“Guard What Has Been Entrusted to You” – Study 2020/40
“Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.”—1 Timothy 6:20
[Study 40 from ws 09/20 p.26 November 30 – December 06, 2020]
Paragraph 3 claims “Jehovah has favored us with an accurate knowledge of the precious truths found in his Word, the Bible.”
This implies that because we are Jehovah’s Witnesses, we have accurate knowledge that others do not. This gives many Witnesses an arrogant attitude.
Since awakening to the fact that definitely not everything taught by the Governing Body is correct, the author has been on a journey, re-examining one by one all the beliefs that he had as fully-fledged Witness, to check if they are still valid after an unbiased investigation of the scriptures.
The author’s major findings to date have been:
- 144,000 is a symbolic number not a literal number.
- The hope for all mankind is resurrection to the earth, none go to heaven.[1]
- All will be raised with perfect bodies, no need to ‘grow to perfection’.
- That the Gentile Times did not start in 607BC and end in 1914CE. That teaching is false.
- Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607BC but later, with only 48 years between the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon and the fall of Babylon to Cyrus.[2]
- Nevertheless, the entire accounts of Jeremiah, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah and Daniel can be reconciled without difficulty and shown to be fulfilled accurately.
- The Bible speaks of more than one 70-year period, which relate to different year to year spans.
- Jesus did not become King in 1914CE. Rather he became King on his return to heaven back in the first century.
- There was no Governing Body back in the 1st century.
- There is no Organization or religion today that has been chosen by God.
- The appointment over Christ’s belongings of faithful and discreet slaves takes place after Armageddon.
- The King of the North and the King of the South prophecy in Daniel has all been fulfilled, being completed in the first Century CE.[3]
- The teaching to refuse blood transfusions and its major components is deeply flawed both scripturally and medically and should be a conscience matter, (not the disfellowshipping matter it is).[4]
- The shunning of disfellowshipped ones as taught and practiced by the Organization is God-dishonouring and goes against basic human rights and is misapplication of scripture.[5]
- The Judicial committee system has no biblical basis nor is it designed to deliver justice.
All of these subjects have featured either in Watchtower Study article reviews or in other articles on this site.
Paragraph 6 states “Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus succumbed to apostasy and left the truth. (1 Timothy 1:19, 20; 2 Timothy 2:16-18)”. By that statement the Governing Body and its predecessors (the Watchtower Presidents) are also effectively apostates. Note how 2 Timothy 2:16-18 reads (in the NWT Reference Bible) “But reject empty speeches that violate what is holy, for they will lead to more and more ungodliness, 17 and their word will spread like gangrene. Hy·me·naeʹus and Phi·leʹtus are among them. 18 These men have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred, and they are subverting the faith of some.”
So, what does the Organization teach regarding the resurrection? That the resurrection has already started, yet of it there is no proof. Did not Jesus say in John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear this voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, …”. This has not happened.
Yet, the Study article of December 2020 Watchtower, p. 12 par. 14 in the article “How Are the Dead to Be Raised Up?” claims “Anointed ones who today finish their earthly course are instantly raised to life in the heavens.” Paragraph 13 of the same article states “Paul pointed out that “the presence of the Lord” would also be a time of resurrection for anointed Christians who had “fallen asleep in death.””
Further the Study Watchtower of w08 1/15 pp. 23-24 par. 17 Counted Worthy to Receive a Kingdom claims “17 Since 33 C.E., tens of thousands of anointed Christians have manifested strong faith and have endured faithfully until death. These have already been counted worthy of receiving the Kingdom and—evidently starting in the early days of Christ’s presence—have been rewarded accordingly.”
Did not a governing body member recently say that 10% incorrect is 100% wrong? This teaching is clearly at least 10% wrong! Therefore, what does it say about the rest of the teaching. By the Organization’s own standards they are teaching things 100% wrong!
Paragraph 12 then subtly moves the emphasis from the scriptures to the Organization’s publications saying “But if we are to convince others that Bible truth is truly valuable, we need to stick to a regular routine of personal Bible study. We need to use God’s Word to strengthen our faith. This involves more than just reading the Bible. It requires that we meditate on what we read and do research in our publications so that we can correctly understand and apply the Scriptures.”. They are therefore claiming that without the Organization’s literature you cannot understand the Bible properly. If this is the case then how did the first-century Christians understand the Bible correctly, without literature and with limited copies of the Bible, which was not yet complete then?
Finally, we cannot let paragraph 15 go by without examining it closely. It claims: “Like Timothy, we must also discern the danger of false information spread by apostates. (1 Tim. 4:1, 7; 2 Tim. 2:16) For example, they might try to spread false stories about our brothers or raise doubts about Jehovah’s organization. Such misinformation could undermine our faith. We must avoid being fooled by this propaganda. Why? Because these types of stories are spread “by men who are corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth.” Their goal is to start “arguments and debates.” (1 Tim. 6:4, 5) They want us to believe their slander and develop wicked suspicions about our brothers.”.
Now, this site is undoubtedly numbered among the apostates mentioned here by the Organization. However, the author and other contributors on this site have never knowingly spread false information. You will probably have noted that the articles are well referenced to back the claims, (unlike the Watchtower articles and other literature being reviewed). They are also impugning the reputation of many ex-Witnesses who run Youtube channels and the like, who likewise research properly their videos and articles. Do you honestly think they all have time to make up and spread false stories? This author certainly does not. This author like many if not all of our readers had doubts about the so-called “Jehovah’s Organization” being that for years before leaving.
Whose propaganda are we really at risk of being fooled by?
Is it not those very ones who claim that all who leave the Organization because of disagreeing with it are apostates, despite most of them neither denying nor leaving Christ or Jehovah?
Is it not those who never provide even one example of those claims, like one single so-called false story about the brothers, or one piece of misinformation?
How can it be true that sites such as ours who provide the scripture context and historical context of verses when proving what the Bible teaches, are misinforming others, but not the Organization? Take for example this article on this site “The King of the North and the King of the South” compared with the articles in the May 2020 Study Watchtower. Who offers more scriptural backing and more historical context, and historical references?
Is it not also slanderous in itself to accuse a group of people of slander, and yet at the same time not give a single example of such slander, along with evidence backing up that claim, evidence that proves the claim true to any independent reader?
Is not the Organization accusing others of exactly what it itself is doing to them? If so, then should it not be held accountable for doing so?
As I write this article (5th November 2020) a friend will be disfellowshipped on the grounds of apostasy this evening. He was asked to attend a judicial committee hearing and refused. The committee hearing went ahead anyway. During that meeting one of the elders who was unknown to my friend rang him. In course of the ensuing conversation my friend stated that none of his questions about understanding Bible teachings had been answered, to which the elder’s reply was, “this is not the forum for that.” Yes, you heard it! In a judicial committee hearing where they are about to disfellowship someone for apostasy, they are not prepared to answer any questions about Bible teachings, the answers to which could lead to repentance by the individual or prove that the individual is not an apostate! A “kangaroo court” is the term that comes to the author’s mind rather than “a loving provision to help those spiritually weak” which is how the Organization describes a judicial committee hearing.
Open Letter to the Governing Body:
Is it a true story that between 1950 and 2015 there were a total of 1,006 individuals accused of child sexual abuse in Australia among the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses there and that not one of them was reported to the secular authorities? Yes or No?
- (Hint: Yes, according to Watchtower Australia). [6]
Is the Website http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx an apostate website of false stories? Yes or No?
- (Hint: No, it is the public record of a wide-ranging investigation into all sorts of Organizations in Australia such as Churches, Scouts, Children’s homes, Orphanages, Health Care Providers, State run Youth training Centres, etc.[7]
Is it true that the Organization was an NGO (Non-governmental Organization) member of the United Nations between 1991 and 2001? Yes or No?
- (Hint: Yes, according to a letter from the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses)[8]
- The Resurrection Hope – Jehovah’s Guarantee to Mankind Parts 1-4, and Mankind’s hope for the future, Where will it be? A Scriptural Examination Parts 1-7 ↑
- “Did the Gentile Times Start in 607 BC” (Parts 1-7) ↑
- The Messianic Prophecy of Daniel Parts 1-8, The King of the North and the King of the South, Revisiting Nebuchadnezzars dream of an Image, Revisiting Daniel’s Vision of Four Beasts, ↑
- The JW No Blood Doctrine – A Scriptural Analysis by Apollos, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Parts 1-5, also by Apollos ↑
- Identifying True Worship Part 12: Love Among Yourselves, by Eric Wilson, The Judicial System of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Parts 1-2 by Eric Wilson ↑
- “During the investigation of this case study, Watchtower Australia produced some 5,000 documents pursuant to summonses issued by the Royal Commission on 4 and 28 February 2015. Those documents include 1,006 case files relating to allegations of child sexual abuse made against members of the Jehovah’s Witness Church in Australia since 1950 – each file for a different alleged perpetrator of child sexual abuse.” Page 15132, Lines 4-11 Transcript-(Day-147).pdf
See http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx. All quotes unless otherwise stated are from the downloaded documents available on this site and used under the “fair use” principle. See https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p09_fair_use for further information. ↑
- https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/about-us/terms-of-reference ↑
- https://beroeans.net/2017/03/04/identifying-the-true-religion-neutrality/ ↑