World-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.

It concludes that people must come not directly to Jesus but to the Watchtower organization for everlasting life (emphasis added in quotations).

• Where else can a Christian go? Peter stated there was no other place, and thus the wisdom of faithfully sticking to Jehovah’s organization today. (John 6:66-69) Of necessity, then, we should keep our eyes on the Kingdom, not on individuals, and show respect for the “faithful and discreet slave” that He is using at the present time. Actually, your very life depends on following this course of action. Remember, too, it is only he that endures to the end that will be saved.—Matt. 24:45-47; Rev. 2:10. (The Watchtower, 7/15/1964, p. 435)

• “The answer of the apostle Peter that there was no other place to go, that Jesus alone had the words of everlasting life, is one to keep in mind when you tend to stumble because of what another says or does. Where else is there to go? Is not the privilege of serving Jehovah God second to none? Is it not the most honorable activity in which anyone could engage, to be an ambassador or an envoy of the heavenly government, in Christ’s place to be asking people to be reconciled to God?—2 Cor. 5:20.” (The Watchtower, 7/15/1969, p. 441)

• “[There are many] Catholics and Protestants who stay with their church because they do not know where else to go. They have been taught that their church represents God, and they do not want to turn away from him. They disapprove of many church practices or doctrines, but they hope to reform their church from within… Separate from false religion, yes! Forsake the churches, by all means! But don’t stop there. Seek the true religion outlined in the Bible. True Christianity is being practiced throughout the earth today by a group of sincere men and women, well over a million strong, known as Jehovah’s witnesses.” (The Watchtower, 1/15/1970, pp. 39-40)

• “If we truly appreciate Jehovah’s earthly organization, we will remain loyal to it, knowing that the organization is his. If we were to leave it, where else could we go? There is no other organization that is doing the divine will or that is educating people for life everlasting. When many abandoned Jesus Christ, he asked his apostles: “You do not want to go also, do you?” Peter replied: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life; and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:66-69)” (Watchtower, 7/1/1973, p. 404)

• Perhaps something is said in one of the Watch Tower publications that you do not grasp or that adjusts our previous understanding of matters. How do you view this? Will you allow doubts to creep in? Will confidence be replaced with skepticism? Ask yourself: ‘Where did I gain the knowledge of the Scriptures that I already have? Has not the spiritual food provided through the Watch Tower publications helped me to change my life and find contentment and satisfaction? Where else would I go?’ This is the feeling toward Jehovah’s arrangements that the disciples had toward Jesus: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.”—John 6:68. (Watchtower, 7/15/1994, p. 438)

• We will be impelled to serve Jehovah loyally with his organization if we remember that there is nowhere else to go for life eternal. When Jesus’ statements caused ‘many disciples to go off to the things behind,’ he asked his apostles: “You do not want to go also, do you?” Peter replied: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life; and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”—John 6:66-69. (Watchtower, 11/15/1992, p. 21)

• Learning to serve God in unity with other imperfect people is vital because there is only one body of true worshippers. “One body there is, and one spirit, even as you were called in the one hope to which you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all persons.” (Eph. 4:4-6) Jehovah’s spirit and blessings are linked to the one association of brothers that God is using. Even if someone in the congregation upsets us, where else can we turn? Nowhere else can we hear the sayings of everlasting life.—John 6:68.” (Watchtower, 9/15/2010, p. 18)

• “Faith in Jehovah’s Victorious Organization…Since the end of that second total war, which threatened the very existence of Jehovah’s visible organization, about 34 trialsome years have passed. But, steadfastly, devoted Witnesses have kept their faith in Jehovah’s organization. They know which one of all organizations on earth the Almighty God has used to give the greatest witness to his name and kingdom in all Christian history.—Matt. 24:14.” (Watchtower, 3/1/1979, pp. 12, 18)

• Where else is salvation to be found? Is there not the danger of seeking refuge in the wrong place? How can the only religion that has God’s approval be identified? The only trustworthy answers can be found in the Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Jehovah’s Witnesses invite you to examine the Bible more closely. You will be able to understand who are the ones that God has chosen as “a people for his name,” whom he will protect during the impending day of his anger.—Acts 15:14; Zephaniah 2:3; Revelation 16:14-16.” (Watchtower, 2/1/1995, p. 7)

• “I am very grateful to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Where else can we find promises of everlasting life in Paradise in the near future and, now, balm for our souls! Thank you. A million times thank you.” (Watchtower, 1/1/1994, p. 20)

• “Jesus highlighted the close bond between the other sheep and the little flock [the 144,000] in his parable of the sheep and the goats, included in his prophecy on “the conclusion of the system of things.” In that parable, Christ clearly showed that the salvation of the other sheep is closely linked to their conduct toward the anointed, whom he called “my brothers.” (Watchtower, 2/1/2002, p. 220)

Combatting This Error

Jehovah’s Witnesses would vigorously deny the claim that the Watchtower organization has supplanted Jesus in their lives.

The best way I know to show them Jehovah’s Witnesses this error is to show them this group of quotations.

Along with that, you can show them the Watchtower’s teaching that Jesus in not their mediator but only the mediator for the 144,000:

Nevertheless, in a preliminary way, the great crowd have already “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14) Christ does not act as Mediator of the new covenant toward them, yet they benefit from this covenant through the work of God’s Kingdom.

You can also show them Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees in John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Reference:

1. Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible, James W. Sire (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1980), p. 160.