If strangers come to your home and invite you to talk to them about the Bible, ask them what their organization's name is. Most likely, you have Jehovah's Witnesses in front of you. Door-to-door walking is their favorite method of spreading their teachings. They say that the Bible teaches them this. But if you start reading the Bible on your own, you will see that the apostles went from house to house only during the earthly life of the Savior. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, they walked, first of all, through those cities where there were synagogues. And the first sermons of the apostles sounded precisely here, where people knew the Law and waited for the Messiah promised by the prophets. In the synagogues, the apostles became personally acquainted with those who accepted the teachings of Christ, and later Christian communities could gather in the homes of these hospitable people for common prayer and the breaking of bread. Sometimes the disciples of Christ went to the place where the pagan sages gathered, for example, the Apostle Paul went to the Athenian Areopagus. In all other cases, the sermon was accompanied by some obvious miracle. For example, in the 3rd chapter of the book "Acts of the Holy Apostles" it is told how the Apostle Peter healed a man who was lame from birth. The people, seeing this, were filled with horror and amazement, and then... "When Peter saw this, he said to the people, 'Men of Israel! Why are you amazed at this, or why do you look at us, as if by our own power or piety we have made him walk?" (Acts 3:12). And then there was a sermon that led people to faith in Christ.

What do all these cases have in common? At the time of the sermon, the apostles already possessed the amount of authority necessary for religious conversation. In the synagogue, not everyone was allowed to preach, but only men who had reached adulthood and moreover were of the Jewish faith. The Apostles met these requirements. The Apostle Paul came to the Athenian Areopagus as a Roman citizen who knew ancient philosophy and rhetoric. In all other situations, God's miraculous providence drew people's attention to simple Jewish fishermen, who, thanks to God's help, preached with greater persuasiveness than the wisest pagan philosophers.

What about our guests who call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses? They never go to synagogues, the Areopagus, or their modern counterparts. They also have a problem with obvious miracles. They say that their main task is to draw people's attention to the teachings of the Bible. What to answer them? If we are true Christians, then we should study the Holy Scriptures, but does this mean that we should accept the spiritual guidance of all those who come to our homes with the Bible in their hands? Let us answer the question: Why should a Christian study the Holy Scriptures?

St. John Chrysostom said that it is easy for a person to be saved with the help of the Scriptures, without it it is impossible to be saved. Thus, the Scriptures are given to us primarily as a guide to salvation. Salvation, from the point of view of classical Christianity, is such a therapeutic influence of the Spirit of God on a person, which transforms his spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23). In the parable of the merciful Samaritan, the Lord appears in the form of a Samaritan, who saves a person from the violence of robbers (fallen spirits), brings him to an inn (the Church) so that a person can be healed of wounds (sins). Thanks to salvation, a person can live forever with God, in harmony with himself and with other people. Thus, Christianity understands salvation, first of all, as the healing of the soul by true knowledge.

If salvation is healing, then a preacher with a Bible in his hand is essentially a spiritual doctor. Imagine that two people in white coats appear on the threshold of your house: "Hello, we are going to treat you now!" I think that any normal person in this situation, if he does not throw uninvited guests out of the door, will ask about education, medical experience, references from previous jobs, etc. Caution in this situation is natural, but this caution concerns our mortal body. What caution, then, should we have in choosing "doctors" for our immortal soul?

Well good! And Jehovah's Witnesses will show you the Bible and tell you that it is a document that allows them to preach. And then they'll invite you to study the Holy Scriptures with them... Usually they do just that. Let's go back to the example of two wandering doctors. Imagine that you ask your preachers for a document about their medical education, and they put the "Medical Encyclopedia" on your table, quote the Hippocratic oath and offer you to do an enema for free...

Tell me, if this really happened in your house, who would you call faster, the police or the team of psychiatrists on duty? Yes. Do you know why a huge number of our compatriots in this situation agree to a "enema" of the brain. Because it seems to them as an absolutely FREE PROCEDURE. And, despite the fact that we all know that free cheese is only in a mousetrap, but we really want to believe in some exceptional miracle. And there is no miracle. Jehovah's Witnesses have a rather primitive understanding of the spiritual life. In principle, they evaluate spirituality by the number of classes conducted by an adept in order to attract new members to the Organization. If a person does not drink, smoke, swear, fornicate, lie or steal, then by accepting the beliefs of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, this person can count on the authority of teaching. If a person spreads the teachings of an organization, then the elders of the organization will turn a blind eye to some of the person's passions. And passions such as vanity and pride are even more often than not put at the service of the Organization. By my count, only one in ten Jehovah's Witnesses can say that there is no one in their family to convert. They say that the husband and children, parents and relatives of the husband - all live a real Christian life, which means that now you can go to preach to everyone else. There would be logic in this. But if you talk to your interlocutors heart-to-heart, you will find out that they most likely have a lot of problems at home. The husband drinks, the son sits at the computer all day long, the daughter lives in one "trial" marriage, then in another. This is where there is a place for a genuine Christian feat, but it is much easier to spit on "these atheists" and go to preach where no one knows what an envious, quarrelsome and duplicitous toad you really are! What changes in the life of this simple woman who became a "publisher" in the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses? Nothing in life, but almost everything in self-perception! In her house, for her husband in sweatpants with sagging knees, she is "Lyudka", "Irka" or even "Hey-you"! But in your house, she is, in a sense, a "prophet" or even an "apostle". There are many people who are ready to give up a lot of money in order to feel like an astronaut, a special forces soldier, a star of TV screens. Jehovah's Witnesses allow people to experience the most attractive journey into the world of early Christianity and to fulfill the most interesting "role" of this journey, that of an apostle or prophet. Perhaps every religion offers something similar. The peculiarity of Jehovah's Witnesses is that they do it in the cheapest, I would even say impudent, way. Tell me, why did Seraphim of Sarov pray on a stone for a thousand days and nights, when it is possible to please God and receive from Him teaching powers in a comfortable hall of kingdoms among men fragrant with triple cologne and women painted like a Christmas tree? Jehovah's Witnesses are alien to the rigorism of repentance, they are not interested in the struggle with passions and the battle against the spirits of wickedness in high places. In order to realize themselves as missionaries and apostles, they need two things: