.:HOW CAN I WITNESS TO MY JEHOVAH'S WITNESS FRIEND?
“My friend is a Jehovah's
Witness and seems to have all the answers.
I don’t feel prepared enough to defend my beliefs
with her. If I give you her information, can
you talk to her? If not, do you have suggestions
of what I can say to her?”
.:OUR
RESPONSE:
Thanks for telling us about your friend
and your desire to have someone reach out to her. You
asked if we could follow-up with her. Unfortunately,
there isn’t a lot we can do to help her directly.
Although we have a lot of experience in dealing with
Jehovah’s Witnesses who are in the process of
leaving the Watchtower, active Jehovah’s Witnesses
are warned by their leaders not to talk to anyone who
“opposes” the Watchtower organization. They
view us as “agents of Satan” sent by him
to get them away from Jehovah God and “the Truth”
(their religion). Therefore, if we do attempt
to contact her, she will question why we want to speak
with her and as soon as she finds out that we are part
of this ministry, she will not have anything to do with
us. So, unless she has questions and doubts
what she is being told in the Watchtower, she will not
want to listen to anything we have to say to her.
Every Jehovah’s Witness knows that there is simply no honorable way out of the Watchtower organization. If they do decide to speak with us knowing who we are, they run the risk of being ostracized by their fellow Jehovah’s Witness associates and subjected to disciplinary action by their leaders if it is discovered that they have had contact with us. So, until an individual Jehovah’s Witness is ready to take the final step to leave the Watchtower, the only way he or she will have contact with our ministry is to secretly investigate what our research has uncovered. They may do so in two ways:
- By looking at our website: www.4jehovah.org.
- By calling our “Recorded Message for Jehovah’s Witness” phone-line ministry and/or requesting our free information packet for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- Note: All requests for information are kept confidential and there is no requirement to reveal one’s identity, unless he or she is asking for material to be sent to them through the mail, and even in cases like these, we never divulge their information to anyone other than the people who are working with us in this ministry.
Because Jehovah’s Witnesses
are told to close their minds to “outside” influences,
the best opportunity they have of hearing the real truth
is through personal relationships with people like you!
You may be the ONLY person in her life who will care
enough to share the truth in a way that will help her get
free from the lies she has embraced in this controlling
religion. The reality of your personal walk with Jesus
and the grace, peace and confidence you have of God’s
forgiveness and acceptance of you, may be the most compelling
evidence of all. She can’t argue with your personal
testimony.
You can also share 1 John 5:11-13 with her and tell her
how you have the assurance (“know”) that
you have “eternal life,” and how this “eternal
life” began the moment you came to Jesus and asked
Him to give you His righteousness in exchange for your
sin (see John 6:47; 10:28; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Let her
see the reality of His work in your heart by the way
you continue to reach out to her in love — even
when she may be undeserving of it. Let her know
that no matter if she agrees with you or not on doctrinal
points, you will always be her friend, love her, pray
for her and be available if she ever just wants to talk.
In the Watchtower, friendship is conditional upon one’s performance in the religion. To have a friend who will “pray” for her and “love” her regardless of anything else is something that most Jehovah’s Witnesses have never had. Although, she may appear to be “happy” in her religion right now, if she does something that causes her Jehovah’s Witness friends to begin to “shun” her, you will be the first person she will go to for help. So, your friendship with her is the most valuable gift you can give her.
Whenever you have spiritual discussions, remember that
it is not your job to change her mind. It’s the
Holy Spirit’s job to convict her of “truth”
and to lead her to Jesus. Your job is just to “testify”
of what He has done for you. Study to be prepared to
“give an answer” for what you believe (1
Peter 3:15; 2 Timothy 2:15) and when she asks you what
you think about a certain subject, speak the “truth
in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
To help you become equipped to effectively share your
faith, we’ve provided a number of resources on
our website. You are free to download most of these
resources for your personal use. Click here to read our copyright statement. Some of the most popular resources on our website for Christians witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses are listed below:
- How to Share Your Faith with Jehovah's Witnesses Without an Argument - Great ideas on how to talk to Jehovah's Witnesses in a non-confrontational way.
- Questions
for Jehovah’s Witnesses: Step-by-step questions to challenge the thinking of Jehovah’s Witnesses and photocopied documentation to prove the validity of your claims
- What
Does God Require? - Biblical Answers to Questions Jehovah's Witnesses Ask (www.4jehovah.org) - A Series of dialogues between
a Jehovah’s Witness and Christian on a number
of topics that come up in conversation.
- Christian Business Cards for Witness to Jehovah’s Witnesses (www.4jehovah.org) - These are short questions
on cards you can cut out and carry with you. We don’t
recommend that you give them directly to your Jehovah’s
Witness friends as they are told not to read anything
critical of the Watchtower, but you can have them ready
in your Bible to remind you of good questions to ask
next time you talk with your friends. You can also print
them out and have ready at your door to give to the Jehovah’s
Witnesses you may never see again. It is better
to leave them with something, than to close the door
and say you’re “not interested.”
- Watchtower Doctrine
Exposed - Reference chart with Scripture
verses to counter Jehovah’s Witness beliefs. Great
reference tool to have handy in your Bible for the next
conversation with them!
- Facts the
Watchtower Society Doesn’t Want You to Know (www.4jehovah.org) -
Great article to give to a Jehovah’s Witnesses
who is meeting with you. Tell them that you found this
article and want to get their “opinion”
on it. Since you don’t want to believe any “lies”
about the Watchtower, ask them to evaluate it and let
you know where any “lies” are in it. As
they are trying to “help” you see the truth,
they will discover things about their organization’s
history that they are not being told.
- Hoffman’s
Effective Methods in Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Audio Message – Great ideas on how to share your
personal testimony with Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Jehovah’s
Witness Topics - Answers to Jehovah’s Witness arguments on many issues.
- Jehovah's Witness Scripture Index - List of Scripture verses that Jehovah’s Witnesses misinterpret and Biblical response to each one.
- Resource
List - Additional Books, CDs, DVDs and Photocopy Documentation Packets you can order to prepare for discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses are told what to believe on almost everything. They are taught that it is wrong to “think” for themselves. (See The Watchtower, January 15, 1983, pp. 22, 27). So, we suggest that you use effective questions to challenge your friend to critically evaluate what she is being told. Consider that any witnessing encounter that leaves Jehovah’s Witnesses with a question they cannot answer is a good encounter. Your goal is not necessarily to get them to agree with you, but rather to get them to exercise the brain God gave them and to “think” for themselves (see Acts 17:11). Even if you do nothing else, you are arming the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of your Jehovah’s Witness friends.
FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE:
 How can I witness to my Jehovah's Witness friend and co-worker?
I'm frustrated! How can I get through to Jehovah's Witnesses?
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO RESCUE YOUR LOVED ONE FROM JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES —How to Open the Closed Mind of a Jehovah’s Witness Friend or Relative
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