P5 When they Knock - Jehovah Witness view on salvation

2 John 10-11 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

Yesterday we saw how the Jehovah Witness view of the Bible views it to be inadequate. In today's post we want to consider what they teach on salvation and compare and contrast that to the scriptures.  To aid us in our study, I will be using the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (hereafter designated "BFM 2000") to represent the viewpoint of Bible believing Christianity. 

Biblical View of Salvation

“Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal salvation for the believer. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” BFM 2000  This statement from the BFM 2000 corresponds to such passages as John 1:12-13; John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; James 1:18

Jehovah Witness View of salvation is illogical. 

At times the Jehovah Witnesses will say on the one hand they believe in salvation by grace through faith alone. Yet they will affirm consistently their belief in needing to perform good works to gain favor with God.  Salvation in Jehovah Witness teaching is by faith and by faith & works.  Any system that tries to teach both is by default a "salvation by works" system.  Consider the two quotations below:

1. “All who by reason of faith in Jehovah God and in Jesus Christ dedicate themselves to God’s will and then faithfully carry out their dedication will be rewarded with eternal life.” Publication – Let God be true.

2. “Likewise, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe God’s promise of everlasting life for all who obey him. (Romans 6:23) We endeavor to share our faith with others, hoping that they will benefit from God’s promises. But we don’t believe that we earn our salvation by engaging in our ministry. (Romans 1:17; 3:28). Really, no human could ever do enough to merit such an astounding blessing from God. “He saved us because of his mercy, and not because of any good things that we have done.”—Titus 3:5. JW.org 

In attempting to appeal to a wider evangelical crowd, Jehovah Wintesses over the years have even used scriptures commonly used by Bible believing Christians.  Nevertheless the movement is still a false Gospel, which in reality is no Gospel at all.  

Conclusion:

Over the past few days we have compared and contrasted Jehovah Witness error with Bible believing truth and have discovered the following:

1. The history of Jehovah Witnesses demonstrates that their teachings are not new, but rather reappearances of older heresies

2. Their view of God is incomplete, since they deny the Trinitarian truth of God's nature taught in the Bible.

3. Their view of Jesus is inadequate since they deny His Deity, hence rendering Him unable to be the source of salvation.  Likewise their doctrinal system ultimately makes Jesus less than truly human, meaning that He is incapable of truly representing anyone before God,  Thus the Jehovah Witness Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.

4. Their view of the Bible views scripture as insufficient in its authority, since the Watch Tower (the Jehovah Witness headquarters) is the true authority on all matters of their life.

5. Then finally, Jehovah Witnesses viewpoint on salvation is illogical, since they try to assert a works salvation while pretending to advocate a salvation by grace through faith alone.  Any system that tries to say both is by default a works salvation system.  Hence the Jehovah Witness message is not a message of good news.  

In tomorrow's blog we will consider some tips on sharing Christ with Jehovah Witnesses with a personal testimony.  See you then!