Some Questions for Jehovah's Witnesses

I've had several opportunities to talk to Jehovah's Witnesses lately. To help you in working with these folks, I'm going to list below a number of questions that you could pose to them. The idea of the questions is two-fold: first, that you would reflect on how you would answer them yourself; and second, to demonstrate that many of their beliefs are highly questionable and should raise doubts in their own minds about their teaching.

1. Are you saved?
2. Are you in Christ?
3. Are you born again?
4. Are you going to heaven?
5. Are you sure of eternal life?
6. Do you know that Jesus is Jehovah?
7. Do you know that the 144,000 are Jews?
8. Are you sure your sins are forgiven?
9. How many gods are there? If one, then how do you explain the New World Translation of John 1:1?
10. Regarding the Holy Spirit, how can someone grieve an impersonal "active force"? (Ephesians 4:30)
11. Haven't Jehovah's Witnesses had a number of false time-of-the-end prophecies?
12. How many years should a person study ancient Greek before he is competent to translate the New Testament? (The NWT translation committee had only one person, Fred Franz, who knew any Koine Greek at all, and he had only two semesters.)
13. Do you think it is safe to trust your eternity to a group of people (the board of directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society) who at any time can change their minds when deciding religious matters, and in fact have already done so many times in the past?
14. Why are you willing to trust an organization that prevents you from checking out its own history?
15. Why do you claim that Jesus was nailed to a stake with his hands together, when even the NWT admits that "nails" (plural) were used? (John 20:25)
16. Why are your members strongly encouraged to shun their families who are not Jehovah's Witnesses, when the Bible says we should try to win over unbelievers through our conduct? (1 Peter 3:1)
17. [If applicable] I once had a blood transfusion. Can I still become a Jehovah's Witness? If yes, then why would I be excluded from having eternal life if I were to have another one?
18. The Bible not only speaks to us today, but also did so to its original audience. How do you think the original audience would have understood Acts 15:20, particularly the phrase "abstain from blood"? Could they really have been referring to blood transfusions, a medical procedure that would not be developed for 1,900 years?
19. The ninth Commandment reads "You must not testify falsely as a witness against your fellowman." (Exodus 20:16). Why are you following the teachings of a man (Charles Taze Russell) who claimed in court to be able to read Greek, but was actually unable to do so?
20. Why do you teach that there is no Hell--that the non-Jehovah's Witnesses who die are merely annihilated--when the Bible refers to Hell so frequently (Luke 16:19-31, Lazarus and the Rich Man, for instance)?

Credit belongs to two of our church members, Vincent Brattin and Dwayne Reid, for assisting me in compiling this list of questions.