The real issue is whether the organization has any legitimacy with God. You can talk about the various doctrines -- like whether man has a spirit or ceases to exist at death, of whether Armageddon will be fulfilled literally or will have a "spiritual" interpretation; or whether baptism is a burial with Christ or a covenant to obey an organization. You can debate them endlessly, but the real question is this: Is the Watchtower Publishing sect a manmade organization or did God legitimize it somehow...and if so, how? Amos said that the Lord God would do nothing, save he revealth his secrets to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). If God organized those called the Jehovah's Witnesses into his Kingdom (see Daniel 2), wouldn't he have mentioned it to either the Old or New Testament prophets?
I'm no anti-JW trying to score a "gotcha." I'm just asking them or any other religion claiming to represent God for a certificate of authenticity. If I showed up at your door and tried to sell you an autograph of Jesus Christ, would you believe me? (If yes, PM me and I'll make you a special offer!) That's all I'm asking the JWs to do. In the days of the first century apostles, there were other competing Christian denominations, right? How could someone know whether a preacher had authority by God? Well, you could say they will teach true doctrines; but did the followers of the false religions think they were teaching false doctrines? No, they thought they were teaching true doctrines, otherwise they wouldn't have become followers. It all depended on point of view, just as it does now. If a JW gets cremed in a car accident and suddenly finds he or she is standing over the paramedics and emergency teams who are working on his or her now lifeless body and there was a bright light overhead, what do you suppose they'd think? Would they rejoice, or would they say, "Oh, sh--. Everything I believed is now dubitable!"
So just believing in doctrines isn't a sure fire way of determining a true religion. Even if the JWs are correct about death, that still doesn't mean they're right about everything else. After all, many adventist religions believe it. Yet I've heard JWs say, "Well, if it isn't us, who would it be?" (As if other religions didn't have tenable doctrines and a knowledge of history.) Though JWs may satisfy themselves with such logic, it isn't enough for a half dressed guy at the door. Also, I've read that little book they use in their Bible studies, several times, and it's not convincing. While I was participating in such a study, the JWs "teaching" me went from question to question, refusing to move on until I had agreed on a preconceived answer. Anyway, that's my view, and the question of legitimacy is the only real question a JW teacher needs to establish.
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