JW's At My Door

Smack dab in the middle of creating my blog post yesterday, the doorbell rang. Two men, one middle-aged, the other a senior, were standing there. They smiled and asked me, "Are you concerned about the crime that is going on today?"

Before the younger man even finished that question, I had already noticed the familiar "Awake" pamphlet in his left hand.

My answer to his question was, "unfortunately, crime will always be with us until Jesus Christ returns." Later, during our conversation, one of the men said that my answer pleasantly surprised him.

I have probably been approached by Jehovah's Witnesses about five times over the last 20 years. Several years had passed since my last encounter. In that situation, a 50ish year old man walked up to me in a grocery store parking lot. I was busy putting my grocery bags in the car. He made a brief reference to my license plate frame. It says, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven by a God who is."

He proceeded to ask me about my God. I told him that I have already heard what JW's share with people when they witness. He said, "we are Christians too." I replied that JW's have many differences in their beliefs regarding who Jesus is. I know that your organization (didn't want to say "cult") claims that belief in the Trinity is considered paganism.

He started to open his New World Translation Bible to share a verse that refutes the belief that Christians have in the Trinity. You know...the same old argument that the word "Trinity" is no where to be found in the Scriptures.

I was in a hurry. Needed to get home to make dinner. However, I tried to be patient and decided to ask him about these verses:

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.


Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:


Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.

When I mentioned that Jesus, himself, described the relationship of three persons in one God in Matthew 28:20 [especially noting that he did not say names, but used the singular term name when describing the Godhead], the man didn't know what to say! I also mentioned that the JW's believe that Jesus is a "lesser God" being; and that they believe he is the "begotten Son Of God" and thus, not to be considered " the same in being" as God the Father. However, Matthew 29:18 informs us that "all power is given unto me [Jesus] in heaven and in earth." How can we explain this?

The man turned around and walked away!!

I called out to him and said, "search the Scriptures for yourself to get the truth...do not just blindly follow what the JW teachers want you to preach."

Well, I wasn't about to get out of the conversation so easily with these two guys at my door.

We went round and round on many of the familiar Scriptures that JW's often attempt to dispute.

The middle aged man said that he has been with the Witnesses for 15 years. The older man was "new."

After about 20 minutes of Scripture verses and their interpretation, the men felt that it was time to leave. The younger man offered another little booklet (I had already refused the Awake pamphlet) but I said, "no thank you."

One of the disputes we had was over the meaning of Jesus being "Firstborn over all creation." I encouraged them to go to the Blue Letter Bible online and read the commentaries and Scripture knowledge pages regarding the meaning of that phrase.

They thanked me for my time and appreciated sharing my knowledge and study of the Scriptures with them.

I don't think that I changed their minds yesterday. They certainly didn't change mine. All I can ever hope for after such encounters is that they would research the Scriptures on their own and not just take the word of the leaders of their organization. I also mentioned that their "New World Translation" is not as accurate as the KJV. They insisted that it was a better translation. Today, while going to the Blue Letter Bible site, I noticed that the NWT is not available there! Hmmm...if it's considered so "accurate," I wonder why it has been eliminated from the choices? Wish I would have thought of telling them that when they were at my door.

They mentioned that they will come back to talk again one day. I didn't discourage them. There is always the hope that the Holy Spirit will lead me to the best Scriptures, including the ones listed below, next time to help them understand the concept of the Trinity.

God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God.

Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 3:22; Psalms 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14

P.S. As far as arguing with Jehovah's Witnesses goes, a previous conversation that I had with a commenter named "Ratiocination" in August, 2005 over at my message board certainly demonstrates how unwilling they are to see the truth and give up their cult-like beliefs!

Note: The link to the Robert Bowman article (described in the above linked message board thread) has been changed. Here is the new link:

The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

Print that essay out and you will be prepared to answer any Jehovah's Witness that comes to your door!

I just printed the commentary out. It's sixteen pages!!! At least I will be much better prepared the next time they come to my door.