I'm presently engaged in an ongoing conversation with a JW. His name is Randolph. Will you please take a moment and pray for him. Pray for me too in my witness. So far we have covered secondary issues. He is coming back in January, and I will engage him on the doctrine of the Trinity.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a book that is written on the Trinity, and, if possible, a book written on the Trinity that deals specifically with JW's? Thanks.
"In Christ",
Booby

[Edited on 11-16-2004 by webmaster]

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Bobby Gawthrop, V.D.M.
licensed, ordained SBC, licensed PCA
Ph.D. student (Whitefield Theological Seminary)
"Every minister in those days had a V.D.M. degree: Verbum Dei Minister. When, therefore, I became a teacher of apologetics it was natural for me to think, not only of my Th.M. and my Ph.D., but above all of my V.D.M. The former degrees were but means whereby I might be true to the latter degree." Cornelius Van Til

Yeah, Preach, I have a good suggestion for you. If you remember, we had a brief discussion on the phone many months ago on dealing with JW's. The very best resource for you to have in your arsenal is an online booklet that parallels the JW's own booklet called "Should You Believe In the Trinity." You can find it here:
http://www.bible.ca/trinity/trinity-...page-SYBTT.htm

I don't know about the rest of that site's theology, but I can tell you, this booklet is the most effective way because it allows you and the JW to use their OWN booklet to explore the faith! The JW's are VERY resistant to anyone else's writing, so you simply tell them that you want to use a JW publication to explore the issue, do your homework by reading the online information, and get back together with the JW to discuss!

I'll U2U you my phone number again in case you have any other questions. As a former JW, I have a great insight into what's effective and what's not effective.

Using this above resource, my ex-wife left the JW's and has become a Christian! I don't know what I would have done without it. Most people just go round and round and round and round, until one day the JW will no longer come by or even speak to you. Believe me, by using a hit or miss strategy, that's exactly what happens 99% of the time. The JW's are the toughest to get thru to!

PS. I'll pray for you and Randolph immediately.

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Christopher Hinton
Northland, A Church Distributed;
Altamonte Springs, FL

I would also recomend "The Forgotten Trinity" by James White. It is a great work on the Trinity!!!

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Josh Walker
Redeemer, PCA (Jackson, MS)
Reformed Theological Seminary, Student (Jackson, MS)


The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Johnny, I heard about the James White book and was planning to get it. Christopher, I checked out the web site. It's simply incredible. How can I go about getting a full length copy of the book "Should You Believe in the Trinity?". Thanks,
"In Christ",
Bobby

Bobby,
Just for the record; When I witness to any Arminian I always direct the conversation and keep it corraled around Gods sovereignty and the elective decree. The Arminian hates to see that God justifies, saves and keeps men outside of themselves. Their theology crumbles under this doctrine. My opinion, not that the trinity is secondary, it is a rabbit path for the JW. Even if you prove to them that Jesus IS God, this will still not dismantle their works based salvation. The doctrine of election will however burn their straw man to coal.

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Scott Bushey
Husband to Tina, father to Nicole, Danielle and Zoe
Member First Presbyterian Church of Margate PCA

Bobby,
You can get your full-length copy by just asking the JW to provide it for you. Believe me, he will be THRILLED that you wish to go thru one of their publications! The nice thing about it is that it prevents rabbit trails. I mean, after all, you are going thru HIS OWN publication, and you just want to do it paragraph by paragraph, not skipping anything (He'll think he died and went to Heaven!).

Keep in mind, do NOT let him know that you are doing research based on an outside website. They consider anything written about Christianity to be from Satan himself, unless of course it is a JW publication. Should you try to introduce outside material, you will either scare him off, or he will not come by without having a District Overseer at his side.

All you want to do during this "Trinity" study is to make a case strong enough to sow some doubt into the faithfulness of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, that's it! Not until you've done that will his mind be open enough to consider ANYTHING that you say! It might sound crazy, but believe me, as an insider I can attest to that fact.

Take it slow and just do a good job paragraph by paragraph. Slowly his eyes will become opened to Truth, that is, if you can keep others outside of the debate and encourage him to just stay on track with you. There is a real danger that he might get so frightened that what he has been learning from the WTBTS is not true, that he will run to the arms of his leadership and refuse any more dialogue with you. If they catch wind of it, they will STRONGLY encourage him to break off all contact with you and will label you a "goat-like person", not at all open to the "truth" and therefore, not just a waste of time, but a real danger to this man's eternal life!

This is serious business, Bobby. These guys are a cult, the likes of which most of us have never believed possible. I only escaped by the skin of my teeth, and that was after years of hard work!

Unless you have been a JW, its very difficult to know how to proceed and that is why there are so few success stories of actually bringing any of them to salvation. I remember the words of a pastor I met: "You used to be a JW??? Wow, I can't believe it! I've been witnessing to them for 15 years and I've NEVER heard of one being converted!"

JW's spend many hours EVERY week just learning how to counter your arguments and innoculating themselves against outside influences. They are NOT coming by with open minds!