Today I listened to a JW video with GB member David Splane talking about the book of James and chapter 2 v 17 in particular. The video is a textbook monologue by the Governing Body, telling people what they “know” (a form of ‘gaslighting’), contradicting what the Watchtower actually teaches, and criticising “Evangelicals”. He mimicked people JWs meet who say that JWs believe they will earn their salvation by going door-to-door and then tells us that “you know that’s not true” (Min 2:15) Do we know that? Let’s check the evidence (Emphasise are mine);
“The fourth requirement [to reside
in paradise] is connected with loyalty. God requires that prospective subjects
of the Kingdom support his government by loyally advocating his kingdom rule to
others…will you meet this requirement by telling others about God’s kingdom?”
Watchtower 15 Feb 1983 p12-13
“Twelve Reasons for Preaching…7. It
is a requirement for our own salvation” Our Kingdom ministry No 6
June 2012.
“But in what special way does God
expect loyal support to be given? ...like Jesus Christ and his early followers,
they must be loyal spokesmen or proclaimers of God’s kingdom” Book You
Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth p 133
Those are just a few of the articles regarding the requirement to preach,
there are many more that talk either of the need to merit one’s salvation, proclaim
it a reward not a gift, and the need to be part of the organisation to have any
chance of surviving Armageddon or making it into paradise.
He accuses “Evangelicals” (a very large group of Christians
worldwide!) of saying that works are not important. He asks if Jesus is interested
in our works or does He agree with the “Evangelicals” that all we need to
do is believe. Those Evangelicals I know agree that works are very important, but
just that doing them doesn’t get us salvation and are simply an automatic
result of our faith. ‘Faith without works is dead’, yes, but it is the
living faith (proven by works it produces) that saves us.
The mistake by Splane is to fail to understand the
difference between the requirements for salvation and the results of salvation.
Jesus would agree that belief is all you need (Acts 16 v 31 et al) but would also
expect there to be works resulting from that belief, if it were true. We work because
we are saved not in order to be saved.
Splane goes on to say a witness “swears to tell the truth”,
has he here, I do not believe so. The Watchtower goes to great lengths to tell
its members that preaching is a requirement for salvation. With all the
evidence to the contrary of what Splane is saying, I would be surprised if the
average JW doesn’t feel the need to preach door-to-door, or on the carts, in order
to gain their salvation.
What the Governing Body says and what it teaches are often
at odds with each other, maybe because the videos are easy to watch by the average
non-JW, whereas publications are more JW orientated. It’s a similar juxtaposition between Awake
and Watchtower articles; the former being normalised ‘bait’ for the
unwary and the latter for the member.
Yes, Jesus commands us to “make disciples of all nations”
(Matt 28 v 19) but because we love Him (John 14 v 15), not so as to be saved
from our sins. This love should spur us on to be happy to share our faith where
we can, secure in the knowledge that we have entered God’s kingdom and are safe
in His love.
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