Bridge of Reason

  Telling the truth means you don’t need to remember what you've said before is a valuable expression to note as it can help us to separate the lies from the truth.   The Watchtower is famous for the vast amounts of literature and information it pumps out to its members.   In recent years the number of written items has reduced, being replaced by visual media mostly on JW Broadcasting, but the sheer volume seems to be remaining the same.  This can sometimes result in slip ups in what pronouncements are made by the Governing Body. During the recent 2024 Annual Meeting of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (available for viewing on JW Broadcasting) an announcement was made, by the Governing Body member Gerrit Losch, that two new members were being added to the Governing Body.   Those new members are Jode Jedele and Jacob Rumph who are both somewhat younger than most of the present members of the body, Rumph now being the youngest at 52.   Losch welcomed these new members and in his address

  The June 2022 Watchtower Article 24 titled “ Jehovah—The Greatest Forgiver ” attempts to paint a picture of Jehovah as a wise, just, and knowledgeable judge – 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 doesn’t mention the covenant this sacrifice generated. As Christians we would understand that Jesus’ 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 Jehovah’s forgiveness.  It states that, before Jehovah will decide to offer forgiveness, “ He needs to be able to consider  all the relevant facts&

Could you agree that it is possible that God would ever require you to believe something to be true that is actually false, on pain of Him irrevocably destroying you?  Titus 1 v 2 (amongst other scriptures) would tell us that God cannot lie and Proverbs 12 v 22 (amongst other scriptures) would tell us that God hates a liar.  So, it would seem inconceivable that He would require us, on pain of death, to believe a lie.  But, this is exactly what the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society teaches, even though they may not put it in that way, or even realise that they teach it.    It is a matter of record that, since its inception in the late 1800s, the Watchtower Society has never got all its doctrine correct at any one time, it has always taught something that later turned out to be false.  By 'false' I mean something that has had to be 'clarified' under their 'brighter light' policy taken from Proverbs 4 v 18.  And by 'clarified' I mean completely chang

  As a rule, I tend to avoid the subject of the Trinity when talking with Jehovah’s Witnesses.   The reason being that it is such a big subject and one to which they are so vehemently opposed.   Their rejection of the doctrine is one of the few teachings that has made it through the decades from the very early days of the organisation. Additionally, they have been taught so many untruths about the Trinity idea by the Watchtower that one has to wade through them before even beginning to put forward the Biblical evidence They have been taught that the doctrine is confusing and that Jehovah is not a God of confusion, quoting 1 Cor 14 v 33 as proof.   This argument is a complete fallacy as we are not saying God ‘invented’ the Trinity, it’s just what is; if we find it confusing then that’s our problem not God’s mistake! The doctrine can be found in the Bible today, but you have to have a certain mindset to understand how it can be so – three separate persons yet still only one God.   Bu

  I have a copy of the Berean Bible Teachers Manual, with the King James Bible, dated 1921. It gives, ‘Verse-by-verse comments on the entire Bible, condensed from The WatchTower, from Studies in the Scriptures, etc.’ It goes on to explain: ‘These brief comments by C J Woodworth are claimed to faithfully represent the fuller presentations of the six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures.’ The ‘etc.’ above includes comments from, ‘The Hell Pamphlet, Tabernacle Shadows, and the Spiritism Pamphlet, Zion’s Watch Tower, September 1879, a 1907 newspaper report of a sermon by Charles Russell, a 1905 Theology Quarterly, and discourses on the Chart of the Ages.’ It is incredibly well organised, its reference system clear. You may go from a Bible reference, as you would in any concordance, to a brief comment taken from one of the above publications, and if you have those publications, you may be sent to the right pages to read the context. Set alongside a set of Studies in the Scriptures, I im

  The Book of Mormon and The Land of Jerusalem The Book of Mormon describes a ‘land of Jerusalem.’ The land of Jerusalem appears about 40 times in the book. It is not found once in the Bible, and that is important. Perhaps the most controversial reference to the land of Jerusalem is in Alma 7 where Alma seeming to foreshadow the role of John the Baptist, saying: ‘Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers…’ Alma 7:9,10 Of course, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and not ‘at Jerusalem.’ Where is the land of Jerusalem? Mormons say Alma was written 500 years after Nephi left Jerusalem, that this is entirely consistent with how the Book of Mormon describes places “being in the land” of cities. However, t he people of the Book of Mormon are supposed to be c

  It is popularly believed that Christians, when we go to church, hang our brains up at the door. Yet it is my experience that when I try and engage unbelievers in intelligent conversation about great issues of faith, it is so often they who shut down their thinking, who refuse to intelligently engage. This is because they have already decided faith has nothing to offer by way of intelligent conversation. Of course, this is a poor caricature of faith as being by nature unreasonable, like superstition. You either have it, or you don’t, and who can explain it? It’s rather embarrassing, and who would admit to it? An example I think of is that of creation. However you understand the Bible creation narrative, one thing is certain, the universe had a beginning. Science tells us that space, time, and matter came into being at the same moment. There was nothing, then there was...well, everything. That makes the universe contingent. Think of oak trees. If you see an acorn, you would be forgi

Tony Brown spoke at our 2023 Convention on the Impossible Gospel of Mormonism. Our 2024 Convention is already planned and booked for September. Why not join us and enjoy a weekend of teaching, equipping, and fellowship with people who have been there and understand. Find out more here . Meanwhile, I hope you find this teaching a blessing.

  Should You Believe in The Trinity? is a booklet published in 1989 by the Watchtower Society to challenge Trinitarian doctrine. Always good for an eye-catching book title, Doug came up with Why Should You Believe? Should You Believe in The Trinity? He did a great job of demonstrating the mendacity of the Watchtower Society in their publication. I am in the process of updating and reformatting Doug’s work. You can still find the JW title  on their website. I want to share some of Doug’s work with you, along with a simple example of how Doug more than competently handles the defence they offer when you challenge their selective quoting. When it is republished I will be sure to let you know. Doug writes: ‘ When you show that a particular quote is selective many Jehovah’s Witnesses will say, “Well the writer does say these words and therefore we are not misquoting them.” The answer I give to this is to quote John 3:16 & 17 from the New World Translation, as follows: ‘ For God love

Have you ever asked yourself this question? I spoke about this at our 2023 Reachout Trust Convention. Our 2024 Convention is already planned and booked for September. Why not join us and enjoy a weekend of teaching, equipping, and fellowship? Find out more here.  Meanwhile, I hope this teaching blesses you.  

  Image by  Myriams photos  from  Pixabay Thoughts on faithfulness to take us into the weekend. It was Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, who is said, on his death bed, to have uttered in his native Welsh language, ‘Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd,’ which translated means, ‘do the little things in life.’ I am sure he had in mind the words of Jesus in Luke’s gospel, ‘“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much…’ Luke 16:10 There was a man who was faithful in the little things. He frequented the same place of worship for years, practised the same spiritual exercises, prayed the same liturgy, confessed and worshipped God in the same way. He heard of revivals in different parts, but he didn’t go to see. He was told of prophets proclaiming the imminence of Christ, but he didn’t go to listen. He heard of folk who had gone up a mountain, or into a wilderness to await deliverance, he didn’t join them. He simply frequented the same place of worship for years, pract

  The following is a contribution from Barry Amor, one of our team here at Reachout central: I have spent many hours debating with Jehovah’s Witnesses, online, via email, and face-to-face on the carts or over a table. I t is understand able how easy it can be to become disappointed with the seeming lack of effect of this time spent with them. They promise to go away and research what you have said and get back to you and yet they rarely do. The Scriptures you show them and the arguments you present seem to wash over them with no apparent effect and you go away discouraged. By way of encouragement, though, I think an alternative look at the parable of the sower from Matthew 13: 1-23 has much to help us. There are two ways of looking at the parable in this context: F irstly, the sower seems to accept the fact that some of the seed that he is sowing will have little or no result by way of fruit, yet he keeps sowing. Some seed will undoubtedly be wasted, but there will be a harvest

I wonder would you do something for me? Read through the following brief account of a little adventure I had recently and then answer the two questions at the end. Its a true story, I know because I made it up myself: I recently bought a car because I planned to go on a road trip with a friend and my old jalopy simply wasn’t up to it. It surprised me that, within my budget, I was offered a great little model, much better than my old banger and with an interior so comfortable it was like driving a limo. When I arrived at my friends’ house he took one look and said, “Nice wheels.” “You like my motor?” I replied. “Its a nice Auto,” he said, “and it looks like that model is going to take us places.” With that we got in the vehicle and drove off on our adventure. Q1 . How many times does the word “car” appear in this narrative? Q2 . How many times is a car mentioned in this narrative? We’ll get back to this shortly. It still amazes me how Mormon thinking makes Mormon leaders s

  Jehovah's Witnesses struggle with the idea of one God in three person's. Who doesn’t? How do they resolve this to their own satisfaction? They reason: 'The statement “the Word was with God” indicates that two separate persons are discussed in the verse. It is not possible for the Word to be “with God” and at the same time be God Almighty. The context also confirms that the Word is not Almighty God. John 1:18 states that “no man has seen God at any time.” However, people did see the Word, Jesus, for John 1:14 states that “the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory.” Is there a difference between 'God' and 'Almighty God,' as they insist? If 'no man has seen God at any time' how is it possible for Jesus to be seen and be God? Revelation 3:14 I ended my last post without addressing the question, ‘Is the NWT accurate and reliable when it translates Revelation 3:14, 'the beginning of the creation by God'?’ I w