May you have peace!
Please note, if you are reading this just after I posted, I must re-format, so your patience is appreciated.
I have come to my own conclusion (without suggestion or coercion from other "satanic" influences) that the WBTS deliberately lies and deceives its members. I have not determined through my research the purpose for this deceit.
It is to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. Matthew 24:24. Mislead them how/where? The chosen ones are “children of light” Ephesians 5:8… and Satan keeps transforming himself into an “angel of light.” It’s like the scene in “A Bug’s Life,” where the two traveling bugs come upon a bug light, and one cries out, “Louie, Louie! Don’t look at the light!” and the other, mesmerized, responds, “I can’t HELP it; it’s so BEAUTIFUL!”
There is only one TRUE Light, however, and that is Christ. John 1:4-9; 8:12. The WTBTS’ primary purpose, therefore, is to lead folks to them… and their organization… a true "golden calf"... rather than to Christ. They are blind guides… and a false “light.” As are all who stand in the place of Christ.
I don't know if it is for financial gain, power, control, or some combination of those.
No, the main reason is to mislead folks away from God, truly… by misleading them away from Christ. That's one of the reasons they've taken him out of their Bible... why they've put "Jehovah" back in the place that the Most Holy One of Israel GAVE to Christ. No one comes to the Father except through Christ, and if they can diminish his presence... and his purpose... then they are removing the Way to God. 1 John 14:6
They can do this because the majority of earthling man do not know how to live as a “free” people (i.e., do not know how to love God, their brother, their neighbor, strangers, AND their enemies without being told when and how to do so). So, they need some kind of “authority” to “guide” them, someone to TELL them what is right and what is wrong… to TELL them how they should live… and how they shouldn’t. A "leader" or "king." So, they raise up… and follow… some kind of earthly “leader" or "king,” usually manifest as a monarch, a president or other governor, a pope, etc., but can also be a “governing body,” or some other kind of “council,” etc.. It can even be a common individual. What they forget, however, is that the financial gain, power, and control… is the “right” of such "leader" or "king", isn’t it? 1 Samuel 8:10-22 TRUE followers of Christ know, however, that while they are to given honor, tribute, respect, and obedience to the superior authorities and their laws … they have only one "leader"... one KING… Christ. Matthew 23:10.
But how do those who truly belong to Christ reconcile having him as their king but still obey the laws of man? First, they don’t “bind” themselves to anyone other than Christ. Second, they realize that they are “alien residents” and so give respect to the law of the “land” in which they are temporarily residing: the physical realm. But they only do that to the extent such laws do not supplant the law of their TRUE king and home, Christ and the kingdom of God, which law… is fulfilled by love.
But I do know that it is an organization that thrives off of keeping its members ignorant and "sheeplike".
Exactly. It is no different than the slave owners of early American history. They realized that if they allowed slaves to read, they would become educated... and come to know for a certainty that such slavery was wrong... and the people perpetuating it had done so by falsities, lies, and evil intention. And that was the most dangerous threat to the perpetuation of slavery, so, slaves weren’t allowed to read, to even possess books, and risked whipping, if not death, if they broke that rule. THe WTBTS uses the same tack: learn anything other than what they teach you... and you will die. You will be "destroyed at Armaggedon." Like the slaveowners before them... this is a lie.
you can't really bring them in on a rational discussion. This is a safeguard devised by the Watchtower itself to keep its members from seeing the truth.
And, again, THAT is their purpose: to keep their members from seeing… the TRUTH... Christ. John 14:6. They do this by “breathing life” into the “image of the wild beast.” How so? The wild beast that was slaughtered, that received a death-stroke, but survived… is Judaism. God gave Judah a “death-stroke” when He allowed them to be exiled into Babylon and the first temple destroyed. But it’s death-stroke “got healed” – God allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild. He again allowed its destruction in 70 C.E. and, although the second temple has never been rebuilt, the WTBTS’ uses its (Judaism's) teachings in order to overpower “Israel.” Thus, they “put under compulsion the small AND the great, the rich AND the poor, the free AND slaves…” that they should give these the mark of the “wild beast” (Judaism).
The WTBTS fulfills this prophecy in that their ONE method for putting ones under compulsion to worship the wild beast… is the Law Covenant. Rather than LIVING the teaching that the Covenant was fulfilled and done away with, by means of Christ, they use it to put fear into their members… and blind their minds to the glorious good news ABOUT Christ, the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:15-17; 4:3-5. LOVE, however, for God, for brother, for neighbor, for strangers, AND for our enemies… which is the FULFILLMENT of the NEW Covenant… casts fear… outside… and is what makes us “perfect” in the eyes of God and Christ. Matthew 22:37-39; John 13:34; 15:12, 17; Matthew 5:43-48.
Is there another approach that we can take other than attacking contrived doctrine?
Ummmm, speak the truth? And show them... in the Bible... where their teachings are false?
Is there anything that the Organization is actively doing that I might be able to hip people to other than saying things like "Witnesses let their children die by taking the blood doctrine too literally" or "The Watchtower wants to keep their members in the dark by advising them against university"? I want people to see what they are doing as an Organization.
Well, my Lord exposed the early "scribes and Pharisees" for their hypocrisy. The WTBTS' statements on pages 69-70 of the Proclaimer’s Book regarding the clergy of Christendom should help with this today. I would quote it for you, but I don’t have a copy that book handy, right now. There’s also the statement in margin on page 219 regarding them being “the visible representation of the Lord on earth,” which is a LIE. The last "visible representation" was, for unbelievers, the temple at Jerusalem... and for believers, Christ himself. Since that time, all representation is "invisible," with the Body of Christ SUBSTITUTING for the "visible" representation, Christ, but not supplanting him.
Or, how about the information in the Proclaimer’s Book regarding the fact that they started as a corporation requiring shareholders to buy in for stock at $10 per share… and still are such corporation… with stock being held by non-JWs… and that the purpose of a corporation is to make money for its shareholders?
I don't want people to become like me (agnostic) or even to leave Christianity. I just want people to see that the "faithful discreet slave" is little more than a sham. It's some old white dudes (one of them is black now?) who are just voting on laws to make up and claiming that they are doing so with direction from Jesus Christ and that all should unquestioningly obey.
Then direct them to pages 69-70 of the Proclaimer’s Book, starting with the new heading in the middle of page 69. Read it carefully, though... and, if you have the opportunity, have the one you're discussing it with read it carefully, too. If that doesn’t do it, then perhaps your next step is… prayer? To God, through Christ… for them TO get it… and get out of her? This would consitute praying for your "enemy."
I bid you peace.
A slave of Christ,
SA
