OBEY! Part 1: A Conversation With a Jehovah’s Witness Pioneer

August 25, 2014 1:37 pm / 18 Comments /
That about sums it up.

That about sums it up.

I arrived at the restaurant and waited for my Witness friend to show up. He was a little late and brought a new guy with him. My regular Witness friend and I did our normal small talk and as I promised myself, I brought a pen with me. It is the coolest pen I’ve ever seen and was made for me as a gift by a good friend of mine for CHRISTmas. He liked the pen too.

Whenever a new person comes with my regular Jehovah’s Witness, I always like to ask them a little bit about themselves. I want to get to know them a bit and see if I can find out what makes them tick. I did the same with the young man. Read More →

Posted in: Uncategorized / Tagged: , , ,

God’s Friend Or God’s Child? A Conversation With A Jehovah’s Witness Pioneer

August 19, 2014 3:00 pm / 11 Comments /
If God's Spirit directs the Watchtower, it should never print logical fallacies.

If God’s Spirit directs the Watchtower, it should never print logical fallacies.

This was a weird meeting. It was the first time we met after my two week long mission trip to Manti, Utah. As I was leaving my office, I picked up a pen to take with me in case I wanted to write something down on a sheet of paper. I decided against it because I use my iPad for taking notes and my Jehovah’s Witness friend always has a pen anyways. I literally had the pen in my hand and then set it down on my desk and left. At the time I didn’t know why that happened, but it became clear to me later on in our discussion. Read More →

Posted in: Uncategorized / Tagged: ,

Logic And Taking God’s Name In Vain Part 2

July 22, 2014 10:51 am / 4 Comments /
Gods Name In Vain.2jpg

Don’t do it…

Continuing from Part 1

JW: We need to look at distinguishing God or Jehovah from other gods.

KW: I am a monotheist so I don’t need to make a distinction. There are no other true Gods so when I say “God” I am only referring to the one true God.

JW: Let’s look at Isaiah 42:8. “I am Jehovah. That is my name; I give my glory to no one else, Nor my praise to graven images.”  See, there is a connection between God’s personal name and His reputation or glory.

KW: Right, what is glorious though? A pronunciation or the reputation?

JW: Well, the pronunciation depends on the language.

KW: I still don’t understand. I have a problem with the inconsistency. Because if God really wants me to use His name and a specific pronunciation is important to Him then I don’t understand why other pronunciations in other languages are acceptable. If God’s name really is Yahweh, and Jehovah really doesn’t sound like Yahweh, then what is the difference between calling Him Jehovah or calling Him Lord? If they are both substitutes, then what is the difference? Read More →

Posted in: Uncategorized / Tagged: , ,

Logic And Taking God’s Name In Vain With A Jehovah’s Witness Pioneer, Part 1

July 21, 2014 12:12 pm / 2 Comments /
Gods Name In Vain

How do Jehovah’s Witnesses view taking God’s name in vain?

Today started off a little different because the restaurant we go to was packed and it was loud. Since that is not conducive to a deep theological discussion, we decided to go to another restaurant. One interesting thing of note was that my Pioneer friend came alone. His wife had a school function she needed to attend so this is the first time he came by himself. I always enjoy the one on one conversations better because the individual Witness is forced to rely only on himself. There isn’t anyone there to bail him out of a trouble spot in the conversation. I find that there is a whole lot more I can say and even challenge them on when they are alone. Read More →

Posted in: Uncategorized / Tagged: , ,

Questioning The Name Of God With A Jehovah’s Witness Pioneer

June 11, 2014 10:51 am / 10 Comments /

yhwhbible(A Continuation of the last post) After I finished describing my recent trip to Israel, my Jehovah’s Witness Pioneer friend transitioned our conversation to the “Teach” book. His wife was starting to look a little impatient that I had spent so much time talking about Israel and not getting into our study sooner. Little does she know, I could have spoken about that trip for hours. As we discuss different things from the book, I will continue to speak about my time in Israel. I’ve got lots of little truth nuggets I can use later.

JW1 had me read paragraph 11 from chapter one and then asked me the obligatory questions from the bottom of the book. He doesn’t know this yet and I am sure some of my new readers don’t know this either, but I have explained on this blog before how I prefer to ask my own questions instead of having them provided for me. The book has numbered every paragraph and then gives corresponding questions on the bottom of the page. No Bible is needed to answer any of the questions. All the reader has to do is look back up the numbered paragraph and give the answer you just read from the book. Read More →

Posted in: Uncategorized