DECEPTIVE APOLOGIA B. J. Kotwall
(Investigator 63, 1998 November)
We Want Total Compliance
The article Living up to Christian Dedication in Freedom in TheWatchtower (WT) of March 15, 1998 says that the liberal Watchtower Society (WTS) allows freedom of choice to Jehovah's Witnesses (J Ws) as "free moral agents".
Disfellowshipping offenses among J Ws include accepting and donating blood for transfusions, political activity, performing military duty, smoking, voting in elections, and questioning WTS doctrines.
Let's look at what the WTS demands of members:
To please God,
then,
one's religion must
be in full harmony with the Bible and be applied in every activity of
life. – Luke
6:46-49
(The Truth
that
Leads to Eternal Life 1981
pp. 15, 130)
J Ws Are Free Moral Agents The March 15 Watchtower says:
This WTS claim is extremely dubious. When children in a school get identical wrong answers in a test the teacher knows they cheated and copied from each other.
If millions of J Ws all get identical "wrong answers" then they DID NOT "personally" arrive at them from the Bible, the "spirit" or "as free moral agents"!Previous Investigator articles have exposed hundreds of discarded WTS teachings including 26 dates on which their prophecies failed. (Investigator 56) To get cooperation in promoting hundreds of errors and have everyone immediately step into line after every revision is proof not of freedom but of control.
We Will Disfellowship Them If They Don't Comply
Rejecting blood transfusion is forced upon J Ws by explicit command and under threat of disfellowshipping:
In view of the seriousness of taking blood into the human system by a transfusion, would violation of the Holy Scriptures in this regard subject the dedicated, baptized receiver of blood transfusion to being disfellowshipped from the Christian congregation?
The inspired
Holy
Scriptures answer yes…
God's law definitely says that the soul of man is in his blood. Hence
the
receiver of the blood transfusion is feeding upon a God-given soul as
contained
in the blood vehicle of a fellow man or of fellow men. This is a
violation
of God's commands to Christians, the seriousness of which
should
not be minimized by any passing over of it lightly as being an optional
matter for the conscience of any individual to decide upon… According
to
the law of Moses, which set forth shadows of things to come, the
receiver
of a blood transfusion must be cut off from God's people by
excommunication
or disfellowshipping… As a rebellious opposer and unfaithful
example
to fellow members of the Christian congregation he must be cut off
therefrom
by disfellowshipping .
(WT January
15,1961
pp. 63-64) (Underlining
added)
The assertion in the March 15 WT that "political neutrality" is a matter of conscience is also false. WTS publications are clear about maintaining strict "political neutrality":
Since the Bible
says
that true Christians
are to be "no part of the world," Jehovah's Witnesses stayed
politically
neutral, a stand taken by Witnesses the world over. John 17:16.
(WT 1989
August
15.
pp. 22-23)
And during the
years
of
World War II when
nationalism was rampant, and one who did not line up politically was
viewed
as a hater of mankind, who were the ones to hold faithfully to the Word
of God and remain neutral? Jehovah's Christian witnesses!
(WT 1976
August l,
p. 471)
Witnesses'
fundamental
Bible-based beliefs.
These are: (1) Jehovah God is the Supreme Sovereign. (2) True
Christians
are politically neutral...
(WT 1995
August 22
p. 4)
The above quotations expose the following statements in the March 15 WT as misleading:
Having made the
truth
his own, a Christian
follows his Bible trained conscience and relies on God's direction by
holy
spirit. (p. 20) (Underlining added)
Fluent in Double-talk
All J Ws are required to complete a Field Service Report Slip of time spent going door to door and conducting so-called Home Bible Studies. (Organized to Accomplish Our Ministry 1983 pp. 100-108)
The March 15 WT says:
However, the subsequent paragraph says J Ws must report their preaching activity:
The Bible Teaches Everything – Not The SocietyThe WTS advises J Ws:
That this "personal decision" claim is false is proven – as argued above – by the way millions of J Ws unitedly keep in step with the WTS whenever it changes its doctrines and also by the WTS claim that its books are necessary to understand the Bible:
The Bible Inadequate. WTS Publications Essential
For a century the WTS has taught that the Bible cannot be understood without the WTS publications:
God has not
arranged
for
the Word to speak
independently or to shine forth life-giving truths by itself. It is
through
his organization God provides this light ... The world is full of
Bibles...
Why then do the people not know which way to go? Because they do not
also
have the teaching or law of the mother, which is light.
(WT 1957 May
l, p.
274)
Unless we are in touch with this channel of communication that God is using, we will not progress along the road to life, no matter how much Bible reading we do. (WT 1981 December 1, p. 27)
Reading the
Bible does
not in itself guarantee
that a person can properly use the information gained, any more than
reading
a book about the human brain qualifies him to be a brain surgeon.
(Awake! 1991,
October 8 p. l2)
Justifying Doctrinal Drivel Using The BibleSince J Ws are supposed to say "The Bible says..." how will they defend numerous ludicrous beliefs? For example:
1 The WTS teaches that Jehovah closed the heavenly calling to new converts in 1935 and then started gathering a secondary crowd of believers to live forever on earth!
(WT 1985 March l, p. l4; 1982 February 1, p. 28)2 The men of the Governing Body of the WTS in NewYork represent the "faithful and discreet slave" of Matthew 24:45-47!
(WT 1992 May l, p. 31; 1993 February 1, p. 16)3 Deceased anointed J W elders who are in heaven communicate "truth" to the Governing Body!
(Revelation – Its Grand Climax at Hand! 1988 p. 125)4 Jesus came invisibly in 1914 and appointed the WTS in 1919 to be in charge of Christ's earthly Kingdom interests!
(WT 1960 August l, p. 462; 1960 July 15, p. 435-436; God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached 1973 p. 350)5 The book of Revelation in the Bible reflects proceedings of WTS assemblies in the 1920s!
(Revelation – Its Grand Climax at Hand 1988 pp. 134, 140, 173; WT 1990 April l, p. 31)6 Quote:
"Does the admission of making mistakes stamp them [J Ws and the WTS] as false prophets? Not at all, for false prophets do not admit to making mistakes." (WT 1972 November l, p. 644)7 Quote:"...if the wicked system of this world survived until the turn of the century, which is highly improbable in view of world trends and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, there would still be survivors of the World War I generation. However, the fact that their number is dwindling is one more indication that "the conclusion of the system of things" is moving fast toward its end." (WT 1980 October 15, p. 31)
Bible Verses Distortedl Corinthians 1:10 in the WTS's New World Translation reads:
The WTS uses this verse to keep J Ws in line and deter them from questioning WTS dictates. Originally the verse referred to the Corinth church which was split into rival cliques. The verse does not refer to any man-made organization whose dictates Paul wanted Christians to follow blindly with conformity. Chapter one of 1Corinthians makes that evident. William Neil's One Volume Bible Commentary (1973) explains:
The Moffatt Translation of the Bible, though free and idiomatic, conveys Paul's thoughts in the verse 10 better than the WTS Bible:
If any J W points out errors in WTS doctrine the elders tell him that he should not question WTS publications and should not be "running ahead of the slave class"! To avoid disfellowshipping be is expected to continue believing and teaching what be knows is incorrect:
Conclusion The sub-heading to the March 15 WT article quoted 2 Corinthians 3:17: "Where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom."
This verse condemns, rather than supports, the WTS since few organizations and religions are more totalitarian than J Ws!
Why is it wise to examine your religion?
https://ed5015.tripod.com/
Dictionary of Jehovah's Witnesses at:
https://ed5015.tripod.com/jwdictionary/