CAN THE WATCHTOWER PROVE THEIR CORE “TRUTHS” TO BE “TRUE”?

 The rank and file of the Watchtower holds certain core beliefs as basic “truths”; as being “absolute truths.”  If you are truly one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, these “truths” are to be believed without question.

 All over the world, devout members of the Watchtower are united in their absolute certainty that they not only “have the truth,” but that they are “in the truth,” because they believe that the Watchtower Organization is “the truth”; as if their religion is an absolute “truth,” even though their organization’s teachings and “understandings” have been altered, changed, or completely discarded many times over the course of their more than one-hundred-and-twenty-year history; their discarded “truths” often to be brought back later as “recycled truth” and presented to the current rank and file as “New Light.”  But are these "truths"?

Loyal members of the Watchtower Organization all understand that to remain faithful to the Watchtower…ever respectful, humbly submissive and obedient and loyal without question…is akin to showing humble obedience and loyal faithfulness to Jehovah God, as they believe in an inarguable “fact”: The Watchtower is “GOD’S organization.”  Of this “fact” there can be no doubt in the mind of the individual Jehovah’s Witness…

 It is interesting to note, however, that while loyal members of the Watchtower are united in their core Watchtower beliefs…that they trustingly believe what the Watchtower teaches them to believe…as a whole, they appear to be completely oblivious to the glaring fact that not one of the Watchtower’s peculiar and unorthodox teachings are Scriptural!  They cannot prove even one of their core Watchtower beliefs to be actual “truth” using God’s Word.

 The following is an example of the Watchtower’s “Core Teachings” which are not Biblically sound:

• The Watchtower is the only “true religion,” approved by God
• One must join the Watchtower and believe its teachings, obey their leaders, humbly submit to them, and remain loyal to them in order to have any favor from God.
• The leaders of the Watchtower are chosen by God and/or Jesus to lead “God’s People” in the way of “truth.”
• The only way to be right with God is to follow the Watchtower.
• The only way to know God’s truth is to follow the Watchtower.
• The only way to have any hope of gaining eternal life is to follow the Watchtower.
• The Watchtower is “God’s only Channel” to mankind on the earth.
• Only by following the Watchtower can one gain a “proper understanding” of Biblical Truth; only through the Watchtower's literature and their teachings from the platform can one attain “accurate knowledge” of God’s Word.
• In order to be “right with God,” one must remain “in good standing” with the Watchtower.
• The Good News about the Christ is NOT for the rank and file of the Watchtower.
• The Watchtower teaches that Jesus was only a “creation” of God; that He is God’s first “creation.”  They do not believe that He is “begotten of God,” or that He is of the same Divine Essence of God. (Though JWs say they believe Jesus is "begotten," they claim He was "created."  Being “begotten” and being “created” is not the same thing.)
• Followers of the Watchtower do not believe that Jesus is God but that He is a separate, “little god”; a “lesser god” apart from Jehovah God.
• The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is actually the archangel, Michael, who became the perfect man, Jesus.  Jesus is not to be worshipped or prayed to, but “True Christians” are to follow His perfect example of perfect obedience to Jehovah God; thus, “True Christians” are “Christ-like” in their humble efforts to follow Christ’s example of serving Him.
• God’s Holy Spirit is not “God” but is His “active force” by which He accomplishes His will.  The Holy Spirit of God is an impersonal “it.”
• The Watchtower teaches that there is a “two-fold” system of God’s true followers: a “Little Flock,” and the “Great Crowd.”
• The “Great Crowd” believe that they are to live forever on the earth.
• The “Little Flock” is the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation, and only they have “the heavenly hope.”
• Only members of the Watchtower are “True Christians.”
• All members of the Christian Faith who are outside of the Watchtower (those who follow Christ and the core teachings of the Christian Faith) are FALSE Christians, led astray by Satan, and all Christian Churches are "dens of the devil."
• All Watchtower members have been taught that God/Jesus “examined all Christian Religions” and chose the Watchtower to be “God’s only Channel” of pure truth.
• Watchtower members believe that Christ has already returned, but “invisibly.”
• Members of the Watchtower must not “think for themselves” in regard to “Biblical Truth,” as this would make them guilty of “independent thinking,” which would then show them to be “rebellious,” “haughty,” and “puffed up with pride,” becoming, then, “just like Satan” who was the first “independent thinker.”
• Only the Watchtower Organization understands the Bible.
• Watchtower members must not participate in prayer with anyone other than another Watchtower member, for that one is unknowingly praying to Satan.
• To leave the Watchtower is to leave Jehovah God.
• To leave the Watchtower and to refuse to any longer view or to believe that they represent God, and to refuse to “repent” and to come back to the Watchtower, is akin to “a dog who has returned to its vomit,” and that one is “as good as dead.”  That one is now "marked for destruction” at God’s hands during His “day of wrath” at Armageddon.
• Anyone who leaves the fold of the Watchtower to then become an orthodox Christian is an “evil apostate,” now believing and following “lies from Satan.” That one has now shown themselves to be a "mentally diseased," “wicked hater of Jehovah God,” and an “enemy of God.”
• Members of the Watchtower claim that they “do not serve the Watchtower Organization,” but that they “serve Jehovah” by way of the organization, as this is Jehovah God’s arrangement.
• Watchtower members do not believe that the Blood of Jesus is “enough.”   They do not believe that they can “come to Jesus” for the forgiveness of their sins, or to have eternal life. They believe that they must WORK for the “hope” of their salvation; they do not believe that eternal life is a “free gift.”
• Watchtower members believe that they are the only ones who have any hope of being spared at Armageddon; everyone else outside the Watchtower Organization is “wicked” and will be “destroyed” by Jehovah God at Armageddon.
• Only those in “good standing” with the Watchtower have any hope of surviving Armageddon, or of attaining everlasting life.
• For a Watchtower member to allow a blood transfusion for their spouse or parent or child is to commit a terrible sin against God; it is a breaking of His law, and they could well be disfellowshipped for it, and this would be considered to be the same as “signing their own death warrant.”
• For a Watchtower member to associate in any way with an ex member (except in cases of serious “Family Business”) is to be “disloyal to Jehovah,” as the ex member who refuses to come back to the Watchtower has shown himself to be an “enemy of God,” “rebellious,” and a “hater of Jehovah.”

We only stop at this point because the list of unorthodox beliefs of those loyal to the Watchtower Organization is simply too long…

If one is truly interested in what God’s Word teaches, one can easily find God’s truth in His Word, for His Word is truth (John 17:17  NWT).

Here are a few thoughts from God’s Word to consider:

(All scriptures quoted, except for one, are from the New World Translation)

• “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man to whom no salvation belongs.” Psalms 146:3  NWT
• “Every saying of God is refined. He is a shield to those taking refuge in Him.  Add nothing to His words, that He may not reprove you, and that you may not have to be proved a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6  NWT
• In the book of 2 Peter, Christians are warned to not forget the accurate knowledge of Jesus Christ, “For if these things are not present in anyone, he is blind, shutting his eyes to the light…
• “No, it was not by following artfully contrived stories that we acquainted you with the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ…
• “However, there also came to be false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you…they will exploit you with counterfeit words…Abandoning the straight path, they have been misled.” 2 Peter 1:8-9, 16,  2 Peter 2:1-3, 15  NWT
• “While they are promising freedom, they themselves are slaves of corruption.  For whoever is overcome by another is enslaved by that one.”  2 Peter 2:19  NWT
• Regarding Paul’s letters to Christians, Peter comments:  “In them, however, some things are hard to understand, which the untaught and unsteady are twisting as they do also the rest of the scriptures…
• “Be on your guard that you may not be led away with them…and fall from your own steadfastness...but go on growing in the…knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.” 2 Peter 3:16-17 NWT

Jesus has some things to say that we may want to give heed to

• “Come to Me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for your souls.  For my yoke is kindly and My load is light.” Matthew 11: 28-30  NWT
• “No man can come to Me unless the Father, who sent Me, draws him…” John 6:44  NWT
• “I am the way, the truth and the life…”  John 14:6  NWT
• “…I am the light of the world.  He that follows Me will by no means walk in darkness, but will possess the light of life.”  John 8:12  NWT
• “…If you remain in My word, you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be actually free.”  John 8:31-32, 36  NWT
• “I am the bread of life…that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die… Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.  He that feeds on My flesh and drinks of My blood has everlasting life...”   John 6:48,50,53-54  NWT
• “You are searching the scriptures, because you think that by means of them you will have everlasting life; and these are the very ones that bear witness about Me.  And yet you do not want to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:39-40  NWT
• “How can you believe when you are accepting glory from one another?”  John 5:44  NWT

The apostle Paul has words for those Christians who have left the pure truth of Christ

• “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge…but seeking to establish their own” (righteousness). Romans 10:2-3  NWT
• “…Those in (union with) Jesus Christ have no condemnation.  For…Jesus Christ has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  Romans 8:1-2  NWT
• “You were bought with a price; stop becoming slaves of men. 1 Corinthians 7:23  NWT
• “…We have renounced the underhanded things…not walking with cunning, neither adulterating the Word of God, but by making the truth manifest…” 2 Corinthians 4:2  NWT
• “If, now, the Good News we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious Good News about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.  For we are preaching, not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord...”  2 Corinthians 4:3-5  NWT
• “Do not go beyond the things written.”  1 Corinthians 4:6  NWT
• “Keep testing whether you are in the (Christian) faith, keep proving what you yourselves are…”  2 Corinthians 13:5  NWT
• "...In order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as if by waves and carried hither and thither by means of every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error.  But speaking the truth, let us by love grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ."  Ephesians 4:14-15  NWT
• “Make sure of all things…”  1 Thessalonians 5:21  NWT
• “…They received the Word with the greatest eagerness of mind, examining the scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.”  Acts 17:11  NWT

The apostle Paul passionately warns Christians of those who could so quickly remove them from the One who called them “over to another sort of Good News,” that even if an “angel out of heaven” should declare to them as good news something beyond what the apostles declared to them as good news, “let him be accursed.”  Galatians 1: 6-8  NWT

Paul goes on to say, “But because of the false brothers brought in quietly, who sneaked in to spy upon our freedom which we have in (union with) Christ Jesus, THAT THEY MIGHT COMPLETELY ENSLAVE US…to these we did not yield by way of submission, no, not for an hour…”  Galatians 2:4-5  NWT

“Therefore, as you have accepted Christ Jesus the Lord, go on walking in (union with) Him, rooted and being built up in Him, and being stabilized in the (Christian) faith…

“Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men…” Colossians 2:6-8  NWT

So then, what are we to conclude?

In the relatively short list of scriptures above, one can see the wisdom of “examining the scriptures daily as to whether these things (are) so” in order to be able to properly ascertain as to whether or not any “teachings of man” is really “truth.”

Remember that one is clearly admonished at Hebrews 5:14 to have their “perceptive powers trained THROUGH USE,” and this most certainly involves the practice of “THINKING.”

Paul reasons that as “a babe” one depends upon others to teach them right and wrong; truth from lies, but that once one has become an adult, they are to put away “the traits of a babe.” They take responsibility for their choices and beliefs. (1 Corinthians 13:11 NWT)

Allowing others to “do your thinking for you”…especially when it comes to any “accurate knowledge” about God and Jesus…is not being an “adult”; it is not taking responsibility;  it is not having ones “perceptive powers trained,” nor is it “making sure of all things.”

Recall that Paul praised the Beoreans for NOT “just swallowing” what was “fed” to them as “truth,” but that they diligently checked out everything to see how it compared with God’s Word.  Surely they are an example to follow.  (Compare Acts 17:11  NWT)

The listing of the Watchtower’s core beliefs do not match up with the listing of scriptures that follow…and why is that?  Could it be that the “great deceiver” of all time has used the Word of God to “twist His truth” in order to deceive unwary ones?  Is it possible that the Watchtower Organization is not truly teaching “the truth”??

Let us take a quick look at what the apostle Paul had to say in regard to any religion or group of men who did not teach the truth according to God’s Word, but an altered version of it, in order to “trick” unsuspecting ones into believing their “doctrines of men…”

What Paul has to say about following “teachings of men”

“But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, your minds might be corrupted away from…the Christ…

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light.

“It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness…” 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-15, 20  NWT

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to (what we are in the) flesh.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning powerfully entrenched things.

“For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God; and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5  NWT

But what about loyalty to Jehovah God?  What about loyalty to the Watchtower?

It is not “going against God” to “make sure of all things,” nor is there any reason to fear that Jehovah God will somehow be “displeased” if one decides to ‘carefully examine the scriptures as to whether these (Watchtower teachings) are so.’  (Acts 17:11  NWT) 

After all, it is God's own Word that plainly warns us that we are to “have our perceptive powers trained through use,” and that as we are each personally responsible for the choices that we make, “each of us will render an account.”  (Hebrews 5:14; Romans 14:12  NWT)

We have been promised the Holy Spirit as a “helper”

We have been promised “the helper,” that is, Jesus has promised us that the Holy Spirit will come to us to help us and to “guide us into all truth.”  (John 16:13  NWT) 

Yes! All we have to do is to be willing to humbly and prayerfully ask God for His Holy Spirit, and it is promised to us!  (See Matthew 7:9; Luke 11:13  NWT)

With the promise of the Holy Spirit (“the helper”) to “guide us into all truth” being made available to us if we only prayerfully ask God for it, we can trust that we will be able to understand God’s Word, no longer feeling that we must depend upon others to teach us…

Regarding the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 1 John 2: 26-27 plainly tells us:

“These things I say to you about those who are trying to mislead you.

“And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to be teaching you, but, as the anointing from Him is teaching you about all things, and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in Him.”

Yes, we cannot Biblically claim that we are not responsible for our religious beliefs simply because we chose to believe an “authority” who claimed to know better than we, or who claimed to be chosen by God to teach His Word to others, no, but God holds each one of us responsible for our own actions.  (See Romans 14:12  NWT)

We have God’s Word; we have the promise of the Holy Spirit; we have our brain; we have the scriptural admonitions to “think,” and we have the advice and the example to “examine the scriptures as to whether these things (are) so,” and we have the admonition to “make sure of all things,” and, as we have already seen several warnings in God’s Word as to how easily one can be “deceived,” there is really no reason to fear God’s displeasure in following the instructions we have found in His Word.  (See Romans 14:12; Hebrews 5:14; Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21  NWT)

If we truly love our heavenly Father, and if we really are “lovers of truth,” and if we truly believe that God’s Word “is truth,” we will surely want to give God's Word more weight than any “teachings of men” in considering any doctrinal "truth" of any religion that claims to teach the Word of God; God’s Word should always be our final “Spiritual Authority.”  After all, did not both God and Jesus point mankind to His Word?  (See John 17:17  NWT)

As for God’s love for His followers, the apostle Paul tells us:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   Romans 8: 38-39  NWT

Let us consider one last word of comfort from God’s Word…

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life.”  1 John 5:19-20  KJV

So can the Watchtower prove any of their unorthodox core teachings to be true according to the Word of God?  No, they cannot.  Not even one…