One of the problems that we face in talking with Witnesses about Jesus is that the Watchtower engages in a great deal of Either / Or thinking and rejects Both / And alternatives.

Because of this, Jehovah’s  Witnesses usually don’t realize that there are biblical alternatives to Watchtower teachings.

Here are several examples.

• Jesus is either God or the Son of God, but he can’t be both.
• Either God the Father is Jehovah or Jesus is Jehovah, but they can’t both be Jehovah.
• Jesus was either God or a perfect man, but he couldn’t be both at the same time.
• Either Jesus was God or he died, but not both, because God cannot die.
• Either Jesus came into existence at a point in time or he could not be called “the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15)
• Either Jesus was the first thing Jehovah created or he could not be called “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Revelation 3:14)
• We can worship the Father (which the Watchtower teaches we should do) or we can worship Jesus, but not both.
• Either we should pray to Jehovah—the Father (which the Watchtower teaches we must do) or we shouldn’t pray at all, not even to Jesus.
• Either Jesus was a lesser being than God or he couldn’t have said, “The Father is greater than I am,” (John 14:28).
• Jesus was either Michael the Archangel or a perfect man, but he couldn’t be both at the same time.
• Either Jesus was an exact counterpart to Adam (a perfect man—no more and no less) or he would have been ineligible to make “the ransom sacrifice.”
• Either Jesus was born again at his baptism or he never could have gone to heaven when he died.
• Jesus’ main mission either was to vindicate Jehovah’s sovereignty by loyal obedience to the point of death or it was to save lost sinners, but not both.
• A person who is accepted by Jehovah (including Jesus himself) will either live in heaven or on a paradise earth, but not both.
• Either Jehovah and Jesus require good works for salvation or God doesn’t care about our behavior (and obviously he does care).
• Either Jesus saves only faithful humans or God doesn’t care about our faithfulness (and obviously he does care).
• Either Jesus began ruling as King invisibly in 1914 or Bible prophecy is wrong.

The Watchtower indoctrinates Jehovah’s Witnesses with this type of Either / Or thinking to the point that most of them never even realize it.

OF COURSE, that’s the way it is…

How do we counter this mindset?

First, we need to choose our battles wisely rather than confronting them on everything all at once.

Second, I have found that the best way to challenge the Watchtower indoctrination on one of these points is to use questions to reveal to them that they are making a lot of assumptions which may be unwarranted.

Here are some examples.

• “It seems to me that you are assuming that Jesus is either God or the Son of God, but he can’t be both. Am I understanding you correctly on that point?”
• “It seems to me that you are saying that either God the Father is Jehovah or Jesus is Jehovah, but they can’t both be Jehovah.”
• “It seems to me that you see only two alternatives—either Jesus was God (as I believe) or he was a perfect man, but he couldn’t be both. Would that be a fair statement?”
• “Please correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to believe that either Jesus was born again at his baptism or he never could have gone to heaven when he died.”
• “It appears to me that you believe the only two options are either that Jehovah and Jesus require good works for salvation or they don’t care about our behavior at all. Is that how you see it?”

At this point, you aren’t disputing them; you’re just articulating their “Either / Or” viewpoint.

If you’ve framed your question well, you’re likely to get an “Of course” reply.

The conclusion seems so obvious to them that they can’t conceive of viable alternatives.

Then you can follow up by asking, “Where exactly does the Bible say that those are the only possibilities?”

That should provide an opening for you to explain what you believe.

They will probably still disagree with your conclusions, but you will have succeeded in presenting to them biblical alternatives to Watchtower teachings.

Be praying that God will open their minds and hearts as your conversations progress.