Bible Study With Jehovah's Witnesses. Need some help.?

PLEASE do not let them take scripture out of context.

First, God told Adam and Eve...the DAY you eat of this fruit, you WILL surely die. We see from scripture that satan took GOD out of context and said "Did God really say?" The fact is that death is not the cessation of life...it is separation. When our body dies, our soul is separated from it. When our soul dies (from not having trusted in Christ, our soul is separated from God for eternity.

Now we can see from Adam and Eve's reactions after they disobeyed that there was a separation from God...they hid from Him, yet they lived for many years afterword.

Paul also told is that for him to die would be GAIN. I ask...would Paul thought it was a gain to die and not be here to tell of the gospel of Jesus Christ if he was just going to be in a grave somewhere?

But lets go back to Ecclesiastes 9 but lets go back to verse 2

All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

My suggestion? RUN from the WT as fast as you can and come to JESUS for salvation! This is what we do to have eternal life according to the Bible

http://www.shatterdmen.com/first_step.htm

Here we see that we all have one thing in common...we will die. It happens to the good and the wicked. but lets go on.

3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

then in verse 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

Wow...did you notice that....in verse 3 we are told that what happens to one group..will happen to all..and now we see this:

neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

In short...if the WT is right..we are ALL doomed!

But notice a very important key phrase...under the sun! This shows that we do not know what is happening HERE amoung those still alive on earth. Luke 16 and many other verses show we sure do in another place. In Luke 16 the rich man died and we are told that in hell he lifted up his eyes and he was in torments. Sure sounds like he knew something was happening. Meanwhile Abraham was able to respond to this rich man so I guess he knew something was going on too.

Well, to restate it slightly for the purpose of clarification, it is a Bible study that is conducted by a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. You should ask any questions that are in your heart. I am sure you have many Bible questions; most people do. Perhaps you could make a list and set those dearest to your heart at the top of the list. Ask them one at a time and stick with the one until you understand the Bible's answer to it. Make sure you have your personal copy of the Bible to use. Hope this helps. Hannah J Paul

Don't think fr a second that you are too educated to get caught up in a cult. More learned people than you have been swept away.

I was a Witness for over 30 years, served in Bethel, pioneered, was an elder and a missionary. I will tell you this in all seriousness:

You will never win a debate with them using the Bible. The reason is that they believe that only the Faithful and Discreet Slave, the annointed remnant on earth (in practical terms the Governing Body and writers of the Watchtower) OWN the Bible, and are alone in having the RIGHT to discrern the scriptures.

In other words, what they say GOES. End of story, no debate. In fact JWs are not ALLOW TO DEBATE WITH YOU. THEY WILL NOT TOLERATE IT VERY LONG. EVENTUALLY THEY WILL END THE STUDY THEMSELVES. Sorry about caps.)

Make sure you spend EQUAL TIME reading and studying the books by Freed Jehovah's Witnesses, like the book Crisis Of Conscienxe by Ray Franz a former member of the Governing Body, a whistle blower. Captives of a Concept by Cameron. Combattong Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan and Gentile Times Reconsidered by ?? Also, Apocalypse Delayed by Penton.

Good luck and becareful. I would hate to see you become a worshipper of a magazine.

I can answer any of your questions. Email me and I will give you my number. If you want to overcome their arguments, even after my comments, I can help you do that as well.

But I will reiterate, you are basically having a Bible study with a couple of stones. You will never penetrate their conditioning with argument. It just doesn't work in 99% of cases.

As to the soul thing, it looks like you already have some adequate answers for them. There is nothing to improve on. You asked "Is it worth it?

The Bible cautions, those having dealings with stupid ones will fare badly. Close contact with these people, letting them into your homes and families will only cause irreparable harm. They can destroy your family.

You cannot trust what they say either, They are programmed to lie. Just look at some past questions and answers and you will see how they never really answer a question directly and deflect deflect deflect, sidestep, two-step do a jig... anything but give a direct answer.

When they do sometimes give a direct answer, it is usually a lie.

Especially look at questions that ask if JWs believe they are the only trut religion, and will non-JWs survive Armageddon as well as Freed JWs. This is the area where what they say in private does not match up with what they say in public. In private they have conversations about moving into the houses of the wealthy dead who were killed in Armageddon. They drive around in their cars doin return visits commenting on which house they would like to live in once the current owners are killed by God.

Once again, good luck, and be careful. They are very crafty.

Please consider this:

You can argue endlessly about getting all of the animals in the Ark, How did they get to the ark, What did they do with all of the poo… etc. But that was a long time ago and no one alive today was there. However, there is evidence that is here today that bears on the flood as revealed in the Bible.

If there had been a Noah’s ark where all animals were reduced to just two individuals – one male and one female – then the genetic variability, within all species (kind), of all animals existing today would be essentially ZERO. All animals, all over the world today, would suffer the same problem of a lack of genetic variability that the Cheetah does today. The genes of Cheetahs are so similar, one to another, that when skin grafts between non-related Cheetahs are made there is no rejection of the donor skin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_variability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah

Yet, this is not what is found. Only a few species (kinds) have the problem of low genetic variability. Cheetahs experienced a near extinction about 10,000 years ago (down to perhaps less than ten individuals). Today they have almost no genetic variability within the species because of that near extinction.

Yet, the millions of animals around the world don't suffer from this problem. That is because they were never reduced to just two individuals 5000 years ago. They were never on an ark. There never was a general flood that caused all life, except for two of a kind of every animal, to perish. The very genes inside you and I proclaim that fact.

It is obvious that the story of Noah’s ark is a wonderful story – but just a story. It is a story of man's sinful nature and of Both God's impatience with man and of God's love for man as indicated by his regret and promise not to repeat the event.

That does not reduce the importance of the story for it is a beautiful story of God’s love for us and of his justice and regret. It is just not accurate, but it are not supposed to be. The Bible is about God’s love and about how to live a righteous life and achieve everlasting life. Don’t dishonor God by using and interpreting his written word incorrectly.

You are right they get all their info from the Watchtower. I was reading a question recently (but I dont know where it is now,) anyway some other person on here had posted a link on "converting JW's to Christianity", it was very informative. The first thing they suggested was you have to discredit their source, i.e. the Watchtower. Point out all the inaccuracy's, and corrections, and misleading things that the Watchtower has been forced to correct over the last 50 years or so.

They are taught that nothing is "the truth" unless it is approved by the Watchtower, but the watchtower has made so many mistakes over the years, if you can plant a seed of doubt in their minds about "the mothership", possibly they would be open to hear you side of things.

First of all, they are teaching you from a book that interpets the bible to their way of thinking. Most of the study is based from one of their publications and not from the bible. Their doctrine does not fit any known bible so they had to write their own bible to fit their doctrine. If you are seking advice, please heed the warnings, the Jehovah's witnesses are a cult and they are not Christians. What ever church that you were going to, go back there and speak with them about your situation. Get away before they get you sucked into their way of thinking it is a strong cult and they have a very strong system that works to decieve you. Get out, run, read your bible and see your minister of your church. They will tell you that your church is part of Christendom and the system of things which is run by Satan. That is out right false. I can not stress enough for you to get out. If you would like some good reading on the subject, go to www.jwfacts.com you will fine it interesting, but don't tell them you are reading it as they will be very upset about it. Get away from that cult, it is a cult!!!!!

One problem is that they confuse or deliberately misuse the TWO very different Greek words dealing with hell and the grave. It doesn't help that the kjv did some of the same, mistranslating hades as "hell" in numerous passages.

Hades, analogous to sheol in Hebrew, is simply the grave, the realm of the dead in general. Gehenna on the other hand is a place of torment or punishment.

The next issue is that TIME is NOT AN ELEMENT of the spiritual realm, but the physical. The spirit apart from the body does not experience the passage of time. It gets a bit into theoretical physics, and as time-bound creatures, we have trouble wrapping our minds around not experiencing time, but the idea does fit with everything in scripture dealing with the subject.

The only way I have found to deal with their false teaching/indoctrination is to tie them to a particular context so tightly they can't squirm away from it... "I don't care what X says, what does Y SAY HERE ABOUT THIS?"

You can snag them on the organizations several dozen very public false prophecies and their take on the kingdom and end times... Their kingdom view clearly contradicts Mark 9:1 - When? and eschatology contradicts 2Peter 3:7ff - Where? (earth DESTROYED)

My suggestion? You've only had two studies, give it some time. Rather than argue, listen to what they have to teach you. Ask your questions, but realize that your relationship with them in young now, and that they may well be able to answer all of your questions, but doing so immediately is premature if they haven't given you any background regarding how many scriptures say something other than what you have been taught.

I've studied with people and It can be a little frustrating at first because they have so many questions and what they are seeing from the Bible may be all new to them.

The Bible is NOT a book of confusion. But it has to be studied with an open heart, one that is willing to see what it teaches without prejudice. Trying to explain EVERYTHING all at once to someone when they don't yet have the background is difficult. It is better to take it slow, to stay on topic and to let them know that ALL of their questions and arguments can and will be answered given time, but that a foundation has to be laid first. You have to learn basic truths as the Bible teaches them or else there is nowhere to go, no "place" to build on.

They aren't brushing aside your questions, they are just trying to give you some time to absorb the ones they have shown you first. Wait awhile and ask them again, but only ones ON the topic you are discussing now. Going all over the map of possible subjects makes it impossible to learn (or teach) anything.

As a Witness for over 20years i can tell you that a so called discussion is not a two way deal with the JW's...they will ask only to try and catch you out and any questions you ask them will be quickly discredited....simply put,they firmly believe that you are a part of Satan's system and they being JW's are privileged to have the truth and know everything that needs to be known in order to gain everlasting life.

Do yourself a big favor and politely tell them that the Holy Spirit is answering your questions as God purposed...they cannot argue with the power of the Holy Spirit.....discredit it maybe...but deny it's power? No

The Word of God says "there will be false prophets in the last days". Burn the Watchtowers, stop the meetings and quit poisoning your minds. I am so glad you are Christians because this means you have the Holy Spirit to keep you grounded. Find a Christian church, join their Bible study and forget everything you have heard from them. I am moved by you bringing up scriptures and challenging them cause what you said they did as far as changing the subject or say you're reading too much into it clearly shows the manipulation and their technique. I am speaking from experience because I had a co-worker who tried the same thing on me and took the time to explain a lot of her beliefs and it all contradicted all my beliefs. So I know what you are going through. This says to me, you already have doubts. So don't be sucked in my their persuasive rhetoric. It is filled with a lot of deceipt. This is work of the devil. He twists the truth of the Word and confusion and the Word says: Satan is the author of confusion". Allow the Lord to minister to you and your spouse and ask Him for guidance but in the meantime, put on the whole armor of God, stand fast. Next time, be kind to them and stand up to them and simply tell them you are not interested without having to explain. Ask them to respect your wishes. They also believe Jesus was only a prophet and not the Son of God. Paul said: "Absent in the body and present in the Lord" so forget all that mumbo jumbo and I will keep you all in prayer as God takes complete control of your spiritual journey.

Narrow is the gate leading off into every lasting life and few will find it. Your on the right track with your studies, don't invite the demons to discourage you. This is exactly what he wants. Remember that only 8 people did escape the flood. Keep up your studies and get to the meetings and every question you have will be answered in time. You cannot plant seeds and expect fruit the next day.