A Quick Guide to Talking With Jehovah's Witnesses
I posted a link to a video to on my Facebook Author Page that demonstrated an approach to talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses, and in the interests of equipping you with more tools to put in your toolbox, I thought I’d also share an approach that I’ve used in the past. I write about this my third book “Practical Apologetics”, if you’d like to go a little deeper.
Ask How Much Time You Have
All too often, I’ve found that when a “publisher” (door-to-door evangelist) comes to my door and he finds himself in a bind, he’ll suddenly remember that he has another appointment to get to. This tends to happen more with Mormons, for some reason, but it’s still a good idea to ask up front how much time you have. This gives you an idea of how you should use your time, and it gives you something to hold him to if he tries to leave early.
Establish Boundaries
When talking with Jehovah’s Witnesses, you’ll want to keep the conversation constrained to three topics and three topics alone:
The nature of God
The person and work of Jesus Christ
Salvation
So start off by saying something like this: “Hi, Charles. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to talk about spiritual matters with you, because I believe there’s nothing more important to talk about. I know a little bit about Jehovah’s Witnesses, and we have different opinions about a number of things, but in order to keep our conversation productive, I’d like us to agree that we will only talk about three topics [at this point, you list the three topics, above]. Everything else is out of bounds. Is that okay with you?”
I’ve never had a JW say “no” to these conditions, so you should be good to go.
Invite the Publisher to Read Some Verses Aloud
Invite your JW to open his Bible (even if it is the NWT) and have him read aloud from his own Bible from each passage listed below. Having him read from his Bible does a number of things:
It avoids the whole “My Bible can kick your Bible’s butt any day!” arguments
It makes the experience of reading God’s Word more immersive for him—rather than just seeing words on a page, he will see words, give them voice, and listen to himself say them. Let the Word of God do all the statement making—you just ask questions.
Here’s one simple verse train that focuses on the word “Savior”:
Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16 — after he reads each verse aloud, ask him, “Who is the savior?” [Jehovah]
Isaiah 43:11; Hosea 13:4 — after each, ask “Are there any other saviors other than Jehovah?” [No.]
Luke 2:11 — Do angels lie? What did they call Jesus? [No. “Savior.”]
The argument we’re making here, in syllogistic form is:
Only Yahweh/Jehovah is Savior
Jesus is called Savior by beings that were incapable of lying
Therefore, Jesus must be Yahweh/Jehovah
Put another way, if Jesus is not Yahweh/Jehovah, He cannot save you.
Don’t Memorize, Leave a Trail of Breadcrumbs!
This is a great technique for those of us who have trouble remembering references can use to help get us up and running. Of course, if you can have the train memorized, you’ll be able to more easily customize the train based upon time constraints, and you’ll not be hampered by using someone else’s Bible, but this’ll get you in the fight sooner.
Remember just one thing: Isaiah 43 (or write a note on one of the blank pages of your Bible that says “JW Start: Isaiah 43:3”
At the end of the verse, draw a little arrow that points to the next reference.
Go to the next verse.
Repeat steps 2, 3 until you get to the end of the chain.
Here’s what this chain looks like in my primary teaching/study Bible. As you can see, a couple of cases are a bit messy because I’ve modified the chain over time, but for the most part, it’s still usable. :-)
