Jehovah’s Witnesses 1

Posted on by Tom

Jehovah’s Witnesses: A New Introduction
By George D. Chryssides
Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 197 pp.

I had thoroughly (an understatement) examined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aka the Mormons way, way back in the day (early-1980s) and have a reasonably good grasp of the cult’s theology and history. However, it occurred to me that I had never read a single book about the other major cult, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, officially known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, so I checked out this book from the local library.

The author, Dr. Chryssides, is an academic scholar specializing in “new religions.” With this book, he aims to present a completely objective analysis of the JWs, however, the objectivity verges on the sympathetic. Chryssides spent a considerable amount of time as an embedded observer within JW congregations and became acquainted with many JWs personally.

I learned a bit from this introductory book in regards to the JW’s aberrant theology, church history, and standard practices/polity. However, because of the author’s quasi-neutral, almost favorable attitude toward JW-ism, I would not recommend it. I have another book on hold at the library that examines the JWs from an evangelical Christian perspective, which I’ll be reviewing in two weeks.

I can remember casually debating a Jehovah’s Witness at work shortly after I was saved (back in the mid-1980s). We were both “newbies” when it came to apologetics and not able to defend our views with a high degree of knowledge. I did know that the Watch Tower leadership made some prophecies regarding important end times dates that were not fulfilled and pulled that out as my “trump card,” to which the neophyte JW had no response. For information on the JWs’ failed prophecies/predictions, see the Wiki article here.

It’s bizarre to me that evangelical Christians will passionately oppose the false gospels of the LDS church (17M members) and the Watchtower (20M members), but are neutral and even accommodating when it comes to the Roman Catholic church (1.4 billion members) with its false gospel of salvation by sacramentalism and merit.

Chapters

  1. Researching Jehovah’s Witnesses
  2. Historical background
  3. Belonging
  4. Teachings
  5. Congregational life
  6. Lifestyle
  7. Festivals and rites of passage
  8. Expectations
  9. Opposition
  10. Pressures to reform
  11. Prospects

24 thoughts on “Jehovah’s Witnesses 1”

  1. Thanks, Tom. I’ve come across quite a few JW’s (at my door) over the years, and have always had interesting discussions with them. In dealing with them, Mormons, or any other false-religion group, it is crucial for Christians to know Christian doctrine and theology first and foremost.

    This has worked for me over the decades as I let the individual have his or say, and then wait until they say something completely opposite what the Bible teaches.

    When that happens, I say something such as, “The Bible came first, and now you claim something totally different, and that God has given a new revelation. But in His Word, Numbers 23:19, as well as others, we are told that God never lies or changes His mind. If I believe what you say, then God has indeed lied and changed His mind, and therefore I can’t trust anything He –or you — says. Therefore, I think I’ll stick with the original, and reject, for obvious reasons, what you are teachings.”

    That usually gets them to say goodbye, though I try to get them to stay and discuss the issue.

    A little long-winded reply on my part, but this is what your post made me think of.

    Looking forward to your review in a few weeks!

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    1. Thanks, David! I appreciate your helpful comments regarding your encounters with JWs. As you mention, a believer needs to be knowledgeable regarding God’s Word when speaking with a JW because they have been trained to twist Scripture to suit their heretical theology.
      I have spoken with JWs several times following the initial encounter I described in the post, and as you mention, they will eventually propose a counter-Biblical doctrine that a believer should be able to respond to.
      The author of this book misguidedly proposes that the JWs also teach salvation (as one of the 144,000 or the great crowd) through faith alone (in Jesus/archangel Michael’s ransom), but he conveniently leaves out that according to the Watch Tower “faith” must be in tandem with good works.
      “People must not only exercise faith in Jesus but also change their course of life and get baptized” (as a JW). – from What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe? – Salvation.

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  2. Hi Tom and thanks for this post. I used to have Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my door and we were never able to get past John 1:1. Their New World Translation says:

    “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”

    Like Mormons, they always came to my door in pairs. The last time I saw them the one who knew the most came back several times. The last time he came, he brought a lengthy paper on John 1:1 which stated how JW translators came to view John 1:1 as ending in “was a god.” My pastor at the time (now retired) was very helpful in giving me statistics on how many scholars translated John 1:1 the way the JWs do. It seems the Jehovah’s witnesses are the only ones who translate it that way.

    I haven’t seen any Jehovah’s Witnesses after our last discussion. I think they have given up on me and might even be a bit hesitant to send a new convert to my door.

    Thanks for the review, Tom, and I wish you and your wife a blessed day.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Thanks Chris! John 1:1 is definitely a good place to start with the JWs, but of course they have been brainwashed with the New World (mis)Translation. The next book I will be reviewing gets into the nitty gritty of countering JW heresy with relevant Scripture passages. Although they are way off base with some doctrinal specifics, their bottom line is still justification-by-works just like all other false religions.
      We haven’t had many JWs come to our door the last 20 years. Maybe 5 or 6 pairs.
      Thanks, Chris, and may you and your family have a blessed day as well!

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      1. You’re welcome, Tom, and thanks for your reply. They certainly have been brainwashed by the New World (mis) Translation as you put it. It’s really sad that so many follow another Justification-by-works false religion. I guess the best we can do is to be ready for them if they ever do show up at our front door. Walter Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults has always helped me with false religions like this.

        Thank you for your kind words and God’s blessings…

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  3. I’ll take the JWs over the Mormons anytime. JWs will explain their false doctrine with clarity and they do it very well. The Mormons are incredibly deceptive, using the same terminology as Christians so it’s hard to get to the real meaning.

    The JWs are diligent about sharing their faith door to door, often coming around with their families. Even the kids are well trained. I always wondered why 1) Christians were not equally well trained to share their faith and 2) why they weren’t going door to door to win souls. JWs and Mormons are out there every day.

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    1. Thanks, J. Well, I don’t know if I would “take” the JWs, but I get your intention. I agree with you that the Mormons have been devoting much effort to being accepted as “just another conservative Christian denomination” whereas the JWs are happy to remain separate and continue to condemn all other denominations.
      Yup, the JWs are trained in “publishing.” i.e., evangelism, and encouraged to go door-to-door. It was actually mandated that they submit monthly reports of their publishing hours to remain a member in good standing. The pressure resulted in a comparatively higher JW drop-out rate. I see the “governing body” has responded and rescinded the mandatory monthly time reporting requirement just this past November. Link below. The JW god strikes me as being indecisive, mandating monthly publishing reports for 100 years that supposedly impacted many a JW’s salvation, but then leading the “governing body” to arbitrarily cancel monthly time reporting in 2023.
      All that said, I agree with you that believers need better equiping and encouragement in evangelism.

      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/religion/timekeepers-no-rank-file-jehovahs-witnesses-say-goodbye-tracking-prose-rcna126582

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      2. I get it. It’s always more difficult to engage a “whatever” religious unbeliever (i.e., all over the map) compared to someone who feigns to follow religious legalism strictly.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. If interested, Walter Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults covers JW’s quite in-depth. Melissa Doughtery also has a playlist series on Youtube, which I can share if you like. Her video especially on the brainwashing of the JWs is quite informative and helpful, not only in understanding JWs, but it helped me better understand cult mentality in general. I hope the other book is beneficial when you go over it.

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    1. Thanks, T.R. I knew that I had “some” knowledge of the JWs, but also knew I had never read a book specifically devoted to examining the cult. Your comment jogged my memory. Yup, I had read Martin’s “The Kingdom of the Cults” shortly after I was saved forty years ago.
      I don’t mean to go way off on another tangent, but I wrote a few posts on Martin several years ago. He believed that while many of the Roman Catholic church’s individual doctrines were heretical, that it was at its core a Christian entity teaching “justification by faith.” Well, the RCC has always unabashedly and unapologetically taught that justification is by faith AND works. So Martin dropped the ball big time regarding the RCC. Farther below is a link to one of my relevant posts.

      All that said, I do appreciate your reaching out with the helpful resources. Sorry for going off on a tangent a bit regarding Martin and the RCC, but his lapse in discernment in that regard was shocking.

      How Walter Martin sowed the seeds for the current Hank Hanegraaff controversy

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      1. It definitely is shocking and sad. He was able to identify so much truth. I know we all fall short, but it’s sad when confusion arises. I appreciate your clarity with various teachers who may be completely fine in particular topics, but should have a caution because of the deception with Catholicism.

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      2. Thanks! I had one person write me and vehemently claim Martin had included RC-ism as one of the aberrant sects in the first edition of “Kingdom,” but expunged it in following editions. I had to do a lot of digging, but found the claim to be untrue.
        I don’t mean to bring every discussion back around to RC-ism. Kingdom was/is definitely a good resource for the cults Martin covered. It’s probably inaccurate to categorize RC-ism as a “cult” given its history and size. It’s more an apostate church.

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      3. There are overall good (meaning mostly trustworthy) leaders who when it comes to Catholicism unfortunately they drop the ball. So I think it’s personallh helpful to have the insight from someone, like yourself, who has taken the time to research, to have the heads up when recommending or looking into different resources. So thank you for being diligent to the Lord. And praise the Lord for helping us distinguish truth from mostly true.

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  5. Thanks for this! Do the JWs update their text often? Mormons pay top dollar for old LDS “bibles.” I am not patient with Mormons or JWs. The fact that the JWs twist Greek to say that Jesus is a created being is frustrating and obviously infuriating! I hope evangelicals will take a hard look at what they allow themselves to compromise with in light of what they don’t. I look forward to more reviews!!!!

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    1. Thanks, Mandy! Your question piqued my curiosity, so I did some googling and found out the NWmis-T was published as a complete OT-NT in 1961 and then revised in 1970, 1971, 1981, 1984, 2006, and 2013. The JWs don’t see the many revisions as a problem (or the failure of their end-time predictions) because they don’t claim the office of a divinely-led prophet like the LDS, but claim to be Bible students ever learning. I get your frustration with the JWs, blatantly manipulating Scripture to fit their warped theology.

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