Customer Reviews

Approaching Jehovah's Witnesses in Love: How to Witness Effectively Without Arguing

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Rev. Lingle has walked his talk, with years of experience in witnessing to JW's. What's more, if you call him, he is eager to help you personally with any questions you have in witnessing to your loved ones involved with the Watchtower Society. His approach to witnessing using a series of questions based on John 5:24 is the most useful, concise one I've ever seen. (Buy the book and see p. 221).

This book is practical, biblical, and goal-oriented. Lingle is honest about what witnessing methods to JW's work and which ones don't work. His basic philosophy is to place doubts in the JW's mind about the infallibility of the Watchtower Society. He relays documentation from their own literature of the changes the WTS has made over the years in its beliefs and practices.

His list of sample questions to breach a JW's confidence in the Watchtower Society is excellent. However, the questions would probably have to be memorized or written out in longhand, since a JW tends to flee at the sight of any "anti-JW" literature.

This book would be an excellent place to start your with your response to the Jehovah's Witnesses at your door or in your life.

This book has been a wonderful tool for witnessing to the Witnesses. It is thorough, concise, and straight to the point, without being offensive. Rev. Lingle has found that explaining your view does not work, and it doesn't. This book lets the Witness teach YOU, making that person feel important. It also shows that you can question a religious organization w/o questioning or attacking the faith of the individual. Excellent! would recommend it .

This book asks some very thought provoking questions. The purpose of this is to get Jehovah's Witnesses to think for themselves. The biggest problem with the members of this organization is that although they ask others to be open minded in their witnessing effort, they are very closed minded themselves and will not even consider looking at something written by outsiders relating to the Bible. In taking this approach, they are not taking their own advise, even though it is scriptural. "Test all things, hold fast to what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21)This publication does not attempt to demean members of this group, but to help them think on their own. The thought provoking questions given here should help the ones who are honest hearted to see that the points being made are logical and scriptural.

This book is one of the best ones along with some of Reed books. This book helps the reader comunicate with Jehovah Witnesses without arguing and without getting defensive. It helps you to establish ground rules when getting ready for a Bible study with JW. the author, an ex Jehovah witness himself is very compassionate in the way he talks about JW and teaches the reader to do the same. This book will give you the essencial tools to get started in your way to effective witnessing. It is a must in one's personal library.

Some of the reviews already posted I see are quite polarized. Yet, some don't seem to highlight the main theme. The point of the book is to know enough of the Watchtower organization background and history, and then to ponder questions and approaches that keep you from getting into fruitless arguing. Anyone who really has witnessed both to non-Jehovah Witnesses and also to Jehovah Witnesses, or has wanted to can appreciate this underlying theme.

It appears to the be the motivation for the author's writing, and is quite well done in the book, both factually, instructionally, and often times comes over in bits like a good conversation. I highly recommend it for personal reading, study, small groups, and Bible study or apologetics review and ramp-up. It is a good key on demonstrating how knowledge with loving application in a personal relationship approach can win some of the most difficult barriers to sharing.

However, if you're into just debating, Bible-thumping, and love to argue when you know you have the upper hand no matter what that does to others...then this book is NOT for you.

A most excellent, must have tool for those studying with Jehovah's Witnesses! I have made all the mistakes he outlines. This book offers frank, easy to use, easy to understand help in dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses out of love.

If I could only have one book on the subject, this is the book I would pick. I wish I had it many years ago. Many born again Christians look the other way while these wonderful people continue trying to work their way to eternal life. Why? Because we don't feel prepared to share. This book gives easy ways to plant seeds of truth in just a couple of minutes to a longer more in depth outreach. You need not be a theologian, just willing and grounded in your walk with Christ. A very easy to read and very interesting book.

This is the best book I have read which assists people to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses. Most books I have read try to meet Jehovah's Witnesses at their own game. As Jehovah's Witnesses are well trained that is a challenge. This book takes a more lateral approach and I believe that it will be more effectual for most readers.

What an amazing book!
Not only an in depth explanation of Jehovah's Witness beliefs but also an in depth discussion of how to converse with them in love.
Highly recommended!

Wilbur Lingle also wrote the books, What the Watchtower Society Doesn't Want you to Know, 20 Important Questions for Hehovah's Witnesses, and Burning Questions About Islam: A Panoramic Study for Concerned Christians.

He wrote in the "Overview" to this 1994 book, "I have not written from theory, but from eighteen years of study and personal witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses... (The book) shows how you can have meaningful, nonconfrontational encounters with a Jehovah's Witness over many weeks. It also explains how you can get him to open his heart by first building a friendship with him, and then asking him questions to make him THINK regarding the Watchtower organization... This approach does not attack the individual. Rather, using the information in this book will bring one to the point where he will be willing to listen amicably to the message of salvation." (Pg. 14)

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"Strange as it may seem, (Heaven) is one teaching that they don't say too much about. They promise all the early Witnesses a place in heaven, but after the 144,000 openings were filled (which they claim happened in 1935), they had to change their teaching on heaven." (Pg. 89)
"There are two major thrusts to these questions. Your first aim is to get the Witness to realize and admit that the Watchtower Society has no valid authority. Your second aim is to cause him to see that there have been many changes, false prophecies, contradictions, and much zigzagging back and forth---so their teachings can't be built upon eternal truths from God (which NEVER can change!) but merely upon the dictates and changing ideas of the fallible men in their governing body." (Pg. 133-134)
"Question #1: When one looks at the Watchtower publications he soon notices that the writers quote from many different books and encyclopedias in order to try to prove their beliefs and teachings... Since they read and quote from so many sources, it seems to suggest that there are many good books on the market which are not written by Jehovah's Witnesses and yet contain a lot of the truth that agrees with the Watchtower's teachings. Are you as a Jehovah's Witness free to read these various books?" (Pg. 144)
"If the teaching is true that only 144,000 persons will go to heaven, I would like to know how there could possibly be any openings left when Charles Russell came upon the scene in 1880? The Book of Acts mentions at leas 60,000 people saved, and this was only the beginning of the growth of Christianity... Also there were over 250,000 martyrs who would surely be included in the 144,000..." (Pg. 147)
"What will the 144,000 do after the 1000-year reign of Christ? The Watchtower Society plays down heaven... The Society also teaches that after the 1000-year reign of Christ the kingdom is given to the Father. In other words, Christ is demoted from being ruler because there is nothing more for Him to do. Since the 144,000 reign only with Christ, then they also will have nothing to do." (Pg. 156)
"Am I to believe that it will be a wonderful thing to survive Armageddon, get rid of all the dead bodies and bones, clean up all this awful destruction, then work extremely hard to build a beautiful earth so that all the wicked people who have ever lived can be resurrected and enabled to enjoy what the Witnesses have worked so hard for?" (Pg. 162)