Skip to main content

Jehovah's Organisation?

 



On their website the Watch Tower asks, 'Is it Necessary to Belong to an Organised Religion?

In Reasoning from the Scriptures (pp. 283/4) Jehovah's Witnesses offer seven characteristics that identify Jehovah's organisation:


(1) It truly exalts Jehovah as the only true God, magnifying his name.ā€”Matt. 4:10; John 17:3.

(2) It fully recognizes the vital role of Jesus Christ in Jehovahā€™s purposeā€”as the vindicator of Jehovahā€™s sovereignty, the Chief Agent of life, the head of the Christian congregation, the ruling Messianic King.ā€”Rev. 19:11-13; 12:10; Acts 5:31; Eph. 1:22, 23.

(3) It adheres closely to Godā€™s inspired Word, basing all its teachings and standards of conduct on the Bible.ā€”2 Tim. 3:16, 17.

(4) It keeps separate from the world.ā€”Jas. 1:27; 4:4.

(5) It maintains a high level of moral cleanness among its members, because Jehovah himself is holy.ā€”1 Pet. 1:15, 16; 1 Cor. 5:9-13.

(6) It devotes its principal efforts to doing the work that the Bible foretold for our day, namely, the preaching of the good news of Godā€™s Kingdom in all the world for a witness.ā€”Matt. 24:14.

(7) Despite human imperfections, its members cultivate and produce the fruits of Godā€™s spiritā€”love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-controlā€”doing so to such a degree that it sets them apart from the world in general.ā€”Gal. 5:22, 23; John 13:35.


A fundamental claim of every cult is they are the only ones with the truth. They are organised like the first century church, they have 'restored' what was lost in apostasy, and their organisational structure is evidence of these things.

Is organisation evidence of authenticity? Is there a difference being an organisation and being organised? How does your church match up to the list?

The problem with this approach is it takes more from the text than is actually there. Compare two cults and see what I mean.

The Watch Tower Society has a Governing Body sitting at the top of the organisation. When they look at the New Testament they see a Governing Body sitting in judgement in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

The Mormon Church would argue the leadership of the Jehovahā€™s Witnesses looks nothing like the leadership in the New Testament. They would ask why the Watch Tower Society doesnā€™t have twelve members on its Governing Body, and why are they not apostles and prophets as described in Ephesians 4. You can see their point.

Of course each party would have an answer to questions on leadership, each appealing to passages in Scripture. But the church is an organism not an organisation. You can read something about what church is in Cults and Messy Church on the Reachout website.


Point by Point

Starting with starting with their last point:

(7) Despite human imperfections, its members cultivate and produce the fruits of Godā€™s spiritā€”love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-controlā€”doing so to such a degree that it sets them apart from the world in general.ā€”Gal. 5:22, 23; John 13:35.

This is an important point. If Jehovahā€™s Witnesses think it reasonable that we should allow for their human imperfections surely they must respond to us in kind. We are far from perfect, and there will always be those who go by the name Christian who prove to be anything but. There will also be those who ā€˜produce the fruits of Godā€™s spiritā€”love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-controlā€”doing so to such a degree that it sets them apart from the world in general.ā€™ Will Witnesses recognise, indeed celebrate that?

(1) On their first point, do Christians magnify Godā€™s name if we donā€™t use it? Jesus never used Godā€™s name, no matter how much JWs insist ā€˜he must haveā€™ on the strength of Matthew 6 and John 17. Further, he taught his disciples to call God Father (Mt.6:9). How did he ā€˜make Godā€™s name knownā€™ (Jn.17:6,26) if he didnā€™t utter it? By making Godā€™s character known: ā€˜whoever has seen me has seen the Father.ā€™ (Jn.14:9) In Jesus, God has a good name. As a church it is our duty to give God a good name before a watching world.

(2) I have never known a genuine Christian believer who fails to recognise Jesusā€™ role in Godā€™s purposes. Indeed we make more of him than Jehovahā€™s Witnesses do (Jn.1:1; Jn.14:9; Heb.1).

(3) Christians adhere faithfully to the word of God in the Bible. In fact, our Bibles are much more true to the originals than the NWT, which has a decided translation bias. Read more here.

(4) Christians keep separate from the world, although not in the paranoid manner of the cults. We are in the world but not of the world. Read this great article by John Piper to see where the balance lies.

(5) Christian churches maintain a high level of moral cleanness among its members, because God himself is holy and a called out people are to be holy. Are they suggesting my Christian friends donā€™t seek holiness before the Lord? Might this be a good time to mention child abuse in Kingdom Halls and their point 7? People in glass house...

(6) It devotes its principal efforts to doing the work that the Bible foretold for our day, namely, the preaching of the good news of Godā€™s Kingdom in all the world for a witness.ā€”Matt. 24:14. I have a quarrel with this one, not because itā€™s completely wrong but because itā€™s incomplete. Four chapters on in Matthewā€™s gospel we find Jesus describing the rest of this rescue mission ā€“ making disciples (Mt.28:16-20)

It is sad that the Kingdom Hall fails ,in this fundamental duty, to win people and then to bring them into the community to grow them into well-rounded Christian individuals. It seems to me they bring them in, drum doctrine into them, in order to do little more than send them out again and ill-equipped for the task in my experience.

How great is the good news we have to share with Jehovah's Witnesses, about Christ, about God's purposes in a new creation, about the assurance true disciples can have because of God's promises in the Bible (John 5:24)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mormon Christians? Whats in a Name?

The Mormon Church, disturbed by the continuing identifying of polygamus sects in the news with the name Mormon, recently issued a press statement aimed at "clarifying" issues. It is interesting to note that if you substitute the name "Christian" where they use the name "Mormon" it makes a very good argument for us against the claims of the Mormon Church. The full press release is reproduced below in italics with each paragraph rewritten in ordinary text to present it from a Christian perspective. SALT LAKE CITY 10 July 2008 On 26 June, Newsroom published a package of information featuring profiles of ordinary Latter-day Saints in Texas. With no other intention but to define themselves, these members provided a tangible depiction of what their faith is all about. They serve as the best distinction between the lifestyles and values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a Texas-based polygamous group that has recently attracted media attent...

The Times of the Gentiles - by Dawn Partington

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that ā€œthe times of the gentilesā€ is a time period of 2,520 years, beginning in 607BC and ending in AD1914. According to their doctrine, Jesus was enthroned as King in AD1914 when the ā€œgentile timesā€ ended. 1. Only one verse in scripture mentions ā€œthe times of the gentilesā€: 'They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.'  Luke 21:24 NIV. The Jehovah's Witness organisation has linked this one verse with other prophetic passages to calculate the supposed length of these ā€œgentile timesā€, notably a time period which began hundreds of years before the incarnation and ended over 1900 years after it. 2. Simple examination of the text of Luke 21 reveals what Jesus was referring to when he used the phrase ā€œthe times of the gentilesā€. Let's look at the passage together and distil this into four points which you may...

How Will Jehovah Forgive Us

  The June 2022 Watchtower Article 24 titled ā€œ Jehovahā€”The Greatest Forgiver ā€ attempts to paint a picture of Jehovah as a wise, just, and knowledgeable judge ā€“ which, of course He is.  However, it also shows Him as a judge who has a number of requirements before He will forgive.  The article quotes numerous Old Testament scriptures showing that Jehovah will forgive our transgressions and agrees that this forgiveness is made possible through Jesus dying for our sins, though it doesnā€™t mention the covenant this sacrifice generated. As Christians we would understand that Jesusā€™ sacrifice, the shedding of His blood, pays for our sins so that a just God can be merciful and forgive them; the price for those sins has already been paid (1 Cor 6 v 20, Heb 9 v 22). In contrast, the Watchtower article talks of there being other requirements for Jehovahā€™s forgiveness.  It states that, before Jehovah will decide to offer forgiveness, ā€œ He needs to be able to consider...