Friday, November 17, 2006
WITNESSING TO WITNESSES OF JEHOVAH
I had a fascinating exchange this afternoon with two witnesses of Jehovah. During our dialogue on the doorstep, I tried to avoid the rapid-fire exchange of "prooftexts." Rather, my aim was to show that the JW's version of the Bible (The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures) is inaccurate and dishonest. For instance, the correct rendering of Jesus' words in John 8:58 is: "...before Abraham was, I am." All major versions of the Bible translate it that way. The NWT, however, reads: "...Before Abraham came into existence, I have been." That rendering is simply dishonest; it cannot in any way be substantiated by the Greek text. In John 8, Jesus refers to His preexistence and deity, a belief to which JWs are adamantly opposed. Rather than adjust their theology to the Bible, the JWs have simply changed the biblical text (from "I am," with its clear connection to God's self-revelation to Moses as "I am" [Exodus 3:14]) to line up with their faulty views of the Lord! This is done many times in the NWT (for example, in Colossians 1:15 and 2:9) and is terribly dishonest.In any event, I tried to demonstrate that the NWT is a faulty Bible translation. The two ladies on my doorstep came at me with lots of verses and seemed unwilling to listen to my point of view. It was clear to me that their minds were veiled and unable to behold the Christ of Scripture. We must ask the Lord to remove the veil so that they--and so many like them--can behold the true Christ, the One in whom the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). What I learned from the exchange today is that Christians are to speak biblical truth in love while trusting in the Holy Spirit to bring conviction and change. Finally, of this I am certain: if someone is wrong about the Person of Christ, who is the heart of the Bible and the very center of the Christian faith, then everything they say about Scripture will be offbase. (I think here of the JWs view of salvation, which they understand to be a combination of faith and works--another error!)
