So I'm standing at the bus stop this morning waiting for the bus (which was 15 minutes late), trying to soak in as much of the weak winter sun as possible, when a nice man in his 40's told me "Good morning!" In his hand was a magazine entitled "Awake!"

Awake! is a publication of the Jehovah's Witnesses. A year ago I was at the same bus stop and a nice lady who was working for the Lord gave me the magazine. At that time I wasn't sure, although it quickly became apparent after reading it. I spent the next few days reading and analyzing it. All-in-all, Awake! is pretty clean of heretical doctrine. Although there are a few small areas that might raise a caution flag, it is far from enough to condemn them, as I can imagine a Christian I agree with making the same missteps of rhetoric. From what I've read from apologetics books, the juicy, heretical stuff is brought forth in their private "Bible studies."

So, with this prior knowledge of Awake!, I told him I wasn't interested. Feeling that wasn't enough, I added I was a Protestant. Here's a rough reenactment of the dialog that ensued:

Jehovah's Witness (JW): "Protestant? So you are not Catholic?"

Christian (C): "Yes. I came to Christ a few years ago. I'm not interested in Jehovah's Witness. I studied their, excuse me, your doctrine and found it to be non-Biblical."

JW: "Can you tell me one doctrine?"

C: "For instance, the divinity of Jesus. Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe Jesus is God."

JW: "What if Jesus told you. Would you believe what Jesus said?"

C: "Yes, I would believe whatever Jesus said."

JW: "What does John 8:28 say?"

C: "Gee, I wish I had more of the Bible memorized...."

JW: "Oh, you've got your Bible with you."

C: "'So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.'"

JW: "Good, now flip two pages ahead and read what John 10:29 says."

C: "'My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.'"

JW: "So what does that tell you? There is only one God.  Is Jesus a liar?  Are we to worship two gods?  Think about it.  Anyway, good day to you."

I could have responded with John 1:1 and John 1:14, for these verses were on the tip of my tongue, or upon further thought, other verses in the same chapters he cited where Jesus affirms his divinity, but I had two things working against me. One, it was morning; my brain simply refuses to work properly then. Two, I'm finding I'm horribly inept at verbal debate; I can dance with my fingers, but not with my tongue. Really, I allowed him to win, for I did not even swing a punch and he threw two.

But at any rate, what is it to "win?" I've read that Jehovah's Witnesses, when confronted with an expert debater, are instructed to retreat, for their job is not to debate.

After the Jehovah's Witness left (he never gave his name), a future bus rider came over and said essentially the same thing: "Do not entertain them." It turns out he is a Christian! We talked until the bus arrived. I was still struggling with my head full of mothballs. He's Indian, grew up with two Christian parents, although the father converted to Christianity from Hinduism and is now displaying strong fruits. He attends a Baptist church near Olney. I told him I would probably visit, and I think I will, since my church meets in the evenings, leaving mornings open for me.

This little curse-blessing came on the heals of me lamenting over a poor performance last night with me witnessing in a chat room. The poor performance had me all screwed up inside ever since then. This morning's experience wiped that away. I'm still not sure how I could have handled the conversation with the Jehovah's Witness better, except perhaps by showing him more love. I do need to memorize scripture more, and I really need more practice in oral debate. In hindsight, I was even a tad "cold" to my new Christian friend. I want to blame it on the mothballs in my head, but I hesitate to do so -- maybe it's me.

There's an active and costly spiritual war out there right this minute. I need to wake up.