verses 6, 12, 13, and 18. All of those words “God” are all anarthrous too. Hmmm…The New World does not lowercase those “God”s.

Well that explains John 1:1. It is complicated, but I hope you were able to follow me there. But that is not the stumper. Sorry for the wait. Here is the stumper. For this you have to have a New World translation. If you pretend you are interested, they will give you a free bible upon request. Have them go to 1 Corinthians 8:6. First, I’ll quote it from the NLV: “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

Now Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) use this verse against Christians. They say, “You see, it says that there is just one God, and it says that He is the Father, and it distinguished God from Jesus, who is only called Lord.” That might be a persuasive argument to young Christians. They go on to say that “God the Father is the one FROM whom all things came as opposed to the Son where He is THROUGH whom all things came. Colossians 1:15-16 shows that that is not the correct interpretation. Let me quote Colossians from their bible and I’ll put in all caps my point,

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and FOR HIM.”

Of course they add in brackets “other” to imply that God himself was not created. Also, the Christian bible for the last sentence reads, “All things have been created by him and for him.” They say “through him” but we both agree on “for Him.” It seems to me that the translators missed changing “for him” to something else because if all of creation was created for Jesus, that would make Jesus God because Jesus is getting all the glory, and God does not share His glory with anyone but himself (cf. Isaiah 48:11). Also, why don’t we simply read the entire passage in 1 Corinthians 8:6 to see what it is talking about? The next verse, verse 7 gives the point of the text—“But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” And here is the verse before our verse at hand, verse 5, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords.” Please take time now to read verses 4-8 to yourselves……….This passage is comparing pagan gods, which have food sacrificed to them by pagan people, to the one God (Father and Son). The way JW reads this and interprets it, they are placing Jesus with the pagan gods that this passage is talking about---a completely false interpretation!

Those are all arguments you can go back and forth with but when you are through discussing that, the stumper is this: now point out to them the Greek word for “God” and the Greek word for “Lord.” You will need a Greek to English/English to Greek bible to do this. JWs study from these Greek to English bibles too, so they may have one. Show them that the Greek word for God is “Theós.” And the Greek word for “Lord” is “Kurios” [with an accent over the “u”]. Now tell them that everywhere in their New World Translation that wherever they have the name “Jehovah” (except when it is a quote from the Old Testament), the Greek word is “Kurios.” “Jehovah” is listed many, many times in the New Testament of the New World, but it is always the word Kurios. Kurios then refers to Jesus Christ, not Father Jehovah, except for the places where it is a direct quote from the OT because the OT is a different language altogether: Hebrew.

So 1 Corinthians 8:6 really reads: “yet for us there is but one Theos, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Kurios, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

So there is but one Kurios, hey? And that would be Jesus, hey? Then why are they translating the Greek Word Kurios to “Jehovah” throughout the New Testament then? Because they want to take away the divine attributes of Jesus. They would rather give those attributes to the Father and diminish Jesus. They have no answer to that, and neither do their leaders. But use it with tact and caution or otherwise you’ll be wasting your time when they shun you away for lack of a response.
 

GraceC

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I was born and raised a Jehovah Witness...so for nearly 30 years this was all I learned. The thing is original Bible language (Hebrew,Greek,Aramaic) is not taught. JW's trust the translators of the NWT to be qualified and accurately translate their Bible...so for them, what it says in the NWT is what it says in original language. So no, the average JW coming to your door is not going to have a clue what you are talking about. Heck,even I was confused by your post and I have studied the Bible A LOT since becoming a Christian. When they go to the elders of their congregation they will be given a satisfactory answer for THEM according to their theology. Then they will be told not to speak with you since it is obvious you are not looking for "truth" but seeking to convert them. Protecting themselves from other "apostate" doctrines and becoming "confused" takes precedence. So what you are effectively doing is slamming the door to any future conversations...if your goal is to truly save them. But converting a JW coming to your door is tough. Far and few between JW's have been converted in their own door-to-door ministry. Their goal into convert you and if it appears they will get nowhere with you they just move on.
 
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paul1149

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Most people are not going to be able to follow the use of the definite article in the Greek, but it's fair game to point out that no other source translates 1Jn 1 and other verses as the JW's do. The last time I had two JWs come to my door, I didn't invite them in, but did engage them in conversation. One of them was some kind of leader, high enough to address their conventions, and the other was learning the ropes, but was a full grown man.

We covered quite a bit of ground that day, and though we never opened a Bible I gave them quite a bit of scripture. One powerful argument I've found is how Jesus accepted worship, and continually pointed to Himself as the source of salvation - something no mere angel would ever do.

The leader guy got increasingly frustrated and approached losing his cool, and finally made motions to leave. We said goodbye, but as the leader walked away the learner turned to me and offered his hand. We shook hands and smiled. I think it was good for him to see that there are other intelligent views of Bible interpretation than theirs. That is something a lot of JW converts are not aware of.

edit: just realized this is an old thread.
 
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I talked to a JW recently and they denied Jesus was God, but is just a created being from God.

In my study of the Bible, I've found a few places where Jesus is clearly called God. Some translations make it less obvious, but all of these verses from the Greek clearly call Jesus God, to a point where to debate it is ludicrous.

Romans 9:5 " of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen."

2 Thessalonians 1:12 (this one is translated badly in the NKJV) "that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." The Greek says "του θεου ημων και κυριου Ιησου Χριστου" which is "of our God and Lord Jesus Christ" since there is no article in front of "Lord", the titles God and Lord are associated to Jesus.

Titus 2:13 "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" This verse is similar to 2 Thess in that the article does not appear before Saviour so God and Saviour are attributed to Jesus.

Hebrews 1:8
"But to the Son He says:“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom."


and then there is James 1:1 compared with James 1:27
1:1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this


The point in James is that the syntax is the same for both Jesus and the Father, do call the Father "God" and Jesus "not God" is twisting the text to suit your needs, which is what the NWT does. I've looked at all these verses in it, and they twist every single one of them


The New World Translation twists obvious and clear Greek sentences to mean complete opposites. It is an abomination of a book, and deceives it's readers. It is created to propogate the false doctrines of the JWs.
 
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