“Door-to-Door”; is that really what counts?
Jehovah’s Witnesses proudly point to their door-to-door work as fulfilling scriptures like Matthew 24:14;
And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.
Even though it is provable and measurable that many Christian groups have ministries, spreading the Gospel of Christ, distributing Bibles and baptising in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, a faithful Jehovah’s Witness will be quick to point out that they alone go from house-to-house and door-to-door, as per the 1st C model;
Acts 5: And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus
Acts 20: while I did not hold back from telling YOU any of the things that were profitable nor from teachingYOU publicly and from house to house.
This is the argument used to ‘prove’ that Jehovah’s Witnesses alone are the true Christians and that their ministry alone is the only one approved by Christ.
Witnesses take enormous pride that their organisation, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, does not use modern communication tools like television, radio or internet video sharing sites like YouTube. They instead rely heavily on going from house-to-house.
Much can be made of this claim and various arguments can be formed to address their boasts. For example, one could cite Jesus’ words in Luke 10:7;
Do not be transferring from house to house.
It would seem it was never Jesus’ plan that his followers - Christians - go from house-to-house. This is a difficult and uncomfortable verse for Jehovah’s Witnesses to deal with.
However, we’re not going to get in an argument about the validity of placing such a high level of importance, and thereby expending so many hours, on this one ‘delivery mechanism’.
Rather, we’re going to dwell on what happened after the door-to-door ministry in the 1st C. You see, it could very well be that the Jehovah’s Witness monopoly on Christ’s approval falls apart as soon as the door they’ve been knocking has been closed. Either Jehovah’s Witnesses follow the entire model of 1st C Christian preaching of the good news, including the content of the message, or they lose the right to claim absolute divine approval.
So, what happened in the 1st C when a person heard the Gospel message? The Bible doesn’t leave us guessing.
Acts 2: Now when they heard this they were stabbed to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Men, brothers, what shall we do?”
After hearing the true Gospel, the Jews wanted to know what would and should happen next. Peter answered them;
Verse 38 “Repent, and let each one of YOU be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of YOUR sins, and YOU will receive the free gift of the holy spirit. For the promise is to YOU and to YOUR children and to all those afar off, just as many as Jehovah our God may call to him.” And with many other words he bore thorough witness and kept exhorting them, saying: “Get saved from this crooked generation.” Therefore those who embraced his word heartily were baptized, and on that day about three thousand souls were added.
It’s very clear from this passage of the Bible that the 1st C model of preaching was quickly followed by baptism.
Paul received the Gospel from Jesus and was shortly thereafter visited by Ananias. Note what happened next;
Acts 9: So An·a·ni´as went off and entered into the house, and he laid his hands upon him and said: “Saul, brother, the Lord, the Jesus that appeared to you on the road over which you were coming, has sent me forth, in order that you may recover sight and be filled with holy spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes what looked like scales, and he recovered sight; and he rose and was baptized, and he took food and gained strength.
Another example from Acts, Cornelius thirsted for God and received the Gospel message from Peter, even though he was a ‘Gentile’. Peter explained that everyone putting faith in Jesus would have their sins forgiven. Notice what happens when Peter is finished preaching;
Acts 10: While Peter was yet speaking about these matters the holy spirit fell upon all those hearing the word. And the faithful ones that had come with Peter who were of those circumcised were amazed, because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations. For they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter responded: “Can anyone forbid water so that these might not be baptized who have received the holy spirit even as we have?” With that he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
What an experience! While Peter was still preaching to them, these men became filled with the gift of God’s holy spirit and immediately were baptised.
Let’s summarise;
- the Gospel message was preached wherever people were
- baptism and acceptance by God followed immediately
Now let’s compare the 1st C Christian model with the Jehovah’s Witness model and bear in mind, Jehovah’s Witnesses claim they alone are closest to the 1st C Christian way of preaching and they alone are approved by God.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are encouraged to start ‘Bible studies’ while on the door-to-door ministry. These Bible studies follow a model of spending many weeks with the interested person, but it’s not actually the Bible that’s studied. Rather, the Watch Tower Society stipulate that to be accepted by God a person needs to study 2 of their printed publication. So, the person studies a book called “What Does the Bible Really Teach?”. This can take several months.
By the time they’ve finished studying this book they will have received a thorough indoctrination into the ‘unique beliefs’ of Jehovah’s Witnesses, including teachings such as 1914 and the acceptance of blood fractions, along with the necessity of door-to-door preaching. If by this point the interested person wishes to dedicate his life to serving God he has to meet with 3 elders who will, one at a time, cover 100+ questions in another Watch Tower Society publication. If the elders are satisfied with the interested persons answers to these questions, they will be considered ‘qualified’ to be baptised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
However, baptism will not take place immediately. Rather, the interested person will have to wait until either a Circuit Assembly or District Convention, at which point they will be asked to answer two further questions;
- On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?
- Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with God’s spirit-directed organization?
Having answered yes to these questions, candidates are in a ‘right heart’ condition to undergo baptism as a Jehovah’s Witness.
So, while Jehovah’s Witness boast that they alone match the 1st C Christian model of door-to-door preaching and are thus alone approved by God, their argument completely falls apart when we look at what happens after the door-to-door ministry. Rather than a person being free to be baptised and received by God immediately after learning the simple Gospel message of the Bible, Jehovah’s Witnesses require a lengthy study program of Society publications, a 3 hour questioning session with elders covering over 100+ pre-assigned questions and a wait of several weeks or months until the next approved baptism slot.
Compare the hoops the Watch Tower Society require a person jump through before they can be considered approved by God with the beautiful simplicity of how it was done by the true Christians of the 1st C;
Acts 16: But about the middle of the night Paul and Silas were praying and praising God with song; yes, the prisoners were hearing them. Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the jail were shaken. Moreover, all the doors were instantly opened, and the bonds of all were loosened. The jailer, being awakened out of sleep and seeing the prison doors were open, drew his sword and was about to do away with himself, imagining that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying: “Do not hurt yourself, for we are all here!” So he asked for lights and leaped in and, seized with trembling, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought them outside and said: “Sirs, what must I do to get saved?” They said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will get saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of Jehovah to him together with all those in his house. And he took them along in that hour of the night and bathed their stripes; and, one and all, he and his were baptized without delay. And he brought them into his house and set a table before them, and he rejoiced greatly with all his household now that he had believed God.
