I tried to broach this subject in a letter to my mother...
It is perhaps one of the greatest ironies I will ever witness in my life. More than all other religions I know, Jehovah’s Witnesses ardently emphasize the need to flee from idolatry. No crosses, no holidays, no national emblems… Don’t hang posters of pop culture icons, don’t emulate “worldly” athletes or celebrities… Jehovah’s Witnesses are intensely concerned about committing idolatry, but they cannot see that their devotion to the Watchtower Society is as idolatrous as a thing could be.
“Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” [Acts 4:24, NWT]
“Jesus said to him: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6, NWT]
“…survival of individuals today depends on their faith and their loyal association with the earthly part of Jehovah's universal organization.” [Watchtower, May 15, 2006]
This is an extraordinary deviation from the scriptures, and a shocking apostasy from the faith Christ established. I remember your talking to me about idols when I was a little boy; about the importance of not involving “things” in one’s worship. I even recall your remarking how some people will say, “I’m not worshipping the object itself. It’s just something I like to use; something through which I pray to God.” You made clear that Jehovah did not tolerate such “things.”
When Jesus compared Himself to Moses’ copper serpent, what was his point? That we had to keep looking at him (Jesus,) right? When He says, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” who is “me?” The scriptures go to great lengths to emphasize the importance of fixating on Christ and the folly of putting your trust in men.
“Now to me it is a very trivial matter that I should be examined by YOU or by a human tribunal.” [1 Cor. 4:3, NWT]
“Do not put YOUR trust in nobles,
Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.” [Psalm 146:3, NWT]
“Not that we are the masters over YOUR faith, but we are fellow workers for YOUR joy, for it is by [YOUR] faith that YOU are standing.” [2 Cor. 1:24, NWT]
But it’s okay. You’re not really putting your faith in the men at the Watchtower Society. You’re just putting your faith in Christ through them, aren’t you? Does this remind you of the aforementioned warning about idolatry you yourself gave to me? Don’t think this applies to you? Then ask yourself: Is it possible for you to successfully put your faith in Jesus without having this reliance upon and allegiance with the Watchtower Society? If you answer “no” how can you not recognize this relationship with the organization as being idolatrous?
They are not simply “fellow workers for your joy.” Regardless of what C.T. Russell originally intended, they have become a centralized religious authority structure that demands “loyalty” to them, threatens disloyalty to them, and teaches that there is no faith in God apart from faith in them. When Jesus warned to watch out for the “leaven” of the Pharisees, why do you think He used that word? Isn’t it because, despite the best of intentions, human authority structures breed corruption just like a growing yeast? Jesus saved his greatest denunciation for religious leaders, and told us instead to put our faith in Him. If this organization’s leadership and their appointees are not “masters over your faith,” WHO ARE?
