AboutBrenton Hepburn Expertise I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I can answer questions on the reliability of the NWT, the so called mind control problems, so called prophecies, and general practices and history of Jehovah’s Witnesses.....
>>>>WARNING<<<<<< ....Please be aware that there are at least ... 3 .... people here who ARE NOT practicing JWs and, (at other times there have been as many as 5.) These ones will, at times, appear to have an agenda against JWs., and will often give answers that are not correct in regard to JW teachings and practices. If you are after a answer from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, please read some of the answers that the various experts have published before choosing someone. If you want to ask them a question that is fine, but if you want a balancing view after asking one of the NON JWs, ask a JW the same question
Experience I have been a publisher since 1964. When I first went on the internet I found a lot of negative information dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses covering prophecy, mind control and what many said was a very bad translation of the Bible known as the NWT. It shook my faith. After may hours researching these topics I could see why some felt that way, but, I was also able to explain why there were these misleading views. I can now set matters straight for anyone that has negative information about Jehovah’s Witness to show them that such information is at best misleading and at worst dangerous lies.
Education/Credentials I have been a student of the Bible for many years, am trying to teach myself Biblical Greek.
Was a public tax accountant for many yrars untill SEP 2009 when I gave it up.
Question I have read and been told that JWs believe that the way to salvation is by works, and that you do not know if your saved?
If that is so how do you reconsile that with Acts 16:31 which says "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,"
Nothing is said here about works. We have to belive in the Lord Jesus.
Gordon
Answer Hi Gordon,
Thank you for your question. This is one that puzzles a lot of people. Even EX JWs will tell whoever listens to them that this is the case.
The simple straight forward answer to the first part of your question is NO. JWs are not a religion that is based on works in order to gain salvation.
First I thought I would tell you why some say that JWs must have works to get saved. JWs are know, as you are probably aware, for their public ministry, of what some call "door knocking". JWs view this as a very important part of their worship to the Almighty God, Jehovah. Because it is such a big part of our lives, many have said that..... we see that as doing our works for salvation, .... that the more time we spend door knocking the closer we are to buying our way to salvation.
Some anti JW people may even quote Eph. 2:8, 9, (RS): "By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of Godnot because of works, lest any man should boast." to support their view that there is no need to go "door knocking" or other works to get saved. This they say clearly says that salvation is "not because of works".
So how do we reconcile what some see as a need for works with Acts and the text above
To start, we also use that text to show that works can not get us salvation The entire provision for salvation is an expression of God's undeserved kindness. There is no way that a descendant of Adam can gain salvation on his own, no matter how noble his works are. Salvation is a gift from God given to those who put faith in the sin atoning value of the sacrifice of his Son.
We earnestly believe that more is expected of us than just believing and having faith. Lets look at Heb. 5:9, (RS): "He [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." This raises a question....Does this conflict with the statement that Christians are "saved through faith"? Not at all. Obedience simply demonstrates that their faith is genuine. Did you notice the words "to all who OBEY him".
Take for example the people in America that have experienced those terrible hurricanes. They were given a warning of what to do in order to save their lives. They were asked to evacuate the area. Now I could say "Yes I believe that there is a hurricane coming. The weather forecaster said so." The problem now, is, what am I going to do with that information. If I decide that I am going to leave, then, am I not showing by what I do, that I believe of have faith in what the forecaster has said? If I say yes I believe that the storm is coming but do nothing to escape or perhaps just clean up around the house a little, shut up the windows but stay, am I not showing that I do not really have faith or believe that such a destructive storm is coming?
Any works that JWs are seen to do is an expression of us acting inline with our faith in the provision for salvation. One of the most important instructions Jesus gave to his followers is recorded at Matt 28 :19-20 (NJKV) "19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." First it was a command ... Go... In Verse 20 it says to "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded" One of the things Jesus command them to do was go teach. So we understand that to mean that each person that became a follower of Christ was instructed to go and make disciples and teach them to do the same thing.
We have some further council on this as recorded in the Book of James. Jas. 2:14, 26, (RS): "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." We do not believe that a person earns salvation by his works. But anyone who has genuine faith will have works to go with it (that is faith,) works of obedience to the commands of God and Christ, works that demonstrate his faith and love. Without such works, James says his faith is dead.
Besides displaying works we have to get to know God and Jesus. We can not truly follow them if we do not know them. That is why we see the words of John at chapter 17 and verse 3 as being very important (NWT) "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Chris" We are told that to gain everlasting life (salvation) we have to "take in knowledge" Now if you look up that text in your Bible it will say something like (RS) "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." That simple says "might know" (To see why the NWT says something different see my web page http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/hepburn/nwt.htm
I hope that has helped you to see that even though JWs are involved in "works" we do not belive that any amount of works will get us saved, but the works that each individual is able to do according to their own circumstances is a demonstration of the faith in the ransom and a demonstration of their willingness to obey the commands of God and his son Jesus.
