Part I: The Story
One Tuesday in the late morning I returned home from running some errands. Shortly thereafter, there was someone at my door, two middle aged ladies. I opened the door and stood in the doorway as I talked with them. I suspected right away that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses, or so they call themselves, but it is really a misnomer since they do not even know who Jehovah is, seeing that they deny his own words. I quickly saw that they were carrying a New World Translation of the Bible, confirming my suspicions. I thought “O what a great opportunity to witness, God brought these people to my door.”
Before they could say much I first pointed out something upon which we agreed - that neither of us celebrates the unbiblical pagan holidays. I then said that the biggest problem I have with JW’s is that they don’t believe in the deity of Christ (or of the Holy Ghost). I pointed out Isaiah 40:3 and I said that I believe that this is a prophecy of Christ’s coming. The one lady said she agreed that it was, and I told her that Christ is Jehovah. (In the Greek, as well as in the New World Translation, the word LORD in the KJV is actually “Jehovah”) Here she disagreed, but we know that Christ is Jehovah because this prophecy was fulfilled by Christ in Matthew 3:3. John the Baptist was the one preparing the way for Jehovah. John the Baptist was the one who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. We then discussed some other verses as well.
Both I and the one lady did a fair amount of talking, perhaps she more, I tried to give them a copy of “The Crisis” by Jack T. Chickbut she would not take it. I did say that I admired the fact that they went door to door (it’s a Biblical way to get converts). I basically said that I was not prepared to talk to them anymore because I did not have any other Bible references ready to discuss. I think she thought she was getting to me with her false teachings, and so she invited herself back, and we agreed to begin again next Tuesday morning sometime between 11:00 and 11:30.
The next Tuesday morning I woke up shortly after 6:00 and put together three pages of notes, mostly verses, and dug up lots of information on the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Westcott and Hort of whose Greek version of the New Testament the JW’s used for their Bible Translation. I also compared some verses between their Bible and ours.
I just knew they were going to come early, and so I gathered all my materials together, my Bible, their Bible, printouts of embarrassing (to them) pages from old watchtower magazines, and my three pages of notes.
I walked out on the porch at 10:45 and planned to wait for them, but no waiting did I. Nearly as soon as I walked out they came, and we began. This time the lead lady brought a different sidekick - an elderly woman. Perhaps I’m a suspicious person, but I believe here that I’m dealing with the devil, and we know his subtle tricks. She came early in an effort to catch me unawares, and she brought with her an old lady to calm my demeanor and arouse sympathy. After all, who would dare criticize a sweet old lady?
Now it is very important to speak gently and recognize verbally when they are correct. Most likely these ladies were well meaning. However, this cannot hold you back from speaking the truth, because Hell is a reality which we can’t suppose men avoid by any means other than that described in and by the word of God. They were pleased to see my copy of their Bible. I did complement on a few of the good features it has, because, after all God’s name is Jehovah, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with translating it for what it is. Before they could say much we immediately got into sharing verses which prove the deity of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost (not what she wanted to talk about). When I mentioned John 10:30 she says “Yes, but what kind of oneness is that?” Very tricky indeed she is. At one point I said “Did you know that the people who write the Watchtower magazine claim to be prophets?” She said “No they don’t.” I said “O really?” I then walked over to the porch step, lifted up the NWT Bible I had setting there and pulled out a copy of an old watchtower magazine and said that in this watchtower issue from 1972 they claim just that. She wrote down the issue date and page and said she would look it up to check it out. I also pointed out that if you read the old watchtower magazines from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that there are a lot of prophesies that never came true, and that the whole Jehovah’s Witness movement, if you will allow me to call it that, was began by false prophets. I pointed out that the Bible defines false prophets as those who make predictions which fail to come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). She agreed that that was the right definition of a false prophet. She also made this strange statement; she said that they (JW’s) do not consider those who are “spirit anointed to be divinely inspired.” So I said “So first you say that they do not claim to be prophets, and then when I show you that they do you say that those who are spirit anointed are not considered divinely inspired, it sounds to me like you are saying that the divinely inspired are not divinely inspired, as if they cannot be held accountable for what they say?” She did not have much of a response to that.
Then I finally got around to 1 John 5:7. I said that “I think part of the problem here is your translation.” I said “I know this verse isn’t in your Bible but I’m going to read it for you anyhow.” She says “I know what it says.” Then I read it “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” She said “That’s a spurious verse.” I said “O really, do you know anything about how your Bible was translated?” She said “well it was translated from the best copies of the originals.” I said “well that’s what you’ve been told.” I said “do you know what Greek text was primarily used for the translation of your Bible’s New Testament?” She did not know. I said that “the Greek text used was the one put together by Westcott and Hort, do you know who they were?” She did not know. I said “they supported the Roman Catholic Church.” She said “well everyone did, but there were those who knew the truth.” I said “did you know that these people did not even believe that the scripture was inspired, and you trust them to put a text together?” I said “did you know that these people based their text off two or three percent of the copies of scripture that were in existence?* And that they disregarded the majority of scripture. Just because the copies they chose may have been older, it does not mean that they were original.”
We also discussed John chapter 1 which their Bible badly mistranslates, as well as some other verses. I noticed her looking at her watch. She tried to get onto another subject, but I would not let her, and then I mentioned the fact that she was denying Christ for her failure to accept his divinity. She again tried to move onto another subject and I said “Well it is time for you to go,” and I motioned and pointed with my hand toward their van. She said “Hans you did this on purpose!” She tried to talk some more and I said “We have nothing else to talk about, because you deny Christ." I pointed to her van and said “You can leave now.” She said “well you read such and such a verse.” And I said “and you can read 2 John 1:7-11, and then you’ll know why I don’t let you in the house.” As they began to walk away I said “I pray you repent.” And I spent some time praying for them shortly thereafter.
Some explanations of this account
There were more details to our discussion/debate than I have written above, since writing every detail would be too time consuming. I have also written it as I remember, and it is possible that some of it is out of order or paraphrased. You can read Part II (the meat of the argument), which includes references for the facts shared in this account, as well as more arguments against the Jehovah’s Witness cult. When she said “Hans you did this on purpose!” I assume she was referring to the fact that I had planned for them to come back so that I could witness to them, and to the fact that I never let her get on to any other subject but that Glorious subject of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that it would have been an insult to God to let her speak a word after failing to recognize Christ in such a way as she did. Further, if she could not recognize Christ, I found it doubtful that she would be able to recognize anything else. You can't move on in Christian theology with people who do not even believe in something so basic as our Lord Jesus Christ.
Also see a related Post > The Godhead (Holy Trinity)