JWs made a diligent study on
teachings that have pagan origin and found Christendom as being mostly built on
pagan teachings, hence keep distance from them all. So far so good.
Now, if JWs continue in the same
direction, they will find virtually everything in the Bible as borrowed from
pagans—starting from six-staged creation account, and devil (Ahriman) making
the first man and woman fall (which is from Zoroastrianism) to the Messiah
restoring what has been lost (which is found in many mythologies).
This explains why Christianity—especially
JWs—did not make much headway in the most populous country (India) with 1.7
billion people. [JWs have only a few thousand members in India where as in
a small country like Japan they have tens of thousands] Jesus has many similarities with
what is taught in the East. Jesus’ birth is attributed to the power of God (so
is Krishna’s birth); there was a bright star appearing in the night sky during
the night Jesus was born (during Krishna’s birth, the bright star Rohini was high in the sky). King Herod
ordered the killing of all male children in his Kingdom to eliminate Christ
(King Kamsa ordered the killing of all the infants in an attempt to kill
Krishna). A great company of the
heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God which was followed by the
praising of shepherds (there were many demigods who came and
danced and sang about the glories of Krishna when He was ready to appear in
this world). Birth was without pomp and show—Jesus in a cave-like manger (Krishna
in a cave-like dungeon). Some wise men from the East presented Jesus with
frankincense and myrrh (baby Krishna was presented with gifts that included
sandalwood and perfumes). Thus the list of similarities goes on and on till
their death with Jesus’s chest being pierced with a spear (Krishna’s foot was pierced with an arrow). Jesus’ second
coming is spoken as to replace the wicked world with a righteous one (Krishna’s
next incarnation as Kalki is spoken as to do the same). Jesus “descended from Yudah” (Hebrew 7:14), and Krishna is
from Yadava. Thus similarity exists virtually in everything—even their names
are very similar—Christ and K/Chrishtna. Jesus refers to himself as “Amen”
(Revelation 3:14) which is actually the slanted form of “Aum” in the East. Even the word “Satan” (which stands in opposition
to what Christ stands for) which is the personification of wastefulness or
vices is derived from the Sanskrit
term Sat-na, which means non-truth or vices (which give a
temporary pleasure in the beginning and pain in the end) as personified by
persons like Ravan.
No wonder T. W. Doane wrote in
his book, Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions:
“The mythological portion of the history of Jesus of Nazareth, contained in the
books forming the Canon of the New Testament, is nothing more or less than a
copy of the mythological histories of the Hindu Savior Crishna, and the
Buddhist Savior Buddha, with a mixture of mythology borrowed from the Persians
and other nations.”
Hence the question: What if JWs go some more in the same
direction of shunning everything that is of pagan origin?