Jehovah's Witness FAQ

Who said, “Do not study your Bible, for if you do, you will be in darkness in two years.”

CHOICE A: Was it God? Of course not, because the Bible says, in Deuteronomy 6:5-9, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

God is commanding us to teach ourselves and our children His Word, so that it penetrates our hearts, minds and will—that is, every aspect of who we are. And then, we are to write it down and bind it to all our daily aspects of life.

Also at 2 Timothy 3:14-17, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Paul tells us to heed God’s Word. Here is the call to scrutinize, understand, and then apply Scripture. This passage is not an instruction to give the Bible the occasional “once over.” It is the clear, uncompromising call to continue in our studies constantly and passionately.

CHOICE B: WAS IT THE DEVIL. Could very well be. James 1:21 tells us, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” The devil doesn’t want us to be saved, and to prevent that he would not want us to receive the word (the Bible) which is able to save. So we could easily see the devil saying, “do not study your Bible.”

CHOICE C: THE WATCHTOWER MAGAZINE. Charles Taze Russell, the first President of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, wrote a series of books called Study in Scriptures. About these “Studies” the Watchtower states, “Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the 'Scripture Studies' aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years - if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the 'Scripture Studies' with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures." (Zion’s Watchtower—later renamed The Watchtower Sep 15, 1910, p. 298.

Let me summarize the above quote, read only the Bible and you will be in error, however, read only the WT studies and you will be in the truth.