I took the title for this blog from Chapter 2 of the WT book The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life. (You can get a free PDF copy of this book here.) I have a number of relatives who are JW's and I asked them if they examine the beliefs of the WTBTS. They stated that this advice to "Examine" is for everyone other than JW's. So since they won't examine their own religion I thought I would do it for them. WT speak is in BLUE.
Paragraph (¶) #1. Here the WT answers the question in the title of their booklet. "Because the evidence proves that God will soon destroy the wicked and establish his righteous new system." No major objection here. The WT continues: "So we need to ask: Am I worshiping God in the way that he approves? It is not any man but God, who is the judge of what pleases him. To get God's viewpoint, we need to go to the Bible. There he plainly tells us the course to follow if we want to gain eternal life." Too true!
The Bible does plainly explain the course to follow! Unfortunately for JW's, the Gospel of the WT is nowhere close to the Gospel of the Bible--see below.
The Gospel of the WT Explained is here and here and The Gospel of the Bible Explained is here.
¶ #2. Quotes Matthew 7:13-14, "Broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it: . . ." Only a few are on the road leading to life. Totally Agree!
¶ #3. "If you look around in the churches and observe persons who live immoral lives but who make a pretense at being righteous, you know that something is wrong." What is wrong with "God's visible organization" is known to the world but not to individual Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watch Tower is second only to the Catholic Church in protecting pedophiles. See the site "Silent Lambs" here, which chronicles the WT's long history of turning a deaf ear to the charges of child abuse levied at members of the WTBTS.
¶ #4. "It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines." (Matthew 15:9) If our worship is to be acceptable to God, it must be firmly rooted in God's Word of truth. Absolutely!
¶ #5. This is the MOST CRITICAL paragraph of this Chapter and I have quoted it in its entirety:
"We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God's Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It should be the sincere desire of every one of us to learn what God's will is for us, and then to do it." Amen and Amen!
Unfortunately for JW's it is difficult to know God's will when the WT goes to such great lengths to hide the real will of God. I have an eight (8) part series entitled PRESTO CHANGE-O! (part 1 is here) proving the WT changes their Bible to align with their doctrine INSTEAD of changing their doctrine to align with the Bible. Also, WT doctrine has been heavily skewed by the "traditions of men." See my blog "The WT/Wal-Mart Connection" here. To see what Bible Scholars think of the WT Bible see my blog, "Is the JW Bible (The New World Translation) Reliable?" here.
"If we are lovers of truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination." This reminds me of another WT quote from 1972 when the WT claimed to be God's prophet (see below). They went on to say, "it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?" I did review the record in a six (6) part series, "A Prophet Was not Among Them," Part 1 is here. And what did it show? Read the series and judge for yourself--"there is nothing to fear from such an examination."
Apostates Counterfeiting WT Literature? The typical JW will not believe that the copy of the April 1, 1972 Watchtower which I have reproduced below is authentic. They say that Apostates have reproduced an authentic looking page from the Watchtower but changed key words to put the Organization in bad light. You can find the text of the April 1, 1972 Watchtower at JW.org here. A hard core JW may even say that the link I just provided leads to an Apostate site. For those who may think along those lines--go to JW.org--click on "Publications"--then click on "Online Library"--in the search box type "They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them"-- scroll down and look for They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them and select this link which will take you to the April 1, 1972 Watchtower minus the graphics.
All the rest of the Paragraphs 6-13 I have no real problem with. Here is my short take on each.
Paragraph (¶) #1. Here the WT answers the question in the title of their booklet. "Because the evidence proves that God will soon destroy the wicked and establish his righteous new system." No major objection here. The WT continues: "So we need to ask: Am I worshiping God in the way that he approves? It is not any man but God, who is the judge of what pleases him. To get God's viewpoint, we need to go to the Bible. There he plainly tells us the course to follow if we want to gain eternal life." Too true!
The Bible does plainly explain the course to follow! Unfortunately for JW's, the Gospel of the WT is nowhere close to the Gospel of the Bible--see below.
The Gospel of the WT Explained is here and here and The Gospel of the Bible Explained is here.
¶ #2. Quotes Matthew 7:13-14, "Broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it: . . ." Only a few are on the road leading to life. Totally Agree!
¶ #3. "If you look around in the churches and observe persons who live immoral lives but who make a pretense at being righteous, you know that something is wrong." What is wrong with "God's visible organization" is known to the world but not to individual Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watch Tower is second only to the Catholic Church in protecting pedophiles. See the site "Silent Lambs" here, which chronicles the WT's long history of turning a deaf ear to the charges of child abuse levied at members of the WTBTS.
¶ #4. "It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines." (Matthew 15:9) If our worship is to be acceptable to God, it must be firmly rooted in God's Word of truth. Absolutely!
¶ #5. This is the MOST CRITICAL paragraph of this Chapter and I have quoted it in its entirety:
"We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God's Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It should be the sincere desire of every one of us to learn what God's will is for us, and then to do it." Amen and Amen!
Unfortunately for JW's it is difficult to know God's will when the WT goes to such great lengths to hide the real will of God. I have an eight (8) part series entitled PRESTO CHANGE-O! (part 1 is here) proving the WT changes their Bible to align with their doctrine INSTEAD of changing their doctrine to align with the Bible. Also, WT doctrine has been heavily skewed by the "traditions of men." See my blog "The WT/Wal-Mart Connection" here. To see what Bible Scholars think of the WT Bible see my blog, "Is the JW Bible (The New World Translation) Reliable?" here.
"If we are lovers of truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination." This reminds me of another WT quote from 1972 when the WT claimed to be God's prophet (see below). They went on to say, "it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?" I did review the record in a six (6) part series, "A Prophet Was not Among Them," Part 1 is here. And what did it show? Read the series and judge for yourself--"there is nothing to fear from such an examination."
Apostates Counterfeiting WT Literature? The typical JW will not believe that the copy of the April 1, 1972 Watchtower which I have reproduced below is authentic. They say that Apostates have reproduced an authentic looking page from the Watchtower but changed key words to put the Organization in bad light. You can find the text of the April 1, 1972 Watchtower at JW.org here. A hard core JW may even say that the link I just provided leads to an Apostate site. For those who may think along those lines--go to JW.org--click on "Publications"--then click on "Online Library"--in the search box type "They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them"-- scroll down and look for They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them and select this link which will take you to the April 1, 1972 Watchtower minus the graphics.
All the rest of the Paragraphs 6-13 I have no real problem with. Here is my short take on each.
¶ #6. "If a religion really accepts the Bible as God's Word, it is not going to use certain parts of it and reject other parts." Right On!
¶ #7. The WT quotes Romans 10:2-3, "I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge . . ." Accurate knowledge as to what the Bible teaches is absolutely necessary. I agree!
¶ #8. Matthew 7: 21-23 is quoted: "Not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom . . . " That's right!
¶ #9 and 10. The emphasis is on the doing and not just the hearing of the word of God. Matthew 7:20 is quoted, "by their fruits you will know them." Yes sir!
¶ #11. Acts 17:11 is quoted, "carefully examine the scriptures daily as to whether these things were so." This must be done!
¶ #12. "Remember, having God's approval is far more important than having the approval of men." Ain't it the truth!
¶ #13. "Keep on praying." Good advice for us all!
A careful examination of WT doctrine shows that: (1) they have changed their Bible to go along with their doctrines, (2) their translation is heavily influenced by the traditions of men and not what the Holy Spirit inspired Holy men to write, (3) their Gospel is works oriented and (4) their translation just plain sucks.
Apostates Counterfeiting WT Literature? If you are a typical JW you may believe that the link to a pdf copy of The Truth book leads to an Apostate site--go to JW.org--click on "Publications"--then click on "Online Library"--in the search box type "since we do not want our worship to be in vain"(make sure you type the Quotation Marks)-- scroll down and look for the link Why It Is Wise to Examine Your Religion and select this link which will take you to the Truth book or click here.
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