What is wrong with studying the Bible the Watch Tower way? Part 1

The short answer—You learn Watchtower doctrine not Biblical doctrine.

I received the above question from a young lady who was raised in a Witness home and had “studied the Bible” the WT way her whole life. I wrote back:

In a WT “Bible Study,” you will sit down with a WT book that you will read from cover to cover. Your Bible will be used as a reference book—to look up a verse now and then or maybe just half a verse. As you progress through the WT book, page by page, the WT will tell you what the Bible teaches and then will direct you to read a verse that ‘proves’ what they have just told you. At the bottom of each page are some questions that you answer by re-reading the paragraphs. After you have finished with the WT book, you are very familiar with WT doctrine but not Bible doctrine.

The Books of the Bible, of both the Old and New Testament, were originally written as continuous text, without chapters and verses. The early Christians eventually assigned the text to chapters and verses, to make referencing easier. The Jews found this innovation useful and followed suit in the Hebrew Bible. To properly understand the Bible, one needs to read it as it was written—as continuous text—not broken up into verses and parts of verses. The WT kind of study prevents one from reading the verse in its context. Why is context so important?

First, because a text (verse) taken out of context is a pretext to teach anything—no matter how un-Biblical. I remember this absurd example, but it shows the importance of reading and knowing the context of any Bible verse. If you read part of Matthew 27:5, Luke 10:37 and John 13:27 you get, “Judas hung himself--go and do likewise--whatever you do, do it quickly.” Is that what those verses teach? How would you prove otherwise? Simple. Read each book where each verse is found.

Second, the context of a verse determines its meaning. As an example, what does the word “trunk” mean?—the rear of a car, the long nose of an elephant, a big container for old clothes or part of a tree. The correct meaning of “trunk” will only be known when you know the words around it, for the words around “trunk” give “trunk” its correct meaning. A verse in the Bible is the same. If you pull a single verse out of its context, you will likely not understand its correct meaning. A verse is given meaning only by the verses around it.

What is wrong with studying the Bible the Watchtower way? Part 2--will cover why the WT does not want a potential convert to study only the Bible and it is here.