.: HOW CAN I REACH MY JEHOVAH’S WITNESS SISTER?
“My sister converted to the Jehovah’s Witnesses years ago. I’ve tried to witness to her by sending letters and emails about the problems I’ve found with the Watchtower and why their beliefs will not lead her into eternal life. However, she has not answered any of my correspondence and I wonder if she is even reading the letters. Now, I just found out that she is planning to attend a wedding with all of our other relatives. My hope is that when she is here, I will be able to have a talk with her about her faith. I am not sure how this will be accepted, but I’m thinking of showing her my New American Standard Bible and giving her examples of how her Bible has been changed. I have also studied Ron Rhodes, Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah’s Witnesses that provides questions to challenge Jehovah’s Witness’ thinking. Do you have any other suggestions?”
OUR RESPONSE:
It is encouraging that you will get a chance to
see your sister at the wedding. Will it be in a Christian
church? If so, it is surprising that she will
be there since Jehovah’s Witnesses are warned
that churches are under the control of demons; so many
are afraid that demons will jump on them if they enter
a church. If indeed the ceremony is held in a
church, you will need to be extra careful in the way
that you approach her since she will automatically be
on “guard” against what she would view as
an “attack” on her beliefs from Satan.
Another thing you need to be aware
of as you approach your sister is that Jehovah’s
Witnesses are constantly told to be on guard against
non-Jehovah’s Witness relatives telling them that
they are in a “cult.” As soon as a
new convert enters the Watchtower organization, he or
she is told that Satan will use the people they love
the most (especially family members) to try to get them
away from “God’s organization.”
So, when a relative says, “The Bible your organization
prints is wrong… or the Watchtower organization
cannot be trusted because it is a false prophet…
or Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accurately interpret
the Bible…” Immediately, they think, “Wow!
The Watchtower Society was right. My family is
being used of Satan to try to get me to leave!”
In their minds, you have become the “enemy”
and the information you present must be avoided at all
costs to protect against Satan’s “lies.”
This is why you must not approach your
sister with the idea that you are going to “prove”
to her the errors of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
By doing this, you would only build walls in your relationship
with her. Instead, we would suggest that you plant
just one seed by asking a question to get her to think
instead of trying to tell her that she is wrong.
The questions in Ron Rhodes’ book are a good place
to start. Another tool you might also consider
using with her is our Christian
Witnessing Business Cards (www.4jehovah.org) for Jehovah’s
Witnesses that we have posted on our website under our
Online Material
Link. These cards will give you simple
questions and Bible verses you can present in a non-threatening
way. They are small enough to fit in your Bible
or pocket, so you can have them anywhere at any time
to refer to when you’re talking with your sister,
or if you do not have time to talk with her, you can
always give one to your sister when you both are in
the parking lot getting ready to return home.
It is usually more effective to ask the questions on
the card directly, rather than just to give the card.
But if the situation doesn’t allow for dialogue,
handing her a card can be a good way to plant a seed.
IF YOU HAND HER A CARD…
Don’t try to preface your handing
of the card by telling her what it is about. Just
say something like, “Here is something I’d
like to get your opinion on.” Hand it to
her with no other explanation, because Jehovah’s
Witnesses are told not to accept literature critical
of the Watchtower organization. So, if your sister knew
what you were about to give to her, she might not take
it. The beauty of these small cards is the fact
that before she even knows what you’ve given her,
she’s read the question and the verses on the
back of the card and these have been planted in her
mind which the Holy Spirit can use to convict her of
the truth (Isaiah 55:11).
IF YOU ASK HER THE QUESTION
ON THE CARD…
It’s important to keep in mind
that the goal of the questions on the cards is to make
Jehovah’s Witnesses think—not necessarily
to convince them that they are wrong. Let the
Holy Spirit and your sister’s conscience do that
for her.
One of the subjects that we have found
to be effective in talking with Jehovah’s Witnesses
is the question of why their organization teaches that
Jesus is not their personal Mediator. Many Jehovah’s
Witnesses secretly have trouble accepting this belief,
and some are not even aware that the Watchtower teaches
this doctrine. So, we’ve designed a card on this
subject as well as other cards with similar subjects
that will help the Jehovah’s Witnesses think critically
about their faith.
If you decide to discuss the card
about Jesus being our Mediator (www.4jehovah.org), you might
ask your sister, “I’ve heard that
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus
is their Mediator. Is this true?”
If she denies this doctrine, you can refer to the quotes
on the back of the card from the Watchtower’s
publications which clearly state that Jesus is not the
Mediator for people who are not part of their special
144,000 group. Since most Jehovah’s Witnesses
today do not consider themselves to be part of that
group, your sister will likely agree with you that the
Watchtower does teach that Jesus is not her personal
Mediator. But if your sister has never heard of
this doctrine, she may need to see a photocopy of the
quotes mentioned on the card so can see that we are
not twisting what the Watchtower Society said.
To be prepared for this possible objection, you can
print the following photocopied documentation of the
quotes in their original context at the following links
below:
Worldwide
Security Under the Prince of Peace, p. 10
The
Watchtower, August 15, 1989, p. 31
Once she agrees that this is what the
Watchtower is teaching, ask her to explain to you how
she can believe that Jesus pays for her sins, but is
not her Mediator. To justify its reasoning, The
August 15, 1989 issue of The Watchtower reasons
that the arrangement is like a court case in which Jesus
serves as a mediating “attorney” between
Jehovah God and the 144,000. The Society claims
that the results of this court case decision (being
Jesus’ death to cover sin) applies to all mankind,
even though they teach that most Jehovah’s Witnesses
are excluded from the group of 144,000 in the court
case and therefore do not have Jesus serving as their
Mediator/Attorney.
There are several things wrong with
this reasoning. First, we point out that in the
Watchtower publication, Insight on the Scriptures,
volume 2, p. 230, the Society gives the definition of
a Mediator as “One who interposes between two
parties at variance to reconcile
them.” The Bible says that because of sin,
each human being is at “enmity” (i.e., variance)
with God and must be “reconciled” to Him
(See 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Ephesians 2:14-16).
So, the Watchtower argument that only 144,000 are in
the court case with God does not fit Scripture that
proclaims that all humankind will stand in court with
God (Revelation 20:11-15). The second point is
that just as the Society correctly notes that a mediator’s
job is to “reconcile,” so accepting Jesus’
blood as payment for sin to “reconcile”
your sin-debt with Jehovah God is by definition accepting
Jesus as one’s “Mediator.” Finally,
we note that the August 15, 1989 issue of The
Watchtower admits that Jesus is our means of
“approaching” Jehovah God, even though they
claim that Jesus is not our “attorney.”
We conclude by asking the Jehovah’s Witness, “If
you don’t hire the ‘attorney,’ how
can you ‘approach’ him for his services?
If Jesus isn’t your ‘attorney’ (i.e.,
mediator), how can He serve as a mediating agent between
you and Jehovah God?”
We hope these ideas are helpful to
you as you reach out to your sister. A few other
resources on our website that you might want to study
are as follows:
What can I say to my Jehovah's
Witness brother?
What can I say to my
Jehovah's Witness friend?
HOW TO WITNESS EFFECTIVELY
TO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES — Breaking the Watchtower
Barrier
How to
Discuss the Deity of Jesus Christ with Jehovah’s
Witnesses
Questions
for Jehovah’s Witnesses
|
