I have been studying the bible with Jehovah Witnesses for the past year. When I tell this to my friends and family, the first reaction from them is - shock, concern, horror! What I say to them is, if you haven't done it, you can't really knock it. Now, I'm not saying for anyone to go and meet with JWs every week - it can shake you up if you're not very grounded in the Word. Let me give you a bit of a background about myself. I was born into a Christian (Pentecostal, Assemblies of God) home. My father was the Pastor of the church. My mother was the head of Sunday School - she taught the youth/adults Sunday School class, she was the Treasurer (she took on that role to ensure that my Dad did not try to spend money on things that he should not be spending money on), she was the chair (on behalf of my Dad) of the Youth Committee, the chair of the church board, she taught new believer's class every Monday nights. She is also the Principal/teacher of the schools our church started up in different parts of the island as outreach programs. We lived in the parsonage that is in the same compound as the church. We attended church every Monday nights (new believer's class), Wednesday nights (prayer meeting), Saturday afternoons (young youth), Saturday nights (youth), Sunday mornings (Sunday service), Sunday afternoons (Sunday school), choir was in there somewhere (my mom ran the choir too), people were always at our house for counseling, meals, etc. OK, church was my life. I did not just go to church, I loved (still do) to read my Bible daily and prayed daily. I gave my heart to the Lord - ie. chose to follow Him - at the age of 7. I started to speak in Tongues at the age of 9. Because I read the Bible every night of my life (even during the University years when I was back slidden), I have read the Bible through a few times - yes, even the boring parts in Leviticus and Numbers. So, to say that I am steeped in the Bible is an understatement!
How has all that helped me in my life? Well, in my own opinion, I think it has allowed me to live a very blessed life - you know, the great marriage, great career, great family life and now as a stay-at-home-mom/semi-retiree. However, how has all that helped me in telling others about the good news? Sure, I had tried to sow seeds into colleagues' lives by having non-confrontational discussions with them on God, however, none of them came to accept God. There was only 1 friend who accepted God into her life - but I did not lead her to God, my presence was just merely there to remind her every time she saw me, that God is knocking on the door of her heart. She finally gave up fighting God and accepted Him - then she had great peace! So, I can't say that I have led anyone to the Lord. Nope. Have not been able to personally lead anyone to the Light. So, I started to think about how one could tell others about this great God who has given me such a blessed life, and convince them to follow Him so that they can also be blessed and get eternal life to boot.
I remembered a speaker who came to our church - her name was Teri Barr - she's a lawyer in California whose husband is the Pastor of a church there. She said, "the bridge of relationship has to be strong enough to bring the weight of truth across it". That was very well said. Indeed, I needed to focus on relationship building. I've started doing that - this year - my goal is relationship building - I liked what my pastor said, "don't befriend someone with the thought in the back of your head that you are going to invite them to church - they will see right through the insincerity". That is so true - so, I have decided to be a good friend to people that I really want to be friends with - not people that I'll be friends with until they get saved!! I'll be friends with people I actually really enjoy hanging out with. Whether they accept God or not, I still want to be their friend.
I was hanging out with a few friends of mine who were part of different multi-level marketing groups. I noticed the change in their behaviour and psyche. They used to be down on life. After they joined the multi-level marketing groups, they became positive, outgoing, friendly, and seem to have a much more brighter outlook on life. So, I started listening to some of the CDs that those organizations give out. I think we can learn from these organizations - how to help a person change their habits and behaviours. Listening to a sermon (I call these motivational speeches) once a week is just not enough for someone who is just beginning their walk with God. They need more mentoring. In the multi-level marketing groups, their "up-line" takes the time to mentor the new recruit. They get them to listen to the motivational CDs, they teach them how to run the "shows", they encourage them when things don't look rosy, I have seen them using new recruits in small roles, eg. introduce a segment of a meeting, so that they feel part of the team - so that they feel like they belong. I believe we need to do that for new comers and mature believers alike - get them involved so that they feel like they belong. Have a mentoring system built - so that everyone can continue to grow - even "old" believers, as in someone like myself who have known the Lord for a very long time - still need to be mentored so that we are not stagnant.
Then, the JWs knocked on my door. The first instinct was, shoo them off, like I used to do. Instead, I decided that there could be things I could learn from them also. So, I invited them in, offered them tea, and we have since continued this on a weekly basis. This is what I learnt from them:
1) They are very friendly - genuinely friendly.
2) They pray that people's hearts are open to the message of the Gospel - but know that it is not them who bring people to God but it is God's Holy Spirit who will draw people to Himself.
3) Committment - tenacity. They will come to my house every single week, to show me what they believe - as long as I am willing to listen to them.
4) They are prepared - and they know the Bible scriptures very well. Not just in generalities, not just a vague idea, but chapter and verse. They spend the time getting trained for this.
5) They follow a very well written script - a book - but is not afraid to digress when I pull them that way - and then getting back to the topic at hand.
6) They sometimes bring a young recruit - there is that mentoring thing I was talking about in the previous paragraph.
7) They always have an answer from the Bible when I have a question - believe you me, my questions are not the kind that can be easily answered - without me shooting holes in them - if you've seen my background above. (For example, why did God make man when He had already made the angels? Or, Paul's letters to the various churches are just letters - Paul's opinions - they are not scriptures that he referred to - why should we consider them as scriptures? Why didn't God just wipe out the Devil?) If they don't have an answer, they will research the question and come back with a good answer the next time.
It has been fantastic discussing the Trinity, Jesus (is He God?) and Healing - is it for today?, Christmas - should we celebrate it? - with them. (We have yet to discuss life after death and tithing) These are the things we have some disagreements on, however, I have found that we actually agree on very key things, such as, Creation, Jesus being the only way to the Father, once saved, we are not always saved, we don't have anything to do with Halloween because of what it stands for. In my discussions with them, it has helped me to search the scriptures to support my belief, instead of blindly accepting those beliefs because that was what I was taught for many years. I would throw questions at them that I could not throw to just anyone. These are questions I would throw at my brother or sister because I know that they know me well enough to not freak out and they know the scriptures enough to debate a topic with me. However, I don't get to see my siblings that often - so I'll throw them at my JW friends. To answer the question of the title of this blog - Why do I Study the Bible with Jehovah Witnesses? Because I need to meet with someone who has a very good knowledge of the Bible, who can cheer me on in my walk with God, who is not going to be shocked or disappointed if I don't agree with them and who can debate intelligently with me on controversial topics - like a mentor. Then, I can mentor others in a similar manner.
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