The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Jehovah's Witness

I must warn anyone thinking of buying this book that this book was written as a witnessing tool for Christians to use when Jehovah's Witnesses knock on their door.

Before I go any further though I must ask a question. If this book was written in 2001 then why did Ron decide to use the 1961 version of The New World Translation, the Jehovah's Witness bible, When the version they use is the 1984 one? At least that was still the case when I stopped going to the Jehovah's Witness meetings in 2005.

May I suggest a new title for this book. I'm feeling that it should be called How to prove the Trinity is right to Jehovah's Witnesses As it seems that this is Ron Rhodes' main problem with JW's as he spends at least 3-4 chapters of this book trying to prove that the trinity is a bibicial doctrine. I'm not sure whether it is bibicial or not but what I do know is that how it makes God sounds like he suffers from  Mutiple personality disorder with the difference that all of them think they are God. Then again the Trinity has never made much sense to me so...

One last thing and then I will end this review. In the last chapter Ron suggests that if after telling the Jehovah's Witness about how you found Christ they are interested in having a relationship with Jesus then you should lead them into a pray like this:

Dear Jesus

I want to have a relationship with you

I know I can't save myself because I'm a sinner.

I believe you died on the cross for me. Thank you

I accept your free gift of salvation.

Thank you, Jesus

Amen

However I must point out that the Jehovah's Witnesses have a way of dealing with this kind of thing and I don't think you will like it. You see they have a book called Reasoning From The Scriptures which was published in 1989 and it is used to help them deal with certain situations when going door to door. Here is a part dealing when people ask them to pray with them.



If Someone Says—

‘Pray with me first, then give me your message’

You might reply: ‘I’m glad to know that you are a person who appreciates the importance of prayer. Jehovah’s Witnesses also pray regularly. But there is something that Jesus said about when and how to pray that may be new to you. Did you know that he told his disciples not to offer public prayers with a view to having others see that they were devout, praying persons? . . . (Matt. 6:5)’ Then perhaps add: ‘Notice what he went on to say should be of primary concern to us and what we should put first in our prayers. That is what I have come to share with you. (Matt. 6:9, 10)’

Or you could say: ‘I know that representatives from some religious groups do that. But Jehovah’s Witnesses do not, because Jesus instructed his disciples to go about their work of preaching in another manner. Instead of saying, “When you enter a house, first pray,” notice what he said, as found here at Matthew 10:12, 13. . . . And see here in verse 7 what they were to talk about. . . . How can that Kingdom help people like you and me? (Rev. 21:4)’

Oh by the way I didn't type the part above by hand instead I copied and pasted it from my copy of the 2003 Watchtower CD-Rom that was given to me in 2004.

As for Ron Rhodes book it is interesting to read but if you want to know about their beliefs then try something else. I will let you know if I find anything that fits the bill.

The Wonder Of Heaven

On the back of the book it says

"The Wonder of Heaven punctures the notion of a harp strumming do-nothing eternity. After glimpsing your home with God, and with people as God meant them to be, you will filled with an anticipation that make your life brighter stronger and more vibrant today"

However after finding out that the only other thing I can do is to worship God all the time I think I'd rather play the harp.

Despite that I have found this an interesting look on how some people think Heaven is like or I should say The New Heaven since that's what this book mainly goes on about.

My favourite part was pages 110 & 111 where it has a What do children think about heaven and my favourite kids vision of  heaven is the first one which says

"Michael, age 6, said of his house in heaven, "My house will be made of Reese's Cups, and filled with chocolate"

If I go to heaven I'm definitely visiting your house kid! Just make sure you have some milk chocolate there for me ok? although I don't know what a Resse's Cup is?. Let me just google that...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Is this the Reese's Cup you mean?"][/caption]

I think I've had something like that before except it was milk chocolate while I was in Florida I think.

However I do have a few gripes with the content of the book

1. Is that the same passages from the bible keep getting repeated over and over again Reverlation 21:4 being a favourite. It makes me wonder if Ron Rhodes was trying to pad the book out?.

2. This is the biggest gripe. In the chapter Postscript-An Invitation to Believe he mentions how you can go to heaven if you have a relationship with Jesus and a sample pray you can use to start it. That isn't the problem though it's what is written on the last part of that chapter Ron gives an address for Christians to write to so he can help build their faith. It just smacks to me that he's trying to make more money by doing this.

3. I only mention this as I feel that to most people this would be their idea of hell. As according to Ron there will be no sex in heaven at all. Check out this paragraph on page 137.

"Contrary to the teaching of some modern Christians I do not believe that married Christians will continue to to engage in sex in heaven. We will be similar to angels in the sense of not being married (Matthew 22:30) procreating or sharing sexual intimacy. I believe we are most accurate biblically when we banish from our ideas of heaven the various carnal and sensual pleasures of the present world. Such pleasures, which were intended only for this world of imperfection, will be replaced by others of a far superior nature"

All in All I do think this is an interesting book to read if you are curious about how some people see Heaven but please don't take it too seriously as really no one knows what happens when we die not even Ron Rhodes.

Observations On The Bible Genesis 4-6

13 May 2009
Genesis 4-6

Genesis 4:9-10
9 Later on Jehovah said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” and he said: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 At this he said: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground
Ah maybe Jehovah is pretending he doesn’t know where Abel is to see wherever Cain is honest or not?

Genesis 4 :11-15
11 And now you are cursed in banishment from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hand. 12 When you cultivate the ground, it will not give you back its power. A wanderer and a fugitive you will become in the earth.” 13 At this Cain said to Jehovah: “My punishment for error is too great to carry. 14 Here you are actually driving me this day from off the surface of the ground, and from your face I shall be concealed; and I must become a wanderer and fugitive on the earth, and it is certain that anyone finding me will kill me.” 15 At this Jehovah said to him: “For that reason anyone killing Cain must suffer vengeance seven times.” And so Jehovah set up a sign for Cain in order that no one finding him should strike him

Hold on there seems to be a inconsistency here. I think Jehovah was way harsher with Cain’s parents for eating fruit then he is with Cain murdering his brother. Sure he curses Cain’s crops the same as with his parents but Jehovah actually protects Cain from someone murdering him by setting up a sign. Maybe Jehovah has softened a little?. And again how can someone hide from God when he’s everywhere?

Genesis 4:16
With that Cain went away from the face of Jehovah and took up residence in the land of Fugitiveness to the east of E´den
I thought that Cain’s parents were thrown out of Eden? So how can Cain go to the east of Eden?

Genesis 4:17

Afterward Cain had intercourse with his wife…

Ah now here’s a question where did Cain find his wife? One theory is that Cain actually married his sister but there has been no mention so far of Adam & Eve having any daughters. Come to think of it there’s no mention of Adam and Eve’s third son Seth either. Maybe there were two sets of men and women which might explain why it seemed that male and female were created on the 5th day and then again after the 7th day? But then that wouldn’t match up with Eve being the mother of all things.

Genesis 4:25
And Adam proceeded to have intercourse again with his wife and so she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, because, as she said: “God has appointed another seed in place of Abel, because Cain killed him
Ok so here’s Seth but no sign of any daughters though unless they are not considered important enough to mention?

Genesis 5:4
4 And the days of Adam after his fathering Seth came to be eight hundred years. Meanwhile he became father to sons and daughters.

So Adam and Eve did have daughters but it appears this was after Seth was born so Cain would have had to wait a while before having intercourse if his wife was his sister.


Genesis 6:2,4
2 then the sons of the [true] God began to notice the daughters of men, that they were good-looking; and they went taking wives for themselves, namely, all whom they chose 4 The Neph´i·lim proved to be in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of the [true] God continued to have relations with the daughters of men and they bore sons to them, they were the mighty ones who were of old, the men of fame

Image via Wikipedia

The Nephilim appear to be part human and part angel. However it doesn’t say anything about them being giants or about them hurting people like I read in “my book of bible stories” as a child but they may still be very strong as it says they were the mighty ones.

Genesis 6:3
After that Jehovah said: “My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years.

It looks like we’re really gotten into Jehovah’s bad books since then since you rarely hear of anyone living anywhere near 120 years now-a-days.

Genesis 6:5-7
5 Consequently Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. 6 And Jehovah felt regrets that he had made men in the earth, and he felt hurt at his heart. 7 So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, from man to domestic animal, to moving animal and to flying creature of the heavens, because I do regret that I have made them

Oh dear besides the angels mating with humans I wonder what else they did to Jehovah regret ever creating them?. I mean a child may do something that a parent doesn’t approve of but that usually make the parent regret having the child!.

Genesis 6:11-13
11 And the earth came to be ruined in the sight of the [true] God and the earth became filled with violence. 12 So God saw the earth and, look! it was ruined, because all flesh had ruined its way on the earth. 13 After that God said to Noah: “The end of all flesh has come before me, because the earth is full of violence as a result of them; and here I am bringing them to ruin together with the earth.

Ah so it’s the violence that’s bugging Jehovah and how does he decide to deal with it? By wiping everything of the earth. I take it that Jehovah doesn’t see the hypocrisy with that?

Genesis 6:17
17 “And as for me, here I am bringing the deluge of waters upon the earth to bring to ruin all flesh in which the force of life is active from under the heavens. Everything that is in the earth will expire
The word cruel comes to mind here I mean Jehovah made us with free will right? And it seems he punishing them for using it

The Fact On Jehovah's Witnesses

I had brought this book on Amazon thinking that this would be something more neutral compared to the other books I have ordered on religion. That was until I Googled the publishers of this book Harvest House and went on their website and found that all they sold was books from Christians to Christians. Have a look on their website here to see what I mean.

Despite that I was still interested in reading this as I'm an ex Jehovah's Witness myself I wanted to see how much fact there was in this book and for the most part I feel they have most of the facts right.

Like they don't believe in the trinity
They believe that the Watchtower Socialaty is God's organisation on earth
They don't accept blood transfusions
They don't celebrate things like birthdays, Halloween, Christmas etc

However what I think could have been a good little book on Jehovah's Witnesses was recked for two reasons

1. Is that they showed their bias in the very first page of this book by stating.

"Through their aggressive door-to-door proselytizing and authoritarian leadership"...

By using the word authoritarian it appears they have already make up theirs minds about the nature of Jehovah's Witnesses.

2. Because of the last section of the book where it tells Jehovah's Witnesses that are reading the book to say a certian prayer so they can be "saved".

All I have to say to the authors is if a Jehovah's Witness came to your door and told you about Paradise Earth and told you how you could be there to enjoy it by having lots of bible studies and going to meetings Would you do that? No? then why do you except them to accept your beliefs?.

So if you are looking for a book telling you what Jehovah's Witnesses believe then I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Oh and I must warn you this book is only 93 pages long and that is if you include the notes at the end of the book.

How to Profit from the Rapture

For those of you that aren't familler with The Rapture then it is basically that some Christians believe that before Armegregdon starts they will be lifted to Heaven by Jesus and be spared of God's anger on the world.Or you can just look it up on wikipedia.

Now that you know what it is you can now learn how to make a huge profit of the Rapture.

For instance on Page 23 it gives a idea of how to make a profit on using photos or videos you've taken off people floating up to heaven and sell on the internet. If there is an internet by then.

Anyway I think this book is a riot! I love how the authors poke fun at the concept of a rapture. So it's 9 stars for me.

If you do decide to buy this book then please know that it is meant as a joke so there are no promises that any of the tips & tricks in this book will actually work.

Have Fun!

Observations On The Bible Genesis 1-3

Since May this year I have been reading the bible on and off and have also made notes on passages that interested me for one reason or another and I am going to gradually upload them onto here.

The bible I am using is The New World Translation which is the bible that Jehovah’s Witnesses use. I’m not a Jehovah’s Witness myself but have kept the bible from my time there as a teen and also this bible is the only full bible I have so this is what I’ll be using.

Here are my observations on Genesis chapters 1-3


12 May 2009
Genesis 1-3

Genesis 1:6
“…and let a dividing occur between the waters and the waters”

Ok between the waters and the waters?!. I think these guys need a new editor!

Genesis 1:21
“And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters…”
Does this include the Loch Ness?

That’s odd in Gen 1:27 it says that God made male & female on the fifth day yet in Gen 2:7 it says that on the 7th or after then he made man out of dust then in verse 21-22 God takes his rib and makes woman with it.

Genesis 2:17
“But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die”

Ahem I think someone is telling porkies here as in Gen 3:6-7 they do eat the fruit and the only thing that happens is that they are ashamed of being naked they surely don’t die the very moment they eat it. And anyway a talking snake?. Um maybe Eve was the first Dr Doolittle?

Genesis 3:9
“And Jehovah God kept calling to the man and saying to him: “Where are you?””

I thought God was everywhere so how can Adam & Eve hide from him?

Genesis 3: 16-19
“16 To the woman he said: “I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.” 17 And to Adam he said: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and took to eating from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. 18 And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return”

Isn’t Jehovah’s punishment a little harsh here. I mean not only do they get kicked out of Eden but he makes it hard for them to grow food and makes it painful for Eve to give birth. All that for eating some fruit.