Answering Jehovah's Witnesses: Subject by Subject [Paperback]

David A. Reed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

As Jehovah's Witnesses become less knowledgeable of Scripture, this book guides Christians to share on nonbiblical issues.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080105317X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801053177
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #310,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Other Denominations & Sects

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good resource but not the starting point, December 11, 2002

By 

Dave (fontana, california United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Answering Jehovah's Witnesses: Subject by Subject (Paperback)

I have read this with "How to Answer Jehovah's Witnesses" by Dr. Robert Morey and "How to Answer Jehovah's Witnesses verse by verse" by David A. Reed. If the previous Jehovah Witness had been dealing with a Christian who has studied the Trinity in depth he would have found that his arguments would not have worked trying to compare Moses and others in the Bible who where called "gods" in the sense that they where speaking in the name of God or had the power of life and death as the Judges in the Old Testament or in reference to false gods or angels speaking in behalf of God. There is never any time in the Bible that we are to put our total faith and refuge in any of the above mentioned and are forbidden to worship them but in Psalm 2:12 we are supposed to do this to the Son. In Isaiah 6:5 it said that Isaiah saw Jehovah (the 4 letter name of God YHWH is used in Isaiah 6:5)and it said in John 12:39-41 that Isaiah saw Jesus glory (it should aslo be noticed the angels where worshipping Jehovah in Isaiah 6:1-5. I could go on for about 38 pages and prove the point and refute all the verses they use but it would not change their mind because they believe the Watchtower is inspired by angelic direction as stated:

"The scroll was doubtless delivered to Ezekiel by the hand of one of the cherubs in the vision. This would indicate that Jehovah's witnesses today make their declaration of the good news of the Kingdom under angelic direction and support (Rev. 14:6, 7; Matt. 25:31, 32) And since no word or work of Jehovah can fall, for he is God Almighty, the nations will see the fulfillment of what these witnesses say as directed from heaven. Yes, the time must come shortly that the nations will have to know that really a "prophet" of Jehovah was among them." (Watchtower April 1, 1972 pg. 200)

First you must show the real gospel as defined by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and this does not include Christ returning in 1914 as they assert. Then go to Galations chapter 1 and show what Paul said about any gospel preached other than what he had preached to them. Then use Dr. Morey's book How to Answer Jehovah's Witnesses and show the Watchtower to be a false prophet by their own predictions then and only then do you start discussing doctrine. If you think this is mean spirited then read the following statement from their own resource that says to do so:

"He had a "prophet" to warn them. This "prophet" was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are know as Jehovah's Christian witnesses. They are still proclaiming a warning a warning, and have been joined and assisted in their commissioned work by hundreds of thousands of persons who have listened to their message with belief. Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show? "(Watchtower April 1,1972 pg. 197)

I own the above book and purchased others after reading Dr. Morey's book just to see if the information was honest. I will now only bring out these books after explaining the true gospel as explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and contrast this to the false gospel of Christ returning in 1914 as the Jehovah Witnesses teach. This book will explain this to you on their belief concerning 1914.

So for the Jehovah's Witness that come to my door I am ready to discuss with you if your organization is from God or not. I will respect you and I do care that is why I do this and have trained others as well how to at my church. I thank you for challenging my beliefs to make me check them deeply. You have only made me a better Christian for it and I want to talk with you and many others Jehovah's Witnesses. If you change some of your arguments that is fine but the truth of the Word of God never changes no matter how it gets twisted.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful format for finding information on JW beliefs, June 27, 2001

By 

Gary F. Zeolla "Director of Darkness to Light... (Pennsylvania USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Answering Jehovah's Witnesses: Subject by Subject (Paperback)

At one time, Reed was elder in the Watchtower. After leaving the Watchtower he began a ministry to JWs that has been operating for quite a few years now. His newsletter was one of the first sources I came across when studying about JWs.

In this book, Reed documents the teachings of the Watchtower using quotes and photocopies from their own literature. So it hard for a JW to claim that this book misrepresent their teachings.

Each of these subjects have a bearing on the authority of the Watchtower. If the Watchtower is wrong on any one of these then it cannot be "God's Channel of Communication" as it claims. And Reed does a throughout job of showing that the Watchtower is in fact wrong on subject after subject. And for more Biblical study one these subjects, consult my "Scripture Workbook: For Personal Bible Study and Teaching the Bible." It includes three chapters on the Trinity and one on various other Watchtower teachings.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Former JW Offers Good Advice, May 21, 2007

By 

John D. Friel "JD" (Stockbridge, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Answering Jehovah's Witnesses: Subject by Subject (Paperback)

The book Answering Jehovah's Witnesses: Subject by Subject is written by author David A. Reed. Mr. Reed is a former Jehovah's Witness who was open to seeking the truth and because of his openness, came to understand the reality of how the cult operates. He describes how it was the cult's constant elevation of the organization above scripture that drove him to start questioning their authority. He uses his experience as a Jehovah's Witness in this work to expose both the corruption of the organization as well as its doctrinal fallacies. In addition, he reminds the reader throughout the book how to talk with Jehovah's Witnesses and which topics to start with. He suggests that we work with their training and not against it. He informs us to start by asking them questions about the information and to have them explain the answers. He states that the worst way to approach them is in a confrontational manner. Previous to this work, Mr. Reed produced a book with a similar title, Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse in which Scripture passages are used as proof-texts for Jehovah's Witnesses belief. In addition to this, he edits for a publication on Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs titled Comments from the Friends. He is president of Gospel Truth Ministries, Inc. Other works include the Index of Watchtower Errors and Jehovah's Witness Literature: A Critical Guide to Watchtower Publications.
The author's purpose for this book is to offer a response to a change in Jehovah's Witnesses behavior. Today's Jehovah's Witness seems, according to the author, not as well versed in scripture as the older Witnesses. They instead seem to be apt to rely on the authority of the organization more than scripture. This is likely do to the fact that more and more of the cults teachings are deviating further and further from scripture. Thus, making it risky for the cult to train their followers in scripture. This book is written to show the reader first how to get people to see that the cult is not "God's organization" but rather a human organization that is out to control them mentally. Once this is accomplished, the reader can move on to a subject-by-subject discussion of doctrinal topics.
I think this book is extremely well written and offers a format that any reader regardless of experience in dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses can just jump right and get started. I think he does an excellent job at using their own sources against them, so it is hard for them to say that he doesn't know what he is speaking of or that he has misrepresent the facts. He does an excellent job of dismantling the credibility of the watchtower as "Gods organization" and as long as we are faithful in consistently representing these fallacies and errors to the Jehovah's Witnesses I think we will see many people leaving the cult. Mr. Reed should be commended for the amount of research that he put into this book. If there is any critique of the book that I could find is that maybe there were too many topics and could be a bit overwhelming and repetitive but this would only be a minor problem.