Jehovah’s Witnesses use
this phrase, “the truth,” constantly. Since it is an established fact in their
minds, anything new said from the platform or printed by the Watchtower Organization is accepted as
the truth. There is no room for doubt. The
average Witness doesn’t even try to think and interpret the scriptures for
himself or consider where he stands on issues, but relies totally upon the
Watchtower organization to do that for him.
What is the Truth? If asked, “What is the truth?” Jehovah’s Witnesses will
answer most likely like this: “The truth is that which is firm, trustworthy,
stable, faithful, and established as fact.” Fair enough but they will go on to say “Jehovah
God is truth, in that His judicial decisions, law, commandments, and word
are truth. He cannot lie according to Titus 1:2.”
Seeking an answer
elsewhere, Webster defines “truth” as:
(1) being true; specif., a) sincerity; honesty b) conformity with fact c)
reality; actual existence d) correctness; accuracy
(2) that which is true
(3) an established fact.
Wikipedia says “ there is no single definition of truth about which
the majority of philosophers agree.”
In John chapter 18,
Jesus told Pontius Pilate that he came into the world to “bear witness to
the truth,” but when Pilate asked, “What is truth?” there was no answer from
Jesus. There are various opinions on how
to define and identify truth. Even with Webster telling us that truth is “that
which is true,” I could make a statement and say that it is a true statement,
but that just leads to questions such as these; What is a true statement? Is
it different from a statement made truthfully? Such highly abstract discussions will get us nowhere.
Some feel that truth is
subjective and personal, that one man’s truth comes from his inner feelings and thinking,
his viewpoint. Many add that truth is
relative, only defined by its comparison to something else. This would be similar to the abstract
question, “What is beauty?” In
subjective truth, different persons would have different truths.
Outside of
philosophy, truth is not generally thought of in subjective terms. Truth is
determined by existing realities, based on facts independent of the mind. Most people think that truth is objective. Some
go so far as to say that only absolute truth matters. "Absolute truth" is defined as
inflexible reality: fixed, invariable, unalterable facts. Absolute truth requires an absolute standard. Even here, we can
run into trouble. If I make the
objective statement that “Earth is the third planet out from the sun,”
another person could ask, “Whose definition of ‘planet’ are you using?” “Is it possible that there are other
undiscovered planets between the earth and sun?” “When you say ‘out from
the sun,’ do you mean in distance or a straight line?” With religious doctrine, it is no different. Whose translation are we using, and which
ancient Greek or Hebrew meaning are we applying? The Watchtower claims that our
perspective on truth should come from the absolute authority of the creator of
all things. They teach that the
creator determines what is right and what is wrong, and that the absolute truth
we seek is knowledge of His will for His creation. This is “the truth” that, unlike beauty, does
not lie in the eye of the beholder. It’s just
a shame that we need humans to interpret what that absolute truth is, and to
tell us what they think God’s will is for us.
To discuss the
question, “What is the truth” is endless in philosophy and debate, but it is
not so difficult to discuss and dismiss the claim of absolute truth from
Jehovah’s Witnesses. One simply has to
demonstrate that what they say is false or not absolute. I say that is easy to
do, but that each person must do this for themselves.
The average Witness at
your door, or in your family or congregation is not intentionally lying. He is telling you the truth and nothing
but the truth, as far as he understands.
That is why he can be so convincing.
The untruths are coming from the organization, passed on as truths,
often with both mixed together with added moral judgment values, to make them
indistinguishable from each other. Their moral judgement values are subjective
and Watchtower typically claims they are from God and absolute in value. I contend that you are not getting the whole truth
from the Watchtower organization in virtually every case. If you see the whole truth,
it will cause you to reexamine what has been told to you, and you will clearly be
able to see that it is not “the truth” in an objective absolute sort of way. Once you discover that it is not the truth,
you will be able to see how it is the anti-truth, a mix of misleading truths
and omissions of complete facts that enables the Watchtower organization to
control the lives of millions.
