Meeting tonight...tips?

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lee
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Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by lee » Fri May 14, 2010 7:31 am

I met with a Jehovah's Witness last Friday. Tried to build a connection, let him know my concern, discussed the deity of Christ a little bit and the fact that sinners will be judged and not just obliterated. He's coming back tonight for a second meeting. I have studied up on scripture and their position. My aim is to concentrate on the deity of Christ and the judgment to come. The verses I'm going to concentrate on are:

Deity of Jesus
1. John 1:1,14
2. Colossians 1:15-16, Hebrews 1:3,8-9, Micah 5:2
3. Psalm 102:25-27, Hebrews 1:10-12
4. John 14:9, John 10:30

Hell to come:
1. Matthew 25:41
2. Jude 1:7
3. Revelation 20:10
4. Revelation 20:14,15
5. Revelation 21:8

Justified by faith:
1. Habbakuk 2:4
2. Acts 26:18
3. Romans 1:17
4. Romans 3:27,28; 5:1
5. 2 Corinthians 5:7
6. Galatians 3:11,24,26
7. Ephesians 2:8
8. Ephesians 3:12
9. Romans 4:24

My question is...is there anything I'm missing?
What would you concentrate on and what verses would you emphasize if you only had 10 minutes with a JW?
Please pray that things go well tonight.

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visayafam
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Location: Twin Falls, Idaho

Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by visayafam » Fri May 14, 2010 9:41 am

wow lee, it all looks good.
I have some words of encouragement from a girl who has a husband who spent so much time trying to shed light with the JW's in our area, as well as the Mormons. We look back now and wish we had just showed them our love. For some reason it seems it is very hard tell a person of a cult the scripture of why their faith is wrong. We have found that first they come defended. They have built up a wall, that has been put in place very carefully so that they will not be shaken, its like becoming a body builder they have put on a lot of muscle and do not plan to be made wimpy. Whenever you are speaking to a person when their defense is up it is very hard to get in any wisdom. (Not saying that God could not open their hearts at the appointed time and allow the spirit to work in their heart at that moment). We also found that when you start on a personal level you get to know them. We are all Human we understand how and why a person can become what they are now, and us being IN CHRIST also know what God can do to the heart of a human who truly is seeking Truth. Our lives reflect Christ, we know they will know that we know HIM by our Love.
I Hope this would not be a discouragement to you. I only intend to share my experience. Man if i could count the times we had either a Mormon or a JW in our home and had it go very unwell, it would be many. I can count however about 5 times that the experience was that of Christ Love being poured out and we witnessed a lot about the power of LOVE.
And by the way, caution. Our experience is a JW can get a little out of control with his passion (anger). The JW's are not a happy people, they are very oppressed. The Law they live by does not bring about a Joyous life.
BE JOYFUL ALWAYS, PRAY CONTINUALLY, AND IN ALL THINGS GIVE THANKS, FOR THIS IS GODS WILL FRO YOU IN CHRIST JESUS. 1 THESS 5 16-18
PEACE
Visaya Family

lee
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by lee » Fri May 14, 2010 10:46 am

Thank you. That's what I tried to focus on...my concern for him and my brotherly love for him. I did try to be clear with scripture and at times when I didn't know something specific, I was honest about it. I started the conversation by asking how the witnessing was going to try to make a personal connection :-) I don't like it that people just go to war over scripture and not realize they are talking to a fellow human being.

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Jason
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by Jason » Fri May 14, 2010 2:16 pm

Lee, you sound like a mature Christian. I agree with your approach.

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RICHinCHRIST
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by RICHinCHRIST » Tue May 18, 2010 1:24 pm

Sorry, I didn't see this post until after your meeting. The next time you speak to a JW, consider these passages which teach the deity of Christ. They try to explain away alot of them, but in my own experience, they are often puzzled by this argument and cannot answer it.



Here we see that the Lord is declaring He is the Alpha and Omega.

Ask them to read it in their own JW "New World Translation" --> “I am the Al´pha and the O·me´ga,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”

The Jehovah's Witnesses translate "Lord" as "Jehovah God".. so ask them to read this verse in their translation to lay the foundation that they believe the Alpha and Omega is indeed God.

Next, read this verse with them:

Here we can see that God is being described once again, but now includes the title "First and the Last".

Finally, read this final passage:

Here we see that the First and the Last (previously recognized as the Alpha and Omega) is indeed Jesus, because it describes how He was dead, but is now alive.

One of the main philosophical arguments the JW use against the deity of Christ is that Jehovah cannot die. Well if you read this passage (even in their own translation), they will have to admit to the mystery of the death of the God-man Christ Jesus.

This verse is also very very clear:

lee
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by lee » Tue May 18, 2010 1:30 pm

Very good argument. The person didn't come on Friday night, but Saturday, when we were about to leave, with a car full of others. I invited him to come back this Friday. More study time ;-)

Jacob
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by Jacob » Tue May 31, 2011 1:40 am

OK, I'm a couple weeks late, but if you meet them again or anyone else is meeting some JW's, some clear verses are Isaiah 7:14. A virgin shall bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Immanuel just simply means "God with us" im-with, anu-us, El-God

Also, Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, a son is given. The government shall be on his shoulder. His name will be called wonderful, counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace. ( I don't know how this verse reads in their translation)

Also, I talked to one who said that God could make his name known to everyone, and what name for God does eveyone know? Jehova. Well, thats not so correct. The name that more people know than any other name for God would be Jesus.

The JW's are very keen on the name jehovah, but where did it come from? Simply put, its just a German mispronounciation of the name YHWH, the tetragramatron. ancient hebrew has no vowels and after the babilonian exile, some jews forgot how to speak their language. The leaders didn't want to modify the bible so in order to keep people from forgetting how to speak the words, they added "pointing" around the words in the bible. Around the same time, the leaders also decided to "put a fence" around the law so the they wouldn't fall as far as they did before going into exile. One of these fences was that to keep people from taking God's name in vein, jews just weren't allowed to say God's name at all. In order to keep people from acidentally saying the name of God while reading the scriptures, they changed the pointing on God's name, YHWH and used the pointing for the word "My Lord" which is adonai. Remember, the pointing is just the vowels. so we have a word that looks like yahowah. Germans pronounce y's like j's as in yerushaleim ( hebrew ) Jerushalem (German ), and w's like v's window( english) vindo ( german ). Esentially, you have Germans reading the hebrew scriptures and mispronouncing the purposely misspelled name of God. vwalla, Jehovah.

lee
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by lee » Tue May 31, 2011 4:18 pm

Thanks for the tips...I also like how you explained the tetragrammatan.

Troy
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by Troy » Thu Jun 30, 2011 9:32 pm

Perhaps you could start with:

God's love
God sending the Son into the world to save Sinners
the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ
the finished work of the Cross/resurrection
The inauguration of the New Covenant

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mkprr
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Re: Meeting tonight...tips?

Post by mkprr » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:48 pm

I know this is really late for your meeting of course but have you ever tried convincing them to listen to tnp? My guess is the only time they encounter evangelical Christianity is when they are being attacked and it probably seems rather contentious and watered down from their view.

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