A Post-Modern-Universalists-Jehovah’s Witness

Location: Downtown Chattanooga

This morning was a bit colder than it has been in few weeks past so I really didn’t think anybody would be up for talking. Oh, man was I wrong. I think my ears have been yapped off!

Downtown Chattanooga has lots of Jehovah’s Witness that pass out Watchtower magazines. As I rounded one corner a JW friend of mine (Leonard) meet me and said hello. From there he began a chat with me about why he was out on the streets.

He said, “I don’t have any right to impose on your freewill of choice. So I can’t criticize you and you can’t criticize me”. To that I asked him, “So, by criticize do you mean that you can’t tell me that I’m wrong and I shouldn’t do the same to you?”

“That’s right!” he said.

“Ok.”, I said, “but am I right about Jesus?” He said, “I can’t tell you that”

“Why not?!” I asked him. He told me that only the Bible can tell us right from wrong. True the Bible does set the standard for right and wrong but….I continued, “So would you tell a Muslim that he was wrong?” He just shook his head no. “What about a Buddhist?” He just shook his head no again.

So I said “Ok, what about this. What if I said that I believed in the great god of Krunyan Flap (that is just one of my silly words) and I believe that if I eat 7 Krispy Kreme doughnuts every Tuesday night I will live forever with the great god Krunyan Flap. Would I be wrong?”

You are not going to believe this, but I promise he just shook his head no. What!? The conversation soon ended as I warned him of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23.

I continued down the sidewalk and I noticed a JW that I had never seen before in the downtown Chattanooga area so I decided to walk across the street and engage him in a conversation. His name was Lee. I began to ask him a series of questions to get an idea of his theological understanding. Just like all JW’s he was all over the place.

Lee talked and talked and talked. Did I mention he liked to talk? I had to press just to get him to even talk about the 10 Commandments and when I did “whoosh!” he went down another rabbit trail. I finally convinced him he was a liar and a thief, but he did not admit to blasphemy. He said saying God’s name in vain is not blasphemy and began to get into a lengthy theological presentation of what blasphemy is really all about.

So, I point-blank asked him, “Lee, if I say GD is that blasphemy?” Brace yourself for this one, Ok? He said it wasn’t. That’s right, he said it was not. So I confirmed “Lee, are you telling that I can say GD and it is ok?” He repeated that it was not blasphemy. How could anyone who claims to know God, theology aside, make that type of statement?

For some reason he began speaking about the Garden of Eden. He asked me why God would put the tree in the Garden. I answered him that true love demands a choice and because God loves us he gave us the choice to love and serve Him out of free will. I also told him that it was in God’s prearranged plan for the fall to happen. God knew it would happen and He created us anyway.

He stopped me right there and said “Are you saying that God knew Adam would sin when He put them in the Garden?

I replied with “Uhhhhh, yes. He is God. Doesn’t God know all things?” Lee then said, “Why would God go through all of this if He knew we were going to sin against him?”

At this point I politely packed my stuff because it was time to get to work, but before I left I told him. “Lee, you are unreasonable. You have broken God’s law and He is going to judge you in righteousness. That is His standard, not ours. I would like to talk to you again, but you are going to have to keep quiet some and listen. I hope you have a good day.” We shook hands and parted ways.

So I guess the Watchtower is teaching that God does not know all things. Wouldn’t that mean that God is lacking something, that He would be imperfect? I also learned that JW’s shouldn’t tell anybody that they are wrong. If a Muslim isn’t wrong and a Buddhist isn’t wrong then why in the world have the Jehovah’s Witness religion? If everyone if right and we shouldn’t tell anybody that they are wrong. What’s it matter anyway? This is something new…a Post-Modern-Universalists-Jehovah’s Witness.