A Night Out at the Kingdom Hall
A couple of years ago I was doing some research into Jehovah's Witnesses. In what I thought was good research fashion, I decided to go to one of their meetings to confirm or deny what others had written about this particular religion. I showed up in coat and tie (a must for J.W.'s; I didn't want to stick out too much) and I thought I was being smart by taking a copy of their Bible - "The New World Translation." Huge mistake! I walked in and the folks there were freaking out when they saw my Bible. I couldn't understand for the life of me what the big deal was. The only difference I could see between my NWT Bible and theirs was the color: Their Bibles were black and mine was green.
The meeting was incredibly dry. People came up and gave little "talks" and then someone went around the audience and asked the others canned questions which demanded canned responses. The people faithfully babbled out these canned responses into a cordless mike. The powers that be praised them for these canned responses (I'll bet they would be in a HUGE heap of trouble if they would answer "outside of the can!"). At one point I almost laughed out loud because I couldn't believe how many different ways they could ask essentially the same question and consequently get the same or similar answers from the people. Question: "What do you need to do to stay close to Jehovah?" Answer: "Attend meetings and go out into the field."
Anyway, back to the Bible incident. One of their "elders" came up to me after the meeting and asked if I had any questions. I enthusiastically said to this man, "Yeah. When I came in here, people were looking at my Bible warily and with surprise. Why is that?" The guy actually looked at my green NWT Bible and replied, "That Bible is obsolete." I replied, "Oh...so does that mean that your Bible was changed?" He got kind of red in the face and said, "No, no...there's been no change." I asked him, "So then why is this one obsolete?" The guy couldn't give me an answer. Thus ended my "Night Out at the Kingdom Hall." As it turns out, my green Bible was published in 1971. The black ones were up to date. Interesting.
What does this have to do with this post? Here's the issue: Would not the emerging church's methods of engaging the culture be ineffective in reaching these Jehovah's Witnesses? If I am correct, doesn't the EC favor narrative discourses rather than presentations of systematic doctrine? Doesn't the EC favor dialogue over traditional witnessing techniques? Doesn't the EC advocate a conversation rather than a confrontation with the truth? If so, wouldn't these methods be ineffective in reaching Jehovah's Witnesses? I honestly can't think of any other way for believers to help these folks out of their religious bondage then exposing the lies (in their own literature!) and pointing out the flaws in their logic (like with the "obsolete" Bible that's supposedly never been changed). What do you think?
-Pastor George Jensen
Enola First Church of God
posted by Anonymous at 10:46 PM
5 Comments:
Have you tried your suggested methods and have they worked? Personally, I have a long history with those kinds of confrontational evangelism, "beat 'em over the head with the TRUTH" sort of techniques, and yet I can't say that I've ever won a single convert using that method.
I did invite a couple of Mormons into my home the other day though - and I did converse politely with them, asked them genuine questions and listened to their answers and their story, looked for points of commonality, and yet was also clear with them about my own beliefs and my disagreements with the LDS church. And you know what? By the end of the conversation they were asking me if there was any ways that they could join up with our church for our next community service project (an interest that I discovered was one of our points of commonality). I may not have converted them on the spot, but I think I opened the door to further conversations and a relationship that could bear fruit down the road. And frankly I don't think I would have had any more success if I had just tried to argue them to the floor right then and there about all the ways the Mormons are wrong. (But who knows, like I said, that argumentative tactic never worked for me before, but I guess there could always a first time for everything.)
Anyhow, that's just my own experience. Yours may differ.
-Mike
I would have to agree with Mike on this one.
For instance, George if I were to say to you (seeing how this is the first time I've ever had a conversation with you), You come off as one of the most stubborn and opinionated people I've ever met. And that you seem to be very arrogant and and a know it all. And that most people are probably very offended by your candor.--*
Would that really help you? Are you going--hmm.. she has a point there. Maybe I should change?
No. It won't create lasting change in your life. It might hurt your feelings or even make you mad. But in your head you are already coming up with your defense of your behavior. (At least this is what I think you would be thinking--I could be wrong)
For instance when you discovered that people were getting irritated with some of what you had posted--you immediately turned to Brian & Bill to shed light on what you had done to offend people?
Why? Because you have a relationship with Brian & Bill and respect what they have to say because you know they know your heart.
In the same way, building a relationship with a non-believer can be a much more effective way of seeing life change then to come out with confrontation from the get go.
*By the way, in as much love as I can convey through words--those are my first impressions of you from this blog, but I also believe that you absolutely adore God and want His best for all people. Your candor just rubs me the wrong way! :)*
um.. so you havig a green bible didn't brand you as an outsider and cause them to put on a canned show for you?
George and Mike,
I have a long list of names of people I "converted" with my arguements. But I quit "converting" people that way because it never bore fruit that I saw. They confessed, professed and never moved forward from that point. I ended up feeling like it was an intellectual conversion, but never a heart conversion.
I've come to a point where I believe that I can't convince people to love God. If I have any part of it, it is to entice them or seduce them with God in my life and perhaps, to find where He already is in theirs and help them see Him.
It isn't as immediately satisfying as using EE or 4 spiritual laws or the Roman Road, or what have you - but I feel like I deluded people into believing something that wasn't God and I don't look forward to being called to account for it.
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