The verses about God demonstrating his love through sending Jesus to be a sacrifice only make sense if Jesus is God. If Jesus isn’t God, like JWs claim, the verses would communicate that Jesus, a created being, has greater love for us than Jehovah does. However, if Jesus is God, the verses make perfect sense.
As I crested the bridge, there they sat. My hike was finished, but my opportunity to represent Christ was just beginning. At the end of the trail sat two Jehovah’s Witnesses ready to share their faith and give out more information about their church. Part of me wanted to pass them by and head home, but I decided to put a stone in their shoe, to give them something to think about.
A few years ago, I learned a line of argument to use with JWs. I call it “For the Love of Jehovah.” The point of this argument is to show that Jesus must be God based on what Scripture says about the love of Jehovah.
I approached my JW friends and asked them a series of four questions.
First, does Jehovah love human beings? “Of course he does,” they replied. We discussed how John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. I also mentioned to them 1 John 4:8–10, which says that God is love and his love was manifested through the sending of Jesus to be a propitiation for us.
After establishing Jehovah loves us, we moved on to my second question: What is the greatest demonstration of love according to the Bible? My JW friends paused for a second and then answered they didn’t know. I pointed out John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus claimed self-sacrifice was the greatest form of love. They nodded in agreement.
My third question was, how has Jehovah demonstrated he loves us? They responded by saying he sent his Son Jesus. I agreed, to an extent. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This verse along with John 3:16 and 1 John 4:8-10 explain that God’s demonstration of love was in sending his Son. However, according to Scripture, this isn’t the greatest demonstration of love. Laying down your life, not sending someone else, is the greatest demonstration of love.