The above title comes from a jw.org article as an answer to
one of their Frequently Asked Questions. This is of particular interest around this time as they have just celebrated
their annual memorial of Christ’s death.
I have to say, for full disclosure, that I have never
attended one of these memorial meals despite having been invited several
times. I just don’t think I could manage
to bite my tongue hard enough not to respond to the talks being made. However, I have read and listened to a number
of accounts from non-Jehovah’s Witnesses who have attended, some repeatedly
over many years.
The Memorial Meal, as Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to their version of communion, only takes place once a year and is always regarded as a very special event. As they do not celebrate any other event, such as Easter, Christmas, birthdays, Pentecost, and so forth, they do make a big thing of it.
Potentially millions of invites are handed out around the world and last
year (2024) 21,119,442 million people attended (according to jw.org
statistics, though that’s a suspiciously accurate and precise figure!). For an organisation with only some 8 million
members that is quite impressive.
But, how and why does the way they celebrate this event differ
from ‘other religions’. It is
interesting to note that they refer to other ‘religions’ rather than
other ‘churches’ for they would consider themselves to be Christians and,
therefore, part of the Christian religion. But, this would be in line with their attempts to distance themselves
from Christendom which they decry at every opportunity.
In the article their initial claim is that they adhere ‘strictly’ to the Bible in their observance in contrast to many beliefs and practices from other ‘denominations’. Their first point is about the purpose of the meal which they correctly identify as to remember Jesus but deny that it is a ‘sacrament’ which would impart any of God’s grace or forgiveness of sins.
The
Watchtower teaches that only the 144,000 from Revelation 7 are permitted to
take the bread and wine as only they are in the covenant Jesus set up. The vast
majority of their members, therefore, do not partake.
Whereas the vast majority of Christians would agree that
simply taking of the bread and wine imparts no special grace upon the taker, the
Lord did warn us that not partaking of His body and blood means we have no life
in us (John 6 v 53). I’ve often had
Jehovah’s Witnesses respond to this, saying that Jesus was talking to His disciples
when He said that, members of the 144,000. However, reading the verse in context shows
He said it while teaching in the synagogue, talking to those who had been
fed in His miraculous feeding of the 5000.
He was clearly referring to a spiritual partaking of which
the physical act at the memorial is only an outward symbol, but if you believe
you cannot partake then that would mean you are not spiritually partaking
either. That is a necessary action to gain forgiveness for our sins as Jesus’
blood is the only way to do that (Ephesians 1 v 7).
The article states that the partaking is not a sacrament
that imparts forgiveness as this is only achievable ‘through faith in Jesus’. That statement is a contradiction to much of
what the Watchtower teaches elsewhere in its literature about how to become
righteous before Jehovah. The article
does not go on to explain how those who are not permitted to partake (the ‘Great
Crowd’) gain access to this forgiveness if they not in the covenant!
Moving on to how often the emblems should be taken they
admit that Jesus didn’t give any command over the timing and that others ‘feel’
that it can be observed, monthly, weekly, daily or even several times a day. To support their annual observance, they correctly
point to the fact the meal is compared to the Jewish Passover meal which only occurred
once a year.
They claim that early Christians continued this annual
timing and quote two scholarly Encyclopaedias in support. Those references are not easy to track down
and I would imagine most Jehovah’s Witnesses would not bother, preferring
rather to trust the diligence of the Governing Body. However, with the power of the internet they
can be found and neither reference is talking about the regularity of communion,
but instead, about the date of Easter.
No doubt many churches will celebrate communion over the
Easter period but will also celebrate it at other times in the year. One of the books they reference, when
considering the periodicity of communion elsewhere, actually states this.
“The festival [Passover] had been annual. No
rule was given as to the time and frequency of the new feast that thus
supervened on the old, but the command, "Do this as oft as ye drink
it" (1Co 11:25), suggested the more continual recurrence of that which was
to be their memorial of one whom they would wish never to forget”
McClintock and Strong
Biblical Cyclopedia “Lord’s Supper” Article
But the Watchtower article conveniently omits this in its
article. So, there is no evidence in
those references that early Christians did observe communion only once a year,
but there is evidence that they observed it more often.
Jehovah’s Witnesses observe the memorial on the 14th
day of Nissan (from the Jewish calendar) as recorded in the Bible. They make a claim that they observe it using
the same calendar as the early Christians rather than that of modern
Judaism. The dates differ because, with
modern technology, we can be sure of the date of the appearance of the new moon
(which dictates the Jewish calendar), whereas in biblical times it had to
physically observed and due to the mountains around Jerusalem this occurred a
few days after the astronomical New Moon.
Strangely enough, in 2024 Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrated the
memorial on 24th March whereas 14 Nissan was on 22nd April! The reason for this discrepancy was put down
to the reasons just given above, but that would only change the date by a few
days, not by nearly a whole month!
Their article talks of ensuring that only unleavened bread
and real wine is used as the emblems, criticising anyone who does not do the
same. Many churches do use unleavened
bread and real wine, but many avoid the use of alcohol in respect to those in
the congregation who might have an addiction to it.
The Bible does not command the use of unleavened bread or
otherwise, but as the practice of breaking bread (with ‘common bread’ not
unleavened as Justin Martyr describes it in “koinos artos; First Apology,
LXVI” was common in Jewish households (and some gentile ones) it seems likely
that the regular ritual would have used leavened bread. No one could criticise Jehovah’s Witnesses
for using unleavened bread, but it seems unnecessary to criticise others who do
not.
The idea of transubstantiation is then covered and rejected with
which many would no doubt agree, though that doctrine is not as simple as the
article makes out.
Moving on to perhaps the most important part, the Watchtower claims that only the remaining members of the ‘anointed’ 144,000 (23,212 as of 2024) are eligible to partake and that the millions of the great crowd who attend should not. This is because they are not in the covenant with Jesus that the emblems represent. The article makes numerous references to Bible verses in support of their argument, none of which actually do support it.
Christians would agree that only those who
are anointed should partake but we would disagree as to whom that term refers. All Christians are anointed with the Spirit and
so all Christians are being referred to in the Bible quotes the article uses.
The article concludes with the statement that while many
will not partake, they can all join in expressing thanks for the sacrifice
Jesus made on their behalf, quoting 1 John 2:2. But that verse tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice was made for the sins of
the ‘whole world’ not just a small group of special people. Again, as in many Watchtower articles, the
Bible verse quoted not only does not support the point they’re trying to make, it actually contradicts it.
The Jehovah’s Witness’s memorial meal is possibly the saddest event in the world, where people almost literally hold eternal life in their hands and yet simply pass it on to the next person without partaking.
Communion for the Christian is a powerful event, however often it may happen, that reminds us that God so loved us that He sent His only Son to die for us so that we can be made righteous before Him.
Jesus gave His life freely that we might
have our sins forgiven and so receive life everlasting. To reject the bread and the wine is to reject
Jesus’ sacrifice and so reject Jesus; He is the only way to the Father and the
only route to salvation. Yes, the way
Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate the Memorial is different, but it is not
Biblical.
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