I’m going to tell you a little story from my past, but before I do that, I want to explain to you why this subject means so much to me. I want Christians to learn how to effectively evangelize JWs because I was a JW and because some of my most beloved family members still are. They have completely cut me off. I cannot speak to them. But you can. They come to your doors all the time, seeking to talk about the Bible with you. Please don’t ignore them or shut them down. They need what you have, and some of them have family members like me who are waiting for you to show them the truth.

Okay, on to my story:

When I was a JW, I delighted in engaging in online debates. I belonged to a discussion forum that was mostly about pop psychology, but which had a section just for discussing religion. A JW friend and I decided to create a discussion thread titled, “Ask me anything about Jehovah’s Witnesses.” We got a LOT of questions. Most of them were pretty predictable: “Why don’t JWs celebrate Christmas, Birthdays, Easter? etc. Why won’t JWs stop knocking at my door? Do JWs think that they’re the only ones who will be saved? Those all were very easy questions to answer. But a few brave Christians decided to challenge us on the deity of Christ. I was prepared with an arsenal of JW literature on how to prove that Jesus is not God. I’m afraid the Christians did not fare well. And there were even a few who said they were attracted to our way of worship. I felt very proud of myself, until….the apostates started coming. At that point, I jumped ship. Most Christians, unfortunately, are easy targets for JWs. Ex JW Christians, however, are a whole other beast.

Christians, you need to learn to reason like a seasoned Christian ex JW if you want to talk scripture with Jehovah’s Witnesses. JWs don’t think like you, and, generally, they are more prepared than you. I realize there are some Christians who have gone to seminary or studied a lot on their own. But for the rest of you, you probably have some learning to do before you will be effective in a Bible discussion with JWs. 

The most important thing to get clear in your mind is this: What is your goal? Why do you want to talk about the Bible with a JW? Is it because you want to prove that you’re right and they’re wrong? Or is it because you care about their spiritual welfare? Is it out of pride or out of love? Unless your motivation is pure love, the endeavor will be pointless from God’s standpoint. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

In my last post, I wrote about why JWs are so resistant to change. JWs are taught to completely shun former members. So, they know very well that if they discover that JWs do not have the truth and feel the need to leave the organization, they will probably lose every person they know who is a JW, very often all of their family. They have everything to lose and only one thing to gain: Christ. Christ is more than worth “the loss of all things.” But most JWs think they already have Christ. So they are unlikely to feel motivated to question the doctrines of the organization that is likely holding their family and friends hostage. Just remember that if they do begin to question, it will cause painful cognitive dissonance, something most people try to avoid. If they are able to make it past that hurdle, then they will be faced with the biggest dilemma of their life: Do I pretend to believe something I know is not true? Or do I jump ship and risk the loss of everything and everyone I’ve ever known or loved?

If out of sincere Christian love you have taken some time to learn about JWs, you now understand more about how they think and what they have to lose, and you also feel secure in your ability to skillfully defend your faith, you are ready to learn how to talk to a JW about the Bible. And remember that if you are successful, you will need to disciple and support that JW through a very difficult transition.

How to begin? 

JWs are taught to view non-JWs as potential students. They want to teach you what they know. They do not want to be taught by you. So act like a student. Ask sincere questions, the kinds of questions that will be difficult for them to answer. 

At the beginning, it’s important to avoid the subject of the Trinity or the deity of Christ. Nothing turns a JW off faster than the subject of the Trinity. It has been drilled into them over and over that the Trinity is a wicked, pagan teaching that dishonors their God, Jehovah. You can return to this subject once you have made some progress in other areas. 

Start with low lying fruit. JWs are taught that Jesus’ second coming occurred invisibly in the year 1914. This is the easiest doctrine to get them to question because most of them don’t understand it to begin with and it’s ridiculously easy to prove that it is incorrect. If you can get them to see the error of this one doctrine, everything else comes tumbling down. It’s like pulling that one Jenga block that’s holding it all up.

Charles T. Russel, the founder of the Watchtower organization, set many dates related to the end times and second coming, all of which turned out to be wrong. But the one date the organization never let go of was 1914. In the beginning, it was thought that Jesus would come, rapture all the faithful Saints, and set up his Kingdom on earth in that year. When that did not happen, instead of admitting that he had been wrong, it was taught that Jesus actually HAD come in 1914, only it had been invisible. It was taught that Jesus came to “inspect his temple”, or the worldwide body of Christ. Once that inspection was complete, apparently sometime in the year 1919, Jesus is said to have determined that the International Bible Students Association (which eventually became Jehovah’s Witnesses) was the one and only organization that was found to be adequately doing the will of God. For that reason, it was determined to be the “faithful slave” of Matthew 24 and Luke 12, the one and only “channel of communication” of Jesus Christ to mankind.

Russell based his calculations for the date of 1914 on the prophecy in Daniel about the “7 Gentile times.” The explanation for this teaching is extremely complicated and convoluted. But what you need to know is that Russel believed that Christ would come at the end of the “Gentile times,” which, according to the book of Daniel, would last 2, 520 years and would begin at the destruction of Jerusalem. Their critical mistake, other than the obvious one of date setting, was that they used 607 BCE, the assumed year of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, as their start date for the 2,520 years. But that date is supported by almost no one other than JWs. Most Bible scholars set the date for the fall of Jerusalem at 586/587 BCE. 

But more important than the fact that the date was wrong was the fact that Russel was trying to set a date for something that Jesus clearly stated no one would know, not even He Himself:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” – Matt. 24:36

Further, Jesus warned about those who would try to deceive by claiming that He had come invisibly: 

“Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” – Matthew 24:26-27

Jesus’s second coming will not be hidden. It will be obvious to all, just like a bolt of lightning.

JWs also teach that only 144,000 anointed Christians (all JW of course) will go to heaven. The rest of mankind, the so-called “great crowd of other sheep”, has the hope of living forever on earth, as long as they become baptized Witnesses and carefully listen to and obey the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I find that many JWs feel uneasy about this doctrine, and it is very easy to disprove. 

There are just two main passages of scripture that are used to teach this doctrine. The first is found in John 10:16 where it says, “And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” It is claimed by JWs that these “other sheep” are the same group that is spoken of in Revelation 7:9-17 called the “great crowd” or “great multitude”. It is taught that this “great crowd of other sheep” is not part of the new covenant with Christ (Luke 22:20), which means that they do not have Jesus Christ as their mediator. It also means that they are not permitted to partake of the communion bread and wine during the annual memorial of Christ’s death celebrated by JWs around the time of the Jewish passover. The only hope for this group lies in their willingness to attach themselves to the “anointed class” of JWs and follow their lead. The governing body of JWs, of course, are all of the anointed class.

This is all utter nonsense, of course. 

The two groups spoken of in John 10:16 are Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus Christ. He was announcing his intention to bring the Gentiles into his sheepfold, which is exactly what happened after his death and resurrection. (Acts 10) The passage has absolutely nothing to do with two classes of Christians, one going to heaven and one not, within the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

The interpretation of Revelation 7 is easy enough if you simply look at the entire context of the verses. The 144,000 are obviously a group of Jewish followers of Christ, if you want to take the passage literally. And the great crowd spoken of starting in verse 9 of chapter 7 is a group of Christians who have been martyred during the “great tribulation” and are standing before the throne of God in heaven. 

What I find funny is that JWs seem to get the interpretation of this chapter of Revelation exactly backwards. They say that the 144,000 is a heavenly class and that the great crowd is an earthly class when, in fact, the text makes it clear that the 144,000 are on earth and the great crowd is in heaven.

This is an incredibly destructive doctrine for several reasons. The first is that it creates a two tier system of salvation that is completely unscriptural and sets the stage for the kind of totalitarian governance that we see within the Watchtower organization. It is an oppressive doctrine. And most importantly, it forces JWs to disobey a direct command of Jesus Christ regarding communion, “do this in remembrance of me.” – Luke 22:19. So serious is this command that Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” – John 6:53 

The governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses bars the vast majority of JWs from the table of the Lord. They are like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’s day, of whom He said: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” – Matthew 23:13

JWs teach many false doctrines besides the two that I just covered. But if you can get them to acknowledge the falsehood of just those two, they are well on their way out of the organization. 

But keep in mind this one thing: if you can argue a JW into the kingdom, then they can most likely be argued out of it. They need something more than intellectual assent to the true gospel. Paul wrote in Romans 10 that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.” 

That kind of belief does not come from the intellect. It develops when the Spirit of God speaks to the spirit of man, as Paul stated in Romans 8: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” This happens when we have a genuine encounter with the Holy Spirit. 

How can we help JWs to have that type of encounter? Pray for them. Let the light of God shine through your speech and actions. Pray with them if they will let you. Be patient and never forget that this could mean their life.