Christians, in light of what the Bible says, what is the appropriate way to witness to Mormons, JW's, etc?

Question

Please use scripture to substantiate your argument, rather than human reasoning. Thank you all in advance for your replies, May God abundantly bless you!

godofmars -
If Mormonism is truly a restoration of the church, then how come so many Mormon practices cannot be found in the NT letters to the churches ? One would expect a "restored church" to restore practices which were familiar to first century Christians. No mention in the NT of temple marriage being necessary for exaltation to godhood as Mormons teach. In fact, both Jesus & Paul said that singleness was the preferred state for the believer who could accept it (Matthew 19:12, 1 Cor. 7:1 - 7), totally contrary to the Mormon teaching. So, who is right, Jesus or Joseph Smith ?
No mention either in the NT of the various Mormon rituals which, in fact, bear more resemblance to freemasonry than Christianity. Please note masonic symbols on Mormon undergarments & in their temples. Masonry is occult & Joseph Smith was a 33rd degree mason after his alleged vision of the heavenly beings.
Learn more - www.saintsalive.com
May God graciously guide you into all truth.

Jan -
Nice point about the person in a wheelchair. God doesn't only use words to reach people, although the Bible does say that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I was asking about something more specific, i.e. engaging in dialogue with Mormons, J.W's, etc. regarding the things of God & salvation...
Apologies if I was not clear enough.

Papabear -
The Mormons would probably say the same things that you do. Uniformity in and of itself does not guarantee that an organisation is proclaiming the truth about God.
The true organisation of God is not a religious group with a name tag, whether that be the Watchtower, the Jesus Christ Church of Latter day Saints, the Roman Catholic Church or the Anglican Communion. The real organisation of God is organic. People who have received God's free gift of forgiveness & salvation through faith in Christ's death to pay for our sins and His resurrection, according to the truth of the Bible. People who have been changed from within by the power of God's Spirit, ditto. They are called the "church". Your speaking is interesting in the light of something I read recently. In his book, "The Four Major Cults", the late A.A. Hoekema describes the following as one of the distinctive traits of the cult (Cont...)

...I quote, "A fourth distinctive trait of the cult is that it absolutizes itself as the exclusive community of the saved. Hutten points out that the anti - ecclesiastical polemic which is so characteristic of the cult is but the converse side of its own self - justification. Since the cult is convinced that it is the only true community of God's people, it must try to show that the church is either an apostate organization or an actual instrument of the devil... In Jehovah - Witness ecclesiology we reach the ultimate in bigotry. It is said by them that Jehovah's Witnesses alone are God's true people and that all others, without exception, are followers of the devil." Pgs. 384,385..
Sound familiar ?
May God graciously gude you into the truth of his word.

- edit - guide... oops!

Ha, ha... the guy on the terminal next to me just asked if I was a JW...

Nikita21 -
Hi. Thanks for your answer.
In regard to defining who is & isn't a Christian, it's best that I let the Bible speak for itself. In 2 John 1:10 it says, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him". In Galatians 1:9 it says, "As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed". Therefore, if the writers of the Bible made distinctions between professing Christians based upon what they believed & preached, so should Christians of today.
Paul, the man who wrote Galatians 1:9, was writing to warn the early church of a group of so -called "believers" who were teaching a message fundamentally different from the one which the risen Lord Jesus had commisioned him to preach (Acts chapter 9, Romans 1:1 -5). Paul had been chosen to proclaim the gospel ("good message") that Christ had died on the cross to (Cont...)

...pay the penalty for man's sins, risen from the dead and that through faith in Jesus, His death & resurrection, man could be forgiven by God, come into relationship with Him and recieve eternal life (Romans 3:21 - 26, Romans 10:9 - 11). Paul preached that this was a free gift from God (through genuine faith) that could not be earned (Ephesians 2:8 -10). So, when people came to the church in Galatia preaching that certain works were needed by the Christians in addition to faith to be saved, Paul responded as He did in Galatians 1:9. These people claimed to be true believers but were actually perverting the message of salvation. The "Christian" cults of today do the same thing. In addition to faith in Christ, they say that you must do other things to receive forgiveness & eternal life from God. They also deny what the Bible teaches regarding other matters. This is quite a complex issue, but I would be happy to answer any further questions you might have (Cont...)

...I'm sorry that you find people witnessing to you so annoying, but please bear in mind that some of them might be genuinely concerned about the eternal destiny of your soul. Nikita21 - what if they are right ?
May God bless you.

- Apologies for spelling mistakes, people ! -Thanks to all who took the trouble to answer.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the difference between Biblical & non - Biblical Christianity, please check out -

www.letusreason.org

TeeM -
Yet another JW quoting - not from the original source - but from the WT publication, "Should You Believe in the Trinity ?". This is obviously where you have taken the John L. McKenzie quote from. Would you care to look at the quote in the context of it's original passage ? I think you (and others) will find it very revealing. Go to www.bible.ca - keywords - "John L. McKenzie". There is also much more info on this site regarding the spurious nature of both the WT quotes & their sources in the aforementioned "Should You Believe..." publication.

Matthew 28:19 - The command to baptize in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Name in Greek is "onomah" which means authority or character. The use of the singular implies(?) what ? Authority / character shared.
John 2:19 - Speaking of the temple of his body, the Lord says that after it is destroyed, HE will raise it up. The word "I" is used in the NWT also. Who raised Jesus from the dead ? The Father, or Jesus ? Or...
Ephesians 4:30 - The command not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God: grief is an emotion. Only a person can experience emotion. Electricity is an "active force". Does electricity feel emotion ? Of course not. Please explain...
Acts 13:2 - The Holy Spirit commands Barnabas & Saul to be set apart for the work to which He has called them. Note - the text says, "set Barnabas and Saul apart for ME to the work to which I have called them" - NWT. Question - who called Paul ? See 1 Cor. 1:1, Acts 9:15 also.
May God show you mercy.

Achtung heiss -
You say that JW's believe that no salvation occurs apart from Christ, but the WT teaching merely reduces faith in Christ to a means by which opportunity is given to earn salvation, by being "perfected" in obedience to God's laws (very similar to the Mormon teaching on exaltation).
The truly Biblical teaching is that God forgives, justifies & grants eternal life to sinners based solely upon faith in His Son's death & resurrection (Romans 3:20 - 25, Romans 10:9 & 10). Anything added to that is an abomination in the sight of God. Anyone who preaches such a pseudo - gospel is actually under God's curse (Galatians 1:8 & 9). I know that I have salvation as God's FREE GIFT through faith in Christ ALONE. Do you ? Do you have assurance of salvation & eternal life ? Not according to WT teaching, you don't.
May God be gracious to you.

Pinkadot -
Thanks for your reply.
In regard to the Mormon teaching on temple marriage for exaltation being in the Bible - You didn't quote any scripture from the NT epistles to the churches. Also, how do you reconcile that teaching with the teaching on singleness by Jesus & Paul in the Bible ? They are quite obviously contrary.

Answer 1

1. Preach the Word.
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

2. Use wisdom
Matthew 10:16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

3. Be gentle
2 Timothy 2:25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

4. Use the power of God, not the wisdom of men
1 Cor 2:4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power

5. Abide in Christ and His word
John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Answer 2

Well... Jehovah's Witnesses came to my house like a month ago.

So the best way for you to witness to Jehovah's witnesses would be to just wait for them until the come preaching to your house. Then... you can ask them why they do what they do and why they take Jesus and the bible so seriously. But I don't think that will be a good idea because Jesus actually comanded his followers to preach from door to door so they will probably let you know and show you some scriptures.

I don't know... you can tell them how mistaken they are for preaching the kingdom of God and that they are wasting their time.

But you better be prepared because Jehovah's witnesses know the bible very well from beginning to end...and actually.... may have some scriptures to back up them up.


I mean, Wow, what kind of Christians are Jehovah's Witnesses! I mean... real Christians are not supposed to preach the kingdom of God! Where did they get that crazy Idea!!! Good luck!

Answer 3

You speak all of this doctrine like you know it or something, you obviously know nothing about any of these religions and you don't want to you just want to judge people for what they believe in and then attempt to degrade them and their religion. Who cares what you think and about the vile bull crap you speak. There is no appropriate way to witness to a prideful person, when you are full of pride and you chest is puffed up then you are not going to listen to anyone anyways, so why ask a question if all you are trying to do is find fault with the answer, people of secret combinations did the same thing(in the bible). So if you actually want to receive an answer to your questions then humble yourself first and hear everything instead of what you want others to hear.

Answer 4

Pinkadot pretty well says it all.
I have listed many Scriptures that show a bit of some of the things that the LDS believe in, and as requested they are ALL from the BIBLE.

We DO HOLD THE BIBLE TO BE THE WORD OF GOD AS LONG AS IT IS TRANSLATED CORRECTLY. This means we do not believe in MANS INTERPRETATION OR TRANSLATION of the Bible. ONLY GOD CAN MAKE INTERPRETAIONS AND HE DOES THIS THOUGH HIS PROPHETS.

Also for those that believe there was no falling away and they have been on Earth since the time of Jesus, please explain these verses then. Jesus is talking about his followers falling away and perverting his teachings.

As the the part of your questions saying that so many things that the LDS teach are not in the Bible, these verses also explain that. If MAN PERVERTED his teachings then they will take things out that they don't like or believe should be there. They will make it to read the way they want it to. This is why you will NOT find EVERYTHING we teach in the Bible.

Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

Amos 8:11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

John 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
66 ¶ From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

As for which Church is true, then I ask, "How many Churches are built upon the same as Jesus built his?" I only know of one church built on them.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Now here is the Jesus we believe in, which one do you believe in?

Using the apostolic and prophetic teachings as our base, Latter-day Saints believe in the Jesus who was the preexistent Word of the Father; that was the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; that was the God of Abraham , Isaac, and Jacob; that was the Only Begotten Son of God who was born to the virgin Mary in the town of Bethlehem; that was baptized by John; that healed the sick and raised the dead, that walked on water, multiplied loaves and fishes, and performed many other miracles; that set a perfect example for mankind to emulate and that all men and women are commanded to follow his teachings and example in all things.
We believe that Jesus suffered in the garden and on the cross, until he finally died as a willing sacrifice for mankind in order to bring about an infinite atonement through the shedding of his blood. After his death, we believe that he was physically resurrected and that he ascended into the heavens, from which he will come at the end of this world to establish his kingdom upon the earth and eventually to judge both the living and the dead. We believe Jesus is and was the Holy Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of the world and all those who will follow him. Finally, we believe in the Jesus who is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.

For those that say the Bible is closed and there is NO MORE PROPHECY then explain this.

Proverbs 29: 18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Numbers12:6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

And for those that also say there are NO PROPHETS BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY. So as you can see even the Prophets of old were disbelieved and mocked otherwise this would not have been said.
2 Chronicles 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
Jeremiah 1:19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Answer 5

What you are proposing becomes impossible as there is little uniformity between religions and even churches of the same religion. Consider the divisions taking place within religions over the issue of female and Gay priests or Pastors. JWs are the only church with uniformity of beliefs, not only from one church to another in the same city, but also from one to another in different countries. This is one of the reasons they are accused of being a cult, because they have achieved something no other religion, not even Jews, can match.

Just knowing them, you are witnessing something. You are witnessing how Christians should act toward each other and the world at large.

Answer 6

As to Jehovah's Witnesses, the best way I've discovered is the following.

1. Point out that according to Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion, Northern Arizona University

The NWT is one of the most accurate translations of the NT available today.

Of the 8 bibles compared only the NWT translated John 1:1 correctly as "the Word was a god"

2. Next I like to refer to several sources that clarify the doctrine of the trinity.

John L. McKenzie, S.J., in his Dictionary of the Bible, says: “The trinity of persons within the unity of nature is defined in terms of ‘person’ and ‘nature’ which are G[ree]k philosophical terms; actually the terms do not appear in the Bible. The trinitarian definitions arose as the result of long controversies in which these terms and others such as ‘essence’ and ‘substance’ were erroneously applied to God by some theologians.”—(New York, 1965), p. 899.

So trying to prove the trinity by using the bible is an error.

In The Encyclopedia Americana we read: “Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian [believing that God is one person]. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching.”—(1956), Vol. XXVII, p. 294L.

So the trinity is a deviation and contrary to the bible's teaching.

3. I like to use the bible to show that Jesus at John 10:30, is equal to Jehovah in works, and equal to human judges at Ps 82:6.

John 10:33The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."

34Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'?

35"If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

36do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

So at John 10, Jesus proves that he is God's Son, not God.

Ps 82:6 I said, "You are gods,
And all of you are sons of the Most High.

4. Then finally I like to show them that at
Rev 3:12 Jesus continued to worship God, 60 years after he was resurrected.

That at John 17:3, Jesus called his Father, the only true God.

verse 6, that he made his Father's name know.

By this time, I've really got their attention, and they are acceptable to more bible truths.

I hope these help.

Answer 7

I think the best way is to do so in a spirit of love and humility. Thats is the way the JW's I know preach none fot he horrible stories I have heard about JW's doing and saying certain thins at doors, I want to believe. Ive had good biblical discussions that make you think with JW's! COming accross as a know it all, and telling someone everything they do is wrong will not get people listening to you.

Answer 8

Are you actually asking a question or just looking for a way to "prove" to yourself Mormonism is incorrect?
Maybe you should worry about your own salvation and quit trying to prove others wrong...is that very Christ-like? I would think not.

The restoration of the gospel happened. The truth and fulness of the gospel was lost after Christ's apostles died. Truths, ordinances, Priesthoods, commandments have all been restored. You would be surprised how much of what we learn in the temple is in the bible. We also believe that current revelation from the Lord concerning his church is constantly going on. There are many references to eternal marriage in the bible, references to the 3 Kingdoms or Degrees of Glory, many many of the things we practice...it all comes down to interpretation. You interpret it one way and we interpret it through our Prophet and through our own prayers and study. I have had countless prayers answered about the divinity of the gospel, its truthfulness, and our potential in the eternities. I suggest you pray to your Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and maybe you will also receive some answers you are looking for.
Good luck.

Answer 9

Please define who you mean when you address your question to 'Christians'. I'm pretty sure that Christianity encompasses a broad range of religious tradituions, some of which it is your right not to agree with, but how can you deny that they stem from the same source? You may deny that these groups are 'misguided' in their beliefs but you cannot say that they do not have a right to call themselves 'Christian'. In answer to your question, if you're going to witness to these groups (which personally i find an incredibly annoying, aggressive and patronising practice) shouldn't you figure out for yourself the correct way to witness, and not rely on answers from other people and not bother to read the Bible yourself?

Answer 10

Both have trouble accepting somebody can be saved at the last moment. They both believe in a salvation of works. Both will become uptight if you mention this issue and proceed to read the passages concerning Jesus on the cross where He forgave one of the thieves and told him he would be in paradise this day. They will say that is an exception. Well...therein lies the art of science. If you prove something false in one instance it is false. They are both nice groups of people but the JW's are programmed and you will need more than Yahoo to learn how to address it.