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Answering Jehovah's Witnesses: Subject by Subject

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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.

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.

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.

I know David Reed has some issues with the Witnesses. Anyone who has devoted/wasted any significant amount of time with them does. However, his book is so well researched and his knowledge of theology allows him to set the record completely straight. I am currently researching the topic and found that this volume was quite a bit better than the "Verse by Verse" volume. I found that it was easier to search by subject and have all the verses in one place. The only criticism I might have is that there were too many categories. Some of the information gets repeated and this can be frustrating (but that's if you read it all the way through like I did). If you're just browsing for a particular topic, the organization of the book works out just fine.

I'm impressed with the amount of research that he put into his work. I've seen some of the standard quotations from Witness literature before, but he adds to them with additional, equally damning quotes that haven't been used in other tomes of this sort.

This proved to be an engaging read, and useful for anyone doing research on how the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has deceived millions.

First of all, I would like to say that, while many people may assume that this book contains pretty much the same material of "Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse" by the same author, just arranged subject by subject rather than verse by verse, it is in fact a very different work.
While the "Verse by Verse" book is little more than organized Bible-bashing, "Subject by Subject" is an alphabetically arranged guide that provides insight in the Watchtower Society's teachings, history and beliefs.
In this book, Mr. Reed analyzes in detail all the major doctrines taught by the Watchtower Society, comments them and provides sensible scriptural answers.
Before trying to share your faith with a Jehovah's Witness, you need to get acquainted with what he or she believes, and this book may just be what you need.

I think that this book is very timely and very much needed. The end is closer than we think and it is therefore important that we bring as many people into the TRUE knowledge of God and His kingdom. This book explains in candid language the history, lies and 'flip flops' of the Watch Tower Society.

All FRAUDS need to be exposed for exactly what they are. In this book Mr Reed is doing just that. Anyone with a loved one who is a Witness should own this.

I am thankfull to God for Mr. Reed and for his tremendous insight in Jehova's Witnesses beliefs and for sharing that with those who need it the most, those in the trenches. When I was first visited by a Jehovah's Witness I felt like I had been violated. They took away my God, Jesus, and everything I had put my faith in and told me that I was wrong. Before he left he said some very profound words that will probably stick with me the rest of my life. He told me not just to accept the words of other people with degrees as ultimate truth, but to search the Scriptures and pray that the God will guide me. I took the man's advice, and read and prayed and now I am more convinced than ever that the Jehovah's Witness cult is not the truth. Mr. Reed's book does not present his interpretation of Scripture, "The most sure word," but lets Scripture speack for itself. Malcom Muggeridge once said, "All news is old news happening to new people." In this case, as in the case with the Pharisees of Jesus time, the Jehovah's Witnesses deny the truth even when it so obvisously taught in Scripture. Pray for them, Love them, and reach them, "contending for the faith" Thank you Mr. Reed for your contribution in defense of orthodox-Christian Truths

Just look at the negative comments by JWs and their cohorts. That's how you can tell if this book really works. They take the time to discourage you from reading it.

David Reed is a former Jehovah's Witness, who is also the author of books such as: Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse, How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watchtower, Behind the Watchtower Curtain, Jehovah's Witness Literature: A Critical Guide to Watchtower Publications, Left Behind Answered Verse by Verse, etc.

He wrote in the Preface to this 1996 book, "If you are already familiar with my book 'Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse' you might easily make a wrong assumption about 'Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Subject by Subject.' You might assume that it is merely the same deck of cards reshuffled---the same material arranged according to subject rather than according to Bible verse. However, that is not the case. This book contains new and different material." He has about 80 different "subjects" he addresses, such as "Armageddon," "Christmas," "Hell," "Other Sheep," etc.

Here are some quotations from the book:

"The Watchtower leadership has instructed JWs not to listen to Christians who want to tell them about Jesus... If, on the other hand, you ASK FOR HELP and reprhrase your arguments to present the same evidence in the form of questions, you will be able to accomplish a lot more." (Pg. 12)
"In any case... do not let the JW see this book. A typical response to observing you with 'apostate literature' such as this would be for a Witness to break off discussion and perhaps even to shun you henceforth as a dangerous 'opposer.'" (Pg. 14)
"The organization teaches that Jerusalem was desolated in 607 B.C.... but most other observers will see as highly questionable the Witnesses' use of a starting date at odds with the history books. The 'chain' starts out with a very weak link indeed." (Pg. 35)
"But the facts are that they have totally changed their view of the SIGNIFICANCE of 1914... They used to teach that Christ returned invisibly in 1874 and would take control of earth's affairs in 1914; now they believe he returned in 1914... now they say the kingdom was set up IN HEAVEN at that time and will assume earthly power later. Virtually everything they formerly taught concerning 1914 has been changed, making it another weak link in the chain." (Pg. 37)
"Trying to convince a Jehovah's Witness that he or she ought to celebrate the holiday is an unrealistic approach... A better goal would be to get the Witness to stop judging YOU for celebrating." (Pg. 76)
"Even a cursory look at the volumes generated by writers associated with orthodox denominations will reveal the Watchtower's efforts to be small in comparison. A closer look will reveal that the JW writers lack academic credentials, that they have done little or no original research, and that they have borrowed most of their material from non-Witness sources." (Pg. 79)
"So Paul told the Romans (Rom 14:5-6) that a Christian should be free to celebrate the Jewish holy days or holidays if he or she chose to do so. But a JW who celebrates those days today is disfellowshipped, in complete disregard for what Romans 14 says." (Pg. 138)
"The Watchtower Society now applauds surgical transplants... Yet between 1967 and 1980 the Watchtower Society taught its followers to refuse transplants as violations of God's law." (Pg. 173)

This was very helpful, except for the fact that you cannot share the book with a Jehovah's Witness. My memory not being what it used to be, I'm having to write everything down, practically rewriting the book! I can't wait to read David Reed's other book, Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Verse by Verse. Having lost good friends to the Jehovah's Witnesses, who considered me "from Satan" when I tried to witness about the Trinity (bad place to start!), I feel compelled to do all I can to help the JW's see the error of their teachings and the freedom we enjoy in Christ.