Because the Watchtower teaches that Jesus isn’t God, it also teaches that we must not pray to him, but only to the Father through Jesus.

“Through Jesus” means invoking his name and “exercising faith” in his sacrifice and commands.

In defense of its position, the Watchtower notes that when Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he began, “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9)

It comments, “Jesus thus reminded his followers that all prayers should be directed to his Father, Jehovah.” (The Watchtower, “Prayer: What About?”, 10/1/10, p. 7)

While agreeing that it is perfectly appropriate for Christians to pray to the Father, I like to point out to Jehovah’s Witnesses that Jesus repeatedly invited—and, in fact, commanded—people to “come to me.”

One such example is in John 5:39-40: “You are searching the Scriptures because you think that you will have everlasting life by means of them; and these are the very ones that bear witness about me. And yet you do not want to come to me so that you may have life.”

Now that he is no longer on earth, coming to Jesus requires prayer.

I like to tell Jehovah’s Witnesses, “Christians in the New Testament did pray to Jesus as well as to the Father.”

They will ask me, “Where?”

If you mention Paul or Ananias in Acts 9-10, many of them are primed with the Watchtower’s answer: “The Bible records a few occasions when faithful humans spoke to the heavenly Jesus—and sometimes to angels. (Act 9:4, 4, 10-16; 10:3, 4; Revelation 10:8, 9; 22:20) But were those men praying to these heavenly creatures? No. In all such instances, the heavenly creatures initiated the communication. Faithful men and women reserved prayer for God alone.—Philippians 4:6”

Philippians 4:6 doesn’t use the phrase “God alone.”

But even if it did, the Watchtower’s comment begs the question as to whether Jesus, as well as the Father, is God. It assumes the very conclusion under discussion.

Ask one of the Witnesses to read aloud what Stephen said in Acts 7:59-60. The Watchtower renders those verses as follows: “As they were stoning Stephen, he made this appeal: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then, kneeling down, he cried out with a strong voice: ‘Jehovah, do not charge this sin against them.’ And after saying this, he fell asleep in death.”

Rather than arguing about the inclusion of “Jehovah” where it doesn’t appear in the Greek text, you can say, “Stephen prayed to both the Father and the Son there, didn’t he?

They will deny that Stephen was praying to Jesus, claiming that he only addressed him because Jesus was appearing to him in a vision. However, you can point out that this prayer occurred well after the vision ended and after the people had dragged him out of the city to stone him.

You can ask them to read Ecclesiastes 12:7: “Then the dust returns to the earth, just as it was, and the spirit returns to the true God who gave it.”

 Ask, “Since the spirit returns to God at death, if the Watchtower is right that only the Father is God, why would Stephen ask Jesus to receive his spirit? Why wouldn’t he have addressed that prayer to Jehovah along with what he said in verse 60?”

Have one of the Witnesses read aloud to whom Paul says he prayed concerning his “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9: “…To keep me from becoming overly exalted, I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to keep slapping me, so that I might not be overly exalted. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me: “My undeserved kindness is sufficient for you, for my power is being made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly, then, I will boast about my weaknesses, in order that the power of the Christ may remain over me like a tent.

 Clearly, Paul was praying to Jesus and petitioning him to remove this thorn.

There is no indication that Jesus initiated the conversation.

Calling on Jesus’ name

You can also show them that Christians in the Bible called on the name of Jesus.

 Have them read what Ananias said to Jesus in Acts 9:13-14: “But Ananias answered:  ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, about all the harm he did to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all those calling on your name.” (emphasis added)

 Have one of them read aloud 1 Corinthians 1:2: “to the congregation of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in union with Christ Jesus, called to be holy ones, together with all those everywhere who are calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:” (emphasis added)

 The Watchtower denies that this means they were praying to Jesus:

[In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul mentioned “all those everywhere who are calling upon the name of our lord, Jesus Christ.” One should note, however, that in the original language, the expression “to call upon” can mean things other than prayer… Accepting Christ and exercising faith in his shed blood, which makes the forgiveness of sins possible, also constitute a “calling upon the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”… and we literally say Jesus’ name whenever we pray to God through him. So, while showing that we can call upon the name of Jesus, the Bible does not indicate that we should pray to him.” (Watchtower, 12/15/1994, “Should You Pray to Jesus?” p. 25)

 We can agree that “calling on the name of” involves more than just praying to that person, but it does include praying to them.

 For example, have the Witnesses read this Old Testament example, 1 Kings 18:25-26: “Elijah now said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose one young bull and prepare it first, because you are the majority. Then call on the name of your god, but you must not put fire to it.’ So they took the young bull that was given to them, prepared it, and kept calling on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying: ‘O Baal, answer us!’ But there was no voice and no one answering.” (emphasis added)

 The Watchtower’s own explanations about what it means to “call on the name of Jehovah” can also be helpful in showing by analogy what it means to “call on the name” of Jesus.

Watchtower: “We can call ‘on the name of Jehovah’ by knowing it, respecting it and totally relying on the God who bears it.” (Awake! 12/22/1983, p. 10)

Analogy: “We can call ‘on the name of Jesus’ by knowing it, respecting it and totally relying on the God who bears it.”

Watchtower: “Calling upon his name means more than using it in a ceremonial way. One must ‘seek’ Jehovah by studying the Bible and getting to know him as a person.” (Awake! 8/22/1984: “The Only Way of Survival”, p.9)

Analogy: “Calling upon his name means more than using it in a ceremonial way. One must ‘seek’ Jesus by studying the Bible and getting to know him as a person.”

Right!

And that requires relating to him personally through prayer.