Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 5/26/2005

Question
I grew up with my dad who was a Jehovah's Whitness until he died when I was 16. While he didn't believe in hell or the Trinity, he did beleive, and always taught me, that Christ is God's perfect son who came and died for our sins so that all my have eternal life. To him that eternal life would be living on a perfect earth after being reserected.
 Shortly after his death I was lead to
Christ, in prayer, by a Baptist pastor. I had always believed in Christ so I found this odd, but I went with it. Having been nondenominational for six years now, I have heard many people say the Jehovah's Whitnesses are lost. So, using this website, I ask a JW expert about their beliefs on Christ. His response was that Christ was the perfect sacrafice for our sins. As God's son he fixed what Adam had broken so we may all have eternal life. Would you consider that salvation? Personally I don't care where I go after I die as long as it is where God wants me to be. What do you think.

Please forgive the length of this Question and Thankyou,
Joe

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

Let's break up your question into parts.

I.  What is salvation and why do we die??The Bible says, "It is appointed for men to die" Hebrews 9:27.  Yet when it occurs, people have difficulty in accepting the reality of the event.  Paul called death "the last enemy" 1 Cor. 15:26.  He also taught that death entered the world as the result of sin, Romans 5:12.  If there had not been sin, there would have been no death, Romans 5:17.  Death is more than a natural phenomenon:  "The soul who sins shall die" Exek. 18:4  When Paul describes death as receiving the "wages of sin," he means much more than its inevitable consequence Roman 6:23.  Death is God's verdict upon human sinfulness Romans 1:23.  Jesus Christ conquered death when He overcame sin and the devil.  Spiritually, believers have already passed from death to life John 5:24, and the broken relationship with God has been restored.  Believers still face the weakness and pain that accompany dying, but they need not be afraid of death itself.  Jesus Christ the victor will finally overcome the last enemy also 1 Cor. 15:26, 54-57.
Our penalty for sin is death.  Sin is the reason we are condemned to Hell.  The only way to go to heaven is to have that sin forgiven.  The Bible says the only way to do that is to have salvation through Jesus Christ.  In fact, the Bible says no one or other way is available for salvation except Jesus.  John 14:6  “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”  You cannot get to God except through Jesus.
How are we saved? God wants you to know that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) God wants you to know that Jesus Christ has already provided the way of salvation. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but will have everlasting life." (John 3:16) You must repent of your sins, confess them and forsake them. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9) God wants you to know that acceptance or refusal determines your destiny. "Everyone who has faith in the Son has eternal life. But no one who rejects Him will ever share in that life, and God will be angry with them forever." Romans 10:13 “Those who call upon the name of the Lord, will be saved.   “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph. 2:8 If you wish to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, then you must pray to God and let Him know that you believe, you repent of your sins, you ask for forgiveness, and you ask Him to save you and be your Lord (Master).  A Prayer would go something like this: "Dear God, I believe Jesus died on the cross for me and is alive today. I know I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin. Please forgive me. I want Jesus to live in me as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for hearing me. In Jesus' name. AMEN."
All those who are saved go to heaven.  All those not saved, go to Hell.  It is that simple.
Remember, God does not send anyone to hell because they never heard of Christ or never accepted Him.  He sends people to Hell because they have sinned.  Romans 3:9-12 tells us “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written:  "There is no one righteous, not even one;  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless;  there is no one who does good, not even one." Even a Child knows the difference between what is right and wrong.  As an adult, we cannot say that we are ignorant of what is right and what is wrong.  The judgment for sin will be in relationship to how much they knew.  A person growing up in the U.S. with a church on every corner will be judged more harshly than someone who never even heard the name of Jesus.  But even someone who grew up in an uncivilized jungle knows in his conscience that there is a god that is worthy of worship.  The Bible says his conscience will either accuse him or excuse him on the day of Jesus Christ.  God is not going to condemn people if their own consciences excuse them.  Regretfully, every human being has sinned against his or her own conscience.  God does not judge people for failure to believe in Jesus, but because they are sinners.  The Bible says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
Original sin is the term for being born a sinner.  Remember, man was created in the image and likeness of God.  Man was a free moral agent, freely able to choose God or turn away from him.  By eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he did the one thing he was asked not to do.  Breaking God's one commandment to him was sin.  At that point Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden and cut off from the tree of life.  From that moment on, the spirit of man was damaged.  It is as if man is now born with a moral handicap.  He is lame in the most important part of his being- his spirit.  That is original sin.  There is a rebellious nature in most children.  They just like to do whatever you tell them not to do.  This natural rebellion stems from man's original sin.  Instead of being morally free, man has a decided tendency toward sin - urged on toward evil by what is called "the world, the flesh, and the devil."  Original sin is a tendency to do evil, not an act of evil itself.  God does not punish people for tendencies to do evil, only for what evil they do in light of what they know.  In other words, babies and children do bad things but do not truly understand the difference between good and evil.  They may even know that what they are doing is wrong, but they do not understand that it is evil.  Therefore, little babies and young children do not go to hell because of original sin, because babies have never committed any sinful acts.  So babies do not even need to be baptized until they are old enough to choose Christ and baptism themselves.
Baptists believe that once you are saved you are always saved.  That excepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and believing in Him means you go to heaven.  Nothing else will give you salvation.  We believe that you are saved forever because: 1. there is security because of God's Promises (Romans 8:31-39), 2.  God's presence assumes security (John 10:27-30 & John 3:16), 3.  Because of God's power the believer is kept (1 Peter 1:3-5),  
My wife and I adopted a child.  We have come to love her just as we love our other 2 children.  Can you imagine that we would stop loving her just because she did something wrong or was disobedient to us?  When you are saved, you are adopted into the family of God.  You must, out of your love for God, try to live a Godly life.  Acts of sin or rebellion will take away the joy of salvation.  When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, he lost the joy of his salvation.  When he wrote Psalm 51 about it, he said, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." He had no joy, because he had rebelled against God.  He did not lose his salvation, only the joy of it.  Jesus said in John 10:29 that "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."  Once you belong to God, you can never be taken away.    There is a difference between being immature in Christ (that is still sinning) and rebellion (those who sin without salvation).
However while a person can not lose his salvation, a person can openly denounce God.  If a Christian were to become a Muslim or a Satanist, then they are publicly and spiritually saying that they denounce their salvation.
Hell is both physical and spiritual. It is a place and not simply a condition. It is the place where all those who have refused the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ go upon death. Jesus presented it as a place of eternal torment for the devil, his angels, and the sons and daughters of Adam who rejected him and his sacrifice for their sins.  It is a place of damnation where the fire is not quenched (Matt 23:33; Mark 9:48). Their soul leaves their body and descends into the physical place hell.  Now, at the end of time in Rev. 20:11-15, all those who died without Christ will rise from the dead.  Their literal bodies will reform and stand before God in judgment.  Then their bodies will join their souls in hell for eternity.  
It has been said that if Jesus is not God, then we should worship the man who thought him up. Never has anyone in history spoken the way he did.  I see that the teachings of Jesus are self-validating.  Throughout history, they have been proven true over and over again.  When the teachings of Jesus are put into practice, they lead to peace, harmony, victory, and love.  This does not mean His teachings do not bring conflict.  For evil will always fight against the truth.  Jesus' words pulsate with wisdom.  For example, about governments "Give to Caesar the things of Caesar and to God the things of God."  The teaching that God the Father is a Spirit, not a man or woman.  The Sermon on the Mount has a treasury of wisdom, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you."  Remember, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  
Ultimately, I know that Jesus is God.  The only true God.  I know this because of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible tells us that our faith is foolishness to those who do not believe.  When I accepted Christ into my life, the Holy Spirit of God became a part of me.  I can feel His power.  I know the truth as He reveals it to me.  It is an overwhelming knowledge, joy, and peace.  Most other faiths cannot claim that they have true joy and peace.  I have been with a lot of people when they have died.  I have noticed that Christians seem to die at peace.  But non-Christians fight, and fight, and fight to their last breath and still die unhappy.


II. Jehovah's Witnesses - Christian or Cult??
Jehovah's Witnesses, also known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York), was officially founded in 1884 [as the Zion's Watch Tower and Tract Society (originally the Zion's Watch Tower in 1879), officially adopting the name of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931], by Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916). In 1870, Russell was exposed to the teachings of William Miller, one of the founders of the Second Adventist Movement and acquired an interest in end time prophecies. Russell originally denied  the doctrine of Hell, and would go on to reject nearly every other Christian doctrine, as well as add many physically and spiritually dangerous doctrines of his own making. Many of these unique and bizarre teachings were to be found in his six volume series titled, Studies in the Scriptures.
For the year 2000, the Watchtower Society claims a worldwide membership of over six  million (about one  million U.S.) in more than 91,000 congregations in 235 countries speaking 340 languages, and takes in approximately 300,000 new members each year (288,907 in 2000). According to JW statistics, yearly proselytizing is accomplished via 4.8 million home Bible studies and 1.2 billion hours of witnessing. The JWs field over 500,000 full and part-time missionaries. Instruction and training are provided for all JWs at five meetings a week, held primarily in "Kingdom Halls." Every week, an average of 45 new JW congregations are formed. [In the year 2000 in the United States alone, it was reported that 988,000 Jehovah's Witnesses spent more than 181 million hours in field service (i.e., door-to-door witnessing and Bible studies).]

JW leadership claims its victims by asserting itself to be the sole Christian religion and authority on the earth today, as well as God's mouthpiece or prophet. The Watchtower further disrupts families through its harsh and unbiblical interpretation of "disfellowshipping" and the practice of "shunning." Family members who are former JWs are labeled by Watchtower adherents as "apostates" and prevented from even social contact. Disfellowshipped or disassociated children, parents, and grandparents are kept from any type of communication with active members of the organization. Divorces are common within the sect when one member becomes disillusioned with Watchtower teaching and mind-control.

Not only has the name of this cult been changed time and again, but they also change their doctrines regularly -- between 1917 and 1928, they changed their doctrines 148 times! (Prior to 1931, Jehovah's Witnesses had also gone by the names of Millennial Dawn, People's Pulpit Association, The Brooklyn Tabernacle, and the International Bible Students Association.) Russell died in 1916 and was replaced by the second president, Joseph F. Rutherford. "A process of replacing Russell's writings with Rutherford's began in 1921 with the publication of Rutherford's Harp of God. Between 1921 and 1941, Rutherford was to write twenty books and numerous pamphlets, which would slowly revise the doctrine and structure left him by Russell" (Encyclopedia of American Religions, G. Melton, Vol. 1, p. 485). One of Rutherford's books that caused a great amount of controversy was the seventh volume of the Studies in the Scriptures.  

Russell adopted many of his doctrines from the Seventh-Day Adventists, but the JWs began to emphasize door-to-door evangelism and literature distribution after Russell's death and subsequent leadership assumption by Joseph Franklin Rutherford. The JWs have published over ten billion pieces of literature since 1928. Its main periodicals are The Watchtower magazine (circulation of over 20 million in more than 130 languages) and Awake! (about 16 million copies in more than 80 languages), both published semi-monthly.

Historically, the JWs are best known for their practices of refusing: (1) to serve in the military; (2) to salute the flag; (3) to celebrate Christmas, birthdays, or other holidays; and (4) to give or to accept blood transfusions. [Rejecting the medical practices of vaccinations, organ transplants, and blood transfusions, the Watchtower has caused the deaths of many of its members throughout its history. Interestingly, vaccinations and organ transplants have now been acknowledged by the Watchtower as acceptable practices, contradicting their previous doctrinal position.] (Although some of these practices are neither Biblical nor unbiblical in and of themselves, depending upon one's motives and the exact nature of the practice, the reasons the JWs give for them often are unbiblical.)  
Below are the highlights of what JWs believe concerning their source of authority, the Godhead, Christ, sin, salvation, heaven and hell, etc.:

1. Source of Authority. JWs claim the Bible as their final authority, but Russell's writings, especially Studies in the Scriptures, are considered "the light of the Scriptures." JWs have their own translation of the Scriptures (New World Translation, published in 1961), which reflects the binding interpretations of the group's leaders. The JWs' New World Translation greatly perverts the Scriptures to avoid placing themselves under the judgment of God (cf. Jn. 1:1; 8:58; I Tim. 2:6; Ac. 10:36; Col. 1:16-17; 2:9-10; etc.). Hence, the leader's interpretation of the Bible, not the Bible itself, is the final authority of JWs. The Watchtower magazine is one of the JWs main sources of doctrine, and is considered authoritative by its members.

2. Trinity. JWs believe that God is not a triune God, but only "Jehovah God" (Let God Be True, pp. 100-101); they teach that Trinitarianism is a belief in three gods, and thereby, Satan-inspired polytheism. Rutherford wrote: "... sincere persons who want to know the true God and serve him find it a bit difficult to love and worship a complicated, freakish-looking, three-headed God. The clergy who inject such ideas will contradict themselves in the very next breath by stating that God made man in his own image; for certainly no one has ever seen a three-headed human creature" (Let God Be True, 2nd ed., pp. 101-102).
3. God the Father. Known as Jehovah, the Watchtower considers Him to be the only true eternal God, the Almighty. They write, "There was, therefore, a time when Jehovah was all alone in universal space" (Let God Be True, p. 25). Being alone, the first creative act of Jehovah was to create His Son.

4. Jesus Christ. Since JWs do not believe in the Trinity, they also do not believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. They add the word "other" four times to Colossians 1:16,17, teaching that Christ was God's first creation, i.e., the reincarnation of Michael the archangel created by Jehovah, rather than the Creator. [The "Watchtower" teaches that Jehovah God created Michael the Archangel before the foundation of the world; Michael was His only begotten son by virtue of the fact that he was the only creature directly created by Jehovah. It was this created Michael who became the JW Jesus (i.e., a denial of the eternality of Christ). JWs say that "Since actual conception took place, it appears that Jehovah God caused an ovum or egg in Mary's womb to become fertile, accomplishing this by the transfer of the life of his first born son (Michael) from the spirit realm to the earth" (Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 920). "Marvelously, Jehovah transferred the life-force and the personality pattern of his first born heavenly son (Michael) to the womb of Mary. God's own active force, his holy spirit, safeguarded the development of the child in Mary's womb so that what was born was a perfect human" (Reasoning, p. 255).] JWs also add an "a" in John 1:1, making the verse read, "the Word was a god" (which in essence, makes the JWs guilty of the same polytheism of which they accuse Trinitarians).

5. Use of Name Jehovah. JWs use the name "Jehovah" only for God (in order to distinguish between God and Jesus Christ), while failing to recognize that Jesus is the fulfillment of "Jehovah" in Isaiah 40:3 and Matthew 3:3. [HJB]

6. Resurrection of Christ . JWs deny the bodily resurrection of Christ through their teaching that the body of Christ was annihilated by God -- not risen -- but rather a new one was created three days after His death. This they call the "resurrection" of Christ. Thus, Jesus was "resurrected" as a "glorious spirit creature" and does not now have a glorified physical body. Instead, they claim Jesus arose spiritually and only "materialized" at various times after His resurrection so He could be seen alive. (Awake!, 7/22/73, p. 4)

7. The Holy Spirit. JWs deny the deity of the third person of the Trinity, as either God or as a person; they claim that the Holy Spirit is only an impersonal "active force of Almighty God which moves His servants to do His will" (Reasoning From the Scriptures, pp. 406-407; The Watchtower, 6/1/54, p. 24). They have written, "But the holy spirit has no personal name. The reason for this is that the holy spirit is not an intelligent person. It is the impersonal, invisible active force that finds its source and reservoir in Jehovah God and that he uses to accomplish his will even at great distances, over light years of space" (Let Your Name Be Sanctified, p. 269).

8. Sin. JWs believe that the first man, Adam, disobeyed Jehovah when tempted by the angel Lucifer, who was jealous of man. As a result of disobedience, Adam and all his descendants lost the right to life and so became liable to death. This liability is applied to temporal death only.

9. Salvation . JWs claim everlasting life is a reward for doing the will of God and carrying out one's dedication -- in other words, salvation is a reward for good works. (JWs are expected to spend five hours per week in door-to-door visitation and witnessing, are responsible for selling twelve subscriptions to The Watchtower magazine each month, and are responsible for conducting a "Bible study" each month in the homes of their converts.) According to JW theology, a person has one of three possible destinies. The Anointed (144,000) will be in heaven to reign with Jehovah God. The rest of the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses (not of the 144,000) will live forever on a paradise Earth. Both of these classifications are determined to a great extent on membership in the Watchtower organization as well as going door-to-door spreading the message of the Watchtower. Those people who are not members of the Watchtower organization will be destroyed by Jehovah God and cease to exist. There is no concept of eternal punishment or hell in Watchtower theology (Let God Be True, pp. 90-95, 289). They also believe that men will have a second chance, after death, to be saved.
10. The Body of Christ. JWs believe that the members of the spiritual Body of Christ, or "Christian Congregation," number only 144,000 (Rev. 7:4-8). Most of those members of Christ's Body are now deceased and are reigning with Jesus in heaven since 1918. (Anybody born after 1936 cannot be in that number.) The remaining members still on earth, approximately 8,000 (out of whom are selected the "Governing Body"), are known as the "Remnant." They are collectively known as Jehovah God's "channel of communication" to men. They are the only ones "born again" and are the only ones who have a hope of going to Heaven. The rest of Jehovah's faithful witnesses only hope to be worthy enough to inherit the Earth, and will never see "Jesus/Michael," nor will they ever go to Heaven. All "so called Christendom" will be destroyed at Armageddon.
11. Soul Sleep. JWs deny the immortality of the soul. They do not believe the soul can exist apart from the body, but that a corpse remains in an unconscious state in the grave waiting for the resurrection. [HJB]

12. Annihilation of the Wicked. JWs teach that the "second death" is annihilation and extinction -- the wicked will cease to exist and will not suffer everlasting torment. They claim that a "doctrine of a burning hell" is "wholly unscriptural," "unreasonable," "contrary to God's love," and "repugnant to justice." [HJB] They claim that "hell" is the grave.

13. Prophecy . The Bible lists six identifying marks of false prophets, any one of which is sufficient for identification: (1) through signs and wonders they lead astray after false gods (Dt. 13:1-4); (2) their prophecies don't come to pass (Dt. 18:20-22); (3) they contradict God's Word (Isa. 8:20); (4) they bear bad fruit (Mt. 7:18-20); (5) men speak well of them (Lk. 6:26); and (6) they deny that Jesus, the one and only Christ, has come once and for all in the flesh (1 Jn. 4:3), thereby denying His sufficiency in all matters of life and godliness (2 Pe. 1:3). Most cults are founded upon false prophecies, which, if pointed out, offer an effective way to open blind eyes and rescue cultists. Russell's false prophecies formed the basis for what became The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Russell declared that the Second Coming had taken place invisibly in October 1874, and the Lord was truly present, and that in 1914 the faithful (the 144,000) would be translated to heaven and the wicked destroyed. Armageddon (which began in 1874) would culminate in 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's rulers and the end of the world. C.T. Russell, still on earth, died in 1916.

In the early 1920s, JWs zealously distributed on the streets and from door to door a book titled Millions Now Living Will Never Die. It was prophesied, "The year 1925 is a date definitely and clearly marked in the Scriptures, even more clearly than that of 1914 ... we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old ... to the condition of human perfection" ("Millions Now Living Will Never Die," The Watchtower, 7/15/24, p. 89). The JWs even built a house in San Diego where the patriarchs were to live and tried to deed it to King David. (The house was quietly sold in 1954.) In the early 1940s, JWs were declaring that Armageddon, only months away, would end World War II and the defeat of the Nazis would usher in God's rule on earth (The Watchtower, 12/41). Their book, Children, suggested that plans to marry and have children be postponed until after Armageddon. It's been a long wait! Not giving up, they later prophesied that God's millennial kingdom would commence in 1975. Again JWs were told not to engage in any plans for this world, including marriage and having children. Many quit their jobs, sold their homes, and dedicated themselves to going door to door. (Source: 3/97, The Berean Call.) All in all, the Watchtower has predicted the end of the world for 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1989.


II.  How to Talk to Jehovah's Witnesses:More times than I care to count, I have had utterly fruitless conversations about the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses. My standard questions were met by their stock answers. We would trade Bible verses for hours on end, session after session, and at the end of it all I felt was as if I had been extolling the virtues of General Motors to a Ford salesman. What was I doing wrong?
Let's discuss the issue of salvation. Knowing that the Watchtower system is a works-oriented treadmill, whenever I talked with JWs I wanted to show them that the real gospel message is far better than the WT version. Specifically, I was determined to show them from the scriptures that salvation is truly a free gift, dependent on Christ's finished work and is received by faith apart from works. I would quote Eph. 2:8,9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." The JWs would acknowledge the importance of faith and "Jehovah's undeserved kindness," but would immediately bring up a passage like Heb. 5:9: "He [Jesus] became the source of eternal life to all who obey him." (Their point: The genuineness of faith is shown by obedience.) I countered with Romans 4:4,5: "Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.."
"Yes, yes," the Witness would say, "but genuine faith must produce good works." They would then quote James 2:14, 26: "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead." They would quickly add in Matt. 24:13 to the effect that he who endure to the end will be saved." Back and forth we would go with our proof texts, getting nowhere. I felt as if I were talking to a Watchtower book or magazine rather than really communicating with another human being.
Our discussions followed very predictable patterns. They always seemed to end in a stalemate, "You have your religion and I have mine; let's just leave it at that." As a Christian, I didn't want to accept this stalemate as inevitable. There had to be a better way. As I prayed and thought about this problem, I realized the approach I was using had several major drawbacks.
First, I wasn't inspiring any original thinking on the part of the Witness. The points we discussed were already "answered" in the WT reference book. Reasoning From the Scriptures. It all went exactly according to the Watchtower's script. Far from challenging their thinking, I was actually reinforcing their WT training, giving them.. no need to even think about it.
Second, I was trying to teach them correct Bible doctrine. My efforts crashed head-on into the wall of WT indoctrination which tells JWs that they are "in the truth" and that the rest of us are not. They couldn't imagine that I could have any insights worth considering. My understanding of scripture came across as religious errors for them to refute rather than as thoughts they should evaluate seriously. The idea that the WT might be wrong was simply not an option they would allow themselves to consider.
Third, I was coming on as a vocal critic of the Watchtower. In their eyes that made me an opposer of "the truth" and of them personally as Jehovah's Witnesses. The harder I pushed, the more they pushed back.
Fourth, nothing I was doing went beyond the surface to get at the real obstacles. I couldn't get past the language barrier.
What do I mean by this? With regard to salvation, the WT writers will admit that the Bible teaches that we cannot earn our salvation by good works. They say that true faith will produce good works. On the surface, it seems as if the WT is consistent with scripture and with orthodox Reformation theology. Going beyond the language itself, though, for them God's grace is not accessed by faith itself but by the constant "exercising" of faith. Theirs is a works salvation disguised by skillful use of language. The Watchtower Society maintains strict control over the whole process. How? By defining "exercising faith" for JWs by measuring meeting attendance, door-to-door work, placing literature, participation in building Kingdom Halls, donations, externals that can be recorded on time cards or record sheets.
The treadmill never stops. Because of where the WT puts its constant attention. JWs are forced to focus their own daily attention - not on Christ and his finished atoning work - but on self-effort, on constantly demonstrating their faith by their acts of obedience to "God's organization." JWs may say we cannot earn our salvation by good works, but they all firmly believe that if they don't do enough, they will be rejected in the last day. Their "faith" will not have saved them.
Alternative Approach
Remember the fictional detective, Lieutenant Columbo? Unlike other policemen, he didn't make accusations or demand explanations. He realized that such an approach merely served to shut off communication. Instead, he humbled himself and kept asking for help to clear up problems he was having with the case. In that way, he got past the usual defenses and found what he was looking for. My alternative approach is similar. Unlike Columbo, however, we aren't trying to trap a criminal into a confession. We are simply trying to plant seeds as we ask questions the WT successfully keeps them from asking or answering on their own. The alternative approach follows these principles.
Try to inspire original thinking on the part of the JWs by approaching issues in a different way from what they would expect.
Rather than trying to "teach" JWs directly, let them teach themselves and reach their own conclusions. This includes suggesting options rather than arguing doctrine. Avoid giving them a target they can attack.
Step into the Jehovah's Witnesses' shoes and be their investigative ally rather than their opponent.
Ask the questions they can't or won't ask, but do so in a manner they will find safe and non-threatening.
Rather than trying to wring concessions out of them, be satisfied to plant seeds for God to grow at His own pace. That means being willing to leave matters uncertain rather than trying to score some sort of clear debating victory.
Sample Discussion
If I stress faith, I know a Jehovah's Witness will stress works. To avoid this, I may begin by asking him to explain why we are in need of salvation in the first place. He will quote me Bible verses to the effect that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I will then ask him why it isn't enough to have our good works outweigh the bad. After all, we aren't as bad as Al Capone or Adolph Hitler, are we? I am focusing the JW's attention on our common sinfulness and need of a savior. I am identifying with him and letting him teach me about sin and righteousness and judgment. I am trusting the Holy Spirit to work to remind the Witness of his own sinfulness. I let the JW tell me about Christ's sacrifice and the need for faith. Then I will bring up works by saying something like this, "Yes, but is it really by faith? Doesn't the Bible say that faith without works is dead?" I preempt his issue by playing devil's advocate. I let him explain the importance of faith and explain why we can't earn salvation by good works. At some point I will say something like this: "Please don't think I am being flippant with this question. I don't mean to be. But since faith without works is dead, when it comes to paying off our sin debt, when it comes to paying off our sin debt, do you think that it would be accurate to say that Christ made the down payment by his sacrifice but that it's up to us to keep up the installments by our good works?
The JWs I have encountered aren't prepared for this question. They are usually puzzled by it. Some see right away that this view of salvation waters down. Christ's sacrifice and has us at least partly earning our salvation. They tell me it's misunderstanding. Then I ask them to help me clear up the misunderstanding. How does my example misstate things? Help me clear things up. How does it work? This question forces them to focus on the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice and to explain it to me. They are doing the teaching and I am praying silently for the Holy Spirit to be teaching them.
Some JWs think the comparison with down payments and installments is a good one. They will say, "Yes, that's good illustration of the way it works." I then ask how much of the debt is really paid off by Christ's sacrifice and how much by our works. This makes for a good discussion. It's especially interesting if one JW accepts my illustration and his partner rejects it. We have an honest exploration of scripture instead of following a WT script.
If the Witness knows his doctrine well, he eventually tells me that salvation comes purely by our faith in Christ's sacrifice but that the evidence of our faith is our good works. At that point I say, "How much is enough so we know we will be forgiven and accepted by God? For example, I suppose there are JWs who do the door-to-door ministry full time and I suppose there are some JWs who do very little. Most are probably somewhere in the middle. If I were a Witness, how could I know I had enough faith that, if I died in the middle of the night, God would find my faith acceptable?"
I might refer to Peter, who had enough faith to walk on the water one minute and who almost drowned the next. Jesus said at that point he had "little faith." How much is enough? How do we know? What am I doing here? I am asking questions that JWs don't want to ask openly but which the WT uses subconsciously to control them through fear and guilt.
I don't point this out directly to a JW. If I did, I'd be making myself his opponent and forcing him to defend. the honor of the Watchtower organization. I might make this point another way by saying, "You have probably learned how to deal with this, but I don't know if I could look at my service as evidence of my faith or do good works out of gratitude to God. I'm afraid I would always be trying to do just a little more to make sure I was in his favor but never knowing for sure if he accepted me." Why am I doing this? To identify with his innermost fears and to provide an atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit can create in him a conviction that God must have provided us more than this.
I might point out that many people do good works without any reference to Christ's sacrifice and ask how one can know if what he is doing is truly being done from faith in Christ. "Sometimes I can con myself into thinking I'm spiritual when I'm really relying on my performance like the Pharisees did. How can I know if my works really come from faith?" I'm not accusing them of anything, I'm simply saying that's how I would feel. I am asking questions the Jehovah's Witnesses should be asking for himself, but often doesn't. If he does ask them, he often fails to follow through because the Watchtower keeps him so busy with its performance treadmill.
My goal is to plant seeds so the Holy Spirit can convince him that he's really depending on works rather than on Christ and to create in him a desire for something better. If a JW asks me how I resolve these issues, I try not to switch to a direct teaching mode. That would just give him a familiar target to attack, and the WT training would kick in. We'd stop communicating. To avoid creating a target, I am content to leave things a bit uncertain. I may say, "It's difficult, isn't it? The more I try to please God by being spiritual,the less I seem to be trusting in Jesus. Maybe you haven't had that problem, but it works that way for me."
Making headway with a Witness first involves getting past the Watchtower defenses and arguments in a way that will resonate with him and make him think for himself. We need to be flexible so as to help JWs rather than debate them. We should not be out to win an argument My suggestion is that we do our best to come alongside JWs and plant and water seeds which help them seek for and find the real Jesus and the real way of salvation.