In an effort to prove that Jesus was resurrected as a spirit creature, the Watchtower notes that Acts 10:41 says, “He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

Based on this, it asks, “Why did not others see him too? Because he was a spirit creature and when, as angels had done in the past, he materialized fleshly bodies to make himself visible, he did so only in the presence of his disciples.”[1]

This creates in my mind the image of Jesus flying all over Israel invisibly in spirit form and then landing and putting on a physical body when he was alone with his disciples.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are so indoctrinated with Watchtower doctrine that they often don’t even consider alternative explanations.

So any alternative you introduce into the conversation will be unexpected.

A non-threatening stone-in-the-shoe way to respond is to say:

  • I’m sorry. I just don’t get the point you’re making. Does this passage say anywhere that Jesus went around invisibly throughout Israel and materialized in manufactured physical bodies only in front of his disciples?
  • Doesn’t it just mean that after his resurrection, Jesus was selective in where he went?

That is, Jesus didn’t show up at the temple or another public place or walk into a meeting of the Sanhedrin in order to authenticate his resurrection to the Israelites at large or to skeptics and enemies.

But that doesn’t tell us whether his resurrection was physical or spiritual.

The questions I set out above make good soundbite stones-in-the-shoe:

Witnesses will sometimes reply by asking, “What about the fact that Jesus ascended to heaven? How could he do that with a physical body?”

They are thinking of Acts 1:9-11, which states: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”

Because he disappeared from their sight into a cloud, the Watchtower concludes that he will return in like manner—invisibly![2]

You can reply with the following stone-in-the-shoe soundbite:

  • I don’t understand that. If you see an airplane take off and disappear into a cloud, do you conclude that it has dematerialized? Do you expect that when it returns in the same way in which you saw it go, it will come back invisibly?

The Watchtower argues that if Jesus had a physical body, he wouldn’t have been able to ascend into heaven at all.

A good stone-in-the-shoe reply is this:

  • Given that Jesus was able to walk on water before his death without dematerializing, why would his ascension require dematerialization?

 Summary

The Watchtower repeats its doctrines so often in its literature and at its meetings that Jehovah’s Witnesses equate them with Bible truth without ever considering alternative explanations.

Often, the best way to counter this indoctrination is to often alternatives in the form of questions.

As much as possible, frame your questions as memorable, stone-in-the-shoe soundbites.

Even if they disagree with you, they will still remember what you said.

 

[1] Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 334

[2]  Reasoning from the Scriptures, pp. 342-343

 

 

 

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