Category: Faithful and Discreet Slave (page 2 of 3)

The Watchtower Chameleon

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses simultaneously adopts two contradictory personas—one to establish its right to demand constant obedience and trust from all Jehovah’s Witnesses and the other to defend itself against criticism when it is proven to be wrong about something.

Persona #1: The “faithful and discreet slave” of Matthew 24:45—chosen by Jehovah and Jesus to be the sole dispenser of spiritual truth in these latter days.

Persona #2: Humble Christian brothers who do not claim to be inspired, infallible, or perfect.

Let’s look first at Persona #1. Continue reading

Encountering the Organizational Mindset

While I was in the midst of my “home Bible study,” I also attended some Watchtower study sessions at the local Kingdom Hall. What was studied wasn’t the Bible itself but articles from The Watchtower magazine. Like the study book, they consisted of Watchtower teachings with brief scripture quotations or citations references interspersed as if they taught and emphasized exactly what The Watchtower was saying. (p. 21) Continue reading

The Watchtower’s World-View Confusion

Twisting World View ConfusionWorld-view confusion means this: “Scriptural statements, stories, commands or symbols which have a particular meaning or set of meanings when taken within the intellectual and broadly cultural framework of the Bible itself are lifted out of that context, placed within the frame of reference of another system and thus given a meaning that markedly differs from their intended meaning.”[1]  

John 6:66-69 tells us that after Jesus gave a speech in which he talked about the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, “…many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’”

Clearly, the focal point of this affirmation is Jesus himself. He also is the one to whom we must come. He alone is “the Holy One of God.”

However, since Jesus isn’t here physically any longer and since the Watchtower is convinced that he has appointed it as his “faithful and discreet slave” and put it in charge of all his earthly affairs, it substitutes itself for Jesus in Peter’s declaration. Continue reading

The Watchtower Claims Virtue by Association

Twisting Virtue by AssociationWhen criticized for errors it has made or for changing its doctrines, occasionally the Watchtower admits that its writings aren’t infallible or inspired like the Bible.

However, these moments of humility are dwarfed by the sweeping authority over the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses which it claims God has given it. In effect, it places its own writings on a par with or even above the Bible, while denying that it does so. Continue reading

The Watchtower Wrongly Asserts That Certain Teachings Are Obvious

Twisting Obvious FallacyThe “obvious fallacy” occurs when “words like absolutely, undoubtedly, certainly, it is only reasonable to conclude and so forth are substituted for logical reasons.”[1]

Using such words or phrases isn’t always wrong, but we need to be careful to examine whether they are being used as a substitute for evidence and logic.

Here are three examples from Watchtower literature. Continue reading

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