Filter results by source database — Scripture Commentary, Theology, Mike Winger, or Pulpit. Click a tab to narrow to one database.

...more
All (70) Mike Winger (70)
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

Colossians 2:16-20: the JW misapplication of 'let no one judge you' to justify their blood refusal, when the passage actually condemns submission to regulations about food and drink as worldly.

Mike refutes a common JW counter-use of Colossians 2 to defend their blood doctrine.

Colossians 2:16 Colossians 2:20-22 Christian freedom food law abrogation Colossians 2:16
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

Summary of the biblical argument: blood transfusions are not eating blood; even if eating blood were prohibited, transfusions would be exempt; in Christ there is no food-purity prohibition at all; and even if there were, saving life overrides it.

Mike synthesizes the full biblical case before opening to Q&A.

blood transfusion Christian freedom greater good principle
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

The worst Watchtower error is not the blood doctrine but the false gospel — which condemns souls, not just physical bodies.

Mike closes his main argument by placing the blood transfusion issue within the broader context of JW false gospel teaching.

evangelism Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

No single alternative to blood transfusions exists for all clinical scenarios; the medical community is working toward blood independence but has not achieved it.

Response to a viewer question about blood transfusion alternatives.

bloodless surgery blood transfusion alternatives blood supply
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

Mike plans a future series on 'Jesus in the Old Testament' after completing his Romans series, and the next week's livestream will respond to Ricky Gervais's atheism arguments.

Closing announcements about upcoming content.

Romans atheism Ricky Gervais Jesus in the Old Testament
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-25

Upcoming event: speaking at 'Witnesses Now for Jesus' West Coast Conference about witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses

Mike shares an upcoming ministry engagement.

Jehovah's Witnesses Witnesses Now for Jesus evangelism to cults
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

Deuteronomy 18:22 — false prophecy as test for identifying true vs. false prophets

Mike's second Old Testament example showing God requires verification before demanding belief.

Deuteronomy 18:22 Jehovah's Witnesses prophecy evidence-based faith
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

Jehovah's Witnesses use the cross-vs-stake argument to undermine Christian Bible translations

The Watchtower organization teaches that Jesus died on a "torture stake" (single upright pole), not a cross. They use the Greek word stauros, which in its classical roots means an upright pole, to argue the Christian Bible mistranslates the word as "cross."

New World Translation Bible translation cross
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

JW argument: cross symbol is pagan; cross = apostasy for other Christians

The Watchtower extends the stake argument to claim that the cross symbol is a pagan symbol that infiltrated Christianity. Anyone using a cross is therefore practicing paganism. This becomes a recruitment device: become a JW to fix your corrupted Christianity.

New World Translation apostasy Jehovah's Witnesses
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

Watchtower quotes Greek lexicons selectively and out of context

The Watchtower's Insight on the Scriptures (Vol. 1) quotes Douglas's New Bible Dictionary (1985, p. 253) on stauros to support the torture-stake claim. Winger reads the actual quote the Watchtower uses.

selective quotation cross stauros
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

BDAG lexicon also supports lowercase-T cross when read in full

The Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich (BDAG) Greek lexicon is another source the Watchtower cites selectively. Like Douglas's dictionary, the full entry supports a crossbeam on Jesus's cross.

BDAG selective quotation cross
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

The Watchtower has more at stake in the cross debate than Christians do

Winger observes that Christians have little theological stake in the physical shape of the cross — if wrong, they can update imagery. But the Watchtower has built an entire theological argument on the shape question, making it a test of apostasy for other Christians.

apologetics cross apostasy
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

The Watchtower did not always believe the torture-stake doctrine; the change occurred in 1931

Historical evidence shows the Watchtower itself used cross imagery and taught that Jesus died on a cross until 1931. The shift from cross to torture-stake was a doctrinal change introduced by Rutherford.

cross torture stake Watchtower
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

Rutherford praised the cross before reversing; the 1932 booklet What Is Truth introduced the stake

Rutherford — the same man who would later label the cross a pagan symbol — wrote glowingly of it in Harp of God: "The cross of Christ is the greatest pivotal truth of the divine arrangement from which radiates the hopes of men." The 1932 booklet What Is Truth introduced the torture-stake image.

cross torture stake Joseph Rutherford
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

The real Watchtower error: denying the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, not just the shape of the cross

Winger argues that the cross-shape dispute, while useful in exposing Watchtower unreliability, is secondary to the far more serious Watchtower error: they deny that Jesus's death on the cross was sufficient to pay for sin.

Ephesians 2:8-9 John 19:30 justification by faith atonement Ephesians 2:8-9
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

Q&A: Does the Watchtower's New World Translation include a sign above Jesus's head on the stake?

A viewer asks whether the New World Translation includes the Gospel detail of a sign above Jesus's head, since that detail would complicate the torture-stake theory.

John 19:19 New World Translation cross torture stake
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

Q&A: Would you wear a gun necklace if Jesus had been shot? Yes — the cross symbolizes the instrument of our salvation

A viewer asks how to respond to the JW/Watchtower question: if Jesus had been shot, would you kiss a gun? Winger says he would possibly wear a gun necklace in that scenario — because the point is not the instrument but what was accomplished.

Galatians 6:14 1 Corinthians 1:18 atonement apologetics Watchtower
Mike Winger idea 2020-01-08

The JW blood transfusion example actually comes from Watchtower proclamations, not biblical interpretation. John notes the Bible's manuscript tradition makes it more reliable than modern media like video. Even supernatural direct knowledge could still be questioned by skeptics.

Additional response to Q1 — JW example and textual reliability

textual criticism textual criticism Watchtower
Mike Winger idea 2021-11-01

The real authority in JW life is not the Bible but the governing body — eight men in New York City who "formulate doctrine" and whose instructions, according to Watchtower, determine your "spiritual health and relationship with God." The NWT Bible is a doctrinally distorted translation that changes key texts about Christ's deity, and members are discouraged from researching outside Watchtower sources.

JW authority structure: governing body over Scripture; the NWT as a distorted translation

Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower
Mike Winger idea 2021-11-01

Effective outreach to JWs requires using their own sources (the Kingdom Interlinear, JW Library app, Watchtower literature) to demonstrate problems — since they are trained to dismiss all outside sources as apostate. The goal is to create goodwill first, then focus on one issue at a time without allowing subject changes, showing genuine love rather than hostility.

Practical strategies for engaging Jehovah's Witnesses with the gospel

Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower demons
← Prev Page 2 of 2 Next →