“It is the only religion which doesn’t go
to war. We have friends in every country on Earth and we all think alike---We have
the true understanding of the Bible. We are the true religion which God approves………..”
Says the JW.
To put JWs in the context of the question of
true religion, we first have to get an insight into how a JW thinks and these
points above are the selected criteria chosen by JWs to judge themselves. This
very fact of cherry picking anything which puts JW belief into a good light is a
characteristic of JW thinking i.e. the desire to highlight their separateness
from others and to create an aura of being special. This is done to promote the ‘JW
brand’.
But how about the concept of a “true
religion”? What would that mean?
In common language, do most people think of
religion in categories of true and false? Not really if ever—except by Jehovah’s
Witnesses and perhaps a few other minor groups.
So why do JWs want to use the expression “True
religion”? Is it not because they want to attract new members with the lure
that they are the exclusive holders of this title?
So let’s look at the JW defence for their
belief that they don’t take up arms for war. This of course is not exclusive to
them. Many conscientious objectors have been executed during war time for
their pacifism and around 4 million members of the Jain religion will not kill
humans or animals for that matter. It might be said that a vast number of people today are no longer
prepared to go to war to resolve problems.
“JWs think alike”—yes this is quite true but wait
a moment! It is a vital element of being a JW to have uniform belief and
therefore like-minded thinking is actually enforced. Should any witness wish to
contradict the governing body or deviate from orthodox teaching, they will feel
constrained from doing so by being shamed, excluded and shunned. So this claim
is true but only remains true by virtue of threats and punishment.
“JWs have the true understanding of the
Bible”. Ever since someone claimed something to be “God’s word” there has been
disagreement as to what was meant. Since the Bible is the result of a
deliberate fusion of religious belief drawn from Judaism, God-men savior cults
and Mithraism amongst others, it is hardly surprising that it contains a myriad
contradictions, false assumptions, scientific impossibilities and fake claims as
to spiritual demands. It is categorically impossible to form a coherent
narrative and account of the works and wishes of an invisible spirit being. The Bible is undeniably human in origin and
focus. If religion or Christianity were true it could be expected that there
would be an orthodoxy of teaching. But all the forty thousand sects of
Christianity claiming that their way is the only true faith demonstrates the evolution
of unprovable belief proliferating in the absence of concrete evidence and
divine supervision. No-- the way it works is you pays your money and you takes
your choice! There is no such animal as true religion. No one religion stands
out, they are all institutions of hope, companionship and trust in the
unknowable, they are a consolation for the anxious.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses have the only true
religion” Well if that was the case, then surely they would stand out head and shoulders above the others like a
beacon of hope for mankind showing the world that their way has shown divine influence which has enabled them to surmount the trials of being
human by their exemplary behavior.
However the fact of the matter is that like other utopian dreamers, JWs
imagine their behavior is outstanding but in reality the religion often attracts
the desperate, sometimes the mentally challenged and those without hope for material
comfort in life. They bring with them the trappings of the underprivileged
namely the gullibility of the uneducated which includes a dependence on the irrational triumph
of belief over evidence. The Governing body foster this ignorant culture which
favours their leadership enabling them to keep their followers in lock-step and
in strict adherence to their demands. For the time being, this is the source of their power to
exist and continue.
There cannot be such a thing as true
religion anymore than there is an objective real life category called false religion --except
in the minds of cult members. These are terms only used by cult leaders.
“JWs were chosen by God!” There is not one
singular piece of evidence to show that there is divine insight or approval exclusively
on Jehovah’s Witnessess which cannot be addressed to other sects. If they were
truly under divine influence and representatives of an almighty and therefore
an inerrant God, then why in one hundred and forty years have JWs never got
anything right?
The concept of “True religion” is just the
propaganda slogan of a mind-bending high-control religious cult which is living
past its sell by date --which happens to have been “The Generation which saw
the year 1914”.
