Because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Watchtower is God’s sole channel of communication, it follows that you and I cannot properly interpret the Bible without them to explain it to us.

You can focus the Witnesses’ attention on the stone-in-the-shoe questions:

  • Is Watchtower literature more understandable than the Bible itself?
  • Is Watchtower literature superior to the Bible itself?

Be like Columbo, non-threatening and just trying to figure everything out.

When it comes to this topic, Jehovah’s Witnesses are on the horns of a dilemma.

If they say the Bible is superior to the Watchtower, then what do we need the Watchtower for?

But if they say Watchtower literature is superior to the Bible, they will be claiming that the uninspired and fallible words of men are superior to God’s Word itself.

The way they try to resolve this dilemma is by noting that the Bible is sometimes hard to understand.

They cite the situation of the Ethiopian in Acts 8, who needed Philip to explain to him what he was reading.

Of course, this ignores the fact that the reason he needed help understanding an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah was because the New Testament hadn’t been written yet!

 Witnesses would say that the problem is with our limited understanding, not with the Bible itself:

Consider, too, the fact that Jehovah’s organization alone, in all the earth, is directed by God’s holy spirit or active force. (Zech. 4:6) Only this organization functions for Jehovah’s purpose and to his praise. To it alone God’s Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book… How very much true Christians appreciate associating with the only organization on earth that understands the ‘deep things of God’![1]

So even though the official Watchtower teaching is that the Bible is infallible and inspired by God and that Watchtower publications are not, in practice Jehovah’s Witnesses often believe Watchtower literature over the plain words of the Bible.

Why?

Because they believe that they can’t understand Bible truth without the Watchtower to explain it to them.

 In the Jehovah’s Witness mindset, everything is organizational.

Because of that, individuals cannot properly interpret the Bible:

Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.[2]

This has been the teaching of the Watchtower organization for more than 100 years. Promoting its six volume “Studies in the Scriptures” at the beginning of the 20th century, the Watchtower organization made this claim:

If the six volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES are practically the Bible topically arranged, with Bible proof-texts given, we might not improperly name the volumes—the Bible in an arranged form. That is to say, they are not merely comments on the Bible, but they are practically the Bible itself…

Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the SCRIPTURE STUDIES aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the SCRIPTURE STUDIES with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures.[3]

 This aspect of the Jehovah’s Witness mindset explains why, when you are trying to get through to Jehovah’s Witnesses, questions work far better than statements.

As representatives of “Jehovah’s organization,” they expect to be the teachers and you to be their student.

They don’t think you have any Bible understanding worth sharing with them.

It also explains why they insist on using Watchtower literature.

To counter this, try asking them stone-in-the-shoe questions to get them to lead you through a study of Galatians or Romans verse by verse in its original context. Here is an example of a set of questions to ask:

  • In Acts 8, Philip witnessed to the Ethiopian using the book of Isaiah the man was reading, not outside literature published by a Christian organization.
  • Could you please show me the truth out of the Bible itself, read in context, the way Philip did with the Ethiopian?

If they are reluctant to do this (which they probably will be), you can ask:

  • Do you believe that Watchtower literature is infallible and inspired like the Bible itself? (They will answer no.)

You can then respond:

  • Then I prefer to study God’s Word itself because that is infallible and inspired.

If they agree to this, insist on studying all the Bible book’s points in the order in which the inspired author wrote them.

Don’t let them hopscotch the Bible citing isolated and often unrelated proof texts.

If the Witnesses are willing to set aside their Watchtower literature and study the Bible alone, you have a much better chance of getting through to them with the truths of God’s Word.

Because of their organizational mindset, however, they are unlikely to be willing to forgo the use of Watchtower publications.

You will have to decide how best to proceed, but in any event you can say:

  • I’m sorry. I don’t understand. If you have the truth, why is it that I am willing to go by God’s infallible Word alone and you are not?

Even if they don’t show it, this thought should trouble them because you will have effectively set up a tension between the infallibility of Scripture and the Witnesses’ reliance on the fallible Watchtower organization.

Summary

I remember the first time my wife and I took this approach with two Jehovah’s Witnesses.

One of them refused to come back on the grounds that we lacked proper humility and were unteachable.

The other one came back by himself because he didn’t want us telling people that Jehovah’s Witnesses wouldn’t even try to prove their doctrines using the Bible alone.

After several months of trying to teach us the book of Romans verse by verse, he realized the Watchtower was wrong, came to saving faith in Christ, and took his entire family out of the Watchtower with him.

It’s rare that this happens, but sometimes it does.

Always pray that your stones-in-the-shoe will have that kind of an impact.

 

[1] The Watchtower, “Praise Jehovah with His People”, 7/1/73, p. 402

[2] The Watchtower, “Finding Freedom with Jehovah’s Visible Organization”, 10/1/67, p. 587

[3] The Watch Tower, 9/15/1910, pp. 298-299

 

 

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