Hello Chris.
I guess I should respond to Kevin, though. Not much positive I can say, unfortunately. It seems to be the typical person who's been indoctrinated with the idea that "JWs are different, so instead of open communication to understand the reason for their differences... just attack them for anything you can take out of context."
Ya, it's unfortunate that we do tend to get drawn into silliness at times.
I've been guilty myself of tongue in cheek sarcasm at times, and I am determined to stop that and to be respectful of everyone.
It's more difficult to engage others who do attack, and who are blatantly arrogant and insulting and my personal instinct is to shoot back at times but that has more to do with who I used to be as opposed to who I am now that Jesus has come into my life. I used to be a singer in a hard rock band and I have had my full share of drugs, women, drink, fighting, prison and loss.
Jesus transformed my life and yet there are times when I struggle to keep my words in check.
I am trying very hard to be respectful and to not come across as arrogant.
I have met a great number of J.W. as they come to our door, and I can honestly say that they have all been extremely respectful and intelligent. The people I have talked to are people I would be proud to have as friends.
My beloved Aunt Isabel and Uncle Norm were J.W. and I loved them tremendously. They would always go out of their way to make us kids (back in the 60's) feel important. My aunt would always come visiting and head straight to wherever I was, and she always had some little gift for me, usually some coloured pencils and different pens.
The reason I do engage in these discussions is that I have a strong belief that God's Bible (book) was intact and as He wanted it the first time around. My God created everything with a word, and I find it impossible to even consider that He was incapable of getting His word to us the way He intended it to be right from the start.
I feel as though it is a duty as a Christian to at least try to share God's message, and saviour God Jesus' special mission with as many as I can without being a pest, or beating people over the head with the book.
I think that my J.W. brothers and sisters are on shaky ground when they attempt to defend their new interpretation of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The manuscripts are here for all scholars and laymen to study, and it is not something that is really open to interpretation in that the Hebrew and Greek is an understood language today, and we know exactly what the oldest manuscripts say. The real facts are that the KJV is virtually intact, and the N.W.T. is seriously in error.
The fact that the very people in charge of the N.W.T. translation had no knowledge of Hebrew or Greek languages with the exception of one, Franz, who had only a few months of schooling and could not translate some simple Hebrew scriptures into English in a Scottish courtroom, is disturbing to say the least.
I think the real problem is the J.W. who I have spoken to will defend these interpreters in spite of these serious issues.
The bible has an enormous wealth of corroborating manuscripts in several languages which can be, and have been at length, cross referenced at checked for accuracy. As I have stated, the N.W.T. is seriously in error.
There is a very serious warning at the end of the bible in Revelation which tells us that anyone who adds or takes away even a single letter from the scriptures as they were in the beginning, is going to suffer the same fate as satan and his followers. This must have been ignored; however the N.W.T. has the same warning in their book.
It becomes impossible to defend the re-interpretations of the original scriptures when we have other semi plagiarisms such as the Koran that take scriptures directly from the bible, and add their own philosophies and propagandas to further their own specific human causes.
So I would ask a J.W. this; you would like people to accept your bible based on your belief that the original scriptures where incorrect interpretations in spite of the fact that the oldest known manuscripts, and there are thousands of them, all correspond to each other. Now am I t believe that some conspiracy team of fanatics ran around the old world gathering up every single copy and manuscript and added and took away without anyone noticing?
I have to assume a J.W. purposefully rejects the KJV for example; version in favour of the N.W.T. based on the belief that there must be some ancient biblical manuscripts somewhere which their interpreters used as a source to “correct†the mistakes of the original bible.
Or, as I have been told by a J.W. at my door, their interpretation team may not have been able to understand the Hebrew or Greek languages, but God supernaturally worked through those people and gave them the “correct†version that He had messed up on the first time.
Well, that explanation can be used by any person, or group who would change the scriptures to further any cause and how can we refute such a claim?
It is very difficult to argue against a faith based belief.
My question to a J.W. would be how do you respond to the Muslim version of God’s word?
It is yet another interpretation of the original scriptures and their prophet gave the exact same argument your people gave; God made a mistake with the first book He gave us, and through the Koran, God corrected His mistake through Mohammad. Your people tell me that through the N.W.T. God corrected His first two mistakes – the original scriptures and the Koran.
See how slippery it gets when we don’t give God the credit He deserves in that He does have the power and the ability to get His message to His creation right the first time around?
My entire purpose for becoming engaged in this discussion is that I honestly believe with all my heart and soul, that the J.W. are a good, descent and genuinely honest people who are being misinformed.
Now it wouldn’t matter much if the original scriptures didn’t relay a continuing theme throughout the Old and New Testament that we are a sinful fallen creation of God, and that right from the beginning of God’s word He had laid out a special plan of redemption for us in order to enable each and every person to have an equal opportunity to accept Jesus/God’s special sacrificial death and to be completely cleaned of our sins to the point where God Himself promises not just to forgive, but to actually forget all our sins once we confess Jesus is God and confess our sins to God.
Once we take Jesus’ divinity out of the picture, we are left believing we are responsible for our own salvation, and God warns us that there is absolutely nothing that we can do which would clean us of our sins, and that without Jesus, we are doomed.
So, I understand that J.W. must feel like they are being attacked by arrogant self righteous people, and I’m sure that is true sometimes, however, it is certainly not my position.
I am a sinner and no better or worse than any J.W. or anyone else for that matter.
My intentions are purely out of love of my brothers and sisters who I believe are in danger of losing their eternal salvation based on the original scriptures, and more specifically, based on God’s own words.
May God bless you and your family richly my brother.
John Bronzesnake
