How many times have you heard this from a JW?:
"Jehovah has ALWAYS worked through an organization!"
Now I've heard plenty of rebuttals of this on JWD, but last night I thought of another way to look at it. (Probably not original, but it was to me.)
In a nutshell:
1. Totally give the JW the benefit of the doubt.
2. Do the math.
So here we go. Let's all don our JW thinking caps (aka, brown paper bags) and give it a whirl.
Here's the only times a JW could honestly say that Jehovah was working through an "Organization", IMO. Everything else was one on one communication with God. Heck, I'll even throw in Noah, since the Ark was the "One Way" to escape. Although I think an honest person would hardly say that God talking to Noah qualifies as an "Organization".
Noah's Navy: ..........................................................................120 years.
Bacon Avoiders (Moses to 33 C.E.): .......................................1550 years.
Lion Fodder aka Xian Congregation : (33 to 133 C.E.).................100 years. (Max)
Chucky "Cheese" Russell's Fan Club: (1876-2007)....................131 years.
Hopefully it's hitting you between the eyes already, but I'll keep going, in case the brown paper bags are still in place.
Total Years of Human History (per Fred Franz):.........6032
Total Years Jehovah Has Used an Organization:........1901
As percentages of human history timeline:
No Organization:..............68% of human history
Organization:...................32% of human history
Question for JWs:
A 100 year old man tells you: "I have ALWAYS been a JW."
Later, you find out he got baptized when he was 68 years old.
How accurate would you say his original statement was?
For the vast majority of human history Jehovah has NOT had an Earthly Organization. And even the biggest chunk of time that he DID have an Organization (Ancient Israel) what difference did it make to Joe Earth Dweller? Zip! Everybody lived and died and has a resurrection hope regardless of whether they worshipped YHWH, Baal, or No One. (That is, of course, if you buy into JWism.) Only the very rare individual got smoten by God for peeing on an unauthorized wall. Ouch!
So class. The next time a JW tells you "Jehovah has ALWAYS worked through an Organization" what do you tell them?
DO THE MATH!!!!
Open Mind
(Please pardon the condescension. The title did say "For Dummies" )