Jehovah’s Witnesses are trained to present Watchtower talking points on an array of Bible topics.

If we are going to get through to them, we have to be able to provide answers.

Fortunately, the Watchtower discloses its arguments in its literature, which gives us opportunities to prepare.

When I first studied with the Witnesses back in the early 1970s, I was completely unprepared.

I wrote my book, Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I post in this blog to help you prepare.

One of the arguments with which the Witnesses stumped me in those early days was the “locked room” argument about the nature of Jesus’ resurrection.

Basically, they asked, “If Jesus rose from the dead in a physical body, how did he suddenly appear in the middle of a locked room?”

The Watchtower expresses its argument in greater detail as follows:

 

It is true that Jesus appeared in physical form to his disciples after his resurrection… On one occasion, for the benefit of Thomas, Jesus appeared with the physical evidence of nail prints in his hands and a spear wound in his side. But how was it possible on that occasion for him suddenly to appear in their midst even though the doors were locked? (John 20:26, 27) Jesus evidently materialized bodies on these occasions, as angels had done in the past when appearing to humans.[1]

Its point seems to be that if Jesus rose from the dead in a physical body there is no way he could have suddenly appeared in the middle of a locked room.

Therefore, he must have risen from the dead as an invisible spirit creature and entered the room in spirit form.

Once there, he manufactured a physical body for the disciples to inspect.

In developing a stone-in-the-shoe response to Watchtower arguments, it sometimes helps to think outside the box.

If the Witnesses present you with the “locked room” argument, I recommend that you draw their attention to the following passage which describes miraculous events that took place before Jesus died.

 You can say:

  • I don’t follow you there. I’m a little leery of arguments which assume that Jesus’ miracles must have happened in a particular way.
  • How were Jesus and Peter able to do what is described in Matthew 14:25-29?

Ask one of the Witnesses to read that aloud:

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart, it is I; have no fear.’ And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.’  He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus…

The Watchtower agrees that Jesus and Peter had physical bodies when this took place.

You can add:

  • The disciples came to a logical conclusion that Jesus had to be a spirit in order to walk on water. But they were wrong about that, weren’t they?

The point is that Jesus was able to defy natural laws even when he was in physical form.

Here is a stone-in-the-shoe question you can ask the Witnesses:

 

  • Since Jesus was able to walk on water while in a pre-resurrection physical body, why couldn’t he enter a locked room in a post-resurrection physical body?

Summary

 If we just focus on Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, the “locked room” argument that Jesus was a spirit who entered the locked room and subsequently materialized a physical body is appealing.

In fact, Witnesses present it as the only logical explanation.

However, when we expand our thinking to examine miracles Jesus performed before he died, the “locked room” argument falls apart.

 

[1] Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 217

 

 

 

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