Origin, history, doctrines.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are an organization founded in 1879 by Charles Taze Russell, a Pittsburgh haberdasher. Russell was born in 1852, of Scottish and Irish descent. He was an active member of the Congregational Church. At seventeen, while trying to convert an atheist, he himself lost his faith in God. Russell had been obsessed with the thought of the horrors of hell. Even as an atheist, he would not let his Bible rest. At twenty he began to preach “the good news without hell.” In 1879, when founding his new religion, he gave himself the name of “Pastor Russell.”
Charles Taze Russell
Russell was not a specialist in Scripture and did not know Greek. In the city of Hamilton, while being questioned in court, he stated under oath that he was an expert in Sacred Scripture and knew Greek perfectly. They gave him a New Testament in that language and, by the end of the examination, he was forced to admit that he did not even know the Greek alphabet. Nor did he know Latin or Hebrew. He wrote much about the Bible, but any specialist today, reading his works, will agree that his explanations of the sacred texts are generally inadmissible in light of the obvious meaning of the words of the text. Russell was never a Bible specialist. Nor did he live a holy life, as we would expect of a religious founder. His followers wrote: “Russell had a rare capacity for business. Before he was thirty, he had already greatly expanded his father’s clothing store in Alleghany, Pennsylvania, and in a short time established four more. When he was thirty he sold the chain of businesses for 250,000 dollars, which in today’s money amounts to somewhat more than a million dollars” (Marley Cole, Jehovah’s Witnesses, 73). He was also an expert at making money from investments in mines and real estate, and from the sale of books. He even sold to many credulous farmers what he called “miracle wheat,” at sixty dollars a bag; when the fraud was discovered by the federal authorities, he had to return the money (Leslie Rumble, Radio Replies, 2:1, 352). In 1911, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a cartoon of Russell with the caption: “If Pastor Russell can make a dollar from half a kilogram of ‘miracle wheat,’ how much could he have made selling ‘gold stocks and bonds’ as director in the old ‘Union Bank’?” Russell sued the newspaper for libel, but lost the case. Around that time he began to preach the Millennial Dawn. His followers, for this reason, began to be called “Millennial Dawnists.” Not long afterward Russell adopted the name “Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society.” In 1896 this name was changed to “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.” For some time Russell thought “People’s Pulpit Association” sounded even better. In 1914 another change of name led them to be called the “International Bible Students Association.” “Pastor Russell” died in 1916.
“Judge Rutherford”
When he died, Russell was succeeded as head of the sect by a man named Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who called himself “Judge,” although he never officially held such a position in civil society. On May 8, 1918, together with other “Russellites,” he was arrested for espionage and later sentenced to twenty years in prison for preaching disobedience and insubordination in the American army and navy. He was released after nine months in the federal prison in Atlanta. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says that Rutherford “was descended from a family of Baptists from Morgan County, Missouri.” Even though “the Judge” never studied, he obtained a license as a lawyer in 1892. More than once he defended Russell in the courts and thus became a useful follower of the sect. In 1917, after Russell’s death, he became the head of the movement. Under his rule, the organization acquired an increasingly revolutionary tone. Rutherford was frequently accused of fraudulent practices, even by his own followers. Faced with the failure of Russell’s prophecy about the Second Coming of Christ in 1914, a prophecy to which he had given full credibility, he explained to his adherents that Jesus Christ had indeed come in that year, but invisibly…, and that the final encounter between God and Satan (the famous Armageddon) was imminent, although he did not risk giving dates. It was “the Judge” who in 1931 proclaimed the new name of “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” and began to proclaim the slogan: “Millions now living will never die.” Certainly he was not one of them, for he died in 1942 in the mansion he had built in San Diego as the official residence of Jesus Christ, when He should return as judge of the living and the dead.
Nathan Homer Knorr
Rutherford was followed in office by Nathan Homer Knorr, who had been on the Board of Directors since 1934. Knorr began a program of renewal and public relations that resulted in a large number of converts. The evangelizers who now went from door to door no longer carried gramophones or recordings of Rutherford’s sermons. Instead, the members of the sect received strong instruction in public speaking, apologetics, and above all in the art of selling books, which enabled them to become masters at presenting and selling their bibles. The tactic of imposing themselves and trying to enter almost by force into every home was abandoned: now the preachers had to pet the little dog, be kind, and accept willingly, if necessary, an uncourteous refusal or a door slammed in the face. The lady of the house was to be invited to buy a magazine or a copy of the book “Let God Be True,” a 320-page exposition of very strange theology. More than ten million copies were printed for the first edition of 1946, and it is said, not without foundation, that by now several times that number have been sold. Knorr died in 1977 and was succeeded by Frederick Franz, who continued the policy of his predecessor and who, at his death in 1993, was succeeded by Milton Henshel, the current leader of the sect.
What Jehovah’s Witnesses believe
Some say that the Witnesses have altered their beliefs on more than one occasion. If that is true, they can rightly be accused of having misled their followers for many years. If it is not true, the whole believing world can accuse them for the doctrines set forth by Russell and Rutherford. Their strategy has changed: the objective today is to manipulate people’s feelings and the natural fears of the human being. They play with concepts such as “the destructive power of nuclear weapons,” “overpopulation,” “corruption in the highest spheres of government,” “the avalanche of pornographic material,” etc. The Witnesses assure us that they “have renounced the world,” and that its complicated problems, wars, and politics no longer concern them. They tell us that they are “citizens of a better society, the ‘Theocracy of Jehovah’s New World.’” In the strict sense, the Witnesses are not Christians, since they deny that Christ is God. Their teachings are certainly new, although they stubbornly deny that they are a new religion. More than that, one of their main tasks is to denounce all organized religions. Rutherford teaches us that “religion was introduced into the world by the Devil.” “For more than three years -he continues- Jesus proclaimed the truth and warned the people against the practice of religion.” “Because religion dishonors and reproaches the name of Jehovah God” (Rumble, 7). According to their teachings, religion and Christianity are opposed and mutually contradict each other. On the other hand, let us say that all Christians believe the opposite: Christianity is the true religion, revealed by Jesus Christ-God.
The different churches
The Witnesses have no time to attend any Christian church. Russell said that in 1879 God had rejected all existing Christian churches, making the “Russellites” the only bearers of God’s message. Rutherford went even further: he would not admit that the churches had done well until Russell appeared on the scene, but rather that already after the Resurrection of Christ the Devil built a great empire: the papacy. Later he would inspire the creation of the Protestant churches. Therefore all Catholic priests and Protestant ministers are of the Devil, enemies of God, Antichrists. The Witnesses deny that they are a church or denomination. “The Bible,” they say, “does not justify the existence of any church or hierarchy. The Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and the free churches are constantly under indiscriminate attack in the publications of the Witnesses, who deny all the fundamental principles of Christianity.
The state
With respect to civil authority, the Witnesses say that they owe obedience only to the “Theocracy of the Kingdom” and reject the obligations of earthly citizenship. There are two groups in the world: the “Theocracy of the Kingdom” and the “Organization of Satan,” the latter including all states and churches. Just as among the churches the papacy is “the apocalyptic beast” par excellence, so among the nations are the United States and England. Some people think that the Witnesses are pacifists, like the Quakers, but they are not so at all. The truth is that they venerate the most vengeful of all gods, who plans the bloodiest of battles in history, “Armageddon.” They seem to feel a special attraction in describing the details of the slaughter of those who have enlisted in the hosts of Satan. They have no scruples about praising the bloodshed of that much-mentioned battle, but they refuse to take part in the military actions of the nations, “all the work of Satan.” The Witnesses have frequently been convicted by civil courts. For example, “from 1946 to 1953, Jehovah’s Witnesses were involved in 1665 prosecutions in Quebec” (Cole, 188). We constantly read in the news that members of the sect were fined or arrested in many parts of the world. In Australia and New Zealand, during 1940, the organization was declared illegal. Government lawyers then said that the Witnesses were devoted to “degrading religion, their fellow citizens, the government, and the whole nation.” The Witnesses, for their part, maintain that they suffer persecution, and sometimes they themselves get into trouble -frequently for publicity- by attacking the principles on which a particular culture rests and promoting disobedience to the government. “There is no one in the world like Jehovah’s Witnesses when it comes to consciously vilifying whoever stands before them; attacking what is dearest to others is the daily bread among the members of that sect. They hate all religions and proclaim it from the rooftops. They hate all governments with the same enthusiasm… Because they are in a constant offensive attitude, their leaders have been persecuted, their meetings violently interrupted, their meeting places destroyed, their members imprisoned” (Saturday Evening Post, September 14, 1940). Such a way of “vilifying” is not so evident today, but their position regarding religions has not changed. It would be good to know how they reconcile their claims of being persecuted for religious reasons and their acceptance of being ministers of a religion -for example in the USA, where they have privileges enjoyed only by religious members, such as traveling at cheaper rates, etc.- with their claim that all religions are of the Devil.
Hierarchy
The Witnesses’ belief that every hierarchy or church is contrary to biblical teaching, and the existence of their own organization, is only one of the numerous contradictions inherent in this phantasmagorical system. In his contribution to the work “Religion in the Twentieth Century,” Nathan Homer Knorr asserted that Christ directs his affairs through “a visible organization” with its headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. The visible head of such an organization was, of course, Knorr. He, like the current director of the Witnesses, is surrounded by a visible Board of Directors. Throughout the world there are “visible” congregations called “companies.” They meet in visible rooms called “Kingdom Halls.” Visible “organizational servants” inspect the work of the “company.” Full-time, visible workers called “pioneers” receive visible money from the Society. Every active member of the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is regarded as “an ordained minister sent by God, not by men.” If this system is not a visible hierarchical organization, then what is it? They excuse themselves from military service by being “ministers of religion.” In their Yearbook the following can be read: “Every thirty days each and every operating branch in the world… makes a written report, which is sent to the President of the Society, explaining in detail the work done during the month. At the end of the fiscal year, all branches … will send the President a written report.” Jehovah’s Witnesses sell several thousand publications a year. Little is known about the use made of that money. The magazines “The Watchtower” and “Awake!” circulate by the millions. They have the widest newspaper circulation in the United States. “There has never been religious blackmail as great as the case of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society” (Rumble, 13). Rumble estimated that in the thirty years following 1918 there must have been an approximate profit of ten million dollars, to take the lower figure. We are not surprised to read in the Witnesses’ Yearbook that no financial report is published so that enemies may not use it “to hinder the work of the Society.” No charitable institution, in the manner of the great works of mercy of the Catholic Church, is maintained by the sect. Some decades ago, when the secretary of the Witnesses was challenged to explain what the Society had done “for those poor devils who have nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep, and die of hunger and want,” he replied: “That is not the purpose of our activity or of our association. The mission of Jehovah’s Witnesses is to bear witness before the peoples.”
The Bible
Jehovah’s Witnesses are not a biblical organization. In the first place, they absolutely reject the only authority that exists with respect to the Bible, namely, the Catholic Church. Russell, Rutherford, and their successors have no way of affirming that the Bible is the word of God if they deny the authority of the Church that defined the canon of the sacred books, their inspiration, etc. Rutherford even wrote that Russell had discovered that “no Christian organization or church taught what the Bible contains,” so he had to start the matter himself… Russell’s followers seem to have been convinced that their founder was inspired by God, but at his death Rutherford began to teach quite different things. There were internal disputes in the organization, but Rutherford prevailed. The Witnesses believed that Rutherford’s biblical explanations were not of human origin but inspired by God. The Catholic teaching on the infallibility of the Pope is a faint shadow compared with this.
God
The Witnesses contradict almost all basic Christian teachings, and those they do not contradict, they ignore. They are fundamentally Unitarian, anti-Trinitarian. In a pamphlet published in their London headquarters with the title “What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?” we read: “Since there are many ‘lords’ and many ‘gods,’ the true God has a personal name to be distinguished from the other gods.” That name is “Jehovah.” The truth is that there is only one God and He does not need a name to be distinguished from other “gods.” Even the word “Jehovah” is not truly biblical. The sacred writers did not know it. In Hebrew they wrote “Yahweh,” which means “He Who Is.” It is an alternative name for God. The Witnesses, on the contrary, say that “Jehovah” is God’s personal name. It is difficult to know precisely what they mean by all this, but it seems that for these people “Jehovah” with respect to “God” is like “cedar” with respect to “tree,” one among several, although the best. The expression “Jehovah-God,” so often used in their literature, is never found in the Bible. The Witnesses do not believe that God is everywhere, nor do they believe in the Trinity. In his book Reconciliation, Rutherford wrote that “the constellation of seven stars that forms the Pleiades is the place of God’s eternal throne, the place where Jehovah dwells.” The Witnesses constantly ridicule the mystery of the Trinity. Rutherford wrote: “There never existed a more deceptive doctrine than that of the Trinity. Such a doctrine could have had no other origin than the mind of Satan, the Devil” (Reconciliation, 101).
Christ
The Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, equal to the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is the third Person, also divine. Although Christ revealed the doctrine of the Trinity and spoke of the Holy Spirit as a person (Jn 14:26), Rutherford said that the Holy Spirit is any force or influence exercised by God. Christ, according to the Witnesses, was “Jehovah’s first creation.” He is not equal to the Father (“What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?”, 2). Russell taught that Christ was “Michael the Archangel.” “Obedient to God, he gave up being a pure spirit and was born of Mary as a holy human being.” The Witnesses teach that Jehovah-God (the preferred title for their divinity) created a spirit-son, Christ Jesus, who, before being human, was known as Michael the Archangel. This spirit-son, not God but rather a favorite angel, took human flesh as a perfect man. To make their doctrines fit together, the Witnesses have no scruple in distorting the words of the Bible. For example, when John wrote in his gospel that “the Word was God” (Jn 1:1), the Witnesses’ version says that “the Word was a god.” With respect to our teaching on the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Witnesses invent a tangle of contradictions that are based neither on Scripture nor on Tradition. In Cole’s work we read: “Jesus had to be fully human. This powerful spirit had to become human in every sense, and however incredible this may seem, why should we doubt it?” Although they assure us that “Jesus rose from the dead,” the Witnesses do not believe in the Resurrection of Christ in the same way as other Christians do. The man Christ, according to them, is dead forever. “The Person who died -Russell tells us- remained dead and will never be seen again in his human nature.” No one knows what happened to his body. Russell suggests that it dissolved into gases. In a similar way, the Witnesses reject the truth witnessed by the Bible and Tradition about the Ascension of Christ and in its place present one of their inventions.
The soul and eternity
According to the Witnesses, man does not have a soul. He is a soul. “Adam was a soul… The lower animals also are a soul…” Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the teachings of eternal punishment and the immortality of the human soul (“What do they believe…,” 34). In a few sentences they deny several basic Christian doctrines that are clearly taught in Sacred Scripture and maintained by all the Fathers of the Church. As for hell, although there are few biblical teachings as clear as the existence of an eternal hell, where the wicked will be punished, Jehovah’s Witnesses deny it. “Once the Devil invented the doctrine of the immortality of souls, he had to invent a place to put them outside heaven and earth, where bad immortal souls would go. What else could he invent as an answer, except an eternal punishment of our consciences?” (Cole, 163). The Witnesses deny that God will punish sinners. “The Bible does not teach that man possesses an immortal soul that could endure an eternal fire” (Cole, 72). The world already belongs to the Devil. “God never punishes either in this life or in the next,” Russell declared. Hell does not exist. Russell maintains that all are to rise again and all will be given a second chance. Everything depends on how we behave then, not on how we behave now. The more wicked a man was in this life, the more chances he has of being good in the other. Even if this man does no good and continues to defy God in that second opportunity, then he will simply be taken out of existence, and therefore will experience no torment of any kind.
The sacraments and prayer
The Witnesses teach nothing about the Eucharist or the other sacraments. These are almost totally ignored, since there are so many other more vital doctrines. The motive for baptism is not very clear. It is useless to look for literature on prayer or Christian perfection. The great saints of Christendom are nothing but children of the Devil, like the rest of us, and have no significance for the Witnesses. The Catholic Church is the super-enemy of the Witnesses. But on this point, as on all the others, they distort the meaning of the Bible. Let us hear their own words: “Since Pentecost, God has been preparing a ‘bride,’ ‘a little flock’ of 144,000… so that these may share eternal life and the reign with Christ for a thousand years” (“What do they believe…,” 5). We see that Christ has been preparing a bride since Pentecost, but Jehovah’s Witnesses have existed only since 1879! They have arrived rather late on the scene… There is not the slightest biblical evidence that Christ wanted his Church to have only 144,000 members. The Witnesses conveniently forget the parable of the mustard seed (Mt 13:31). The 144,000 of the book of Revelation (14:3), according to the unanimous consent of Bible scholars, is a figurative number referring to the multitude of the redeemed. The same should be said of the thousand years (Rev 20:4), as demanded by the whole context of the numbers and figures of the biblical text.
The Second Coming of Christ
As a central doctrine, the Witnesses believe that the present world is Satan’s Kingdom, and that its servants -government, business, organized religions- are in continual struggle against Jehovah’s Theocratic Government. All men have mortal souls, but they will be recreated and given a second chance of salvation during the millennium. Those who reject it with their rebellions will be annihilated; the just will reign forever in this recreated world. Only Christ and the 144,000 chosen ones have immortal souls, and as a reward for their obedience to Jehovah, they will reign as spiritual creatures in heaven, not on earth. The mission of Jehovah’s Witnesses is to announce that the Second Coming of Christ will be marked by the battle of Armageddon, in which Satan and his allies will be defeated. It is difficult to know precisely what the Witnesses understand by Armageddon, since they have frequently changed their explanation of it. According to what we can read in their works, Armageddon is the day when the earth will be devoured by the fire of God’s zeal, not the earth in the literal sense, but the systems that rule men, of which Satan is the god. The beginning of all Russell’s work was precisely the theme of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. He taught that the latter had already occurred in 1874, when Christ returned as a spirit “to the upper airs.” In 1914 Satan began a declared war against Christ and his saints “in the upper airs.” At the same time, the world war was beginning on earth. Russell believed that Armageddon, that is, the end of the world in the Christian conception, would occur precisely in 1914, when Christ would descend from “the upper airs” and be enthroned as king of the earth. After a reign of a thousand years, the final judgment would take place. When Christ, in fact, did not appear in 1914 nor come down from any “upper air,” the Witnesses postponed the event several times, moving it to 1916, 1918, 1924, 1928, etc. They teach us that after his death on the torture stake (not on the cross), Christ was raised by Jehovah to a new spiritual existence. Together with the 144,000 elect who merited heaven, Christ will govern the earth from his heavenly throne. His invisible Second Coming in 1914 declared the great war between good and evil. “For decades, the Witnesses tried hard to find still-living members of the 144,000 who will govern the world from heaven. In 1925 Rutherford instructed his followers to find as many as they could. “These are those men and women of good will who will live in the New World Society, and who will therefore survive Armageddon without suffering any harm.” According to their doctrines, the Witnesses will not in fact enter the battle, but will observe it from a prudent distance, seeing how the wicked and atheists are annihilated. “Satan will be chained for a thousand years, and millions now living will never die” (Jehovah’s Witnesses), and they will begin to repopulate the earthly paradise. As the years pass, the just who died will be resurrected and given an opportunity to join Jehovah. Unlike what will happen with those who have survived Armageddon, they will not be able to marry or have children. The wicked will remain in their graves, since they do not deserve a second chance. At the end of the millennium, Satan will be set free and will try to draw some away from Jehovah: the tempter and those who consent to his deceptions will finally be annihilated. “The inhabitants of this earthly paradise will live forever. They will enjoy life as never before, wonderful gardens, they will sing songs of joy and will be able to play with wild beasts without running danger.” William J. Whalen writes (Faith for the Few: A Study of Minority Religions, 82): “For many people who live somewhat on the margins of a society that rewards those who stand out for their education, social position, wealth, and ambition, this description of a Garden of Eden and a final fall of those who are now ‘above’ undoubtedly has great appeal.” Nowhere will we find literature that concentrates such a quantity of absurdities as Russell and Rutherford do when speaking to us of Armageddon and the millennium. Their assumptions, prophecies, and warnings, which always proved false, are completely without foundation. Sacred Scripture and the constant teaching of the Church of Christ contradict them at every step.
How many Witnesses are there in the world?
Answering this question is not easy at all. All baptized members of the sect, including women and children, are considered ordained ministers. An active member of the sect attends meetings three or four times a week, in which the Bible is read and studied and, above all, the material that comes from the Watchtower Society in Brooklyn. The sect commands, after the manner of the Jewish calendar, that communion be received only once a year, on the 14th day of the month of Nisan. Only those who consider themselves part of the 144,000 may partake of the bread and wine. One of these services, throughout all the Kingdom Halls, and according to Witness statistics, gathered 1,971,107 Witnesses, although only 11,179 of them received communion. The Witnesses refuse to perform military service or to salute the flag, vote, or participate in political life, since they consider themselves citizens of Jehovah’s Theocracy. But they pay taxes. The devout Witness avoids the secular world, and tries to find company only in the meetings and environments of the sect. The feasts of Christmas and Easter are not celebrated or observed in any way. They do not participate in financial organizations of any kind. Drinking alcohol, dancing, smoking, playing cards, although not absolutely prohibited, are nevertheless constantly discouraged. They are asked to give to the Society any surplus they may occasionally produce in their work, keeping what is necessary for a decent life for themselves and their families. Each member is expected to devote at least ten hours a month to visiting neighborhood homes in missionary activity. Some sell copies of the Society’s publications in the street. Throughout the world, about 35,000 “pioneers” devote all their time to missionary work, while some 1,500 men and women work at the Bethel headquarters in Brooklyn and other centers, printing, correcting, answering correspondence, and doing all the required printing work, above all editing their version of the Bible, so-called “New World,” and the Society’s magazines. The sect grew by as much as 25 percent a year during the 1930s and 1940s, although the number fell to 1 percent a year -in the USA- and 5 percent -in the world. In the United States, according to the 1995 Yearbook, there are 936,000 Witnesses, while not-small congregations can be found in Canada, Germany, Nigeria, the Philippines, Mexico, Zambia, the British Isles, and Brazil. Throughout the world they number some 4,900,000. Thousands attend meetings in the Kingdom Halls, Bible talks, study of the Society’s literature, but have not been baptized and therefore are not considered Witnesses. Usually the members are rather lower class. The Witnesses make special efforts to attract blacks, Hispanics, and members of other minorities, especially in the United States.
Organization
The sect is governed by a strict central organization. Orders and reports come from and return to the headquarters in Brooklyn. In important countries, local offices supervise the work and channel the distribution of publications. Local groups or congregations are regularly visited by district and circuit servants, so as to be able to contact each member. They keep scrupulous account of all activities and statistics. They meet for conventions of every kind. If we ask whether the Witnesses are a church or not, the New Catholic Encyclopedia answers: “in 1965, the group lost some sectarian characteristics. Although the Witnesses do not consider themselves part of the society in which they live, they were nevertheless forced to temper somewhat the tone with which they referred to religious and civil institutions. Both former members of the organization and newcomers remain faithful to their principles of proselytism, although in some a decrease in fervor can be noted. It would seem that the classes of society are more represented among them now than they were twenty or thirty years ago, when it was said that less than 1 percent of Jehovah’s Witnesses had finished high school. It would give the impression that they are becoming a little more like a church, in what a church has as opposed to the concept of a sect” (7:865).
A real danger?
A system that contradicts all the basic principles of Christianity is certainly dangerous. Particularly in some countries of South America, where the lack of priests, religious ignorance, and economic problems are a breeding ground for the Witnesses. Their system is based on the destruction of Christendom, of all organized religions, and of all civil authority: we realize the false and dangerous nature of this position. The Witnesses say that the Bible forbids blood transfusions: this is a highly dangerous doctrine, besides being totally mistaken. The texts habitually cited by the Witnesses are Leviticus 17:10 and Acts 15:29. In the first place, these were dietary norms observed by the Jews until Jesus Christ. The Apostles legislate by saying that new converts to Christianity must abstain from blood, although it is very clear that this is a compromise to reassure the Christian communities of Jewish origin and thus avoid scandalizing them. To deduce from these texts that blood transfusions are forbidden has absolutely no foundation. One thing is to drink the blood of an animal or eat meat that contains blood, and something very different is to receive blood in a transfusion.
What should you do when the Witnesses come to the door?
When a Witness visits you, be kind. Tell him with all the calm and confidence in the world that you have your beliefs and have very good reasons for having them, and that you are very happy with them. Generally speaking, conversing with them is a real waste of time: we have very little in common. For a Witness, subjects such as God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, religion, and salvation have a meaning totally different from what a Catholic believes under those same words, and from what all Christians have believed from Jesus Christ onward, through the Doctors of the Church, the saints, the scholars… Remember also that, very probably, your visitor is prejudiced, and only very well prepared Catholics can draw any profit from the dialogue. And we must always retain the initiative, and not let the Witness get ahead with his errors. Remember that the poor Witness is totally unaware of the beauty and treasures of the Church. The only hope there can be in a discussion with the Witnesses is to be positive, not to give oneself over to meaningless argument, and to try to give a positive and attractive image of the Church. Never accept or buy literature from the Society. Do not give him money. Never lose control of what you say or use coarse words. And remember that the Witnesses do not always show clearly what they are: if someone comes to your house innocently offering you a Bible, ask him whether he is a Witness and act accordingly. And above all we must pray for the poor souls who were led, God knows for what reasons, to become part of the sect.
Author: Francis J. Ripley
Source: Catholic Answers
