1. Teaching that true Christianity is an organization instead of a way of life.
2. Claiming salvation is dependent upon belonging to the JW denomination.
3. Claiming that the organization speaks for and is controlled by Jehovah, thereby equating the organization with God himself.
4. Centralizing authority in an organization instead of letting Christ be the head of each Christian.
5. Claiming that the “faithful and discreet slave” is the “anointed class” rather than each individual Christian who shows himself or herself to be responsible and obedient to Christ.
6. Teaching that the early Christians were led by a governing body.
7. Teaching that Jesus appointed the “anointed remnant” as his true church in 1919.
8. Viewing the so-called “anointed” class (actually, the governing body) as God’s channel and prophet.
9. Placing WT literature above the Bible.
10. Frequently taking Bible texts out of context in order to build support for the organization’s man-made teachings and procedures.
11. Teaching that Jesus returned in 1914 and is “invisibly present” since then.
12. Teaching that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BCE when no historical records confirm this and the actual date is believed by nearly all historians to be 587 BCE.
13. Falsifying the fact that Charles Russell predicted for 1914 the end of the world, not Christ’s return.
14. Lying about a so-called “increase” in earthquakes, warfare, famines, persecution, etc., since 1914.
15. Contradictorily condemning military organizations and frowning upon JWs who choose alternative service in lieu of military service while the headquarters organization at the same time owns stock in a military product organization (REGI).
16. Taking a conflicting stand with regard to the United Nations, claiming that it is the “wild beast” of Revelation that leads all nations in a fight against God and Christ at Armageddon, but signing on as an NGO member and publishing articles that present the UN in a favorable light.
17. Teaching that it’s wrong to celebrate birthdays and all holidays.
18. Teaching that Abraham and the faithful men and women of old are not among the holy ones who will rule with Christ in his Kingdom.
19. Interpreting Jewish restoration prophecies as fulfilled in “the anointed remnant”.
20. Teaching that the Scriptures are directly addressed only to “the remnant of anointed ones”.
21. Teaching that only the “anointed” must be born again.
22. Teaching that the “great crowd” are not begotten or anointed by the Holy Spirit.
23. Teaching that the “great crowd” are God’s grandchildren and not his sons and daughters.
24. Teaching that the “great crowd” are not members of the bride of Christ.
25. Teaching that Jesus is not the mediator between God and the “great crowd” of Revelation chapter 7.
26. Teaching that the resurrection of the “anointed” precedes the resurrection of the “other sheep” and that it has already begun.
27. Teaching that only “anointed” JWs will receive immortality in the resurrection
28. Inviting only the “anointed” to partake at the memorial.
29. Claiming that spiritual food comes from the “anointed” class whereas nearly all the writers of WT publications are members of the “other sheep” class.
30. Creating a climate of fear by authoritarianism.
31. Controlling what individual JWs may read of Bible-related publications that are not produced by the WT Society.
32. Arrogantly pretending that the JW organization maintains higher standards than any other religion and proclaiming publicly that all other churches are members of Babylon the Great.
33. Forbidding attendance and participation at other churches.
34. Class distinctions such as “governing body,” “anointed remnant” and “great crowd of other sheep”.
35. Class distinctions such as publishers, auxiliary pioneers, regular pioneers, special pioneers, circuit overseers, district overseers, Bethelites, Governing Body, etc.
36. Prohibiting women from serving in any meaningful role in the congregation while expecting them to do the bulk of the work in “field service”.
37. Constantly prodding the membership by means of literature, meetings and conventions to do ever more and more in the service of the organization, promoting an atmosphere where many feel their best is never good enough.
38. Setting dates for Armageddon and thereby urging the membership to abandon normal living, this often resulting in the ruination of health and family life, as well as creating employment and financial hardships.
39. Teachings that lead the members to believe righteousness and salvation can be earned by devoted and loyal support of the organization’s slavish programs
40. Keeping meeting attendance and field service records as a gauge of an individual’s spirituality.
41. Organizationally requiring no blood transfusions instead of letting it be a matter of conscience, thereby cruelly informing all members that they will be shunned by the organization if they accept a transfusion that might restore health following a life-threatening accident or illness.
42. Allowing their own infants and children to die instead of allowing doctors to give them necessary blood transfusions.
43. Teaching that the “congregation” of Matthew 18:17 is the body of elders.
44. Holding heresy trials and disciplinary hearings in secrecy from the rest of the congregation.
45. Withholding information that would be helpful to persons who have been accused of wrongdoing.
46. Conducting heresy trials of members who have doubts or who think differently upon the Scriptures.
47. Defining apostasy as against the organization instead of against God.
48. Being quick to disfellowship instead of making efforts to restore persons who have done something wrong.
49. Unnecessarily and abusively shunning members even for minor infractions such as smoking or not complying with the whimsical directives of elders, thereby causing personal and family turmoil that often results in immense guilt, shame, fear, depression, bitterness, hatred, murder and suicide.
50. Prohibiting fellowship with disassociated persons who show no inclination toward causing dissension.
51. Showing favoritism by advising innocent victims to “leave it to Jehovah” instead of the elders taking decisive action to deal with some members who have been accused of harmful wrongdoing.
52. Ignoring or minimizing clear evidence of child molestation and other abuses simply because only one witness is available to testify against the member accused of such serious wrongdoing.
53. Covering over and hiding damaging facts about the JW organization.
54. In many cases, neglecting the care of their own sick and elderly members who no longer have the strength and energy to attend all the meetings and to be regular in “field service” as they did for most of their lives.
55. Blatantly lying to the public by declaring to news media that members may leave the organization at any time, of their own free will and without any repercussions from the organization.
25 comments:
Lol TJ, this post stolen from those that know nothing of the bible. Stop the crap and stick to stuff you at least believe in. Some of the stuff in this post if from people that don’t even believe in the bible.
“Prohibiting women from serving in any meaningful role in the congregation while expecting them to do the bulk of the work in “field service”.
Please show us where women lead the congregation. Please search hard!!!
“Forbidding attendance and participation at other churches”
Oh yeah the bible is all inclusive of any religious you want to dream up. You’re better than this. Need I add more sarcasm?
“Teaching that it’s wrong to celebrate birthdays and all holidays.”
Please list the scriptures that commands Christians to celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc. Even better list the scriptures that talk positively about these Yeah they don’t exist and you know it.
I don’t get it. You have serious arguments that warrant good conversation. These kinds of posts only pander to the ignorant moron. Why stoop to this level?
You make excellent points!
Hello. One example is that of Prisca. She was trusted by Paul to manage the infant church group he left behind, and she taught the gospel as fully as Paul did. Neither of them had met Jesus of Nazareth, but their faith was strong. Without them to teach and organize, the infant church would not have blossomed as it did.
Please list the scriptures that say christians are prohibited from celebrating christmas and birthdays. However, the Bible does tell us that Jesus' first birthday was celebrated, with presents no less. Just because one birthday celebration resulted in a beheading does not mean that birthday celebrations are bad.
Christianity cannot be found in any building. This also applies to the Kingdom Hall. Christianity is a way of life and is apparent by the fruits you yield. Jehovah's Witnesses profess to be christians. Other churches do also. Why not visit another church if you want to? Especially if a loved one is getting married or there is another even that is special to you.
When christianity was taught in the first century, christians were not divided into groups as to what they believed or practiced. Christians were addressed as a whole. Euther you were a christian or you were not.
jworld, don't be an illogical moron. You said
''Please list the scriptures that commands Christians to celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc. Even better list the scriptures that talk positively about these Yeah they don’t exist and you know it."
Your logical error: equating absence of endorsement with condemnation.
By your "logic", since there are no scriptures that command use of automobiles, air travel, credit cards, indoor plumbing, outdoor plumbing, hotels, printed literature, DVDs, electronics, or offset printing presses, then True Christians should not use them either.
Of course, if one were Amish, one might actually say that. But I'll wager you do not.
"equating absence of endorsement with condemnation. "
HAHA that is what this blog is all about! The Bible doesn't talk about organizations, governing bodies, etc etc so thus they must be wrong. Anything in the bible that was not explicitly performed by the first century Christians must be wrong.
TJ, if Jesus birth was so important he would have said so. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the first century Christians didn't talk about it either. I'm only applying your line of logic that if its not in the scriptures its not part of the first century model that we must follow.
"When Christianity was taught in the first century, Christians were not divided into groups as to what they believed or practiced."
The WT is a master at sampling scriptures to form a point and it appears you follow that same model. Sampling in this instance allows us to cut out the great apostasy. If we deny that then yes lets pull in all the other supposed christian religions. But wait all organized religion is bad...now what? I feel stuck in your own brand of circular reasoning. Will you show us a way out?
What difference does it make whether Jesus' birth was important to the early christians or not? The point is that his birthday was celebrated. Period. What's the matter with celebrating birthdays? Nothing at all.
"The Bible doesn't talk about organizations, governing bodies, etc etc so thus they must be wrong. Anything in the bible that was not explicitly performed by the first century Christians must be wrong."
Everything is not that black and white. But organizations, governing bodies and all the rest of it are clearly made up so that the Governing Body and its attorneys can exercise control over a group of people. They come into the neighborhoods of inner city children and stop them from going to college, yet they want these same people to donate what little money they have to their organization. Children have been disinherited because the people have bequeathed the watchtower their land, their savings and all other things of value. It is actually sickening.
Money has become a big part of the watchtower organization.
It is not just that these things are not in the Bible, it is the fact that prganized religion, ALL OF IT, is corrupt and the witnesses are not immune to that.
Christians do not need an earthly organization to service God. Jesus said that he came to make the burden of his followers light. They would no longer have to follow the myriad of rules and edicts that had plagued them.
Do you actually believe that he wanted his followers to form other organizations with its stifling rules and regulations? Did Jesus believe that his followers were so stupid that they could not discern for themselves, with the help of the scriptures, how to follow him?
The Apostasy is one thing. The Restoration is another.
For a church to be legitimate, it must be commissioned. None of this process of elimination stuff. The Jehovah's Witnesses have never really explained how their church has been adequately commissioned. If it's people have not been called and ordained of God...er...Jehovah...then Bible study is not enough. (John Calvin and Alexander Campbell both thought they could restore biblical Christianity with nothing more than a correct understanding of the Bible. Hands-on-head ordinations weren't required, you see.)
The one thing the Jehovah's Witnesses have in common with these other churches is that they're all manmade. In other words, it takes more than just some pads of paper, a few pencils, a typewriter, a few people with courses in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and a publishing company. You not only need to be commissioned by God, there must be witnesses and fulfillment of scripture. Oh, and you can't go with numbers, either. (Some other church will always come along and top you!)
The church these "7 million" people are all leaving hasn't shown that it's commissioned.
“What difference does it make whether Jesus' birth was important to the early Christians or not?”
TJ, you have made this the number one priority on this blog not me. I suppose it is rude of me to actually hold you to your own logic.
“Everything is not that black and white.”
Isn’t that the truth. This is not something that the casual reader of your blog would discern though. You make everything sound so clear.
You do see how you are twisting the scriptures for your own purpose? You hate the WT and the WT is not mentioned in the bible so it has to be wrong. You apparently love Christmas but that gets a pass even though it’s also not mentioned in the bible.
Just yesterday you finally could admit the WT got some things correct if only by chance. We’ll never know what those are though because I suspect you partiality would not allow it.
Please list the scriptures that say christians are prohibited from celebrating christmas and birthdays. However, the Bible does tell us that Jesus' first birthday was celebrated, with presents no less. Just because one birthday celebration resulted in a beheading does not mean that birthday celebrations are bad.
What? The scriptures do not state that the shepherds and others present at Jesus birth gave presents. Later, when the wise men showed up, it was not at his birth. It does not state how old Jesus was when they arrived, so we don't know if it was his birthday. Also keep in mind they were there in order to find the child so Herod could kill him.
Oh yeah, TJ, are you going to answer my question in regards to your post about the new Governing Body members? The headline says 'New Governing Body Members', but the post itself says, 'New U.S. Branch committee members.' Which one is it? Or did the source you copy/pasted it from not state that either?
"Just yesterday you finally could admit the WT got some things correct if only by chance. We’ll never know what those are though because I suspect you partiality would not allow it."
First of all, I don't love Christmas. I just don't see why people can't celebrate a holiday if they feel like it.
When I said that the watchtower got some things right, I was really thinking about their moral codes, like being nice and helpful to one another.
I really cannot think of much else.
Charles Russell was afraid of death so he invented a paradise earth where good hehovah's witnesses would live forever.
Their dates are all wrong. There doctrines have to be corrected every few months and they have spent billions of the witnesses' hard earned money on magazines and books that are literally just trash now.
Millions of hours have been spent hawking the contents of those books and magazines that have changed and are no longer relevant.
Money down the drain.
Anyway, if I can think of anything else they have gotten right, I will post it.
"Job was a perfect example of one who was favored by God, yet he was honoring his childrens birthdays. In fact, the Bible says he was blameless and upright in God's eyes." See-Job 1:4:
Sorry zaarin888 I didn't mean to ignore you. The 2 new men appointed are Branch Members not Governing Body members.
Next time I will try to cut/paste more carefully.
What's wrong with the teaching of anti WT bloggers?
1.Putting blogs and internet chatter above the bible
2.Frequently taking Bible texts out of context in order to build support for the individual’s man-made understanding of the bible and way of life.
3.Thinking that Jesus will never return!
4.Believing all roads lead to the same place.
5.Imploring people to gorge themselves on everything the world has to offer. Contrary to Jesus message to always be on alert and to maintain a simple life.
6.Shun no one! Denying that Christians were supposed to guard their association.
7.Constantly prodding readers by means of endless blog posts to do less as Christians, promoting an atmosphere where many feel no action must good enough.
8.Lying about a so-called “decrease” in earthquakes, warfare, famines, persecution, etc
9.Always believing secular history above the Bibles own internal history.
10.Claiming salvation is dependent upon Christians being lazy.
11.Saying everyone will go to heaven and rule with Christ. If everyone is gone from earth what will there be to rule?
12.Denying that Jesus is the head of the congregation, an organization in itself.
13.Teaching that it’s right to celebrate pagan holidays.
14.Denying anything is even pagan.
15.Teaching that everyone will receive immortality in the resurrection.
16.Adopting Catholic procedures of everyone partaking at the memorial.
17.Claiming that spiritual enlightenment comes from the “blogger” class.
18.Arrogantly pretending that all Christian organizations maintain the high standards set out by Jesus.
19.Lying that JW’s don’t care for their elderly.
20.Outright lying that attendance and participation in the church that teaches what you want to hear leads to salvation.
21.Claiming the WT is rich, while saying the Catholic church is poor.
22.Denying Armageddon and thereby urging readers to abandon Christian living and adopt the materialistic lifestyle, this often resulting in the ruination of health and family life, as well as creating financial hardships from servicing the extreme debt loads required to maintain such a lifestyle.
23.Defining apostasy as a myth that simply never happens.
24. Having an contrary explanation for every bible text even if it defies logical reasoning.
25. Incoherent ideas that constantly change based on comments from blog readers.
26.Advising people to forget about Jehovah and take matters into their own hands.
"I just don't see why people can't celebrate a holiday if they feel like it."
Is that really what Jesus taught? Just do it if it feels right and you want to?
"Charles Russell was afraid of death so he invented a paradise earth where good Jehovah's witnesses would live forever."
False. The bible itself lays out the hope of the paradise.
How come you rarely link your sources on stuff like this? It might let people take you a bit more seriously.
"False. The bible itself lays out the hope of the paradise."
False. The Bible says nothing about living forever in an EARTHLY PARADISE.
jworld, you are so funny, I loved your lost of 26 things that I profess to endorse. Sadly, you have taken everything to its lowest common denominator so that I cannot agree with any of them, but the list is very funny!
Shun no one? Now that's a hoot! If someone does something wrong like pedophilia or murder or some other terrible thing, do I need an organization to tell me that I don't want to be friends with him? No. I am smart enough to figure out for myself who I want to associate with. The fact that shunning is legislated is what I am against.
"21.Claiming the WT is rich, while saying the Catholic church is poor."
Now you are just making things up. I never said that. The Catholic Church is the richest religion in the world. However, that does not negate the fact that the watchtower is very, very wealthy.
"8.Lying about a so-called “decrease” in earthquakes, warfare, famines, persecution, etc"
If you read publications other than the watchtowers you will realize that this is indeed true.
Jworld. christianity is not rules and regulations and you cannot earn yourself a place in line to everlasting life. You can work all day and all night and it will do you no good. You can do less, you can do more, you can do NOTHING, but if your heart is not right it will all be to no avail.
You can havee big houses, big cars, fine clothes and still be a christian. You can have nothing, live in a hovel, have no food and no running water and not be a christian.
It's not what you have or don't have that makes you a christian.
"False. The Bible says nothing about living forever in an EARTHLY PARADISE."
False again. That would negate God's original purpose for the earth.
I used to say you knew the bible. The more you are pressed to actually declare your beliefs it's obvious you come across as confused. Come clean! You only hate the WT organization. You see no problem is borrowing the religious ideas of every other christian organization out there including the richest of them all, the Catholic Church.
Everyone Goes to Heaven! Everyone Goes to Heaven!
"False again. That would negate God's original purpose for the earth."
This is simply watchtower propaganda.
I do not hate the watchtower. Hate is a very strong word and a word I try to remove from my vocabulary. However, the teachings of the watchtower are wrong. Period.
I'm really not sure what you endorse. That's been my point to all these questions. I saw this list elsewhere on the Internet along with many of your other posts. Rather interesting. It seems to be recycled content.
You may or may not believe the content in your own posts. You're only real mission appears to go for those extra cheap shots of the WT Organization. This recycled content is highly suspect, as other readers of your blog have commented on.
Only the bible can prove if your christian idea is even christian.
Alas you so rarely use scriptures to back up the content in your blog.
Great post, TJ, much appreciated.
"You're only real mission appears to go for those extra cheap shots of the WT Organization."
jworld, if you equate telling the real truth about the watchtower organization with taking cheap shots at them, then I'm guilty!
I see you don't like Jehovah Witnesses too much but while their path is also not for me, I'm not sure it helps to attack vs. to simply love and pray for them to be successful on their journey.
What the Joker said: Theocratic Joker said...
"False. The bible itself lays out the hope of the paradise."
False. The Bible says nothing about living forever in an EARTHLY PARADISE.
December 29, 2010 at 10:47 AM
Whether you beleive in heaven or earth Joker, shouldnt you simply help fellow humans understand that after Armeggedon , things get better for mankind? why spend so much energy on being negative when you can very easily help the homeless, the spiritually weak, make a stranger smile, read the bible to your family so they can see what Satan is doing to mankind and save them also? Such a sad waste of energy..
Post a Comment