The doctrines of the JW church are, to say the least, a bit unorthodox here and there. Another question I had was, if the church was not created or restored, where was it in the years between Christ's resurrection and the present? In other words, where was the church in 1475? Or in 634? Were there any members of the church of Christ then in existence? Either the church survived from its earliest days to the present or it ceased to be and then was reconstituted, reorganized or restored. What do they believe?
The standard answer (which makes absolutely NO SENSE, of course) is that there have always been just a tiny few "true Christians" on earth since the days of the Apostles. Most nominal Christians are and were "apostate" because they believed in things which the current JW think dissapproves.
Of course, this does not explain much --- for example, can they name even ONE such true Christian historical group? NO. There is also the embarrasing truth that much of the JW doctrinal body came lock, stock, and barrel from the Seventh Day Adventists (and of course, the SDA are "apostate").
So, go figure. It is pretty much - do exactly what the Watchtower Society says to do NOW, and FORGET what they used to tell you to do.
