NOT ALL CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS ARGUMENTS ARE EQUAL: Some Arguments Have Liabilities When They Are Used

We will use some arguments often raised about Jehovah’s Witnesses as our text case. J. Warner Wallace is a leading Evangelical Christian apologist today. On his blog, he has the article titled, “10 Important Questions for the Jehovah’s Witness Worldview.” Therein Wallace writes,

One way to examine the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ perspective is simply to see how well they would answer a few important philosophical and theological questions as we examine what the Jehovah’s Witness religion teaches. The following questions are designed to challenge the Jehovah’s Witness claims about reality and help you to initiate a discussion with your friends or family who may hold this worldview:

Philosophical Questions
Let’s begin with some questions springing from basic philosophical concerns:

A primary concern in asking questions that undermine another’s faith is to never ask any question that also applies to your side of the fence as well. Before we look at the 10 questions, let us consider some basics.

The Greek Term Apologia

Apologetics: (Gr. apologia) The term literally means “to defend” and is used in the biblical sense to refer to ones who defend the Christian faith, the Bible, and God in speech or in written form. The Christian apologist attempts to prove that the Christian faith, the Bible, and God are reasonable, logical, necessary and right. – Ac 25:16; 2 Cor. 7:11; Phil. 1:7, 16; 2 Tim. 4:16; 1 Pet. 3:15

Two Kinds of Apologetics

There are two basic kinds of apologetics. There is negative apologetics and positive apologetics.

Negative Apologetics

In negative apologetics, the Christian apologist is playing defense. We can use sports as an analogy. Whether it be baseball, football, or basketball, when we are playing defense, we cannot score any points. The only task we have while playing defense is to prevent the other team from scoring any points. Therefore, the atheist, agnostic, or Bible critic that has some kind of problem with the Christian faith, the Bible, or God raises issues that they believe undermine the Christian beliefs. They are on the offense, trying to score points. In playing defense, the Christian apologist only needs to show that this objection that was raised is not valid, it is unreasonable, illogical. There is no real substance to it. In this scenario, the burden of proof is on the unbeliever who is raising the issues. Negative apologetics is always easier than positive apologetics.

Burden of Proof

The burden of Proof: The burden of proof in a criminal trial is on the prosecution. The defense attorney only needs to undermine the argument(s) for guilt by the prosecution are not valid. The burden of proof in a trial of the Christian faith is on the unbeliever bringing the case. Either their arguments are valid, or they are not. The Christian apologist need not prove his innocence so to speak, just that the case against him has no merit. The burden of proof falls on the one making the claims. If the Christian is witnessing to another, he has the burden to prove what he says is so if asked for proof. However, if the critic is challenging the Christian, the burden of disproving lies with the critic. The closer the claim is to socially accepted knowledge, less proof is needed, while the further one moves from conventional knowledge, the more evidence is required. I believe that the legal burden of proof offers the best answers to the witnessing of others. It has been refined over the last 200 years to the point of evaluating a life that is held in its balance, just as everlasting life is held in the balance. Below we will list the levels of legal proof and some percentage and wording to indicate the degree of certainty needed. We have used different Bible objects for each one, but any criticism could be plugged into that particular burden of proof.

Problem of Evil

Without a doubt, the problem of evil is the most difficult Bible difficulty to answer. The problem of evil refers to the question of how to reconcile the existence of wickedness and suffering when there is an all-knowing, all-powerful loving God. The problem of evil is so serious that we can say, if a Christian is going to have doubts, this is the only issue it should take place because all other Bible difficulties are easily resolved in comparison. Under the burden of proof, the unbeliever who brings up the problem of evil is responsible for showing that this is a sufficient enough reason for not believing in God. The Christian apologist only needs to show that the problem of evil is not sufficient enough for not believing in God and need not provide an answer to the issue. Nevertheless, in GENESIS 3:1-6, 23-24 BDC: Why has God allowed bad things to happen when he has the power to stop them, we answer the problem of evil. We just need to show that there is a morally sufficient reason for God temporarily allowing evil to exist.

Positive Apologetics

Returning to our sports analogy, here in positive apologetics, the Christian is now playing offense, trying to score points, while the unbeliever is on defense, trying to prevent us from scoring points. Under positive apologetics, the Christian now has to own the fact that he or she is under the burden of proof. In other words, we are offering arguments, information, explanations, or evidence that will help the receptive person to accept biblical truths, with the eventuality of their accepting the Christian faith. We are trying to prove the existence of God, as well as that the Bible is the inspired, fully inerrant Word of God and that it is authentic and true. The unbeliever is trying to show that our arguments are not valid or not that effective.

We must understand that not all Christian apologetic augments are equal. Some arguments have liabilities when they are used. Now, understand, this author has written a book undermining the beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, so this exercise below is only to demonstrate that some Christian apologetic questions are not effective and will backfire.

Wallace’s 10 Questions

If I am to accept the teaching of the Jehovah’s Witness religion, I am first going to have to trust the source of this teaching. But how can I trust someone who claims to speak for God when they have been wrong about prior predictions?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses will only say that under your logic, we would also reject Protestantism and all of their 41,0000 denominations because many Protestant leaders have predicted dates and were clearly wrong (William Miller (February 15, 1782 – December 20, 1849) was an American Baptist). They would also point out that the founding fathers of major Christian denominations of today, committed atrocious acts in their history, such as killing or having killed other Christians who dared to believe differently. During the Reformation the Calvinists had many arrested, tried, and executed by slow-burning for daring to believe differently. Calvin justified his actions in these atrocities by saying, “When the papists are so harsh and violent in defense of their superstitions that they rage cruelly to shed innocent blood, are not Christian magistrates shamed to show themselves less ardent in defense of the sure truth?” Will Durant, THE REFORMATION: A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin, 1300-1564 (The Story of Civilization) (New York City: Simon & Schuster, 1980), 482.

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to be the only religious organization speaking for God, but don’t the Roman Catholic and Mormon religions make very similar claims? Why should I trust the Jehovah’s Witnesses?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses will only say that all Christian denominations believe that they are the truth and the way. There are 41,000 different denominations, all believing different from the others, even to the point of contradiction. Certainly, they can not all be right. This includes the so-called salvation doctrines as well.

The divisiveness would never work in an effort to fulfill the great commission of making disciples. What if we just singled out the Baptist church as our test case. There are over well 50,000 Baptist churches in the United States. There are literally 61 different Baptist divisions, i.e., subdivision denominations within the Baptist Church. Yes, they all believe differently as well. What if we just select one of this subdivision denominations, will we finally find a oneness of mind and teachings? No. Why? Because there exists yet another divisive problem, in that the Baptist churches as a whole are autonomous, which means that every individual church has the freedom to act independently and teach differently than the others. The irony is, they will argue that they are in agreement when it comes to the so-called salvation doctrines. Yet, this is not true because every one of the so-called salvation doctrines has anywhere from two to four different positions or views.

Zanesville, Ohio has eleven Baptist churches, in a community of 150,000 people. What if all eleven Baptist churches decided independently that they were going to go out and evangelize the community to make disciples? How could that even work? Suppose an unbeliever is visited by several different subdivision Baptist denominations and is told different views about the same doctrine? How is the unbeliever going to take Christianity seriously with such division as this?  Moreover, we have other problems that we have not even addressed.

Press on to Maturity

Hebrews 5:13-6:1 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹³ For everyone who partakes of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. ¹⁴ But solid food belongs to the mature, to those who through practice have their discernment trained to distinguish between good and evil. 6 Therefore, leaving behind the elementary doctrine about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God,

The problem of biblical illiteracy is well known but truly ignored. 90% of Christians are biblically illiterate in that they cannot explain the foundational doctrines of the faith or defend the Word of God as inspired, fully inerrant, and authoritative. Yes, they know some cute Bible stories and some Bible principles. This problem has existed for over a hundred years and nothing has truly been done to address it. Then, we couple biblical illiteracy with the fact that almost no Christians are being trained to make disciples in their churches. Thus, we have 41,000 different denominations all teaching differently, we have tens of thousands of churches in the same denomination broken off into different subdivisional denominations, and even a single subdivision has autonomous churches that believe differently, and the individual church has members that believe differently, with 90% being biblically illiterate and having no evangelism training. How do we fix that atrocious problem, so as to carry out the Great Commission? J. Warner Wallace continues,

The Jehovah’s Witness translation of the Bible condemns false prophecy and says unfulfilled prophecy is an indicator God is not speaking thorough that Prophet and we should not, therefore, pay attention to what that prophet is saying. So shouldn’t this also apply to the teaching of the Watchtower?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses will only say this question is similar to the first one above. There have been many Protestant church leaders set false dates, predict false things. Thus, this argument like the other will only cause a self-inflicted wound.

Jehovah’s Witnesses often talk about John 1:1 and argue the original Greek wording is more correctly translated “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was ¬a god”, rather than the orthodox rendering, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But if this is true why do so many translators agree with the orthodox view?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses will only say I am not going to argue the Greek grammar because the Witnesses reason for translating John 1:1 as such is by following the Protestant religions grammar books, which all do not agree by the way. What I will point out Mr. Wallace is your last point. You asked, “if this is true why do so many translators agree with the orthodox view?” The majority of something does not in and of itself make something correct; otherwise, we would all be Catholic or Muslim.

Jehovah’s Witnesses often argue God’s true name is “Jehovah”. But if this is true, why doesn’t the word, “Jehovah” appears in the New Testament?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses would say, Wallace, Jehovah was used by Bible scholars up unto the 20th century. Look at the names in your Bible. Many Hebrew kings and others used by God personally in Bible times used part of the Father’s personal name in their name, like Jehoash, Jehoram, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Jehohanan, Jehoahaz, and even the wife of the High Priest Jehoiada; daughter of King Jehoram of Judah, Jehosheba,  among many more. We notice that the beginning of the Father’s personal name is used in every one of these cases. Does anyone find it a bit troubling that the Bibles (JB, LEB, HCSB), which choose to use the so-called scholarly “Yahweh” rendering still spell the above names with Jeho? Why do these same translations not spell Jehoash “Yahash”? Moreover, the 1901 American Standard Version uses Jehovah. Lastly, we do not have the original New Testament manuscripts so we can not say with certainty that the name Jehovah was not in there.

 Jehovah’s Witnesses say 144,000 people will be part of the “anointed Class’ who will live with God in Heaven and will reign over the ‘Great Crowd’. But doesn’t the Bible describe this group in contradiction to what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses would say, All I can say here is the Bible makes it clear that not all good people are going to heaven. If the Witnesses are false over this misinterpretation, all Protestant religions have misinterpreted the Bible since the Reformation. The renowned Robert L. Thomas, Jr., professor of New Testament at The Master’s Seminary in the United States, wrote, “The case for symbolism is exegetically weak.” He added: “It is a definite number [at 7:4] in contrast with the indefinite number of 7:9. If it is taken symbolically, no number in the book can be taken literally.” —Revelation: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 1, page 474.

Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses feel the need to make obvious changes to certain passages of Scripture?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses would say, Your reference to the square brackets in the 1984 edition of the New World Translation is a mistaken notion. The square brackets [ ] enclose words inserted to complete the sense in the English text. This is done by all translations and in some these words are italicized. Moreover, again, it is your grammars that advocate for some of these additions. More importantly, you might be better focusing on the more than 50 dynamic equivalent translations where so-called true Christians have produced interpretive translations instead of the literal Word of God. CHOOSING YOUR BIBLE: Bible Translation Differences

Jehovah’s Witnesses obviously deny Jesus is God, but how can they do this when Scripture repeatedly describes Jesus as Divine?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses would say, Divine, does not equal God. The Greek terms simply mean a divine person.

How Can Jehovah’s Witnesses claim Jesus is a created being when Jesus created everything ever created?

RESPONSE: The Witnesses would say, Jesus was the first divine person to be created and then he became the master-worker of the Father and created all things.

1 Corinthians 15:27-28 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²⁷ For he [the Father] put all things in subjection under his [Jesus’] feet. But when he says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that he [God the Father] is excepted who put all things in subjection to him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to him [Jesus, the Son], then the Son himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.

If you are going to ask an apologetic question to undermine a belief or a translation be certain that your side is also not guilty of the same things or it is not your grammars that they are depending on for their translation renderings.

I would also mention that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are very misrepresented by the Christian apologists. The irony is, most Christian apologists are non-Jehovah’s Witnesses and this is the field of apologetics that they have chosen, to deal with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, and so on. Because these Christian apologists are non-Jehovah’s Witnesses, they tend to misunderstand much and are very eager to read other Christian apologist’s books on the subject. So, if initial Christian apologists get it wrong in their books, it is a vicious circle that is created of repeating the same mistakes. Moreover, as I will repeat, if you live in a glass house; then, you should not be throwing rocks.

SOME GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually go out and make disciples (Matt 24:14;28:19–20; Acts 1:8)
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually live by the Bible when it comes to a lifestyle. They do not smoke, abuse alcohol or drugs, watch graphically violent movies, sexually explicit movies, dress morally, and they have the lowest divorce rate over adultery.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually study the Bible: The family studies it individually, then together as a family to prepare for the meetings, and then at the meeting itself.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually do not celebrate pagan holidays like Holloween.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually are one mind when it comes to teaching the Bible.
• Much more could actually be said.

SOME BAD THINGS ABOUT THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES … HOWEVER, …

• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually set four false dates of when Jesus was going to return.
• HOWEVER, it was actually a Baptist preacher, William Miller, who introduced the Witnesses to Bible chronology and end-times discussions. William Miller set two false dates. Also, if you go to Facebook groups that discuss end-times, you will find hundreds of thousands of so-called Christians on their talking about what they do not know. REMEMBER No throwing rocks when you live in a glasshouse.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually said it was a sin to get immunizations and Witnesses died. Then, they said they were mistaken and changed the teaching. The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually said it was a sin to get organ transplants and Witnesses died. Then, they said they were mistaken and changed the teaching. The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually said it was a sin to get blood transfusions and Witnesses died. Then, they said they were mistaken and changed the teaching slowly over many years until you can receive so much of a blood transfusion that the teaching is really moot.
• HOWEVER, it is not even really close. “Christians” have tortured and slaughtered millions of other Christians who dared to believe differently and tens of millions of other non-Christians in forcing them by the sword to convert to Christianity. REMEMBER No throwing rocks when you live in a glasshouse.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually had a sex-abuse scandal where leaders and some other men molested children. Because there must be two witnesses to a wrongdoing policy, they did not report the crimes and actually shunned and punished the wives. Very bad and I in no way rationalize this by saying what I must say now.
• HOWEVER, it is not even really close. The modern-day Catholic Church has allowed priest molestation for many, many decades, even protecting the molesters, allowing them to do it again and again. If you thought this was and is heinous study the history of Catholicism as Popes, Bishops and Cardinals were the chief sex-offenders. The other Christian denominations called out Catholicism on this, even the Baptist Church. Well, now the Baptist Church has been found to have the same child molestation scandal. REMEMBER No throwing rocks when you live in a glasshouse.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses actually have a bit of a mind-control problem, in that, you absolutely cannot think, believe, or teach anything different than what is being taught by the Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, i.e., the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
• HOWEVER, it is not even really close. Most of the 41,000 Christian denominations allow their members to believe a little different because there are many views on different doctrinal positions. Yet, the Trinity is the Holy Grail of their beliefs. If you reject any facet of the Trinity doctrine, you are rejected and are removed from being considered a Christian. You now become the anti-Christ, so to speak. It is not close because so-called true Christians have nor expelled those that dared to believe differently as the Witnesses do, they have actually tortured and killed them. John Calvin had Michael Servetus killed because he did not accept the Trinity doctrine. Martin Luther supported killing those that believed differently. These were not the only ones. REMEMBER, No throwing rocks when you live in a glasshouse.

Witnessing to the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Yes, Jehovah’s Witnesses are mistaken in a number of biblical doctrines but not on everything they teach. Moreover, so-called true Christians have also been mistaken on many Bible doctrines as well and over time with a better understanding; they arrived at the correct teaching. When you over exaggerate by calling the Jehovah’s Witnesses a cult you only give them more fuel in their evangelism work because they will define a cult and show examples of real cults (Jim Jones, Charles Manson, David Koresh). This only makes it easier for the Witnesses to pull Christians away from the so-called true Christianity. In addition, many of the doctrinal positions that the Witnesses hold are actually borrowed from other denominations of Christendom within the last 2,000 years. The Christian evangelist needs to win Witnesses back into the fold of true Christianity, as well as protect the sheep currently within the fold. We do not do that by over-exaggerating our evidence or forgetting that our denominations taught similarly or that Protestant church leaders have made similar mistakes or trying to demean a religion by name-calling when they do not even fit the definition or characteristics of a cult.

The fact that I even uttered the above truths about the Witnesses will drive some to believe I am being an apologist for the Witnesses. Some readers will feel completely uncomfortable even uttering positive things about the Witnesses or admitting that Protestant denominations have made similar mistakes, some much worse. What does this sound like? It sounds like some so-called true Christian leaders have carried out a little mind control themselves. Most Christian leaders attempt to label the Jehovah’s Witness, the Mormons, and the Seventh Day Adventists as cults for their “un-Christian” unorthodox beliefs. This is a wrong path to go down because while doing so, these leaders are forgetting the fundamentalist movement of true Christianity of late 19th and early 20th centuries that were trying to apologetically and evangelistically overcome liberal progressive Christianity. That battle for the Christian faith and the Bible was lost. Now, today the word “fundamentalist” is equivalent to the term “cult.” When so-called true, genuine Christianity has had a far worse history, similarly many mistaken doctrinal positions, have done some mind control of their own, have divided into tens of thousands of denominations that all believe differently, it might not be wise to call other religious groups a cult. If you find these insights offense, it might be a little mind control at work, so ponder things objectively.

This is no easy task for most Christians. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are well trained to defend their beliefs. They spend five meetings a week, much personal study and meeting preparation in taking in what they believe and learning how to defend their version of the faith. This is not said to scare anyone off from trying to approach the Witnesses, but rather to encourage you to prepare well. The irony is; we do not have to go out and find the Witnesses, as they come to us because they go house-to-house. The objective is not to be confrontational, as Witnesses are trained to abandon such conversations.

The best thing we can do is know what we believe very well and be accomplished at defending it. It is best to know what they believe as well and what Scriptures they use to defend such views. However, it is not that simple because they will know what we believe and what verses we use, and they will be prepared to undermine those verses. As was said, it is not going to be easy. It gets worse still if the average Witness cannot deal with our preparedness, but they believe we are sincerely interested, they will bring a pioneer^[1] with them the next time they visit us. These ones have far more experience and knowledge. If that fails, they will bring the most qualified congregation elder. Do not be fooled; some Witnesses study secular books; they learn Hebrew and Greek, among many other academic fields. These latter ones are few in number, but I thought I would mention it in case they happen to be in your area.

If we want the Witnesses to visit us, all we have to do is write or call the main branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses^[2] and ask for one of their books, which will give us the basic beliefs they hold. They will not mail us the publication; they will have someone from the local Kingdom Hall (their church) deliver it. When they come, they will walk us through the book and look to start a study with us. If we want to win them over to our side, this is the best way, as we would have them all to ourselves in our home, going over doctrinal positions. It is best to make this stipulation, though, “I will study your book with you, but as you know, I believe differently, so along the way, I may raise objections, ask for more proof, as well as share how I see whatever we may be discussing.” They will agree to this stipulation because they always believe they have the upper hand.

The best approach is to agree where there is an agreement because believe it or not; there will be more agreement than one might imagine. When we come to points of disagreement, have them make their case, letting them get through the entire presentation and then undermine it with Scripture from their New World Translation. We can be prepared because they will give us a copy of the book to prepare for the study; they will also provide us with a New World Translation if we ask for one. As we prepare for the study, be prepared to be surprised because the Witness literature is excellent at using verses based on isolated reading sound as though they do support what is being said in their publications. Thus, we need to look the verses up in three literal translations (NASB, ESV, and HCSB), we need to read the section of Scripture that the text is found in and look it up in a commentary volume. A superb, easy to read commentary volume set is Holman Old and New Testament Commentary Volumes. If there are translation issues, we need to investigate these. If there are textual issues, we need to examine these.

Once they arrive for the study, we should have our legal pad or our tablet right beside us with our information. Once we complete the study, let the Witness know that we take issue with some of the verses that they had used to support their position. Then, go through them one by one. It is as simple as that. If we share this information without asking them to defend against it, over the course of their study book (4-6 months), they will begin to doubt their position. One cannot sit through one correction after another over so many months and not begin to wonder about whether they are in the right religion. One thing that we do not want to do is what many of the cult books that undermine the Witnesses’ beliefs recommend, i.e., shock and awe. They want us to sit there, accept a Witness belief, and methodically undermine it. This will not work; the Witness will not open, look in, or be a part of such a book. Even if we do not show them the book, they will walk out if the situation looks like an assault on their faith. I apologize for this analogy, but one can cook an animal alive if they turn up the heat slowly enough. If we walk through a couple of their books over an extended period, it will be so slow of an undermining that it will not be an affront, an assault.

PIONEERING AS A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS

The word “pioneer” itself refers to a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new territory, country, or area, making the way for others to follow. This is how the Witnesses view their work as an evangelist.

These are what Christianity would call evangelists carrying out evangelism. I will intertwine, compare, and contrast Christianity’s 41,000 denominations with Witnesses.

Evangelism is the work of a Christian evangelist, of which Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses too are obligated to partake to some extent, which seeks to persuade other people to become Christian or a Jehovah’s Witness, especially by sharing the basics of the Gospel, but also the deeper message of biblical truths. Today, very few from the Christian churches of any of the 41,000 denominations evangelize, while the Jehovah’s Witnesses are very involved in this work. (Matt. 24:14; 28:19–20; Acts 1:8)

Preevangelism is laying a foundation for those who have no knowledge of the Gospel, giving them background information, so that they are able to grasp what they are hearing. The Christian evangelist, if there are any, are preparing their mind and heart so that they will be receptive to the biblical truths and the Jehovah’s Witness is doing the same for what they believe to be true. In many ways, this is known as apologetics.

All Jehovah’s Witnesses are evangelists and try to get out into their community for a minimum amount of hours each month. A pioneer is viewed as a parttime (auxiliary) and a fulltime (regular) pioneer.

THREE TYPES OF PIONEERS

Auxilliary Pioneer: It used to be that this person spent 70 hours each month in the evangelism of people in their communities by limiting their secular work to part-time. However, some time ago, the Witness organization lowered it to 30 and 50-hours.

Regular Pioneer: It used to be that this person spent 90 hours each month in the evangelism of people in their communities by limiting their secular work to part-time or no work at all. However, some time ago, the Witness organization lowered it to 70-hours.

Special Pioneers: This person spends 130 hours or more each month in the evangelism of people in their communities or other communities that the Witness organization assigns them to because they feel the need is greater.

All Jehovah’s Witnesses as evangelists are more informed about what they believe than almost all Christians. Why?

• Because they have a personal Bible study every day
• Because they prepare for Christian meetings individually and then again as a family
• Because they then cover the material a third time at the meeting itself, where they participate as well
• When preparing they read the Bible study too, they look up all cited Bible verses, they use Bible encyclopedias (Insight on the Scriptures, vol. I & II) to dig deeper. They answer the paragraph questions by highlighting the answers. They write their personal answers in the margin
• They spend anywhere from 10 hours to 130 hours each month evangelizing about their beliefs.

Even though almost all of Jehovah’s Witnesses are more informed about their beliefs than 99% of all Christians, they are not all informed equally amongst themselves. As one might expect, the Witness, non-pioneer can likely out conversate the Christian they meet in their evangelism work. And the parttime pioneers even more so but they are not capable of dealing with a well-informed pastor. The pioneer can likely hold his or her own against most pastors, priests, or ministers. However, likely not against a well-informed pastor. An elder (pastor)-pioneer could hold his own against a well-informed pioneer.

Almost all Jehovah’s Witnesses are not aware of a growing trend in their organization. There are regular Jehovah’s Witnesses, pioneers, ministerial servants (deacons), and elders (pastors), who are actually self-taught Bible scholars or they have gone to Bible colleges or seminaries, and some even teach Bible classes. This is not even known by the so-called Christian apologists who write books about the Witnesses. Some of these even have PhDs. They are experts in hermeneutics, Bible translation philosophy and differences, biblical Hebrew and Greek, textual criticism, and so much more. There are literally thousands of these kinds of Witnesses. Their personal library is filled with hundreds, if not thousands of the same books used in Bible colleges and seminaries.

[1] An auxiliary pioneer is a Witness, who spends 50-hours a month out evangelizing. A regular pioneer is a Witness, who spends 70-hours a month out evangelizing. It used to be 70-hours for the auxiliary and 90 hours for the regular pioneer. They also have a special pioneer that spends 120 hours a month.

[2] Jehovah’s Witnesses
25 Columbia Heights
BROOKLYN NY 11201-2483
UNITED STATES
+1 718-560-5000

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