Jehovah Witnesses & Bible/ The Watchtower?

Question

Why can't I read the bible exclusively and be a true christian? How did people learn "the truth" before the watchtower/JWs came to be?

"Let us face the fact that no matter how much Bible reading we have done, we would never have learned the truth on our own. We would not have discovered the truth regarding Jehovah, his purposes and attributes, the meaning and importance of his name, the Kingdom, Jesus' ransom, the difference between God's organization and Satan's, nor why God has permitted wickedness." (Watchtower 12/1/1990, pages 19)

"Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible." (The Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1967. p. 587.)

Answer 1

Despite the protestations of anti-Witness activists, Jehovah's Witnesses consider the Bible to be the only infallible inspired means of determining God's will and purposes. Jehovah's Witnesses consider the Holy Scriptures as the final word in all matters of worship, and actually encourage their adherents to elevate the bible over the human traditions which pass as worship for too many humans.

(Matthew 15:3,9) [Jesus] said to them: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition? ...It is in vain that they keep worshiping [God], because they teach commands of men as doctrines.

(Mark 7:8) Letting go the commandment of God, you hold fast the
tradition of men.

(Colossians 2:8) 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, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ


The many fine publications of Jehovah's Witnesses could no more replace the bible than a pair of eyeglasses could replace the eyes.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/bible/2ti/chapter_003.htm#bk16
http://watchtower.org/e/19991115/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/t13/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20010801/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20000622/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050715/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19981001/article_01.htm

Answer 2

Will anyone who reads the Bible without Watchtower Guidance misunderstand it? No. They will indeed understand a lot if they have a sincere and honest heart - however they won't understand everything. Do we need the Watchtower to be guided by the bible? No we need the bible to be guided by the bible. If the Watchtower bible and tract society closed it doors due to a ban or any other reason, where would we and do we get our guidance from? We'd get our guidance from Jehovah the way we do today. Jehovah will use any channel he wants to help us, including the Faithful and Discrete Slave - which is a SPIRITUAL body not a legal entity.

Answer 3

One of the Jehovah Witnesses told the biggest lie of her life when she was trying to convert me. I knew nothing about Bible,at first I read the Watchtower version then I read the New King James version. The JW who came to my home to preach for over 5 years time. as you can see it took me 5 years to finish reading the two different version of bible. The JW she said to me one time that these two bibles are the same, but the next time when I brought up some questions regarding the differences occour in the bibles, she was debating fevently in favour of the Watchtower version of Bible. I am so glad that I finally found out that the JW is a cult. If anyone who is JW,please do not be offended for what I said.I just hope that they will open their eyes to the truth, but the JWs are forbidden to be exposed to any nagative comments about the organization, then how can they get to know the truth. The JWs are being controlled by the organization. I hope if any JW want to defend what I said, please read the two versions of bible mentioned above first and do some comparison. You need Jesus to save you, not an organization I 'm afraid. I had been warned about the JW's teaching, and I had let the JWs have their say. and the conclusion is: The truth does not lie in the Watchtower organization but in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer 4

I really feel that it is so easy to twist the context of ANY magazine article if you just quote one paragraph. The articles are written in such a way that each paragraph builds on the info or clarifies the paragraph just before it.

We are encouraged to read the Bible- DAILY. The Bible study aids just help bring together verses addressing a particular subject.

And I am not ashamed to admit that 95% of Bible truth that I know now, I learnt from the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Before that I thought God had no name, he was a trinity, Mary was his mother, he roasted people in a large barbeque limb by limb, and when he was done he'd start all over again, the beautiful earth would be burnt as well, my dead loved ones were roaming over the earth, and if I didn't do certain things for them they'd haunt me till I joined them, I saw nothing wrong with the idea that my race is better than other races, it was okay to pray to the saints and to bow before graven images etc

I thank Jehovah God for bringing me into contact with those publications!!!!

Answer 5

"...Let us consider one another to incite to love and fine works, not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.: --Hebrews 10:24,25

"... the time left is reduced..." --1 Corinthians 7:29

"Finally... whatever things are true,
whatever things are of serious concern,
whatever things are righteous,
whatever things are chaste,
whatever things are lovable,
whatever things are well spoken of,
whatever virtue there is
and whatever praiseworthy thing there is,
continue considering these things." --Phillipians 4:8

The publications don't stop us from reading the Bible on our own.
In fact, we are always encouraged to do so, IN the publications,
& regularly.
The publications serve to help us study & read Scriptures together, unitedly, even studying the same Scriptural lessons world-wide.
In that way, we can more easily discuss what we've learned, & call things to each other's attention that we might not have noticed on our own...

There is nothing wrong with encouraging & upbuilding one another by studying Scripture together. And doing so does not preclude our reading the Scriptures individually, at our own speeds. It does, however, help us each to cover all the details in Scripture, many of which we might miss, otherwise. It allows us to study ahead, & prepare well thought out answers to share with the others, & this in turn helps us become more profficient in speaking to others about the Bible's message, which we are commissioned to do.

Being thusly organized has allowed us to build up understanding of the Scriptures much faster than we could have individually, & the time is reduced, so this is another important factor. The Bible is a very deep set of books, & requires a lifetime of dedication to follow.

God has always dealt with his people as a group.
It is no different today.
Hebrews 10:24,25 actually commands that we 'gather together".
And everyone I know of finds our Bible studies thoroughly enjoyable-- to hear the comments of so many others, all in support of Jehovah God's plans!

Answer 6

the bible was written as humans were directed by the Holy Spirit on EXACTLY what to write. It is the ONLY truth - all other books are just written by men alone. If you have a book that is basically written by God - why would want to read anything else by a human?

(am I saying just read the bible and nothing else? no, I'm saying think of your questions from a different point of view)

Answer 7

I'm a Christain and I don't belong to any organized Church. I Worship alone and online. Oh I've had to contend with jws, mormons, baptists, 7th day adventists at my house, I tell them all the same thing, Get Lost. I worship God my way.

Jws believe that Jesus Christ wasn't born until 1928. Their Bible is different than the KJV.

Answer 8

The bible existed long before JW's and many other religions came to be. There will always be different interpretations of the bible.
No one man is a religion unto himself...different religions have taught what they believe the bible to proclaim.
Individuals affiliate themselves with what they are most comfortable with.

Answer 9

Those quotes are taken out of context.
People learn the truth from God having only the Bible. Having Bible study aids only makes it about a million times easier lol.
I like having a theocratic school where I can take lessons from the Bible and learn them one by one and in depth before moving on to something else. It helps me process the information and store it for future use.

Answer 10

You're missing the whole point.

Nobody can trust their own personal interpretation of scripture to be correct. The 50,000 different protestant Christian denominations, with all their widely varying, bible-based creeds, are certain proof of that.

Such things are typically only possible for the authentic and universal church, which is infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit ... and due to their non-Christian beliefs, the JW's aren't even a part of it.

The authentic church is obviously not even dependent on the bible, since the church existed for some 400 years, before the bible even existed.

Jesus founded, authorized, empowered, and eternally guaranteed only one church ... the Catholic church. He never founded or "authorized" a bible.

And while the Catholic church produced the bible, and it has always proclaimed and defended the bible as the inerrant written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, there's no way a book ... even a holy one ... can do the job of the authentic church that Jesus personally founded and divinely constituted, for the purpose of our salvation.

JW's can't even figure out who Jesus really is ... their group is based on the erroneous teachings of false prophets, and they're not very good at translating Greek, either.

Without exception, anyone or any group that separates itself from the only church that Jesus founded, for whatever reason, is destined for confusion.

True Christians NEVER followed the bible alone. True Christians have faith in Jesus Christ, and in the only universal church that he ever personally founded, which is the primary dispenser of all God's grace ... and they fully and actively participate in all of the work, worship, sacraments, and devotions of that church ... in order to discover the true purpose of their existence in Christ ... and hopefully, to obtain their eternal reward.

That's "the way" Jesus set it up. That's "the way" it is.

Pursuing any other "way" exhibits an utter and wholely illogical lack of faith in Jesus Christ and all HIS works ... especially for those who claim to saved by "faith alone" according to "the bible alone".

Answer 11

* Do you use a "Bible Dictionary"

if you do you 'aren't using ONLY the bible'

and yet without some sort of 'aids' we can't know what the bible is really talking about. Without historic background many verses would be impossible to understand.

* Which bible are you using?

The KJV has over 20,000 known mistakes.

The NIV has been shown to "add words" to make the bible say what the translators wanted it to say.

* Are you saying that God doesn't have a people / organization today?

Yet, it is said that God is taking a people out of all nations, tribes and tongues to make them a people for his name.

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