The Bible vs. The Watchtower

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AT YOUR DOOR

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying,

‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the

Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;

and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

Matthew 28:18-20

Followers of the Watchtower will never comprehend the true gospel of Christ until the veil of Watchtower deception is removed from their eyes, hearts and minds.  But how do we reach them?  First, we must understand who is orchestrating the deception – Satan.  As the Apostle Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 4:4:  “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  So it is really Satan’s deception that must be exposed.

With this in mind, there are three ways we can penetrate this cloak of deception.  The first is prayer … that the Holy Spirit opens the hearts and minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses, because God is the only one capable of this.  The second is awareness … knowledge of the underlying sources that create this thriving deception (revealed in this book).  And the third is compassion … a heartfelt desire to share the gospel of Christ to these sincere but spiritually lost people.

It is also important to understand that the Watchtower’s indoctrination process is primarily designed for the purpose of creating disciples who will actively, if not aggressively, promulgate Watchtower theology.  The Watchtower directs its followers to “come to Jehovah’s organization for salvation.”  Watchtower (November 15, 1981), pp. 16-17.  However, the salvation they offer is not guaranteed and is contingent upon works rather than God’s grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  As a result, Jehovah’s Witnesses undertake the mission of demonstrating their faithfulness to the Organization through their actions, and they spend their lives purposefully working to earn their salvation.  One of their most recognized activities is knocking on doors, which they do in accordance with Jesus’ command that we go forth and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).  Although Jehovah’s Witnesses bring a different gospel to our doors, they nonetheless obey the Great Commission.  Certainly, we can admire their dedication and learn from their demonstration of faith.

Jesus has instructed us, as Christians, to spread the gospel and make disciples; however, we often overlook the fact that this is a divine commission, easily losing sight of how vitally important it is.  More to the point, we forget that our failure to share the Word can have grave consequences for those who have never heard it, as the Apostle Paul reminds us:

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THE WATCHTOWER’S AUTHORITY

Jehovah’s Witnesses are drawn to and rely upon four major claims of divine authority by the Watchtower Organization.  These claims are profound and compelling in that they establish the Watchtower as God’s sole instrument on earth, thereby requiring that their followers accept and obey the Organization’s teachings unconditionally.  In fact, these four sources of Watchtower authority will form the backdrop for our analysis of whether key doctrinal positions introduced by the Organization are supported by the Bible.

1.  The Watchtower magazine is God’s Word

First, the Organization represents that the Watchtower magazine is God’s Word.  During a 1943 New York Supreme Court case entitled Moyle vs. Franz, et al., in which Olin Moyle sued the Watchtower Organization and several of its officers for defamation, Nathan Homer Knorr, then-President of the Watchtower, testified on this subject as follows (at Section 4421, page 1474 of the trial transcript):

Question: But you don’t make any such statement, that you are subject to correction, in your Watch Tower papers, do you?

Answer: Not that I recall.

Question: In fact, it is set forth directly as God’s Word, isn’t it?

Answer: Yes, as His word.

Question: Without any qualification whatsoever?

Answer: That is right.

This sworn testimony is clear – the Watchtower magazine (here referred to as “papers”) is God’s Word.  Moreover, the content of the magazine is not subject to correction.  In essence, since God’s Word is infallible, any statements made in the Watchtower magazine are also infallible.

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