It has often been asked by those in support of the JW's, "Where else are we to go?" when confronted by some hard truths about the 'truth'. Drawing of course on John 6:68, or rather, the Watchtower society's explanation of it.
Furthermore, suppose a person was to separate himself from Jehovah’s people. Where could he go? Is he not faced with the same issue that confronted Jesus’ apostles when he asked them if they also wanted to leave him? The apostle Peter rightly replied: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.” (John 6:68) There is nowhere else to go but to “Babylon the Great,” the world empire of false religion, or into the clutches of Satan’s political “wild beast.” (Revelation 13:1; 18:1-5) Largely, disloyal ones who have left Jehovah’s visible organization have made common cause with those in God-dishonoring “Babylon the Great.” (WT 3/15/88)
Those who are apologists for the JW's are often heard to say "Nobody comes close to what the Jehovah's Witnesses have". Thereby of course, expressing the idea that the Jehovah's Witnesses 'have something' that the other religions don't. By that they do not always mean 'have the truth of the bible' but also something tangible, something that can be seen, measured against any others claiming the 'truth' for themselves. (of which there are plenty)
What do the JW's claim to 'have?'.
A spiritual paradise, the answers, an overflow of spiritual food, a brotherhood, high morals and unity. Add to the list, impressive growth, many branches, high circulation of periodicals, unique teachings, a hope for the earth. And finally, evangelizing. That's it in a nutshell.
Now, I post the following facts and figures, and tell me which religion they belong to.
7. What is the Bible? Answer:It is a book written by the power of inspiration working in prophets and apostles who lived in Israel a long time ago. They lived at different times, and each wrote his part independently of the others; but one Spirit moved them all, and enabled them to make known to mean the mind of God in history, precept and prophecy, so that the Bible though composed of many books and parts, is the one Word of God
13. What does the Bible reveal concerning God? Answer: That there is only One God, the Father of all, even of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the common idea that God is a Trinity is un-scriptural.
30. What does the Bible reveal concerning man? Answer: The Bible reveals that man is a living soul or creature, originally made of the dust of the ground, in the image of God.
31. Is man an immortal being? Answer: No: he is mortal. He dies and returns to the dust.
32. Has man an immortal part that lives in death, as held by nearly every religious system earth? Answer: No: that doctrine is one of the many religious lies that have come to be regarded as truth. Man is wholly mortal. God only has immortality. Immortality is something a man has to seek for; it is a matter of promise and hope
34. Has man, then, no conscious existence in death? Answer: Man has no existence of any kind in death. He is dead - entirely dead for the time being, and knows no more than if he had never been born
35. Why is man in his present mortal and evil state? Answer: Man is mortal because of sin. It is God's law that sinners must die. Adam, our first father, sinned and was sentenced to death before he had any children. Death began with him, and came to us through him. We receive the nature that he had after he was condemned to die. We thus inherit his sentence of death. Besides this, we are all sinners ourselves
73. What is the Kingdom of God? Answer:It is a kingdom that God will set up on earth which will overthrow and take possession of all others
150. When death is thus abolished from the earth, will the earth be destroyed? Answer: No; the earth will endure for ever, filled with the glory of God and His deathless rejoicing people
Add to this list of basic teachings the following:
The ‘Day-year principle’ used in interpreting bible prophecy....uphold teachings such as the infallibility of Scripture...Resurrection of the dead... Evangelical in nature... Believe in baptism by immersion.... Second Coming and End times... The wicked will not suffer eternal torment in hell, but instead will be permanently destroyed....Great Controversy. Humanity is involved in a "great controversy...There will be an end-time remnant who keep the commandments of God and have "the testimony of Jesus"
On a more 'organizational level:
Heterosexual marriages are the only biblically ordained grounds for sexual intimacy.
conservative attitudes regarding dress and entertainment
also avoid certain recreational activities which are considered to be a negative spiritual influence, including dancing, rock music and secular theatre
Ministers are neither elected nor employed by the local churches, but instead are appointed
As of October 2009, the (religion) has 16,049,101 baptized members. More than one million people joined the (religion) in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2009 (inclusive), through baptisms and professions of faith. The (religion) is one of the world's fastest-growing organizations, primarily due to increases in membership in the developing nations. Today, less than 7% of the world membership reside in the United States, with large numbers in Africa as well as Central and South America.
operates many publishing companies around the world
(religions) magazine is the(???), which has a North American focus. It has a sister magazine (???) which has an international perspective. Another major magazine published by the (religion) is the bimonthly (???) magazine
does not teach a "once-saved-always-saved
strongly discourages members or employees from taking legal action against it, citing 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 in defence of this position.
Because of its particular doctrines, there is no other (religion) that (members) can join without compromising or abandoning their beliefs. A member who is disfellowshipped, therefore, feels cut off from the Christian church and in consequence from God.
The denomination in the 1870s turned to missionary work and revivals, tripling its membership to 16,000 by 1880 and establishing a presence beyond North America during the late 1800s. Rapid growth continued, .........By 1945, the (Religion) reported 226,000 members in the US and Canada, and 380,000 elsewhere...
I hope you are getting the picture! The above examples also include many conventions, assembly's, an international brotherhood etc etc...
What a truly epic unique religion is being used as an example! Truly none of the muck and mire of the churches of Christendom eh? None of the clergy, popes or money grabbers there eh? And certainly none of this everybody goes to heaven or hell!
This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it intended to include every so called unique teaching or idea. But it does contain enough to prove a point. Pretty much anything I have left out is pure semantics and interpreatations.
So, who is it? Who is so unique that "nobody else has what they have got"
Oz