I think that a fundamental difficulty that the WTS has, and which no True Christian is permitted to have, is that the concept of the word "Christian" or at least our contemporary understanding of the word, transcends the rigours of denoninationlism. "Christian" and "Denomination" are not necessarily synonymous terms.
To be a Baptist one needs to be a Christian, but it is equally true that to be a Christian one need not be a Baptist. To be a Christian, either as a formal communicant in a denomination, or as a result of a personal affirmation, one must enter into a mystical union of believers who have expressed the same conviction, all down through the living history of the faith.
The NT, the basis on which the faith rests, views "Christians" not in terms of a denomination, or an organization, [indeed the NT often portrays the early believers as horribly DISorganized] but as an assembly of "called out" ones, those whom God has called out of the world of sin, and into a condition called ''grace" This assembly of the "elect" is neither geographical nor restricted to any time element. As long as the NT stands, Christians will, as their forebears have done, take that one step forward in a conscious affirmation of their belief in Him who gives substance to their faith.
Augustine called them a "mixed body" not necessarily made up of the best elements of human society. But it is a holy body, and despite the admixture of those "unholy" elements within it, it must in this time as in times past, affirm its commitment to its Head.
Despite the varieties of belief that characterize it, the universal Christian Community of believers is bound by four threads.
1 It is one. Though fragmented by denominations, True Christians are united in confessing ONE Lord, ONE hope, One faith, ONE baptism.
2 It is holy. This is because it is sanctified by God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
3 It is catholic. Its membership in both space and time has always been universal [catholic means universal] in that its membership extends across the globe in a framework that encompasses peoples of every nation, culture, ethnicity and, yes, denomination.
4 It is apostolic. The teaching of the apostles, entrenched forever in the words of the NT form the framework of belief, and the authority from which such belief derives. A Christian takes his/her authority from the Word, and bows the knee to no man or collection of men who claim to "speak" for Deity.
The Christian believes that the Holy Spirit speaks directly to the believer, but the problem, openly acknowledged, is our imperfect hearing. Hence the varieties of Christian belief. These differences are not evidence of disunity, just that Christianity today eschews conformity. Those who compel the expression of unity in terms of conformity are intruding their own postulates onto the universal Christian community. Although Christians dwell in separate tents, they live together.
In addressing the question of whether the WTS system of belief can be termed "Christian" the answer must revolve around the way they confront the assertion of Acts 15:14. God is calling out a people for His name.
Whose name? The record of the first Christians found in the book of Acts assigns only one name to these called out ones: CHRISTians [11:26]
Since the WT leadership, and their several writers who hide behind the subterfuge of anonymity, have themselves declared their allegiance to another name, with only tangential lip service to Christ, and since they have conveyed the idea, through mesmerizing repetition, their divine sanction to modify the meaning of Scripture, and since they have ascribed to themselves the authority resident in the Word, and since they demand unfettered obedience to their will as expressed in their literature, rather than the liberty that belief in Christ brings, I cannot feel it in myself to regard them as belonging to this community we call Christianity.
Cheers
