If they are really Bible Students, why are Lots of leaps and jumps in interpreting the Bible
Though many examples can be given, here are some sample misapplications:
1)
They arbitrarily choose
certain verses and ignore others which they feel is of no use to them. For
example, they profusely quote Ezekiel 18:4 (“soul that sins will itself die”)
to show that man does not have an immortal soul. However, if we read the whole
chapter, Ezekiel has never seen such a possibility that someone would use 18:4
to reach such conclusion. His subject is very simple: if father commits sin,
father should suffer its consequence, not his son and vice versa. Then in Ezekiel
18:9 he contrasts: “soul that follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws
is righteous; he will surely live.” However, if this righteous man has a son
who turns out to be violent and sheds blood of others, “he should be put to
death.” (Ezekiel 18:10-13) Thus Ezekiel is simply making a contrast between a sinner
and a righteous one, and making it clear that who should be put to death (not
talking about whether man has an immortal soul or not, as JWs wrongly conclude)
2)
They quote Luke 17:21
(“The Kingdom of God Is Within You”) and say it means Jesus, as the future King of the Kingdom was
amidst of people, hence Kingdom of God is external, to be established on earth
in the future. If that is what Jesus wanted to convey, he would have definitely
worded it differently. He simply used the same Greek word for “within” to mean
what is “inside” when he spoke Mathew 23:26 “First clean the inside of the cup
and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
Interestingly, this is something people can experiment in their own lives, and find
out whether “Kingdom of God is within” or not. There are at least some who lead
a simple life-style. They don’t have any expectation from others because they
feel that others have freedom to act the way they like, and it is their lives)
and also they don’t try to correct others (but leave that work to the authorised
persons/agency). Whatever they do, they do it creatively (and make it supportive
of others if at all possible). In such a simple life-style, there is always a
space around them, nothing would affect them, and they would feel that they are
living in Kingdom of God. Yet they also have the freedom to rust out bringing
in “leaven” into their lives, as Jesus himself illustrated it in Mathew 13:33.
(Leaven symbolizes sin - Luke 12:1; 1Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:9) On the
contrary, people who lead just opposite life-style feel that they are living as
though in hell. If wasteful and negative inner qualities can make hell (Mark
7:21; James 1:14), that would mean, productive, positive inner qualities would make one feel
that he is in Kingdom of God. Apostle Paul himself had this understanding: “Kingdom
of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit.”—Romans 14:17