My first discussion with a Watchtower Society representative occurred
in1969. At the time I was young and naive, and thus assumed that the
hewer of wood, and hauler of water, who came down my driveway was a
fellow born-again Christian. But when I talked this over with a Protestant
church elder he became alarmed; and urged me to read a little book titled
30 Years A Watchtower Slave by William J. Schnell; whom the Society used
to demonize as an agent of Satan. I would not be surprised if it still does.
After getting my eyes opened by Mr. Schnell's book, I afterwards was
steered towards another book titled Kingdom Of The Cults by Walter Martin.
No doubt the Society demonizes Mr. Martin too.
Later, in 1980, I attended an after-hours class offered by a church I was
attending in San Diego called "How To Witness To Jehovah's Witnesses"
hosted by a man who had been with the Society for several decades before
coming to a realization that something was not quite right.
The ex-Witness didn't train us to win Witnesses over to our way of thinking;
no, he trained us to do four things: (1) don't give them a chance to launch
into their spiel, but immediately put them on the defensive with your own
questions, thus denying them control of the conversation, (2) force them to
listen and pay attention even if you have to repeat yourself to do it, (3)
don't permit them to evade and/or circumvent difficult questions, and (4)
show them the Bible not in ways they've already seen, but in ways they've
never seen before. You see, the goal is not to win Witnesses, but to make
them realize that there is more to the Bible than the Society's propriety slant
on it. In other words: the Watchtower Society's interpretations aren't the
only option; nor are theirs eo ipso the right interpretation because they say
so.
Note : Regarding item #3, I was instructed that when a Witness says that
they don't know an answer, but will consult with their supervisors; that's the
point when the current interview must stop-- no exceptions --and not
proceed any further till they return with an answer.
Later on, I read a book titled Why I Left The Jehovah's Witnesses by Ted
Dencher and eventually purchased a copy of the Society's Kingdom
Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures to use in my discussions with
Witnesses because it is the one Bible that they cannot refute; nor dare
refute. I also read and studied the Society's little brown book titled
Reasoning From The Scriptures.
From all that vetting, study, and training I quickly discovered that although
the Watchtower Society uses many of Christianity's standard terms and
phrases, those terms and phrases mean something entirely different in the
Witness mind than what you'd expect. It is genuinely a case of apples and
oranges going by the same names. So your first challenge in dealing with
Jehovah's Witnesses is to scale the language barrier; and that by itself is no
easy task.
Buen Camino
/
in1969. At the time I was young and naive, and thus assumed that the
hewer of wood, and hauler of water, who came down my driveway was a
fellow born-again Christian. But when I talked this over with a Protestant
church elder he became alarmed; and urged me to read a little book titled
30 Years A Watchtower Slave by William J. Schnell; whom the Society used
to demonize as an agent of Satan. I would not be surprised if it still does.
After getting my eyes opened by Mr. Schnell's book, I afterwards was
steered towards another book titled Kingdom Of The Cults by Walter Martin.
No doubt the Society demonizes Mr. Martin too.
Later, in 1980, I attended an after-hours class offered by a church I was
attending in San Diego called "How To Witness To Jehovah's Witnesses"
hosted by a man who had been with the Society for several decades before
coming to a realization that something was not quite right.
The ex-Witness didn't train us to win Witnesses over to our way of thinking;
no, he trained us to do four things: (1) don't give them a chance to launch
into their spiel, but immediately put them on the defensive with your own
questions, thus denying them control of the conversation, (2) force them to
listen and pay attention even if you have to repeat yourself to do it, (3)
don't permit them to evade and/or circumvent difficult questions, and (4)
show them the Bible not in ways they've already seen, but in ways they've
never seen before. You see, the goal is not to win Witnesses, but to make
them realize that there is more to the Bible than the Society's propriety slant
on it. In other words: the Watchtower Society's interpretations aren't the
only option; nor are theirs eo ipso the right interpretation because they say
so.
Note : Regarding item #3, I was instructed that when a Witness says that
they don't know an answer, but will consult with their supervisors; that's the
point when the current interview must stop-- no exceptions --and not
proceed any further till they return with an answer.
Later on, I read a book titled Why I Left The Jehovah's Witnesses by Ted
Dencher and eventually purchased a copy of the Society's Kingdom
Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures to use in my discussions with
Witnesses because it is the one Bible that they cannot refute; nor dare
refute. I also read and studied the Society's little brown book titled
Reasoning From The Scriptures.
From all that vetting, study, and training I quickly discovered that although
the Watchtower Society uses many of Christianity's standard terms and
phrases, those terms and phrases mean something entirely different in the
Witness mind than what you'd expect. It is genuinely a case of apples and
oranges going by the same names. So your first challenge in dealing with
Jehovah's Witnesses is to scale the language barrier; and that by itself is no
easy task.
Buen Camino
/
