Saturday morning, around 10 a.m., there was a knock at our door. Neither my wife nor I were expecting anyone, so we did what most people under the age of 40 do: we freaked out. We told our daughters to be quiet, raced to turn off lights, and quickly reviewed if the garage door was closed. We know what an unexpected knock at the door means!
We have seen enough of Dateline, 20/20, and the nightly news to know that a knock at the door is not always a good thing. The only time a knock at the door is a good thing is during Girl Scout cookie season. Fortunately, I was able to quiet our family enough to convince our visitor that no one was home.
The person eventually left, but she left a tract behind. It was a tract to learn more about the Jehovah’s Witness religion. Have you ever been in this situation? Have you ever found yourself stuck on what to say or how to respond? A core teaching of the Jehovah’s Witness is this:
“Jesus Christ is a created being, and therefore, Jesus Christ is lesser than God.”
That statement is a direct contradiction to what we believe at c|Life. So, how should an evangelical Christian respond?
1. Start with a compliment
It is always good to start a conversation with a compliment. Compliment them for taking time out of their day to share their faith. Christians could learn a lot from followers of the Jehovah’s Witness religion for their faithfulness and devotion to sharing their beliefs. Their commitment is admirable, but let me be clear: faithfulness does not imply truthfulness.
2. Point to Scripture
As believers in Jesus Christ, our source of truth is God’s Word. When trying to establish the identity of Jesus, the most authoritative source is the Bible. In refuting this doctrine of Jehovah’s Witness, the main text to use is John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
— John 1:1
The Word that John is referring to there is Jesus. In writing his account of the life of Jesus, John makes the deity of Jesus Christ clear from the start. In reading John 1, there is no confusion that John is stating that Jesus Christ is no mere mortal, but God in the flesh. Notice that John refers to the Word as God (capital G). In response to this clear teaching, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were forced to have this verse retranslated. Their version of the Bible, the New World Translation, reads “…and the Word was a god,” instead of our version of the Bible, which reads, “… and the Word was God.”
That small grammatical change reveals a major change in doctrine.
So, the next time you hear a knock at the door, remember the clear teaching in John 1:1.