At Reachout Trust conferences we don’t generally have a pre-set theme but it seems that the Holy Spirit has other ideas and one comes out of the seminars. At last year’s conference the theme running through the weekend was It’s all about Jesus, at the recent Reachout26 conference a theme of Sharing Jesus permeated the discussions. The first seminar was about apologetics, defending the faith (one of the mission aims of Reachout) and how it was all about sharing Jesus as the primary aim. The phrase “the shortest route to the cross”, came up from the discussions, by this it was meant that we should always try and steer the discussion to Jesus’ sacrifice, how we are saved through His blood, rather than talking of less important matters.
I spend a lot of time debating with Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs)
on social media (primarily on Facebook where they are very active) as this
allows me to reach a large and geographically diverse audience. I thought I would
pass on a few aspects of note about this type of evangelism.
While I do post my own original content, much of the time I simply
respond to the posts set up by JWs. Many of the posts I see are about almost
trivial matters where a discussion would lead nowhere of importance – I let
those pass me by (2 Tim 2 v 14).
When I do respond I often use a bait-and-wait method,
by this I mean I leave a comment in the hope that someone will bite. Usually,
my comment is in the form of a question; for example, many of the original
posts talk of how wonderful Jehovah’s coming kingdom is going to be so I ask “How
can I get in to this kingdom?”. The idea is either to discuss how to gain eternal
life or that the kingdom is an actual kingdom and not a government made up of
144,000 ‘anointed’ JWs. But whatever the original post is about, if I get a
response the aim is to very quickly turn the debate onto Jesus – there’s always
a way, the shortest route to the cross.
I find that many who respond do not really read what I have
actually written and seem to assume what I meant was what they have been taught
how Christians respond. In those situations, it is important to try and keep
the discussion on theme rather than wander off on another trajectory.
I have noticed certain other common traits in my face-to-face
discussions with JWs which have carried over to the social media interactions
(there is more on this in an article on the Reachout
Trust website). One to be careful of is Bible ping-pong; this is
where you support your view with a scripture (or two) and they simply respond
with a verse (or two) which they claim refute your point. It is easy to then
quote other scriptures to counteract those and they respond similarly and so on,
nothing gets achieved. To avoid that simply ask them to respond to your quotes –
are they accurate, are they true, how does the JW interpret them.
Another trait is when they twist the discussion away from
what you’re talking about to another topic with which they are more familiar.
You might have said that Christians already have eternal life and they respond
with “so you believe once-saved-always-saved?” They have been taught that
by this Christians mean we can go on and do what we like after claiming to be
saved – sin as much as we want. That’s not what is meant, so you can either put
them straight on that doctrine or simply go back to the original discussion
point, asking to consider that before moving on.
Often, you’ll get a response such as “you’re wrong”
or “you need to read the Bible” or “you do not understand the Bible”
which are not very helpful or informative comments but they do indicate that
your debating partner has run out of ideas as how to respond. A good reply is
something like “can you explain what you mean, what part don’t I understand?”,
this returns the onus on them to prove their opinion rather than you to defend
yours.
At some point you will need to decide whether the discussion
is worth continuing as you seem to be getting nowhere fast. Often the JW will
give up first and ghosts you – so be it, move on to the next discussion.
Debating over social media is a safe space, no one knows who
you are, though if your Facebook privacy is set to public some JWs will go
through your personal posts and make some comment on them. My advice is either
to have an apologetics nom-de-plume or to set your privacy to friends only.
It’s a good place to learn what you can expect when you
speak with JWs and guides you as to how you can respond. You have more time to research
your answer rather than having to have it immediately to hand. Debating face-to-face with a JW on a cart or
at your door can be very intimidating, but by practising over the internet you
can prepare yourself much better.
Always be polite, ask questions that guide them along the
route you want them to go, try be open to their responses and so encourage them
to continue. It can be very frustrating talking with JWs and doing it online
gives you the opportunity to go away and consider your response before replying
(Prov 15 v 1).
Though you may seem to get nowhere you never know exactly
what effect you’ve had, what seeds you have sown. The other advantage of this
type of evangelising is that it is not only the person on the other side of the
debating table that is listening, there could be others reading your words even
though they may not be responding. Some may join in the discussion which can
make it quite hard work, but the more the merrier!
The key point, to save time and to avoid the trivial, is to
concentrate on the shortest route to the cross; how can you get this discussion
onto Jesus and His gospel of salvation – that’s what really counts and is likely
to have the greatest effect.
Go on, have a try, you can’t lose, nothing you say will be
wasted and, who knows, you could be part of someone’s route to salvation – good
hunting.
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