For the last month or so, I've had visits from Jehovah's witnesses. Most people would be annoyed but I actually don't mind. I am in no danger of being recruited. As a born-again Christian, I am safe in my salvation but I am interested in learning more about their doctrine and even helping some of these people come to know the truth. Last week one of the women who came got quite worked up when we were talking, frustrated probably because no matter how many scriptures she showed me to try to convince me that Jesus is not God, I would not budge. One good thing that has come from it is that I have been doing research and really diving into God's Word to learn and be able to show them the REAL truth of it. I feel sad, because I have learned that the bible that they study is not an inspired translation, rather one that a few men got together and wrote. Now I know that there are some who are thinking, isn't that what all bibles are? Well, no. See, The Bible translations that are considered true are ones that are translated by scholars from the original Greek and Hebrew. Turns out that the JW version was not. Actually to clarify, here is a website with some great info. http://www.bible.ca/Jw-internet.htm#watchtower
In my heart, I feel that these people really do love God and want to be faithful believers but they are misguided and mislead. I love what my Mother-in-law says to them when they come to her door. "If you really are believers and have asked Jesus to come into your life as your saviour, you are going to heaven in spite of yourself." Someone told me not to take their printed materials because they get points, which apparently count toward them getting into heaven. What I want to know is, where does it say in the bible that God is keeping count? Just because you hand someone some information, doesn't mean that they are going to read it, or even understand, hence the return visits. I do look forward to them coming actually, I like the debates and sharing information. I really wish that I could talk to them about the truth about their translation, but I know that they will just get upset and walk away, and that is definitely not what I want. So, if anyone actually reads this blog and is a believer like me, please pray for me and for them. That God keeps them coming back, that they become thirsty for truth, and that God would use me to lead them to it.
4 comments:
I'd like to respectfully correct a slight misunderstanding in your blog, if I may . . .
Yes, Jehovah does remember our good works (Hebrews 6:10) but he does NOT "count" the literature we leave with people, NOR do we get any "points" for this. However, we do hope that ones will examine the articles, looking up the cited scriptures using their OWN Bibles.
Romans 6:23 says the GIFT God gives is everlasting life, thus we absolutely know that there is NO way we could ever EARN salvation. Our door-to-door witnessing work is not done to earn anything or to gain position in the congregation, rather we do this because:
1) we obey Jesus' command given to all Christians to 'make disciples ... and teach them' (Matthew 28:19,20),
2) we imitate the example given by our savior and his footstep followers in the first century (1 Peter 2:21), and
3) it would be extremely selfish of us to keep this precious knowledge that leads to eternal life to ourselves. (John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 9:16)
You might ask the witnesses who come to visit you for the blue brochure entitled, "What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?" I'm sure it will help you to come to a clearer understanding of WHY we do what we do, as very imperfect humans, attempting to worship God in the way that he requires.
As a Witness myself, I agree with CAT above that we certainly don't believe that handing out literature gets us points with God or whatever. We try to live in accordance with our faith, which includes a deep love and concern for our neighbors, which moves us to share the truth we have learned with them.
What's more, we always encourage those we speak with to use their own preferred translation of the Bible, as the truth can be found in any translation. But, if you truly feel that the translation we typically use is a 'bad' one, please post an example or two of where you're sure it's wrong, and I'd be happy to explain the reason(s) behind it. There's a lot of misinformation out there, but what's popular isn't always what's correct.
TJ
JW's have to submit a field service report every month. The report includes number of hours spent preaching each month, the amount of literature distributed etc.
thank you to the people who have commented... it's been a bit of a challenge to meet with these JWs lately, life is just busy... There are so many things that they have talked to me about concerning death, Jesus and heaven that just does not ring true to me. I don't judge them for it, but I do feel that sometimes they take things out of context, that they have mistranslated scripture etc. The big one for me is John 1:1 ... and the word was God. (The watchtower bible says "and the word was a God." Books and research have shown me that the JW translation is incorrect and has been refuted by many, many scholars....
Post a Comment