Dear Unique 1,
I can really understand your frustration. Due to years of being indoctrinated into their head, the JWs believe that God always had an organization. What they fail to realize is that Christ did away with all the old ways of doing things. They will point out that there were elders so there had to be organization but in the early church, elder just meant older men there was no central body over the believers.the WT tries to reason that since Paul wrote some letters to the Christians that he helped bring to Christ, in order to adjust them and upbuild them, that he was in fact like the present day governing body.
Christ himself alluded to the fact that the old way of worship would be done away with. When the Samaritan women asked where she should go to worship God, Jesus did not tell her to go to Jeruselum but said that the "time is coming when you will not worship on your forefathers mountain NOR in Jeruselum, but you will worship in spirit and truth". If Jeruselum is where the so-called body of elder men where, than why did not Christ direct her there? What he was saying here, and All the bible scholars will agree is that the day is coming when WHERE you worship is not important.
The Apostle Paul, in Acts expounded on this thought when he told the men in Athens that "God does not dwell in man made temples".
There is no organization on earth today that can claim that they only have Gods blessing. People of real faith in Christ understand that we are the living body of Christ - the Church, it is the people in Christ. We are united together by the Holy Spirit and the Love we have for one another. Sure, the early Christians were loosely organized if you want to call it that because they would meet together for prayer and song and praising God and Christ. But each group was independent and could decide for themselves how they could worship God. There was no such things as organized meetings. The only requirement for them to be called Christians was a basic understanding of Christ, God and the bible. Read the NT and you will see, there were very few things they were under compulsion to agree on.The resurection of Christ is one of the things they had to believe. That is what our faith rests on. But, there were many things that are gray areas left up to the Christians conscience.
All the major religions claim they are the true church and try to prove by their history (which man himself has made up), that this is true. When you learn the REAL TRUTH , none of these organizations has any hold over you. It is man that made Religion so that he could have power over the masses. Christ did not establish a right Religion, he established a FAITH. Any where there is two or more gathered in his name, united by Holy Spirit, he is there with them. It is really that simple. Now, I am not saying you should not join a religious institution if you so wish, but no matter which one you join, you will see that you will have to accept all their doctrines if you really want to be accepted there. I for one enjoy being free in Christ and do not feel I have to be on a roll call of any particular church. I enjoy visiting different ones and learning about their views. But like we always heard at the KH, each one must carry their own load. Good luck to you with your family, Lilly
