Part 2

How Should the Bible Be Studied

By contrast one of the things that I found reassuring, was the way the witnesses studied the Bible. It enabled me to see why so many churches had come into existence. When looking back into history, I noticed that individuals that started religions inevitability broke away after squabbling with their religious leaders over some controversial point or other, taking followers with them. This pattern continued with others doing the same. This is how the world came to have thousands of conflicting religions. The problem that I noted was that they kept all their old teachings, not realizing that if one teaching could be wrong, then there could be many others that were also wrong. Therefore the right thing to have done was to restudy all the teachings to test whether they were correct.

Witnesses were different.  The first witnesses like Charles Russel began by attempting to make a more thorough study of scripture investigating all the traditional teachings. Many critics of Jehovah’s witnesses criticize the differences they see in the modern teaching of Jehovah’s witnesses from the early teachings of Russell and Rutherford. What they fail to realize is that this is a natural consequence of what happens when one searches for truth. Everything does not happen at once. knowledge grows little by little. Witnesses have never been conceited enough to say that they know it all but often speak of “today’s truth”, not that this means that there are radical changes in their basic beliefs but merely that their understanding broadens and sometimes wrong views need to be corrected. Unlike some churches that claim divine inspiration and yet continue to hold teachings even if they were subsequently disproved by the Bible, the witnesses merely claim that they are sincere students of the Bible awaiting God’s time to reveal matters to them.

Most churches have a doctrinal basis that they have inherited from the churches that they broke away from. They search the Bible to find Biblical support for these beliefs, but witnesses allow the scriptures to explain scriptures. What method of Bible study do the witnesses use? The method which Jesus used when correcting the misunderstanding of his disciples mentioned at (Luke 24:27) And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. As Mose wrote the first five books and there were many prophetical writings, his words show that he was examining all the scriptures that referred to the messiah. When these scriptures all harmonized then their understanding grew. At verse 32 notice the effect that this study method had on Jesus disciples (Luke 24:32)  And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? In the same way Jehovah’s witnesses bring all the various scriptures together on a subject and accept the meaning that harmonizes with the rest of the Bible. That is why no witness believes that the Bible can be interpreted privately. Yes individuals can twist the scriptures with private interpretation, but the Bible will now contradict itself and expose the deception. logically God would never contradict himself. That is why the method that Jehovah’s witnesses could be be referred to as being guided by holy spirit. In other words inspired scripture explains inspired scripture. How many times I found that some religious person will tell me when shown a scripture reference that he wants to ignore, “you have to understand it spiritually” and then he puts his own meaning to the text, almost as if he imagines that God has personally inspired him or is whispering in his ear. What presumption? Here is one experience that I had when going from door to door. The person said “don’t talk to me, I’m born again, but go and talk to those people on the other side of the road, they need it” Not wanting to be disrespectful I said nothing but thought, “If you think that you are born again, then why don’t you go and speak to them, it’s your responsibility? Remember all the early Christians and apostles were born again and Paul said at (Acts 20:26,27) Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.

Am I judging this person? No! who is to blame for his ignorance of the scriptures. The church that he belongs too. Probably he does not even understand what the bible actually teaches about being born again but thinks that only born again individuals would get life. Yet David was not born again nor Abraham for that matter and the Bible refers to Abraham as being God’s friend. He lives in blissful ignorance of what God;s word actually teaches and if he is never ever open-minded enough to listen and check the scriptures like the ancient Beroeans did, he could be in danger of losing his life.  (Act 17:10-12) And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Beroea: who when they were come thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed; also of the Greek women of honorable estate, and of men, not a few.

The Topical Method not unusual

The topical method of study used by Jehovah’s witnesses is not foreign to mankind because many authoritative books use this system to help people to understand their contents. They generally use an index of words at the back of the book. By looking up a word, different page references are supplied, so that one is able to see how the word is used. A meaning that harmonizes with all these references would be the correct meaning.

The Methods used by Some Critics

Another clever ploy used by critics and apostates is to take a well accepted belief that most people hold, and then draw people’s attention to the fact that Jehovah’s witnesses believe otherwise. This has the effect of making it appear that the witnesses are trying to mislead them. However the fact is that the witnesses have made a very careful study and have found out what the Bible really teaches. Usually however the person spoken to has never seen any evidence to support his own belief, but just accepted this as true on the authority of his church. It takes courage and humility to ask witnesses for the evidence as to why they hold to this other view.  They should then compare the scriptural evidence with their own evidence remembering that the Bible never contradicts itself. God expects us to be reasonable.

One of the main teachings of Jehovah’s witnesses is that Jesus Christ began his invisible 2nd presence in 1914 and that this was indicated by the signs that Jesus gave relating to the end. (Mar 24,Mark 13, Luke 21.)  If one wants more proof of this I suggest that they contact the official site of Jehovah’s witnesses. Sufficient for me to say that the outbreak of worldwar 1 is one of the signs.

The Two Slaves

In Matt 24:45an 46 Jesus showed that when he began his presence (Greek parousia) Jesus judged those who claimed to be his followers. Of course this was invisible to mankind and only discerned by matching the signs given in the Bible with events. Those servants that he found doing his work he then appointed to care for all his belongings. The evil slave that had neglected the work was cast into darkness. Unlike many religions that took sides in the world war, and sending their church members to their deaths, and so becoming blood guilty before God,  Jehovah’s witnesses remained neutral and went about faithfully doing the work that Jesus had commanded them to do. The work that Jesus assigned them was the “The preaching of the Good News.” The prophecy that Jesus uttered showed that  the unfaithful slave would be thrown into darkness while the faithful slave would be given the responsibility of feeding Jesus’ flock. This appears to be in fulfillment today. Consider the evidence.

When  I look back in time to the 1950′s I find that I could call house to house and hold an interesting discussions with most people about God and the Bible. What is the position today? While the work of Jehovah’s witnesses have expanded world wide, the people whom we contact at the doors show little or no interest in the Bible whatsoever. Religious clergymen today hardly, if ever use the Bible. They prefer to use the phrase “I Believe.” They take political sides in political squabbles and promote political remedies rather than teach the Bible. Just as Jesus said, “they have become part of the world” and look to the world’s remedies rather than teach what God is going to do about the matter concerning earth. Only Jehovah’s witnesses continue doing what the early Christians did in the first century. Like the other religions of the first century the modern clergy choose to rouse up opposition to the work of Jehovah’s witnesses and even misrepresent them to governmental authorities bringing persecution although it is well known that Jehovah’s witnesses never involve themselves in politics or try to stir up rebellion. Yet governments, egged on by the clergy, persecute them. Does this not show that the religions of Christendom while claiming to serve Christ have proved unfaithful to their call and are drifting further and further away because of being in spiritual darkness. Furthermore their stand on politics makes them enemies of God. (James 4:4) If you want to check, I recommend that you check the link to the official site of Jehovah’s witnesses.
The producers of a documentary entitled “Knocking” have also listed the number of countries that Jehovah’s witnesses are persecuted in and also supplied some of the details.

Methods use by Critics

Another criticism of critics is that witnesses insist that they have the truth. What these critics rely on, is the ignorance of people. Knowing that a popular idea amongst persons is that “all roads lead to God” and also that “it does not matter what one believes as long as one believes” people conclude that this confidence that Jehovah’s witnesses have is a presumption. However as I have said before in other articles on this site.  “Think the matter through.” Ask yourself What kind of God would give all different ways to worship him? Is it not reasonable to conclude that if a person believes that his religion has the truth, that one should be able to prove from the scriptures that he has the truth.  In fact I will venture to say that if he cannot do that, how does that person know that he has the truth? Furthermore if that person does not believe that he has the truth, I could ask why does he stick to that religion? The fact is that God intends us to search for the truth and when we find it to hang onto it. (Acts 17:11)

Jehovah’s witnesses and the Early Christians

Another reason for Jehovah’s witnesses believing that they have the truth is because their organization structure is the same as the structure of the 1st Century Christian Congregations. They have no single leader. Nor do they follow the teachings of any man. Their governing body is composed of a group of dedicated born again Christians, who examine the scriptures continually and supply publications for all to study, that provide references in scripture to support their conclusions. Witnesses can then check for themselves as to the authority for these conclusions.  Furthermore they are the only religion on earth that is obeying Jesus Christ’s command which he gave his disciples before leaving the earth.(Matt. 28:19,20) Jesus told his disciples to “make disciples of people of all the nations,” baptize them and teach these disciples all that he had commanded them. What the new disciple was taught also included the command to make disciples. All dedicated witnesses (baptized witnesses) follow this command to make disciples and teach them. So contrary to popular belief, that religion is a personal thing and that it is wrong to share beliefs with others, Jesus actually commanded all his followers to do the preaching work and not just a few of them who then are constituted a clergy class. In actual fact all professed  Christians should be doing this work if they follow Jesus’ command. Many authorities notice that Jehovah’s witnesses reflect early Christianity in many ways.

The book “Our World Through the Ages” by N. Platt and M. J. Drummond, says: “The behavior of the Christians was very different from that of the Romans. . . . Since Christ had preached peace, they refused to become soldiers.”“

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” by Edward Gibbon, states: “[Early Christians] refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire. . . . It was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers.”

The Encyclopedia Canadiana” observes: “The work of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the revival and re-establishment of the primitive Christianity practised by Jesus and his disciples . . . All are brothers.”

An editorial in California’s “Sacramento Union” noted: “Suffice it to say that if all the world lived by the creed of the Jehovah Witnesses there would be an end of bloodshed and hatred, and love would reign as king”!

Similarly, a writer in Hungary’s “Ring” magazine remarked: “I have come to the conclusion that if Jehovah’s Witnesses were the only ones living on the earth, wars would cease to exist, and the only duties of the policemen would be to control traffic and to issue passports.

Many give lip service to the saying of Jesus that  “the truth shall make you free” but what do they understand that scripture to mean? What can the knowledge of the truth free us from? Is it not from lies and falsehood? Furthermore Jesus said of Satan that he was “the ruler of the world” and had no hold on Jesus (John 14:30) Furthermore (Revelation 12:9) says that “Satan Is the one misleading the entire inhabited earth” When one consider these words how can one believe that all roads lead to the true God. Perhaps all roads do, but to the wrong God.

Who are Apostates?

It seems that critics of Jehovah’s witnesses rely on the ignorance of the people to get their point home. the Bible makes it plain that anyone who once had an accurate knowledge of truth and then willfully turned against it, loses the benefit of the ransom. (John 9-11) Now Jehovah’s witnesses do not judge that person, but they do follow the scriptures referred to at (Hebrew 6:3-62) and (Thessalonians 3:6) that makes it very plain that they should have nothing to do with such individuals. These individuals are termed apostates and are expelled because after committing sin or deliberately trying to mislead faithful ones, they show no repentance and so are expelled from the Christian Congregation because they are bad examples and bring reproach on God’s holy name. Many of these individuals, could repent and not be expelled. Some sometimes repent later and return but very often some allow their pride to prevent them from doing this and so they show that they are apostates. Very often these apostates make it their mission in life to try and turn people away from Jehovah’s witnesses.

Personal Experiences with Apostates

I have had personal experience of apostates. In fact one of my own personal friends became an apostate. He pretended that he was confused by certain teachings. Many witnesses came to help him until they suspected that he was trying to spread confusion amongst us, so he was asked outright if he wanted to leave Jehovah’s witnesses.  As he became a witness by choice, if he wanted to leave he could leave. He assured us that he did not want to leave. Some months later some brothers returned to one of their calls and found him in the house trying to poison the minds of the people against us. Needless to say he was expelled from the congregation.

Now think about this? This man was a free individual. He was not obligated to attend our meetings. He could leave Jehovah’s witnesses if he chose to. Yet he wanted to stay inside the organization and use his connections to undermine our work. What a despicable act. Is this not what Judas did to Jesus Christ?

Some years later, I contacted a woman when going house to house who invited me in and then told me that a man had spoken in her church claiming that he had once been a witness. This man then proceeded to try and make out that the witnesses were false prophets. In her case this back-fired. She said that she felt that If he does not want to be a witness then surely he should leave, but why go out of his way to run us down.  I suspected that the man was my onetime friend. Later it was confirmed that he was the apostate.  A sister approached me. Her husband was not a witness and someone had given him a tape of the man giving a talk in his church, claiming that he had been a witness for an number of years, until he found that we were false prophets. Her husband was concerned because he realized that the man was talking about his wife and so he brought the matter to her attention. Because she suspected that I knew the man, she asked me whether she could bring her husband and the tape to my house.  I took every point that he used on the tape and showed her husband what the scriptures actually taught. This cleared his mind. Then I pointed how deceitful the man was. I explained that I knew the man personally and told him that the man knew every scripture that I had used because he had also studied them when he was in the truth. Yet he had deliberately withheld the information from them and only showed them the proof texts that he himself could  have refuted as I had done, in the past.

One of the ploys that apostates use is to say that we would never meet with them because we are afraid to meet them. They well know that Jehovah’s witnesses will not enter into discussions with any apostate because the scriptures tell us not to even greet them. ( 2 John 1:10-11) Furthermore Jehovah’s witnesses do not like entering into debates. We found that householders get more confused by the interplay of ideas that they could not really follow. I remember telling one person, You can study with us or them it you want to.  I knew that apostates had no message and only look to us to supply information to contradict. They don’t really want to have the responsibility of studying  with people, because they don’t really have the people’s interests at heart, but only want to bust up our studies.

No Tricky Reasoning Can Stand Up to the Truth

Just one more experience. This time it was not with an apostate.  During the 1950′s we still used to accept debates. A fellow musician with whom I was studying, told me that someone came and preached to him. He wanted to compare teachings. When we met I said to the preacher::”to avoid confusion I suggest that you take a half hour and  present your message, then I will take a half hour to present mine. I did this because I well knew that these people have no message, but can only argue and contradict whatever we say, creating confusion, and I wanted to show this to my study. When he started to talk all he could say was that we must believe in the lord Jesus Christ to be saved and that we must take Jesus into our hearts and that Jesus died for or sins and we must accept him as our personal savior and then he was finished. He was finished in about 4 mins. When I began I started with an explanation of the Lord’s prayer and its application to us and then proceeded to give him the “good new of the kingdom,” stressing the part that Jesus plays in the arrangement. Of course the minute I started talking, he tried  to interrupt me, but  I said “hold on, you have had your opportunity so now its my turn. You will have to wait till I finish.” That was the end of the matter because at the end of my discussion, He did not even know where to start. You see we know what the churches teach and that apart from saying that we must believe in Jesus Christ, they have no message for the people. That is why one can attend church all your life and still know nothing. They can only grab our teachings and argue about them, spreading confusion and imparting no knowledge. These kind of experiences makes one absolutely confident that one has the truth. The churches cannot logically and honestly refute the teaching of Jehovah;s witnesses despite what apostates say and that is why, they rather try to prejudice people and get political authorities to stop our work. All of this was done to the early Christians by the clergy of that day. Persons who really want the truth will see through the deception because God will help them to.

(2 Corinthians 10:3-5) . . .For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to [what we are in the] flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. ⁵ For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God; and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ;

How the Truth affected Me

As I studied I came to gradually realize that knowledge brought responsibility to help my neighbors. This I had to do by imparting what I had learned to them. I also began to realize that my music could  not longer be my first love. First would be my God, then my family. This was a bitter pill to swallow because I had had dreams of being a trumpet star and even going to America to achieve great things for myself. It seemed that I had to make a choice. What I learned was that the preaching work was primarily what God wanted me to do, because peoples lives were at stake. In addition to this I was to live a morally clean life. At times I even thought that God might want to have me give up music, but reasoned that if he did he would still ensure my happiness by providing something better, but as I later found out this was not so. I continued to preach the good news even amongst my fellow musicians with some success as some of them also came to serve Jehovah..

Some Final Criticisms

This could almost be called the confessions of a Jehovah’s witnesses. I have not always been zealous in the past but I can honestly say that when my family and I have been zealous it was the  happiest time of our lives. I later realized that Jehovah did not mind me enjoying my music, but like other things his worship had to come first.

In this article l have tried to set the matter straight with regard to some misconceptions regarding us and our work. For example some think that we are killjoys because we don’t celebrate birthdays and Christmas, but this is nonsense. I used to give my children toys, and presents during the year and draw their attention to the fact that other children were not getting presents at this time, and so why should they expect presents just because other children were getting theirs. We had get-togethers with friends at other times and did not have to wait for a birthday to experience these events. We also celebrated our wedding anniversary, because that celebration did not bring reproach on God’s name as the other religious festivals did. As we knew the truth about these festivals, we know how God feels about them and we want to please him.

Others even think that we don’t accept medical treatment because of our stand on blood transfusion. This is also nonsense. My first child developed a brain tumor at two and a half years. The specialist that was treating her at the time accused me of murdering my child when I told him of our stand on blood. What a difference when we got to the Hospital and the surgeon (whose name was De Villiers Hammond and regarded as the best in his field at that time) and actually did the Job came to me and asked why I did not want them to use blood. I came prepared to put up a defense for my belief but he stopped me and asked “whether I would object to him using salt water, I said no, anything but blood” to which he replied that that was Ok. When I think of how the other specialist had raved about me being a murderer, whereas the man that did the actual job respected my beliefs and found no problem, it became apparent to me, that often the big outcry is because the doctor concerned is  ignorant of more modern procedures, or does not like to be told what he can do or not do. Nowadays, even though some doctors still show this attitude, It is well known that Jehovah’s witnesses have helped pioneer bloodless surgery. Today thousands of medical men have come to appreciate that the better way is by performing bloodless surgery. Many non-witnesses now are apparently also asking for bloodless surgery, and some hospitals specialize in these bloodless techniques. I remember how Dr Denton Cooley performed hundreds of heart operations using bloodless surgery because he respected our beliefs. When hospitals have subsequently made comparisons between the use of blood and bloodless surgery it appears that the recovery time for the patients that had boodless surgery was much shortened.  Surely Jehovah God has showed by these experiences that he knows best even though the prohibition on blood was not given specifically for medical purposes.

Here is another well known criticism. Witnesses have been accused of breaking up families. What nonsense. The only families that break up are those where the unbeliever cannot accept that his partner wants to serve God.  Take my wife for example. When I started studying, and before I was a witness we got married in the Roman Catholic Church. Yes she started to oppose me. I sat down and explained that she should not try to compete with God. I explained that I would be willing to take her to her church and fetch her, if she so desired. I pointed out that what I was learning could only make me a better husband. One that would be considerate of her feelings. She sulked a bit because this was not what she wanted to hear.  After a while she saw that I was living up to my word. This impressed her, and so unbeknown to me, while I was at work she took to looking up our literature. Then still unbeknown to me she asked my mother if she could accompany her to a Bible study. She died in the year 2000 after we spent 50 years of happy marriage. How many non-witnesses can report that. So don’t ever let them tell you that we break up marriages. I know of one unbelieving husband that used to accompany his wife to some of our social gatherings, He was on good terms with the witnesses and even used to say that his wife was perfect, but the only fault that he could find with her was with her mad religion.  All their children grew up as faithful witnesses. And he was very proud of them, doubtless because of their high morals.

To illustrate my point, Here is just one more final experience. I called on a nurse who was overjoyed when she heard the truth. When I called back she was in tears and said that she thought her husband would be happy to hear that his wife was studying the Bible, but it was not so.  She was a faithful and loyal wife, and put God first in her life but never neglected her wifely duties. However, it seems that the husband became jealous of her love for Jehovah and tried to spite her by going out with other women and drinking with his pals. He ultimately had an accident and she had to look after him which she did faithfully until he died. She died later in an accident while travelling to Johannesburg.  Later while I was working for the municipality, I happened to meet her husband’s brother. He asked me if I knew the woman because he knew that I was a witness. He then told me that she was a wonderful woman and that he could not understand why his brother had treated he so badly saying what a fool his brother had been. This was how I learned that She had died in the accident.  Now who was really responsible for the breakdown of that marriage? So don’t fall for that line. Probably while he was knocking around He probably blamed everything on this faithful God-fearing wife.  If you search for “knocking” on the internet or use the link in this article you will find a site by a journalist who made a very objective documentary, even showing the views of opposers.  The DVD is excellent. Also you can check the links on my site to get to the official Watchtower site. You will find hundreds of answers to questions that you might have on many subjects, like the Bible, History and many other subjects. I hope this has been of use to you, Despite the many criticisms by misinformed individuals, apostates and the clergy, Jehovah’s witnesses have your interests at heart. We love God, and his son Jesus Christ We know that Jesus sacrificed his life for us so that we can once again have an opportunity to serve God forever in his new world. How do we show our appreciation for his sacrifice? Ask yourself. Who else on the earth is sufficiently interested in your welfare that they take time out of their busy lives to call on you with a message of hope for the future?  Many witnesses at great expense, financially as well as time wise, call back to speak to you. Many times people do not keep their appointments with us, still we call again. We do not get medals or praise from individuals, and we are not looking for that, what we want is a smile of approval from our God. More likely we will get criticism for what we do and yet if you think about it, If Jesus was alive today he would probably be working with us or should I rather say we would be working along with him. so may Jehovah open your eyes to the truth because as jesus said “the truth shall make you free.

« Previous Page Page 1Page 2View All Next Page »

Posted in Categories :- Religion, all

Pages: 1 2