.:IF MY JEHOVAH’S WITNESS FRIEND DOES NOT ACCEPT THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST, IS HE DESTINED FOR THE LAKE OF FIRE?

“I am a Christian. By this I mean I am a follower of Jesus Christ and a careful student of the Scriptures. I believe God’s Word is infallible and eternal, and I believe in the doctrine of the Trinity and Deity of Jesus Christ.  A good friend of mine is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He does not believe in the Trinity and the idea that Jesus is Almighty God. He and I have debated these doctrines on a number of occasions and both of us have made some serious statements and stood our ground. I really admire this man for his commitment to study and his thirst for answers.  If only his energy was focused in the direction of truth. He is convinced that the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, The New World Translation, ‘is truth’. His biggest stumbling blocks are found in the Scriptures that make Jesus’ subordinate to God the Father. He does not believe that Jesus is ‘uncreated and eternal,’ but that God created him as the greatest of His angels.  I have not been able to adequately convince him otherwise.  Are Jehovah’s Witnesses destined for the Lake of fire? Or will some spend eternity with God?”

OUR RESPONSE:

Dear Christian friend,

It is admirable that you care enough about the eternal destiny of your Jehovah’s Witness friend that you are diligently studying the Scriptures to share your faith with him.  Jehovah’s Witnesses are indeed sincere students of Watchtower publications, including the New World Translation Bible published by the Watchtower Society. However, these publications misrepresent the doctrine of the Trinity and distort some of the key verses in reference to Jesus Christ’s Deity.  Since Jehovah’s Witnesses have been taught to trust the teachings and publications of their religion over the clear, simple reading of Scripture, you will need to address your friend’s trust in the false authority of the Watchtower Society before you will be able to adequately convince your friend of the clear testimony of the Scripture.  So, to equip yourself to effectively share your faith with your Jehovah’s Witness friend, we recommend you study the following resources:

HOW TO WITNESS EFFECTIVELY TO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES - Breaking the Watchtower Barrier

HOW TO DISCUSS THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST WITH JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

OUR RESPONSE TO A LETTER FROM A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS: “How Can Anyone Believe Jesus is God?” (www.4jehovah.org)

IS THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS BIBLE, THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION, A GOOD TRANSLATION? (www.4jehovah.org)

Now, you asked if all Jehovah’s Witnesses are destined for the Lake of fire, or if some of them will escape to spend eternity with God.  First of all, we do not presume to stand in the place of God in judging the eternal destinies of our Jehovah’s Witness friends.  Only God knows their hearts and He will judge them according to the light of creation and conscience He has given them as described in Romans chapters one and two.

In addition to the light of creation and conscience, we also believe that because God has given Jehovah’s Witnesses His Word the Bible, God will hold them to a higher standard for their rejection of Christ’s Deity, than He would otherwise those who do not have access to any translations of God’s Word. 

In regard to the importance of embracing the Deity of Christ prior to one’s death, we have the clear teaching of Jesus at John 8:24 who said that anyone who does not believe He is the “I Am” (he is not in the original Greek) will “die in their sins.”  This is a strong statement about why people must not reject who Jesus claimed to be (c.f. Exodus 3:14).

Other Scriptures that draw strong implications for the eternal destiny of Jehovah’s Witnesses who disregard the true nature of Christ are Romans 10:9-13, Acts 22:16.  Both passages talk about the importance of calling upon Jesus’ name for salvation.  Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught by the Watchtower Society to address their prayers to Jehovah God in Jesus’ Name, but they are told not to address their prayers directly to Jesus, because they do not believe He is God.  As a result, if your Jehovah’s Witness friend follows the rules of his religious organization, he will not be able to obtain salvation because Jesus said that people must “come to” Him in order to have eternal life (John 5:39-40). 

Finally, if you have shared all you can with your Jehovah’s Witness friend and he goes into eternity while rejecting the evidence he has seen for the true identity of Christ, we have another indication from Scripture that your friend will not end up in eternity with God because he has placed his faith in a counterfeit Jesus. This is why 2 Corinthians 11:4 warns so strongly against believing in “another Jesus” who is other than the one described in Scripture.  This is also why Jesus warned at Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…”

So to answer your question about whether “some” Jehovah’s Witnesses will make it into eternity with God, we would say that it is possible that a Jehovah’s Witness might choose to go against Watchtower teachings by directly “calling upon” Jesus in prayer for salvation. We believe that if this person does call upon Jesus in prayer and ask Him to forgive them of their sins with a heart to reconsider the Watchtower teachings on His identity, this person may very well end up in eternity with God.  So again, only God knows the heart of each Jehovah’s Witness person. We can only judge their outward actions by the testimony of Scripture.

We hope this information is a help to you.  May God bless you as you earnestly “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 3)