JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
(What they teach/What the Bible teaches)

Isaiah 43:10-12 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD... ...I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.”

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER FOUND IN A COBWEB OF IGNORANCE. Jws are extremely difficult to teach. Jws do not hesitate to make up their own definitions of words to fit their own schemes. They often talk about concepts that are familiar to us, but to them the concepts mean something far different. Jws also normally switch teachers in the middle of a series of classes. In all likelihood after the first session, you will never again see the person that first came to your door. They will agree to give you an opportunity to tell your views but they will take many hours and give you only a few minutes. My experience with Jws is that they are a clean living people but are very deceitful when it comes to Bible study.

NOTE: Never study with a JW until you first get him to agree to give you equal time. Make them agree to at least 6-2 hr sessions. Three sessions for you and three for them. Make them agree that they will personally be the ones who will be back for each session. Don’t listen to their story until they agree to the above. They will normally be content to preach to you at the door and will avoid setting up a study as long as they can.

A PARADOX:

A person that is brave enough to ask for a study but once he has it, too afraid to come back.

A person that goes around telling others that they are wrong, but does not have the courage to stand up for his own convictions.

HISTORY:

Charles Taze Russell, “Pastor Russell,” was born near Pittsburgh, PA on Feb. 16, 1852. He started a religion of his own and became immensely wealthy. He preached that the kingdom of the Lord would be established in 1874. When nothing happened that year he changed the date to 1914. He wrote five volumes called “Studies in the Scriptures.” He stated that sometime before 1914 the members of the church of Christ will be changed (Vol. III 357). “...within the coming 26 years all present governments will be overthrown and dissolved...” (Vol. II: 98-99. This statement was first made in 1889. He claimed to have discovered some “miracle wheat” which he sold for $30 per bushel and he was exposed as a fraud. He died Oct. 31, 1916. J. F. Rutherford then took charge of the followers and wrote a book in 1920 called, “Millions Now Living Will Never Die”.

THOSE WHO MAKE PREDICTIONS FOR THE LORD MUST DIE: Deut 18:20-22 “But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?"  If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him,” (NIV).

They teach that:

·         All government is of the devil. Romans 13:1 “...there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

·         There are not three beings in the Godhead. (Vol. V p. 166) (See link “Jesus Is God”)

·         “In truth, when Jesus was on earth he was a perfect man, nothing more and nothing less...Jesus was not God     the Son.” (J. F. Rutherford, Reconciliation (Brooklyn, 1928) p. 101.) (See link, “Jesus Is God”).

·         The spirit of man does not live between death and the resurrection. (Vol. V, p. 341) (See link “What is Hell Like?”)

·         Jesus did not raise from the dead. (Vol. 2, p. 129) 1 Corinthians 15:4-6 “...that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living...”

·         There is no punishment after death. (Vol. 5, p. 480) (See link “What is Hell Like?”)

·         The wicked will not raise from the dead. (Children, p. 361) 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

·         Only 144,000 people will go to heaven. (Let God Be True, p. 222, 223) (See “One Hundred Forty Four  Thousand” below).

·         Jesus is now and will ever be invisible to man. (Government, p 113) Revelation 1:7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.”

·         It is wrong to take a blood transfusion. (See “Eating Blood” below)

EATING BLOOD: Verses with “Blood + eat” are found in the Bible 48 times in the Bible.

FORBIDDEN IN OLD TESTAMENT:

Leviticus 3:17-4:1 "`This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.'" Note also the word fat.

Leviticus 7:26 “And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal.”

Leviticus 17:12 “Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood.’"

Leviticus 7:19 "`Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten…”

Leviticus 11:7-8 “And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat.”

Deuteronomy 12:21-23 “If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.  Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat.”

NOW WE ARE NOT UNDER OLD TESTAMENT: (See link “The Two Covenants” study below.) Romans 4:15 “Where there is no law from God there is no transgression.” No sin!

NEW TESTAMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

Acts 15:19-21 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." Why abstain? Because, Moses is being preached in the synagogues.

Acts 15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

Acts 21:25 “As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality."

Matthew 15:11, 17-20 “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him `unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him `unclean.'" "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man `unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him `unclean.'"

Luke 10:8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.”

1 Timothy 4:1-5 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

1 Corinthians 10:25-27 “Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it.’ If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.”

Romans 14:14 “As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself.”

Romans 14:20 “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean…”

SUMMARY:

1. We are not under OT laws. (See study on “The Two Covenants”)

2. The NT shows that the reason for not eating was for the sake of not casting stumbling block before Jews.

3. The NT shows that everything is good to eat.

4. Jesus condemns those who put emphasis what goes into the mouth.

5. Eating blood has nothing to do with blood transfusions which are not spoken of or forbidden in the Bible.

6. We must not judge Jesus’ servants by our rules. Romans 14:4 “Who are you to judge someone else's servant?”

7. By implication we are to take good care of our bodies which would sometimes include receiving blood transfusions see 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20.

ONE HUNDRED FOURTH FOUR THOUSAND: Note nine points about this group of people. Revelation 7:4 “Then I heard the number of those (1) who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 (2) who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.”

Revelation 14:3-5 “No one could (3) learn the song except the 144,000 (4) who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those (5) who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. (6) They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. (7) They were purchased from among men and (8) offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb. (9) No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”

This is all the Bible says about the 144,000! Perhaps more important is what the Bible does not say about the 144,000. It does not say they are all of the Jehovah’s Witnesses persuasion. The Bible does not say they are the only ones sealed or redeemed. (Only that they were from the tribes of Israel.) The Bible plainly says that they were first fruits which implies that there is more fruit to come. It does not say that these are the only ones going to heaven.  Notice Revelation 7:9 “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. (In other word the innumerable multitude was in heaven.) This multitude was wearing white robes, in other words they were Christians –pure. Question: Can you count to 144,000? God said no one can count the multitude that will be in heaven.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE JW CHURCH AND THE CHURCH OF CHRIST

The church of Christ accepts the following fundamental blocks to understanding God’s word. The JWs do not.

·         The Bible is the last word on any religious issues. (The Authority of the Scritpures)

·         The inductive/deductive approach to Bible study is the approach that God taught us to use. (See link "The Proper Method of Bible study)

·         Christians are not under any of the Old Testament laws. (See link "The Two Covenants")

I believe the best way to study with JWs is to study the three subjects mentioned above. First, these lessons are less offensive then directly confronting the person with problems. Second, these three subjects form the foundation for all correct Bible study. Third, these studies will provide a point of reference so when it comes time to point out the errors of doctrine, a foundation will already be established.

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Jesus Is God

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