Removing Misconceptions About Jehovah’s Witnesses

WHILE engaging in their house-to-house preaching work, two of Jehovah’s Witnesses came across a man who told them he was not interested. The Witnesses departed quietly, but as they walked down the sidewalk, they noticed that the man was following them. “Stop, please!” the man called out. “I want to apologize. I don’t know anything about the Witnesses, and I believe that many people have been misinformed about you.”

The man then introduced himself as Renan Dominguez, the program chairman for the Rotary Club of South San Francisco, California. He asked if a Witness would come to the club and give a talk about the beliefs and activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses. An agenda was arranged. The Witness would speak for 30 minutes and then open the meeting up to questions from the audience. Ernest Garrett, a Witness for many years in the San Francisco area, was asked to make the presentation to the Rotary Club on August 17, 1995, and shared the following:

“I wondered and prayed over what I could say to the members of the Rotary Club, who are business and community leaders, such as bankers, lawyers, and doctors. I did a little research and found out that the Rotary Club’s published objective is to strengthen the community. So I presented the information on page 23 of the brochure Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Twentieth Century, entitled ‘Practical Value of the Good News to Your Community.’”a

“I explained that Jehovah’s Witnesses are an influence in this direction. Every day of the week, Jehovah’s Witnesses are out knocking on the doors of their community. Their desire is to influence their neighbors to have a strong family—and a strong family unit makes for a strong community. The more individuals and families Jehovah’s Witnesses influence to live by Christian principles, the less delinquency, immorality, and crime the community will have. This information was very well received by the members because it was in line with the goals of the Rotary Club.”

“Why Don’t You Get Involved in Politics?”

“When the meeting was thrown open for questions, one of the first questions was: ‘Why don’t you get involved in politics and in government?’ The gentleman who asked this question then added: ‘You know, the Good Book says: “Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar.”’ I told him that we are in full agreement with that statement and fully subscribe to it. I pointed out that the majority of people whom I have heard quote that scripture never quote the other half of it, which says: ‘Pay back God’s things to God.’ (Matthew 22:21) So, then, we must conclude that not all belongs to Caesar. There are some things that belong to God. We are faced with the matter of finding out what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God.

“I showed him that when Jesus was asked the question ‘Is it lawful to pay head tax to Caesar or not?’ he did not answer by saying yes or no. He said: ‘Show me the head tax coin,’ a Roman denarius. He asked: ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ They said: ‘Caesar’s.’ He then said: ‘Pay back, therefore, Caesar’s things to Caesar.’ (Matthew 22:17-21) In other words, pay the tax to Caesar because we derive certain services from Caesar and we properly pay taxes for these. I explained that Jehovah’s Witnesses pay their taxes and do not cheat the government out of what rightly belongs to it.

“Then I stated that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that they owe their lives to Caesar. They believe that they owe their worship to God, and this they rightly pay back to him. So when we take this stand, we do not intend any disrespect for Caesar. We obey all the laws of Caesar, but when there is a conflict, we respectfully choose to obey God as ruler rather than men. The man who had asked this question then said before the whole group: ‘I can’t argue with that!’

“We were also able to answer numerous questions about our preaching activity. Many of the members came up after the meeting and shook hands and said that they were in full agreement with us—that the family is the backbone of a strong community. We then gave each member the brochure Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Twentieth Century.

“After this meeting the program chairman, Mr. Dominguez, phoned me and asked if I would come to his office, for he had more questions to ask about our beliefs. We had a fine discussion on several scriptures. He especially wanted me to explain our position on blood. He volunteered that he would not take a transfusion himself, and he was so impressed with the information I gave him from the brochure How Can Blood Save Your Life? that he invited me to come back and speak to the club members about our position on blood. I invited another Witness, Don Dahl, to join me in this program. He goes to hospitals to discuss the issue with doctors when Witnesses have to go in for operations. Together, we thoroughly explained how we work with doctors and the hospital administration to clarify our Scriptural position and to offer successful alternatives to blood transfusion.”—Leviticus 17:10-12; Acts 15:19-21, 28, 29.

‘Do You Mean You Would Let Your Son Die?’

“After the meeting a gentleman came up and asked me privately: ‘Do you mean you would let your son die if he were in an accident and brought into an emergency room bleeding profusely?’ I assured him that I share his concern, for I had a son and lost him in the airplane explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. In answer to his question, I first told him that I would not want my son to die.

“We are not antidoctor, antimedical, or antihospital. We are not faith healers. We need the services of the medical profession. We have put our trust in God and are confident that his directions on this matter of blood are for our lasting good. God is described in the Bible as ‘the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk.’ (Isaiah 48:17) He has given his Son the ability to resurrect the dead. Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?’—John 11:25, 26.

“All that we ask the doctors to understand is that our position is a matter of conscience and that it is nonnegotiable. We cannot negotiate this matter any more than we can negotiate God’s law on adultery. We could not negotiate with God and say, ‘God, is there any circumstance under which I could commit adultery?’ I then said to this man: ‘You asked me if I would let my son die by refusing a blood transfusion. With all due respect, I would like to ask if you would let your son die in the military service of any nation?’ He answered immediately and emphatically, ‘Yes! Because that is his obligation!’ I said: ‘You would allow your son to die because it is for a cause you believe in. Allow me the same privilege with my son.’

“An interesting footnote to all of this is that the program chairman, Mr. Dominguez, invited my wife and me to dinner with him and his wife. He felt that his wife was a victim of misinformation and misconceptions about Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was right. She had been misinformed. We had an enjoyable evening, and his wife asked many questions about us and our work, which she allowed us to answer in detail. The next day he phoned and said that his wife had thoroughly enjoyed meeting my wife and me and thought we were very nice people.

“I have continued to make regular visits to Mr. Dominguez, and he manifests a keen interest in the Bible. He did say to me: ‘I would not hesitate to encourage you to contact the program chairmen of all the Rotary Clubs in the Greater San Francisco Bay area and offer to give their club a talk similar to the one you gave our club. You may use my name as a reference, and when I am contacted, I will be pleased to give you the highest recommendation to be invited as a guest speaker.’

“Rotary clubs are international. Could it be possible that other clubs in the United States and throughout the world would open their doors to presentations by Jehovah’s Witnesses?”

[Footnote]

[Picture on page 18]

Mr. Renan Dominguez, left, and Brother Ernest Garrett