For the majority of mainstream Christians, salvation isn’t a question. If you would ask any Christian if they were saved, they would unquestionably answer yes. Why is that? Well, there are many verses in the bible that show how one can be saved.

 

Romans 10:9

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
– New International Version

 

Acts 4:12

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
– New Living Translation

 

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
– English Standard Version

 

Acts 16:31

They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
– New American Standard Bible

 

John 10:9

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
– King James Bible

 

Of course, there are scores of other scriptures that talk about salvation for followers of Christ Jesus. These are just a few. The bible makes no doubt how one can attain salvation, and that one can be 100% sure of it.

On the other hand, if you were to ask a Jehovah’s Witness if they were saved, very few if any would answer unquestionably yes, like other Christians. When I was a “no-blood card carrying” member, I was asked this same thing several times in the door to door preaching work. The best I could honestly answer is “I don’t know for sure.”

Why would millions of professed Christians who call themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses hesitate, or have reservations when answering that question?

The main scripture that Jehovah’s Witnesses would use to explain that their salvation is not guaranteed is the following scripture.

Zephaniah 2:3

Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, Who observe his decrees. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you will be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.
– New World Translation

This verse is used many times by Jehovah’s Witnesses to disprove a “once saved, always saved” doctrine that they believe Christians have. Let’s look at this verse in its context, with the rest of the chapter. It seems that this chapter is a warning to the surrounding nation of the Israelites who were living in Jerusalem. Nothing is mentioned in this chapter about Armageddon, nor of an “end of the world scenario” that the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in.

Not only is their salvation in question, they must show works to justify their salvation. It’s plastered all over their literature and now in their internet broadcast shows. Even lukewarm Jehovah’s Witnesses will not survive Armageddon and enter the coveted paradise. Yet, the bible clearly contradicts a works-based salvation. One can earn a reward, but one cannot earn a gift. If salvation is a gift from God, no amount of preaching and meeting attendance will earn salvation.

I truly feel sorry for Jehovah’s Witnesses. They work so hard and are, for the most part, honest, law abiding citizens who care for themselves, and try to help others. They attend 5 weekly meetings, they study for those meetings, they participate on those meetings and prepare speeches, they go preaching as often as they can, they attend two 1-day assemblies and one 3-day convention each year, they help maintain and build new kingdom halls, and the list doesn’t end there. Yet despite all of those works, all that their religion can guarantee for them is a proverbial carrot at the end of the stick and say maybe you will make it to paradise.