VOTE YOUR "SILVER BULLET" QUESTION

V

I'm quizzing all my sources for the ultimate "silver-bullet" question for a JW at your door. The best questions will be used in a video series on Watchtower Comments. The goal is to help people respond to JWs.

The question must be direct and designed to open the JW mind, not necessarily to win an argument.

I would prefer to avoid doctrinal debate such as trinity, cross, even thiest/athiest subjects. My best attempts usually go for the throat of WT authority and mind control. But everthing is game here.

Thank you for your help! PM here or email wtcomments at hotmail dot com.

Nancy Drake

Is this Reasoning from the Scriptures: Apostate Version?

OnTheWayOut

What does the term 'Beth-Sarim' mean? (House of Princes)
Why was Beth-Sarim built during Rutherford's presidency?
What happened when the princes didn't show up? Who really lived there?

The 144,000 are mentioned in two chapters in the Bible: Revelation 7 & 14. By looking at the verses it is obvious that the 144,000 are literal Jews of the ancient tribes with no Gentiles among them (7:4-8). They are all males (14:4) and virgins (14:4). If the JW states that the usage of Jewish male virgins is figurative, what gives them the right to state that number of 144,000 is literal?

Where does it teach in the Bible that Jesus is Michael the archangel?
Why isn't Jesus called Michael by your organization right now since he is in heaven?

Has the Society ever taught anything scripturally incorrect?
Might the Society be teaching anything scripturally incorrect now?
Doesn't your organization currently reject most of the teachings of its founder Charles Taze Russell and teachings of Joseph Rutherford?
Will they reject current teachings 25 years from now?

Does God protect His word, the Bible? YES
Did He protect it from the men who edited out His name from the Greek Scriptures? ?????
How can we trust that the NWT is accurate in putting the name Jehovah into the Greek scriptures when there is no evidence that it was ever there?
How can we trust any copies of the Greek Scriptures if God did not protect them?

OR

How can we trust the NWT if God protected the Greek scriptures, yet the NWT says that men edited out God's name entirely?

Jesus uses the phrase "Truly I say to you, ..." over 50 times in the Bible. In the NWT, the comma is placed after the word "you" every time except in Lk 23:43, where the comma is placed after the word "today". Why is the comma placed after "today" instead of after "you" in this verse? If the translation of this phrase in Lk 23:43 was consistent with the translation of this phrase in all the other verses in which it appears (see concordance), and the comma was placed after the word "you", how would it read?

Do you think a person should examine not only the teachings, but also the history of any religious organization before deciding it is the truth?
What if I joined one of these groups and later discovered fraud at the top of the organization, or that they have altered their teachings or prophecies? Should I stay in it?

If I were examining the Mormons, do you think it would be a good idea to read books by ex-members ?
Why would it be bad to just examine the Mormons throught their own literature? Would that be true of any religion?

Has the organization made prophecies that have not come true?

Are you saying that your organization or leadership has never claimed to be prophets?
If we look for such a claim, you think we won't find it?

Why do you shun former members? (Unrepentant Sinners)
Why does simply disagreeing with WTS make a former member an unrepentant sinner?

The WTS claims it uses the Bible as it's "supreme authority". Where in the Bible does anyone count their time in preaching on a slip of paper and are assigned record cards of activity, determining this as a "gauge to their spirituality"? Where in the Bible are Pioneers, Auxiliary Pioneers, District Overseers, Circuit Overseers, Bethelites, and Kingdom Halls?

Was Paul inspired when he said that all scripture is inspired?
How do we know that?
What are "all scriptures" ? Who decided which scriptures are accepted as
"all scriptures" and which ones to reject? Were scriptures written after Paul
recorded that statement still accepted as "all scriptures" to be considered
"inspired" ? (This is all answered with circular reasoning on a familiar JW scripture)

Did Paul know that his letters are part of the Word of God?
What if Paul wrote a letter to a congregation and it didn't show up in our Bible Canon today?
(Show them 1Cor. chapter 5: 9. In my letter I wrote you to quit mixing in company with fornicators )
Paul wrote them before. Was that letter inspired? Why do you say that?

Did the Watchtower teach that Armageddon will come before the generation of 1914 passes away?
Do they no longer teach that?
Is it considered a false teaching?
What is a false teaching?

startingover

V,

Looking forward to watching the video when you get it done.

OTWO,

Great list, thanks for posting it.

sir82

"Explain to me, using only the Bible, why accepting a transfusion of the blood fraction plasma is a sin worthy of eternal death, while accepting a transfusion of the blood fraction [take your pick, albumin, etc.] is a 'conscience matter' and draws no congregational action whatsoever."

Awakened at Gilead

My favorite tactic is to cite the reasoning book:

***

rsp.199par.2Jehovah’sWitnesses***

(1)

Bible: Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the entire Bible is the inspired Word of God, and instead of adhering to a creed based on human tradition, they hold to the Bible as the standard for all their beliefs.

And then ask where the Bible mentions teachings such as:

"Paradise earth"

"Seven Gentile times"

Or where is the great crowd? (Rev 19:1)

I asked 2 JWs the "paradise earth" question 2 days ago, only to have them lie to my face that Rev 2:7 refers to the earth (and they knew they were lying, but I held my tongue to avoid blowing my cover).

Tuesday

I think this is something where the ex-JW community just gets way too technical. For instance if someone were to ask about the 1914 doctrine within a minute someone who isn't familiar with the teaching is going to be lost.

For a "Silver-Bullet" question I believe you're going to have to paint in broad strokes. If it were me I would ask one simple question that leads no where:

Please show me absolute, positive, 100% irrefutable proof that what you teach is the truth without a shadow of a doubt?

What are the answers preaching, more moral people, 144000, interprets the bible correctly, there is nothing that is 100% irrefutable proof.

Preaching - Many other religions do that, what does that have to do with having the truth.

More Moral People - Please show me statistical proof of that.

144,000 - How do you know positively that there is a limited number of people in heaven, have you been to heaven? Did God tell you? How do you KNOW your interpretation is right?

Interpretation of Scriptures - This religion has 3 scriptures backing their belief, this one has 5, could you please show me irrefutable proof that your interpretation is the right one?

I think that one question only leads to dead ends. The thing about the question is that every JW will try to answer it when asked. I can't see it having an answer, because nothing is 100% irrefutable. But bless those JWs for thinking what they have is easily proven as being irrefutable.

LongHairGal

On the way out,

All those questions are good. But, I am afraid the average JW at the door doesn't have enough knowledge to answer any of these even half intelligently. Maybe one of the older JWs might be able to give a decent defense but not any of the younger ones.

LHG

bennyk

(Recycled old post [23. Oct. 2006]:)

W 01. April 1986 QfR:
Do we have Scriptural precedent for taking such a strict position? Indeed we do! Paul wrote about some in his day: "Their word will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of that number. These very men have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they are subverting the faith of some." (2 Timothy 2:17, 18; see also Matthew 18:6.) There is nothing to indicate that these men did not believe in God, in the Bible, in Jesus’ sacrifice. Yet, on this one basic point, what they were teaching as to the time of the resurrection, Paul rightly branded them as apostates, with whom faithful Christians would not fellowship.

This is most fascinating. When the F&DS was supposedly appointed in 1919, the Watch Tower Society was still teaching that the Resurrection had begun in 1878 -- a teaching not altered until 1927 -- and which teaching the WTS now rejects as false. Does it not bugger the imagination to believe the Lord appointed over all his belongings an organisation that (by its own published standard) would be 'rightly branded apostate, with whom faithful Christians would not fellowship'?

sir82

"Show me from the Bible how the 'faithful and discreet slave' of Matthew 24 must be the same group of people as the 144,000 of Revelation 7."

VOTE YOUR "SILVER BULLET" QUESTION

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