Before reading this series, read my article “If
you Study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses”. That article helped
many people decide against further contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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Examining “What does the Bible
Really Teach?” (according to Jehovah's Witnesses)
The Introduction
The introduction begins in the same way that Jehovah’s
Witnesses are trained to start conversations; by mentioning doom and gloom and
all the troubles of our planet. After agreeing that this world is a terrible
place, we are told that all life’s ailments - death, illness, disabilities,
sickness, poverty - will be removed from the human condition. The Bible has the
answers to all our problems.
The “question and answer” teaching method is
introduced.
There is encouragement to “get to know your Bible” by
reading its 66 books and letters.
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For many years, the Watchtower
organisation had a scrolling message on its Brooklyn headquarters; “Read God’s
Word, the Bible, Daily”. That is commendable, but in practice, Jehovah’s
Witnesses advise against reading the Bible unless the Watchtower Society’s
publications are used to interpret it.
If you read the Bible, you will
probably become a Christian. This happened to some Jehovah’s Witnesses, who
began reading the Bible, instead of “The Watchtower”, after being challenged to
do so by Christians. It is impossible to read the Bible alone and adopt the
beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
If you read Watchtower
publications, you will become a Jehovah’s Witness. No surprise really.
Notice the number of times in the
booklet that isolated verses are used to “prove” a point. Critics of the Bible
say that one can find a verse to prove anything - e.g. much of the
justification for slavery in the Americas came from Bible texts.
The Bible is not the only source
of wisdom. Even works of fiction have wise sayings in them - e.g “There are no
conditions of life to which a man cannot get accustomed, especially if he sees
them accepted by everyone about him”. That is a wise and useful saying, is it
not? It comes from Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”.
Or “Uneasy is the head that wears a crown” (Henry IV part 2 -
Shakespeare). There are many more.
So, rather than use the Bible as
a means to confirm your own biases, read it like a book or letter and its
message will come through to you. Start with the NT which tells us about Jesus
Christ.
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Chapter 1 - What is the Truth about God? (according to Jehovah's Witnesses)
The book says;
The book says;
We are encouraged to ask questions, like a child does.
All the answers we need are in the Bible. We are assured that God cares for us,
despite all the problems in this world. Although He allows terrible things to happen,
they are not caused by God.
An illustration is used of a father and a “rebellious”
son who wants to leave home. “If he pursues a bad way of life and gets into
trouble, is the father the cause of his son‘s problems? No!“ Similarly, God has
not prevented humankind from pursuing its own bad course, but it would be
unfair to blame God for the bad outcomes. God is all-wise and all-powerful, so
he does not need to explain himself to us, but He does, out of love. God hates
things as they are on earth. He cares for us because He is a loving God.
God wants us to know Him, so he tells us his name is
Jehovah. He is the Almighty King of Eternity and the Creator. We know this
because the Bible tells us so. Although he is indeed awesome, we can get to
know God intimately as a loving, wonderful Father and friend who wants the very
best for us.
Do not let anyone discourage you from your studies. Be
like a little child. Ask lots of questions. Be eager to examine the
Bible.
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Indeed, it is essential to ask
questions when we are presented with new ideas, but they have to be the right
questions. If we ask questions which confirm our own beliefs or biases, then we
are not really examining our subject.
Try making a Google Search for
these questions; “How we know God exists“ and “Is there a God?”. You will find
very different answers!
As you continue studying with
Jehovah’s Witnesses, you will find them asking you leading questions more and
more, so that there is really only one answer to the question. That will mean
agreeing with your Watchtower teacher. It is a subtle form of mind control. If
you say “Yes” to a salesman often enough, you will buy the product.
The illustration of the father
and son is unsound. Comparing one human relationship is not at all
comparable with God’s relationship to humankind. A father may do his best for
his children within his human limitations and resources, but we are told that
God is almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful. Therefore, God must bear greater
responsibility for the disastrous conditions of this world during the last few
thousand years. This is “the problem of evil” that philosophers raise when
asking if God exists.
We ourselves would do something
about terrible conditions if we had the power, so it is an evasion of the issue
to say that “God has his reasons”. Later, your Jehovah’s Witness teacher will
tell you some very selfish reasons why God has done nothing!
The Witnesses and the Watchtower
like the name “Jehovah” and use it all the time. They have made "adjustments" to
their New World Translation Bible to include “the name” in the Old
Testament and the New. While inclusion may be justified in the
OT, it is a deliberate mistranslation to change the Greek word KYRIOS (Lord)
and insert “Jehovah”, 237 times in the NT.
The word “Jehovah” is an
anglicised, made-up name. It might be acceptable to call God “Yahweh”, but even
that is incorrect. Hebrew was written without vowels, so we cannot know the
correct pronunciation.
Jehovah’s Witnesses say that it
is more important to use “the name”, but their insistence is based on
superstition and a desire to separate themselves from main-stream Christianity (Christendom).
As they
themselves say, “If someone comes to you, talking about “Jehovah”, with what
religion would you identify them?” Now, let me ask you, “If someone talks to
you about Jesus, what would you call them?”
In the penultimate paragraph, you
are warned not to let people prevent you studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
This one sentence will start a separation of you from your friends and loved
ones, who will be rightly concerned by your involvement with this religion.
This is cult, “them and us”, mentality.
If you continue studying, without
asking Jehovah’s Witnesses penetrating questions about everything you are
taught, in a few months’ time, you will not be talking to your present friends
and you will become alienated from your family.
Further Reading: A History of God -- Karen Armstrong
Further Reading: A History of God -- Karen Armstrong
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