Battle Log
Saturday, 20 October, 2018
Posted 22 December 2018, 5:36 PM by Doug Espie. PermalinkIt was like a dream. Protestors marched in front of us. Two Jehovah’s Witnesses sat to our left. Two Mormon missionaries stood to our right. It was going to be an exciting morning in the Toowoomba CBD. Our team split into pairs and headed out.
Adrian and I went over to talk to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. D and L were a pleasant, middle-aged couple who were happy to talk. In the course of our conversation I aimed to discuss two questions: “Who is God?” and “What is the Good News?” These two crucial questions divide Christianity from its cultic detractors and the answers lead us to either worship the true Christ or to worship a false Christ who cannot save.
On the question of “Who is God?” D and L denied the Bible’s teaching on the Trinity* and instead they insisted that God created Jesus as the archangel Michael. D also said that Jesus had no power over His own resurrection. I pointed out that in John 2:18-22 Jesus claims that He will raise Himself to life:
“So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
“D” countered by saying that in Acts 3:15 it says that God raised Jesus from the dead. I said “I agree with you entirely D...so was Jesus lying when He said He would raise Himself from the dead?” D was unsure of how to answer this question, so I encouraged to him to consider the idea that perhaps God was a Triune Being after all. He then listed a number of Scriptures that he thought disproved the idea of the Trinity, but in reality they only disproved the heresy of Modalism**.
Most JW’s in my experience tend to think Trinitarians are Modalists and when I ask if they actually understand what Christians mean by “God is Trinity” they tend to reply “I don’t know and I don’t care...it’s a false belief anyway”. D&L’s response to my request was no different and so I was stuck trying to explain how John 2:18-22 and indeed all the Scriptures they brought up makes sense in light of the Trinity....a light they expressly claimed to have no interest in learning about***.
It was at this stage I realised I needed to shift the conversation. We then moved onto the topic of “What is the Gospel?” Every JW I’ve met believe that a combination of Christ’s forgiveness and a person’s good deeds will earn them a deserved place in Paradise. D&L agreed with this idea and I endeavored to show them the Good News that because of Christ’s death in our place for our sin we can all be forgiven and are declared righteous completely independently of our good deeds.
Our good deeds are the fruit...not the root... of our salvation. The presence of good deeds in our lives demonstrate that we are saved...they do not contribute in any sense to our salvation from sin. Jesus has paid it all and that is what makes His favour towards people so undeserving as us so incredible.
D&L argued that good deeds do in some way help us to merit our salvation. I asked D to read out Romans 4:3-8 with its special focus on God counting righteousness apart from works:
For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered,
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
I also asked him to look at Romans 3:28:
"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law [e.g. obeying the 10 Commandments]."
Some people might think this means that good deeds are optional in the Christian life, so I made the point to D&L that good deeds are important and necessary and that they demonstrate that we are saved. But they do not help merit our salvation in any way.
D&L grasped this and said they would like to get back to me on this topic. When our time came to a close we thanked each other for the discussion. While we disagreed on critical issues I was immensely grateful for their candor and their respectful discussion.
Meanwhile, the other team members were having some good discussions as well. Johnno and his friends from Goondiwindi travelled up to Toowoomba for the outreach and both he and Callum found themselves speaking with the protestors we’d all seen earlier. It turned out that it wasn’t a protest after all, but rather a public march of solidarity and welcome for Toowoomba’s growing refugee population.
Johnno and Callum had a few conversations with some of the immigrants who attended the march but it was rather challenging with the language barrier between them. They were able to speak with others during the day as well, such as a man on a bike who was willing to talk and also an older woman. Overall it was a good day with a number of tracts handed out and a number of good discussions were had. Please pray for this ministry and keep us in your prayers as we seek to faithfully share the Good News of Jesus with our city.
*https://carm.org/dictionary-trinity
*** To explain the Trinity, I’m thinking of printing out the ever-helpful Athanasian Shield for outreach and for home use when the JW’s/Mormons come knocking... see
****Note: This is a report of October Outreach. Reports from November and December will follow soon: