Arius

I'm not sure if I've told this story before; like Dad before me, I find that I'm telling the same thing over and over...and blogging them too.  So, my apologies if I have.  I'm thinking probably not, as this is an embarrassing story.

About 24 years ago or so, I was studying in my home weekly with the Jehovah's Witnesses.  Each Monday, like clockwork.  I enjoyed talking about the Bible and also the debate.  I stumped them many times, and we talked for a very long time.  Sometimes, they needed to bring sheep dogs.

But, pride was a problem for me; I knew my Bible well, and had a good understanding of doctrine.  This made me a frustration for them, when compared to the regular unchurched nominal Christians that they tend to prey on.  

They don't believe in the divinity of Christ, and think that He is an angel.  This is where my pride caused me to fall, as I pointed out that angels appear and ask the humans to get up.  I claimed that Jesus never did.  They quickly and happily corrected me.

You see, what I meant was that the angles didn't want worship, as fellow servants.  Jesus never stopped the Disciples from worshiping Him.  What I said was that He never asked them to get up.  So, they read me Matthew 17:7 or some other verse.  And, there it was. 

I was furious; I knew that this didn't mean that Jesus had asked them not to worship Him.  But, that's not what I said.  I had said that He never asked them to get up.  Looking like the cat that ate the canary, they had outsmarted me.  My pride had caused me to fall.  So, it was a chance for me to learn humility.

So, what happened with the JWs?  Well, eventually they gave up on me.  Even though I warned them on day one that I would not convert, and they assured me that they were not trying to do that, they left me after a year of study with The Parable of the Sower and never returned.  I've been told by apostates (whom I knew none of while I was studying) that they do blacklist people.