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

Author:Ron Rhodes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736932929
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

For further information on the Watchtower view of the Trinity, consult Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, pp. 217-51.

7

Salvation Is by Grace Through Faith,

Not by Works

Though Jehovah’s Witnesses often give lip service to the idea of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, in reality they believe in a works-oriented salvation. Salvation is impossible apart from total obedience to the Watchtower and vigorous participation in its various programs. Philippians 2:12 in the New World Translation reads, “Consequently, my beloved ones, in the way that you have always obeyed, not during my presence only, but now much more readily during my absence, keep working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The Witnesses emphasize the necessity of good works. In the Watchtower magazine, one article included the statement that “to get one’s name written in that Book of Life will depend upon one’s works.”1 Witnesses are to continually be “working hard for the reward of eternal life.”2

Part of a Jehovah’s Witness “working out” his or her salvation involves faithfulness in distributing Watchtower literature door to door. Full-time “pioneer ministers” (committed Jehovah’s Witnesses) can be required to spend up to 100 hours each month preaching from house to house and conducting home Bible studies.

Salvation Not Guaranteed

Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot know for sure if they have attained salvation during this life. Only an unbending stance against sin and total obedience to the Watchtower give Witnesses any hope of salvation. Even then, they are told that if they should fail during the future millennium, they will be annihilated. However, if they faithfully serve God throughout this 1000-year period, eternal life may finally be granted.

Such a view minimizes the significance of Christ’s sacrificial death. Indeed, the Watchtower Society often cites 1 Timothy 2:5,6—“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men…”—to argue that the human life Jesus laid down in sacrifice was exactly equal to the “human life” Adam fell with. “Since one man’s sin (that of Adam) had been responsible for causing the entire human family to be sinners, the shed blood of another perfect human (in effect, a second Adam), being of corresponding value, could balance the scales of justice.”3 If Jesus had been God, we are told, the ransom payment would have been way too much.

Witnesses do speak of the need for grace and faith in Christ to be saved, and they speak of salvation as a “free gift.” But obviously grace and faith are not enough in their religion. Nor is salvation really a free gift. Former Jehovah’s Witness Duane Magnani explains it this way:

What the Watchtower means by “free gift” is that Christ’s death only wiped away the sin inherited from Adam. They teach that without this work of atonement, men could not work their way toward salvation. But the “gift” of Christ’s ransom sacrifice is freely made available to all who desire it. In other words, without Christ’s sacrifice, the individual wouldn’t have a chance to get saved.

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