Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses
Sorry to ask a question again so soon, but I was just visited by Jehovah's Witnesses. They asked me a question that I didn't know how to respond to. They asked me, "How could Jesus be God if He died on the cross? Does that mean that one person of the Trinity ceased to be for three days, and that for the three days Christ was in the grave, only the Father and Spirit existed?" What is the proper response to these questions?
Not long before Jesus died on the cross, he promised the repentant thief: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). How could Jesus make that promise? The Bible teaches that when people die, their body and soul separate (Ecclesiastes 12:7). When Jesus and the repentant thief died, their bodies remained on earth, but their souls immediately went to heaven. Before he died, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
While Jesus’ lifeless body lay in the grave, his soul was in heaven. On Easter Sunday, Jesus’ body and soul were reunited in the grave.
This is what the Bible teaches. You want to be aware that the official teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead and that people have both a body and a soul.
God bless your witnessing efforts!