It’s been a while since I posted some thoughts of mine concerning the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Babble and Trash Society. Okay, I will be respectable and say it right, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. I do, however, think about the doctrines quite a bit as well as the overall doctrines from Christianity in general. I remember during the six years I used to study with the Jehovah’s Witnesses how they like to quote the passage in the Bible that states that the heart is treacherous.
“The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9
I don’t recall whether or not Jehovah’s Witnesses used this verse to get me to question my beliefs and consider whether or not any of them were wrong. I do, however, recall my wife using it on me a few times when I sometimes would say that when I was not sure about something I would simply follow my heart. As I did begin to consider their arguments I could not help but notice that they were not as receptive to any arguments outside of their own beliefs. This became even more apparent when I began discovering facts about the misdeeds of the WT leaders of the past and some of their erroneous teachings, a few of which persist to this day.
After all, it is easy to see why someone would choose his or her own beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence if such a belief system feels good to him or her. In this person’s heart, the beliefs must be right and confirmation bias being what it is it was only a matter of time before this person found something to justify this belief. I remember feeling the constant need to reexamine my own beliefs often as I did not want to be guilty of just “following my heart” instead of following the facts. Indeed, if my beliefs were wrong and the Watchtower (or some other religion) had it right, I needed to know this and adjust my position accordingly. However, I noticed that in spite of the witnesses’ own claims to be lovers of truth, they resist even the most glaring evidence that contradicts their own belief system.
I’ve spilt ink over this subject before but I still think it is a very good analogy to show the double standards and doubling down witnesses do to avoid the conclusion they might have to face should they consider the facts. Witnesses love to point out to Christians that December 25th is not Jesus’ birthday and make a lot of hay regarding why Christians will either double down on the position that it is indeed His birthday or simply acknowledge it but see nothing wrong with celebrating His birth on that particular day anyway. I’ve personally had a witness tell me that this information is available in any encyclopedia and therefore I should accept this because of this fact.
Fair enough but mention this about 1914 and the year that marks the beginning of the 2520 year seven times period, which the Watchtower erroneously places at 607 BCE, and the response is surprising to say the least. Similar to how Christians respond to the whole Jesus not being born on Christmas Day fact, witnesses will either double down on the erroneous date by attempting to discredit the evidence that supports 586/587 BCE or they will simply try to dismiss the whole argument by saying something like, “We do not serve for dates.”
That last response should be particularly
troubling because these same witnesses will insist that Christians who see
nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of Christ on Christmas Day, in spite
of knowing that it is not His birthday, are simply being dishonest and just trying
to justify their own traditions in spite of knowing the truth about them. In other words, they’re simply following
their hearts. Yet these same witnesses
do not seem at all troubled about attempting to ignore the evidence concerning
607 BCE by attempting to dismiss the whole argument by saying, “We do not serve
for dates.” It is a glaring admission
that these witnesses are not interested in truth and prefer to keep with their
own traditions. In other words, they’re
simply following their hearts.