Visitors
On Saturday morning my doorbell rang. When I opened the door my visitors were excited to see me. I gave them an enthusiastic "Hey!"...(while thinking, "Who are you?!"). I kind of recognized the guy as my Grandpa's brother...though I wasn't sure why he would be here. I invited them in and after a few minutes of conversation, and me wracking my brain trying to figure out who these people were, they asked me what my name was. I was pretty confused because they had come to visit me. Anyway, to end this story quickly they were Jehova's Witnesses. We had a 25-30 minute conversation. They gave me some magazines and left.
Have you ever thought about how you would defend your faith to someone who believes differently? Have you trained yourself in the basics of Christianity? Are you ready for the person who looks at you and says you are wrong?
This might be an ongoing conversation, but I want us all to be prepared to defend our faith. My visitors were very smooth, and very deceptive. If you aren't grounded in the Truth, you could easily be decieved. Let's talk about their beliefs. For example...they do not believe that Jesus is God.
DISCLAIMER: WHAT FOLLOWS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM "THE WATCHTOWER" (A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS MAGAZINE) AND DOES NOT REFLECT MY BELIEFS OR THE BELIEFS OF THE CHURCH I ATTEND
"The Scriptures do at times refer to actual persons as gods. However, a careful examination clearly reveals that the term 'god' in these instances is not intended to designate these individuals as deities. Rather, in the original languages in which the Bible was written, the term 'god was also used to describe a mighty person or an individual who is divine or closely associated with the Almight God.
For example, some Bible verses allude to Jesus Christ as a god. (Isaiah 9:6,7; John 1:1,18) Does this mean that Jesus is to be worshipped? Jesus himself said: "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service." (Luke 4:8) Clearly, although Jesus is mighty in power and divine in nature, the Bible does not portray him as an object of worship."
OK- it is me again. ONCE AGAIN I WANT TO STATE THAT THE PREVIOUS QUOTE DOES NOT REFLECT WHAT I BELIEVE OR WHAT MY CHURCH BELIEVES. I posted the quote to stimulate discussion about what is true.
So, what do you think? If you have a Bible handy, look up the verses. I'd love to hear everyone's responses to this.
posted by Darin @ 5:49 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Darin, This is something I have been thinking alot about lately. When I was in youth ministry training...school. We did street ministry and part of it included door to door. I will never forget the fat cat lady...who was a jehovah's witness....I remembered being tongue tied in my discussion and by the power of the holy spirit I was able to come up with questions to ask and scripture to minister with. It is really a challenge to defend your faith to someone who is equally passionate in their own beliefs. This is what scares me. I have a family i know of who is passionately involved in the Morman church...I stuggle with this one because there are such similarities in beliefs that it is hard to direct a conversation in a way that leads to anyone believing they have been falsly lead. I am right know praying and praying hard that the Lord will show the way. The easy part with Jehovah's witness is they don't believe that Jesus is God. Thought you might have some words of wisdom...thanks nichole schrock
Response to Post:
OK- here are some of my thoughts. I want to be gentle with this, but there is absolutely no truth in saying that Jesus commands us not to worship him. Yes, Jesus did say that we should only worship God (But Jesus IS God- more on that later), but if you look at the context of the verse you see how flawed the arguement is (see Luke 4:8). Here is the background: The Devil is tempting Jesus and the Devil tells Jesus to worship him. Jesus responds that he will not worship the Devil because you shall "worship the Lord your God and serve him only." He is in absolutely no way telling people not to worship him. There is not any truth in this idea.
To further show the truth, lets look at other parts in the Bible. Philippians 2:9-11 says that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (hmm...sounds like worship to me).
And are you ready for the nail in the coffin? In Luke 19:28-40, religious leaders (who didn't believe Jesus was God) were telling him to command the people to stop worshiping him. Jesus responds 'I tell you if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.'
That's right. Not only does Jesus NOT tell us to not worship him, he told those people that if they stopped worshiping him, then the ROCKS would start.
That is pretty cool stuff.
Response to Nichole:
Thanks for the comment. That is a tough question. I believe that is one of the most dangerous forms of deception...a lot of truth with a little bit of a BIG lie. I have heard many times (though I have not researched it) that rat poison is mostly rat food with a little bit of poison. The good will get the rat to eat the bad.
I don't think I'd tell that family that their religion is rat poison though.
I really don't know enough about Mormons to be able to offer you much advice. After learning about JW it is easy to see big holes in their theology.
I really wish I could help you out. I just really don't know much about Mormons, and I don't want to just make something up.
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