1. Russell warned of organizations, the type that Watchtower ended up becoming. This is significant because the Watchtower did actually call him a prophet.
· “Beware of ‘organization’. It is wholly unnecessary. The bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others’ consciences and do not permit others to bind yours…” (Watchtower 1895 Sep 15 p1866)
· “We are in fellowship with all Christians in whom we can recognize the bible as the only standard. We do not require them therefore, that all shall see just as we do in order to be called Christians, realizing that growth in both grace and knowledge is a gradual process.” (Watchtower 1882 Apr reprints p344).
· “The test of membership in the New Creation will not be in any earthly organization, but union with the Lord as a member of his mystical body.” (Millenial Dawn-The New Creation 1904 p74)
· “We always refuse to be called by any other name than that of our Head-Christians-continually claiming that there can be no division among those continually led by his spirit and example as made known through his word.” (Zions watchtower 1883 Mar p6).
· “The endeavor to compel all men to think alike on all subjects, culminates in the great apostasy; The union of the early church, based upon the simple gospel and bound only by love, gave place to the bondage of the Church of Rome a slavery of God’s children, from the degradation of which multitudes are still weak and suffering.” (Zions watchtower 1893 Sep p264).
· One thing JW’s have a hard time doing is communicating the exact difference between Christians and themselves. The ACTUAL difference stripping away all hyperbole and slander about Christendom, is the fact that we do not obey their institution.
2. Watchtower appoints itself in 1919 (soon after Russell’s death)
· With the faithful and discreet slave parable. Which seems like a nod to Joseph not a prophecy. And a lesson on integrity rather than a prophecy.
· One can see how circular this is. They say you should trust them because God has chosen them, but how do we know God chose them? Because they said so.
· “There are many reasons to have complete trust in the slave class. First and foremost, Jesus has appointed them over all his precious belongings. This is a clear indication that he has complete trust in them.” (Organized to do Jehovah’s Will 2005 p18).
· “The faithful and discreet slave. A small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence. Today, these anointed brothers make up the Governing Body.” (Watchtower 2013, Jul 15 p22).
· Another red flag is that they haven’t even been able to be consistent on their interpretation of this parable. First, they though it was the 144k, then Russel, then Jesus + the 144k, then back to the 144k, then in 2012 the governing body! “There is no point in trying to force an interpretation of the parable. Self-deception is of no benefit and is spiritually damaging…Thus we see a clear scriptural basis for saying that all anointed followers of Christ Jesus make up God’s ‘servant’ with Jesus as its Master.” (Watchtower 1981 Mar 1 p24-26)
· There seems to be very little point to them existing since they admit they are “neither inspired nor infallible” and they justify their mistakes by saying “Jesus did not tell us that his faithful slave would produce perfect spiritual food.” (Watchtower 2017 Feb p26). What is the difference between being inspired by holy spirit and infallible? There is literally no point to them, if mistakes are going to be made, they may as well be made from you interpreting the bible yourself!
· 1 Cor 7:23 “You were bought with a price, stop becoming slaves of men.”
3. We don’t need an organization
· The bible never uses the word organization. But the watchtower does! 10,466 from 1950 to 2003. An average of 7 times per issue. And how many times does the bible-spanning thousands of years-use it? 0.
· For the first 2500 years of human history, no organization. Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Lot, Enoch, Joseph, Noah, Abraham, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah. Great leaders of the faith, no organization. Then 400 years of silence.
· They compare themselves to Moses who had miracles and clear backing from God.
· And if they want to compare themselves to being an organization like the nation of Israel, I would agree in so far as God DIDN’T WANT to institute a visible ruler! 1 Sam 8:7. “It is I whom they have rejected from being King over them.” They insisted on a middle man. Watchtower insists on BEING the middle man.
· From the death of the apostles to 1800’s, Watchtower cannot point to an organization of God. Yet this is the most important thing for a JW. “Jehovah has always guided his servants in an organized way” (You can live forever in Paradise on Earth p192).
· Necessity to be part of an organization is very common among high control groups (cults).
· They use 1 Cor 14:33 “God is a God of peace not disorder.” Unfortunately, however, there is nothing there about an organization that speaks for God.
· They say people had to be part of Israel to be true worshipers but there were followers of God in pagan nations and who were not a part of Israel. People of Ninevah, army commander Naaman, widow at Zarephath,
· Acts 5:27-29 “we must obey God rather than men.”
4. Early Christians were not led by an organization but the words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit
· Jn 4:23, 16:12-13. Mt 18:20, 28:20. 1 Cor 6:19, Acts 1:8, 2:1-4, Acts 2:38, Acts 16:6, Rom 8:26-27, 15:19.
· Far from God always using an organization, JW didn’t even become one until Rutherford.
· They use the dispute in Acts 15 to argue for a organized body to settle doctrine. But it would seem very out of context since Schaff’s History of the Christian Church shows that after the issue of circumcision, “we have no trace of councils before the middle of the second century”. Which is when JW would have to say paganism crept in.
· In their translation they refer to ‘governing body’ in Acts 15, but v22 and 23 clearly say the apostles, elders AND the whole congregation MADE the DECISION to send men. Very democratic unlike JW.
· Up until 1976, complete doctrinal control was in the hands of the one president (Russel, Rutherford and Knorr) then it was given to the body of men.
· Can they compare themselves to anyone or anything in the Bible that didn’t have supernatural backing?
· The Watchtower admits one need only be a genuine, seeking Christian and you don’t necessarily need to join an organization. (Watchtower 1953, Mar 1, p143). But of course, this was in the context of judging other religions who make the very claim they do. We must seek to be genuine Christians in every sense of the word. Does that mean we have to join a church organisation in Christendom? Ask yourself now, Did Christ Jesus, who set our example and told us to follow his example to gain life, join any church organization in his day? No, God does not require us to do that; but he requires us to worship him, to preach the good news of the Kingdom, to be Christians, to follow the example Jesus set, living in unalterable devotion to Jehovah God; to praise God and respect his supremacy, to resist all efforts to turn us from decency and to endure in faith. We have the Bible to show us the right way. Certainly it is not necessary for a person to become a member of a church to gain everlasting life."
· Criticizes churches for being exclusive “The church systems would have the people believe that only those who become church members can be saved. The bible never taught any such doctrine…Jesus died not only for those who will constitute the members of the church, but for all.” (Millions Now Living Will Never Die p94).
· They say “Jehovah’s organization alone, in all the earth, is directed by God’s holy spirit” (Watchtower 1973 Jul 1 p402).
· Sidenote: it is rather cringey and gross to see them exalt themselves in third person and tell everyone else what to do with inclusive language like “we need to follow everything the FADS says without question because that’s what’s best for us”.
5. They say Jesus is only the mediator for God and spiritual Israel (144k).
· While the Bible says Jesus is mediator for all (1 Tim 2:5-6). You can see why they are forced to have a doctrine like this, because they need to explain why they get the power. Again, in this they want to compare themselves to Jesus and Moses without doing any of the miracles to back it up.
· “So Jesus is the mediator only for anointed Christians” (Watchtower 1979 Apr 1 p31). “Jesus is not the mediator between God and all mankind…He is between Jehovah and the 144,000” (Worldwide Security under the Prince of Peace 1986 p10-11).
· So how do the rest get saved? By associating with the anointed Christians. (Watchtower 1979 Apr 1 p31) and (Watchtower 1979 Nov 15 p27).
· Leading cult researcher Steven Hassan has pointed this out “…leaders become mediators for God. The God-centered principles can be put forcibly and claimed exclusively, so that the cult and its beliefs become the only true path to salvation.”
· This comes down to covenants and would explain why they resist calling them Old and New Testaments.
· Acts 13:38-39, Heb 7:25, 8:10-12, 9:15, 28, Rom 3:21-30, 6:23, Eph 1:7.
· Russel first taught that Jesus mediatorship applied to all.
· 1 Cor 11:3. The head of every man is Christ, not a GB.
· They say JW’s are the great crowd that survives Armageddon. While they use the word a lot, it occurs once in Rev 16:16 and it one location Megiddo, but they have evolved it to mean a great global spiritual war where Jehovah kills all the wicked.
6. They simply claim they are God’s chosen representative. And equate trust in them with trust in God. Very big claim that is not proven.
· “The plain truth is that we cannot say that we trust in Jehovah if we do not trust his earthly representatives-those whom Jehovah trusts. Today Jehovah leads the earthly part of his organization by means of “the faithful and discreet slave…We show that we trust Jehovah’s way of doing things by heeding the direction we receive from the organization and the elders.” (Watchtower 2022 Feb p4).
· “However, we cannot hope to acquire a good relationship with Jehovah if we ignore those whom Jesus has appointed to care for his belongings. Without the assistance of “the faithful and discreet slave”, we would neither understand the full import of what we read in God’s word nor know how to apply it.” (Examining the Scriptures Daily 2012 Mar 4).
· “The point is that Christians have implicit trust in their heavenly Father, they do not question what he tells them through his written word and organization.” (Watchtower 1974 Jul 15 p441).
· “That faithful slave is the channel through which Jesus is feeding his true followers in this time of the end. It is vital to recognize the faithful slave. Our spiritual health and our relationship with God depend on this channel.” (Watchtower 2013 Jul 15 p20).
· “We need to obey the faithful and discreet slave to have Jehovah’s approval.” (Watchtower 2011 Jul 15 p24).
· “Since Jehovah God and Jesus Christ completely trust the FADS should we not do the same?” (Watchtower 2009 Feb 15 p27).
· “The governing Body could be likened to the voice of Jesus, the head of the congregation. So when we willingly submit to the faithful slave, we’re ultimately submitting to Jesus’ authority and direction.” Kenneth Flodin. Would be good to pair this with “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name claiming ‘I am he’ and ‘the time is near. Do not follow them.”
· “Is it presumptuous of JW’s to point out that they alone have God’s backing? Actually, no more so than when the Israelites in Egypt claimed to have God’s backing in spite of the Egyptian’s belief, or when the first-century Christians claimed to have God’s backing to the exclusion of Jewish religionists.” (Watchtower 2001 Jun 1 p16)
· Acts 5:27-29 “we must obey God rather than men.”
7. They say you cannot understand the bible without them.
· “Thus, the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason, the bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.” (Watchtower 1967 Oct 1 p587).
· “Where did we learn the Bible truth in the first place? Would we know the way of the truth if it had not been for guidance from the organization? Really, can we get along without the direction of God’s organization? No, we cannot!” (Watchtower 1983 Jan 15 p27).
· This is what they have criticized the Catholic Church for. And in practice, they are operating the exact same way as the Catholic Church when only they had access to the scripture.
· “Some may feel that they can interpret the Bible on their own. However, Jesus has appointed the 'faithful slave' to be the only channel for dispensing spiritual food. Since 1919, the glorified Jesus Christ has been using that slave to help his followers understand God’s own Book and heed its directives.” (Watchtower 2016 Nov p.16).
· “From time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah’s people those, who, like the original satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude…They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘bible reading’ they have reverted back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching…” (Watchtower 1981 Aug 15 p29). So, they admit that you revert to traditional Christianity without their indoctrination. They do it again here. “Let us face the fact that no matter houw much Bible reading we have done, we would never have learned the truth on our own…” (Watchtower 1990 Dec 1 p19).
· “To turn away from Jehovah and his organization, to spurn the direction of “the faithful and discreet slave”, and to rely on personal bible reading and interpretation is to become like a solitary tree in a parched land.” (Watchtower 1985, Jun 1 p20).
· The opposite of testing the spirits “In Jehovah’s organization it is not necessary to spend a lot of time and energy in research, for there are brothers in the organization who are assigned to that very thing, to help you who do not have so much time for this, these preparing the good material in The Watchtower and other publications of the Society.” (Watchtower 1967 Jun 1 p338). Could point out this is how deception and misinformation gets into the scientific and medical world. Those studying are buried in information that is given to them by those who let mistruths slip through. Fluoride and dentists one great example.
· “Thus, the FADS does not endorse any literature, meetings or websites that are not produced or organized under its oversight…For those who wish to do extra bible study and research, we recommend that they explore “Insight on the Scriptures” (Kingdom Ministry Sep 2007 p3).
· “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.”
· Psalm 146:3 “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.”
· “Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see also, that if anyone lays the scripture studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for 10 years-if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the bible alone, though he has understood his bible for 10 years, our experience shows that within 2 years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had earnest heed to the opportunities for service and consider that merely read the scripture studies with their references, and had not read a page of the bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the 2 years, because he would have the light of the scriptures.”
· All of the verses where they say they are to be trusted and only there interpretations. Goes against Acts 5:27-29 “we must obey God rather than men.”
8. They demand unquestioning obedience and to ignore your own critical thinking. They are straight up telling you to believe everything they say because it comes from God and not to doubt them because that would be doubting God. How can they accept this? They would never fall for it if it were a different group! Why did God have his word written in the first place if it was only to be interpreted by a handful of people? Why did he give us critical thinking skills if that group of people tell us not to use it?
· “All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.” (Watchtower 2013 Nov 15 p20).
· “First, since oneness is to be observed, a mature Christian must be in unity and full harmony with fellow believers as far as faith and knowledge are concerned. He does not advocate or insist on personal opinions or harbor private ideas when it comes to bible understanding.” (Watchtower 2001 Aug 1 p14).
· “Jehovah uses his organization to teach and feed his people. Hence believe without suspicion the truth set forth by the “faithful and discreet slave.” (Watchtower 1962 Sep 1 p524).
· And it’s kind of shocking how straight forward they are here “Due to background and upbringing, some may be more given to independent thinking and self-will than others…” (Watchtower 1986 Mar 15 p17)
· “Yet there are some who point out that the organization has had to make some adjustments before, and so they argue: “This shows that we have to make up our own mind on what to believe.” This is independent thinking. Why is it so dangerous?” (Watchtower 1983 Jan 15 p22, 27).
· “If we have love for Jehovah and for the organization of his people, we shall not be suspicious, but shall, as the bible says, believe all things, all the things that the watchtower brings out” (Qualified to be Ministers 1955 p 156) whoops don’t remember the bible saying that!
· “…show respect for the FADS that he is using at the present time. Actually, your very life depends on following this course of action.” (Watchtower 1964 Jul 15 p435).
· “Now is the time to learn to trust in God’s way of doing things by not second0guessing the direction and the decisions of the elders…” (Watchtower 2022 Dec 15 p15). This article and the Feb one page 6 say the same thing. Start trusting now so you will obey when the commands start getting weird “that seem strange, impractical or illogical” this is so sad and scary.
· Another huge claim. “The Watchtower is not the instrument of any man or set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No man’s opinion is expressed in The Watchtower. God feeds his own people, and surely God uses those who love and serve him according to his own will. Those who oppose the Watchtower are not capable of discerning the truth that God is giving to the children of his organization, and this is the very strongest proof that such opposers are not of God’s organization.” (Watchtower 1931 Nov 1 p327).
· They say they are fallible but they deman obedience as if they are infallible! By any reasonable dictionary definition and biblical definition inspired means infallible. But when it comes to the watchtower it doesn’t. john 16:13 doesn’t allow for a spirit of truth to lead into error ever at all in any way whatsoever. They defend their mistakes with good intentions but that doesn’t get them out of the dilemma they created for themselves “…the motives of this ‘slave’ were always pure…” (Watchtower 1979 Mar 1 p23-24). They present their doctrine as infallible but when proven wrong can just say we are fallible humble men. You are definitely claiming ot be infallible when you say things like “…spiritual food provided by God through the faithful slave.” (Watchtower 1992 Nov 15 p20). “[A mature Christian] has complete confidence in the truth as it is revealed by Jehovah God through his son…and the faithful and discreet slave.” (Watchtower 2001 Aug 1 p14).
· Jehovah has appointed people to the governing body himself (Watchtower 1965 Jun 1 p352) despite the fact that there have been high profile cases of these turning out bad. In the 80’s 3 stepped down including Raymond Franz, Ewart C Chitty resigned, he was involved in homosexual activity prior to being part of GB and yet still was chosen. Same situation for Leo Greenless.
· Disfellowshipping is said to occur under the holy spirit as well which is funny because of how many have been excommunicated for things that were changed and made a “conscience matter”. The fact that there is an appeal process, also indicates its not directed by holy spirit.
· Only those “in touch with God’s channel of communication” can receive holy spirit. (watchtower 1962 Apr 1 p215).
· All of the verses where they say they are to be trusted and only there interpretations. Goes against Acts 5:27-29 “we must obey God rather than men.”
9. They discourage and tell people not to look at other information. Many things here can be challenged with apologetics verses. You are supposed to be grounded in the word so you’re not blown about by every wind of teaching. This is important because we are expected to engage in the war of ideas. But JW’s don’t want this because they are not the truth and would not hold up.
· “We would never allow curiosity or pressure from others to cause us to read or listen to apostate ideas…” (How to Remain in God’s Love 2017 p245).
· “False religious propaganda from any source should be avoided like poison! Really, since our Lord has used “the faithful and discreet slave” to convey to us “sayings of everlasting life”, why should we ever want to look anywhere else?” (Watchtower 1987 Nov 1 p20).
· “So, if doubts, complaints, or apostasy threaten to contaminate you spiritually, cut them away quickly! Get help from the congregation elders.” (Watchtower 1989 Oct 1 p18).
· “How can we safeguard ourselves from following the course of ridiculers? One way is to avoid associating with those who show a critical attitude. This means that we do not listen to or read anything from apostates. We realize that if we are not careful, we could easily develop a critical spirit and begin to doubt Jehovah and the direction we receive through his organization.” (Watchtower study edition Oct 2022 pg 20).
· “It would be a mistake to think that you need to listen to apostates or to read their writings to refute their arguments. Their twisted, poisonous reasoning can cause spiritual harm and can contaminate your faith like rapidly spreading gangrene.” (Watchtower 2004 Feb 15 p28).
· “As loyal servants of Jehovah, why would we want to peek at the propaganda put out by rejecters of Jehovah’s table…” (Watchtower 1994 Jul 1 p12-13).
10. Watchtower says there has always been JW’s but this is a lie.
· “Jehovah’s Witnesses have a history almost 6000 years long, beginning while the first man, Adam, was still alive…[Abel] was the first of an unbroken line of Witnesses…Jesus disciples were all JW” (Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose p8-9). So, they also take a fundamentalist young earth….Where is the proof of this unbroken line? Russel rejected his presbyterian church, drifted through several Adventist groups, joined up with Barbour and split to form his own group to which he admits he drew a lot of his theology from them “I confess indebtedness to Adventists as well as to other denominations.” (Zion’s Watchtower 1916 Jun 1 p170). So, he admits borrowing from the sacrilegious system according to JWS! If anyone has a right to claim an unbroken chain, it is orthodoxy.
· Here they are doing exactly what Muslims do, ignoring their origin with the founder because they think everyone who truly followed God was one of them.
· Why did God allow the apostate Catholic Church to compile the Bible in the 4th and 5th century if there were true JW followers around? In fact what did they ever contribute that beats the good work (not forgetting the bad of course) of the CC.
· The other anti-trinitarians throughout history also had crazy other beliefs JW’s would never hold to.
11. They discredit higher learning which conveniently means people will never be able to challenge any of the Watchtowers scholarly citations. “…many who pursue such education end up with their minds filled with harmful propaganda.” (Watchtower 2008 Apr 15, p4).
· In (Watchtower 1950, Oct 1, p348), they call the organization God’s woman. "However, what we see exemplified in God's woman, his heavenly universal organization, we should look to see in his visible organization. Why? Because his higher, greater universal organization uses it as her earthly instrument. That is why we do see those motherly traits, those traits and acts of a virtuous woman, in the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead and in the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, because these profess to represent and serve God's woman. We thank God for providing and using them. So we stand up respectfully and bless his faithful organization, his queenly "woman" in heaven which makes all these loving provisions for us as children of God.
Testing the spirits is obviously not done because most of the followers are made up of people born into it, or Christians who didn’t know their bible.
If they can be wrong about all those prophecies and constantly being changing and evolving doctrines based on evangelical arguments against them and always revising and updating their bible translations (not just updating language but changing meaning), then what exactly is stopping them from being wrong about anything else?
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