Kindle book coverLast time, I gave you brief descriptions of what’s in each of the six chapters of Section 2 of my book, Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses: Approaching Bible Discussions in Unexpected Ways.

Now I’d like to give you a preview of Section 3. This section focus on how to get across to Jehovah’s Witnesses the nature of God, specifically the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Here are short summaries of what each of those chapters includes:

 SECTION 3: DISCUSSING THE NATURE OF GOD

 Chapter 11

Who Exactly is God?

In John 8:24, Jesus said that what we believe about his identity is essential to our salvation. This doctrinal chapter explains the differences between authentic Christianity and the Watchtower religion regarding the doctrine of the Trinity, the identity of Jesus Christ, and the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit.

 

Chapter 12

The Jesus Isn’t Michael Approach

The objective of this approach is to help Jehovah’s Witnesses see that, contrary to Watchtower doctrine, Jesus is not Michael the archangel.

Instead of undertaking the burden of trying to prove the deity of Christ, you will ask the Witnesses to show from the Scriptures the Watchtower doctrine that Jesus is Michael the archangel and to respond to biblical evidence that he is not. By removing the Trinity and the deity of Christ from the discussion, you will focus the Witnesses’ attention on the fact that the Watchtower’s arguments that Jesus is Michael are not supported by Scripture and, in fact, contradict other Watchtower teachings about him. You will conclude by showing from Hebrews that Jesus is superior to any angel.

 

Chapter 13

The Jesus is the God-Man Approach

The objective of this approach is to help Jehovah’s Witnesses see that Jesus is fully God and fully man.

You will take the wind out of the Witnesses’ sails by first asserting the full humanity of Jesus, citing passages about his dependence on the Father for his teachings and miracles. Only after establishing this aspect of Jesus’ identity will you ask the Witnesses to comment on four lines of biblical evidence which teach that Jesus is fully God as well as fully man. In this way, the Witnesses will be required to confront the passages that clearly show Christ’s deity rather than simply showing proof texts about his human limitations. The chapter concludes by setting out Watchtower proof texts against the deity of Christ and explaining how best to respond.

 

Chapter 14

The Holy Spirit is God Approach

The objective of this approach is to show Jehovah’s Witnesses that the Holy Spirit is both a person and God himself, not an impersonal, “active force” that emanates from God.

You will begin unexpectedly by asking the Witnesses whether Satan is a spirit person or just the Bible’s way of describing an impersonal evil force. Witnesses will cite Scriptures to prove that Satan is a person. You will then use identical reasons to show that the Holy Spirit is a person as well. Having established that, the next step will be to show the Witnesses verses which indicate that the Holy Spirit is God himself and to ask for their comments on those passages. The chapter concludes by explaining how to respond to texts the Watchtower uses to try to disprove both the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit.

 

I’ll discuss Section 4 next week.

The paperback edition is available for $14.99; the Kindle edition is available for $9.99. If you order the paperback, you can get the Kindle version free under Amazon’s Matchbook program.

Here is a link you can use to obtain your copy:  Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses: Approaching Bible Discussions in Unexpected Ways