The Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) claim to have a monopoly on
Biblical truth. It is not simply that they exalt their own translation, the New World Translation, over all others.
They claim that they are the only ones who can understand it:
·
The Bible…belongs to the Christian organization,
not to individuals regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can
interpret the bible…the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s
visible organization in mind. (Watchtower,
October 11967, 587)
·
God has not arranged for that Word to speak
independently or to shine forth life-giving truths by itself…It is through his
organization God provides this light.” (Ibid. May 1, 1957, 274)
·
Unless we are in touch with this channel of
communication that God is using, we will not progress along the road to life,
no matter how much Bible reading we do. (Ibid., December 12, 1981, 27)
However, there is nothing in the Scriptures that claims that
the Bible belongs to an organization, let alone the JWs. Nor are we dependent
upon an organization like the Catholic Church to tell us the meaning of the
Scriptures:
·
The spiritual person judges all things, but is
himself to be judged by no one. (1 Corinthians 2:15 ESV)
The one led by the Spirit is not dependent upon an
organization. While our Lord has given us pastors and teachers to help us
interpret the Scriptures (Ephesians 4:11-14), more importantly, He has given us
the Holy Spirit:
·
But the anointing that you received from him
abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his
anointing teaches you about everything [through the Scriptures], and is true,
and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:27, 20 ESV)
·
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide
you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but
whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are
to come. (John 16:13 ESV)
Without the Spirit, we remain blind to the things of God and
even the JW organization cannot remedy this:
·
The natural person does not accept the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand
them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Because of our spiritual blindness, the Spirit has made much
of the Word quite plain for us:
·
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in
your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); (Romans
10:8; Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
Consequently, we can understand and obey the Word, as the
Hebrew Scripture had repeatedly reminded the Israelites. We are also expected to
meditate on the Word both day and night (Psalm 1:1-3) without the need of an
approved organization. In fact, throughout the Bible, we find that people were
moved by the Word, according to the Spirit, without the need for an
organization.
When an organization claims to have the keys to the understanding of Scripture, it becomes oppressive
and monopolistic. The JW demand that everyone must believe as their
organization dictates. As a result, no one can think on their own. They are
even afraid to. We had been friends with a lovely JW missionary couple. We gave
them a book on Intelligent Design. Even though I assured them that it agrees
with all of their beliefs, they refused to receive it.
Ultimately, our faith must be between ourselves and the Lord
through the Word without the mediation of an organization:
·
The faith that you have, keep between yourself
and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for
what he approves. (Romans 14:22)
The Church and the pastor are shepherds and guides. They
were never intended to Lord-it-over the minds of the saved. Peter counseled
church leaders to:
·
shepherd the flock of God that is among you,
exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have
you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your
charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3)
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