Jehovah's Witnesses

Since I was in gradeschool, I have enjoyed (yes, enjoyed!) any and every opportunity to discuss or debate with Jehovah's Witnesses. That may seem strange to you. I know that most people try to avoid them as much as possible. But in the 3rd grade I got into a discussion with a schoolmate who was JW. We kept talking about our different beliefs even after school. So he invited me home, saying that his father could answer my questions better than he could. So we went to his home, where his father and I continued the discussion with my friend listening in. His father and I kept up our conversation until finally the mother said dinner was ready and it was time for me to go home. I have always relished that memory and the picture of this undersized 8 year-old keeping pace with a grown-up with years of experience and training (read: "Indoctrination") in the JWs.

As a result, I keep one section of my thoughts alert to evidence from the Bible that contradicts their teachings. Of course, when I check out their "translation" (read: "mis-translation") of the Bible, I almost always see that they have changed key words or phrases to fit their predetermined theology. Still, I enjoy the process and any time they knock on my door, I gladly welcome them and invite them inside (they have yet to accept the invitation).

My favorite verse to point to them is John 8:58-59, "'I tell you the truth,' Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!' At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds." Their mistranslation changes it to read: "Jesus said to them: 'Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.' 59 Therefore they picked up stones to hurl [them] at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple." The key change being the switch from "I am" to "I have been." But I point out to them that the original clearly uses the simple present form of the verb. (Bw helps me here with her understanding of English grammar: Simple present means a state of being, viz., always in that state. In other words in this claim, Jesus is claiming that he is always in the state of being, which is to say he is the Eternal One.) In addition, this terminology uses a specific form that the Jewish translators of the OT had chosen to use when Jehovah spoke to Moses at Mt. Horeb. (The Greek is "ego eimi.") If Jesus had intended to say "I have been," he would have used a different tense of the verb instead of "eimi." And if he had simply intended to convey his existence before and since Abraham, he would have only said "eimi" and not used the pronoun "ego." But the Jewish translators of the OT, when they came to Moses' conversation at the burning bush (and subsequently), they used the phrase "ego eimi." When Moses asked, "Who should I tell the Hebrews has sent me," God told him to tell them "ego eimi" has sent him. Centuries later, Jesus chose this exact phrase to identify himself as the one who spoke to Moses from the bush.

{BTW: [Bw just read this and added this observation: the phrase "I have been" from the JW version is in the present perfect tense. This means--according to their version--that Jesus was claiming that there was a time when he came into being, there was a starting point for his being, and that he continues to exist even to the present.] This is consistent with their theology that God (they say [true]God; we say God the Father) existed eternally, but that the Son of God came into being before anything else was created.}

Then I point out to the (by-now-speechless) JWs that it becomes clear from the reaction of the Pharisees that they understood his words as a claim to be Jehovah, the Eternal One. That is why they picked up stones to stone him to death.

Well, you can imagine how quickly the JWs are ready to leave my door! Unfortunately, they don't come back to my home again (which is what many people want). Maybe that is why God keeps me moving from one home to another. LOL

I started this post with the intention of working through the story of the announcement of the birth of Samson. It is an incredible testimony to the pre-incarnation physical appearance of God the Son and the parents' recognition of him as God and his natural acceptance of burnt offering sacrifice only to be given to God. But I will have to explore that in a separate post. This one has gone on too long already.

What do you think?

Thank you for reading.