Are the Jehovah's Witnesses correct in this article?

Point 1: Is "being part of the world" largely a condition of the heart or is it determined solely by outward appearances? Otherwise several servants of God who were outwardly involved in politics of the world, yet in their heart were no part of the world, would be under Jehovah's condemnation. Jehovah's servants were to be no part of the world in all times--it was not a new command with the coming of Christ (Heb. 11:24-27). Daniel was an official in two pagan courts; Joseph was second in charge over all Egypt, and Nehemiah was an official in the court of the pagan King Artaxerxes; yet all three would be classed by the Watchtower as part of the faithful men of old who considered themselves as "strangers and alien residents in the land" (Heb. 11:13,21,22), who were "reaching out for a better [place], that is, one belonging to heaven. Hence, God is not ashamed of them, to be called upon as their God, for he has made a city ready for them." (Heb. 11:13,16, NWT) Accordingly, a Christian may feel a responsibility towards his community or country without necessarily putting his "faith" in such as the ultimate remedy for man's ills. Even John the Baptist counseled soldiers to be content with their wages (not to change professions--Luke 3:14). A LOVE of the world and its ways is what the Bible specifically condemns, and such is not always judged by outward circumstances (1 John 2:15-17).

Point 2: Not only is the basis for the "false" doctrines JW]s accuse "Christendom" of teaching contained in the Bible, but scholars have recognized such for 2000 years. Even the early church fathers from the first two hundred years of the church wrote extensively on the Deity of Christ, the personality of the Spirit, the resurrection body, the nature of the soul, hell, etc., and these are the men who determined what was canonical (inspired) and what was not! Yet you, who accept the 66 books of the Bible as inspired (how do you know all 66 books are inspired, unless you agree with the early church?) reject the very men whose existence and writings are necessary to establish the authenticity of these books! The Watchtower uses a non-historical method of interpretation (dependent on their Governing Body), ignoring the historical context of numerous Bible verses. The Witness attempts to force a unique 20th-century interpretation onto a book of antiquity. Rather than using the historical, grammatical, interpretive method of understanding Bible doctrine, the Watchtower has a board of interpreters in Brooklyn that decide on matters of interpretation--the very sin of which they accuse the Catholic Church!

For instance, concerning the "false doctrine" mentioned in this point, see 1 Thes. 5:23.

Point 3: I will start with the second sentence, because the first is nothing more than a hasty generalization, cleverly worded. It attempts to connect in the mind of the reader the actions of a few misguided denominations to the whole of "Christendom."

So, beginning with the second sentence of the third point, we have a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black:

http://www.silentlambs.org/

The article is pretty slick, but there are a few claims made by the article that *can* be **proved** wrong as you would like (though I admit I'm not going to take much time trying to do so). However, for me the greater problem is this: how many of the claims made by the article can be proved TRUE using the Bible? Any? Most are not - including especially many of the claims which have Bible verses pretending to support them!

False claims, with evidence:

1) False Religion . . .MEDDLES IN WAR AND POLITICS

Suggests plainly that true religion does not do so. I think there can be no argument that the point being made here by the article is that true religion never "meddles in war and politics".

- true religion "meddles" in war

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=num%20...

- true religion "meddles" in politics

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1sa%20...

2) By means of this teaching, many of these religions exploit their members, charging money to pray for departed souls.

Admittedly not directly relevant, here we see that early Christians underwent surrogate baptism for the departed - and that Paul deemed this practice to be efficacious:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1co%20...

If being baptized for the dead is efficacious, as Paul *clearly* indicates, how can prayer for the dead be without merit?

Conclusion: although I have found only 1 (or 2, if you are being generous) provable errors in the article, the primary problem remains: how many of the claims made by the article have *no* logical or rational support from Scripture? So: if you think they are right, you must prove it with Scriptures - don't you think? The article definitely has not done so for us!

- Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

Absolutely correct. False religion promotes false teachings, like hell fire.

In the King James Version of the Bible, at Revelation 20:13 it says souls are dead in hell, not alive and burning, and that souls will be resurrected out of hell.

Therefore, hell is not eternal, nor a place to burn souls forever. If the soul is immortal (which it isn't) how does a soul that leaves the body burn?

Also, false religion says all good people go to heaven. Yet, Jesus Christ said the meek-mild tempered- will inherit the earth; Matthew 5:5

Sadly and happily, they are so very right! Sad, because those who put themselves in charge ie priests; the pope etc, should know better, so shame on them for twisting the scriptures. However, happy because our organisation is helping people to come to an accurate knowledge and that is what pleases Jehovah.

I would just like to address those who say we gave wrong dates. First: 1914 has never signified the end - actually, it shows when things started and that is the time when Jesus began to reign in heaven. All other times, it was individuals who became zealous and got it wrong - never the organisation. And in actual fact, they are always telling us NOT to speculate.

Scriptures are false, thus religions, including Jehovah's Witness, are false. I have now proven your article wrong. It's also really bizarre, even for a religious publication. It contains a number of outright lies about JWs and their practices, many of which are not for public consumption, right?

Isn't it interesting that out of all the responses that you received no one answered your question with a scripture except a Jehovah witness. Is this because people don't read their bible?

Truth can be found. Jesus said that God’s Word, the Bible, is truth. (John 17:17) Yet, truth may still seem unattainable. Why? Because so many different religions claim to teach what the Bible says. Which religion is teaching the truth from God’s Word? Must we limit the answer to just one religion? Could not the truth, or at least parts of it, be found in a number of religions?

JESUS made it clear that some forms of worship are not acceptable to God. He spoke of “false prophets,” comparing them to a tree that produces worthless fruit and “gets cut down and thrown into the fire.” He also said: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”—Matthew 7:15-22.

Jesus, in fact, said regarding some who would claim to follow him: “I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23) Further, when speaking to the religious leaders of his day, Jesus applied to them God’s words to apostate Israel: “It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men.”—Mark 7:6, 7.

With Scriptures? Who even needs scriptures to prove that article is wrong? The Jehovah's witnesses own history proves that. They prophesized the end of "false religion" for 1914, 1915, 1918, 1925, 1975 and 2000.

do i agree that false religion is bad and that it's going to be abolished by Jesus Christ some day? why yes, yes i do.

do i agree that true religion will be identified by certain qualities? sure, why not?

do i think that the jehovah's witnesses are the "true" religion because they work themselves to death going door to door on saturdays? heck no. the Bible is very clear that Christianity is the true religion...but how does this apply to individuals? it's by grace through faith we're redeemed (Eph 2:8) and faith is a very independent thing. if the individual is a believer and follows the commands of Christ (Mark 12:30-31) then he/she is the true religion (John 13:34-35). each individual is a member of the body of Christ (I Cor 12:27)

jehovah's witnesses have distorted the scriptures to fit their own beliefs.

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is the user "tiny" serious?

I must prove why with scriptures? That wouldn't be proof at all.

And "false" religion will be around for a while to come.