I've always openned the door to them because I want to be polite.
I've opened my door a few months ago and I was really welcoming thinking of how if they are christians then they are brothers and sisters so I should treat them as family. At the time I didn't really know what made them different. After reading a pamphlets now I know. They are not christians. Meaning, they do not believe Christ is God. They challenged me for a discussion on why I believe Jesus is God, hinting that i misunderstand the bible. They have been polite but they have now given me a bigger booklet. I was going to open it and read about what it says about Jesus but i read about 2 sentences and closed the booklet back. If they have heretic teachings about Jesus, then I don't want to read about it. I would be comfortable reading the bible and then coming up with a conclusion but I feel uncomfortable reading their materials first and then reading their specified verses. I consider that going with the bible as a base is what is best, so confusions can be avoided. I feel uncomfortable about having further discussions with them yet I do not want them to go before I could at least say why Jesus is God according to the bible. I would like to ask if you could pray for me so the Holy Spirit would speak through me and protect me from false teachings and ideas.
The other thing that worries me is that I think them visiting me is not part of their monthly rounds around the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure they come around just to see me. They seem to come by car. I guess I'm an evengalising project now :s Please pray that they will go quietly and respectfully when I tell them I no longer want them to come and debate Jesus' fully divine /nature person.
Any advice is appreciated too. Thank you.
Ps: as I thought of a way to discuss Jesus and the arguments and verses I wanted to put forward I decided to not go to the bible with a preconceived idea of who Jesus is but to let the bible speak to me. During my time of prayer, I was reading Isaiah, not meaning to find specific verses, and then came across chapter 43:10-14 which says:
"...that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
11 I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.
12 I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God.
13 Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?"
14 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel..."
After reading this I understood that this was God's answer and I cried and said My Lord, my God. It felt like it was the first time that I fully understood that God/Jesus are/is My Lord AND my God!
I feel like this scripture is enough to give to the JW that are coming to see me. If they can't see that there is no other God then there is not much else to show them. If God says there will be no other God after me then why would Jesus be another God and not God? Anyway, I had to get that out of my chestThanks for reading and for your prayers. Be blessed.
UPDATE for those interested:
She came today and asked me if I had read their documentations and if I thought about Jesus being 'a God'. I was going to just let it slide and wait for next time to talk to them but she started talking about 'Jehovah's name and how it's hidden' so my blood boiled a little...from 'righteous anger' I hope...
So, I decided to clearly let her know that I was not going to debate Jesus being God. I showed her Isaiah 43 where God says he is the only Saviour, the only God and the only redeemer and told her that based on that, and on the fact that God will not give his glory to another, Jesus can only be God. Especially God clearly says 'before me no God was formed nor shall there be after me' After that, it became a heated discussion, I tried my best to be very polite. You know when Jesus chased the merchants from the temple? That's a bit how I'd describe how I was in terms of my speech, I did not chase her out of my yard
She came up with a whole lot more arguments and verses and it just annoyed me. I am happy though because I would not deny Jesus! And I said "Jesus is my Lord and my God"
It's quite amazing how they fluff around on details, like the name of God and 'the' and 'a'...at some point I even said "Please God forgive me if this is not right but.." then I turned to her and said "you need to repent". She was not happy about that. I also said she should be careful about what she teaches and she said ''You too" to which I responded "yes this is why I do not want to debate". Me quoting Isaiah was not me teaching, just reading the bible and stating the obvious. I think that's what I should do from now on, not explaining the verses away but just quoting them, God will do the rest. He opens the eyes of the blind.
Man this was arduous!! She just wouldn't back down or leave when I reiterated again that I would not debate it.
She even told me that Revelation doesn't say that Jesus is "the one that was, that is and is to come" really? what about Revelation 1:8 also told me it's because I am confused between Jesus and God...I also talked about the meaning of the names Immanuel and Yeshua but didn't help either.
She encouraged me to read more and think about it more...and she kept on using the words "you think that, you believe that" and I'm like "no I don't, I read the bible and it says it quite plainly". Yes, we humans, cannot make blind people see, only God can, which is why I found the back and forth of 'arguments' useless especially if no one is open to a different outcome. This is why I wanted the 'discussion' to end at Isaiah 43.
I think I did good, though I would have liked to be more gentle. Then again, when you consider how John the baptist and Jesus use the words "you brood of vipers", then I think I was quite gentle today. God would have given me the right words though so that's reassuring
