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.
