Jehovah’s Witnesses- History and Authority

Most of these are constructed with volunteer labor, and 300 volunteers can erect a building in about 48 hours. On the average, four to six new Kingdom Halls are built each month in the United States.

They are trained in theology and apologetics so that they can walk circles around most average Christians and even pastorsGet us thinking with question.

What would you do if a JW arrived at your door and said in the original language calls God Jehovah and they would like to tell you about him?

God continues his prophecy through the JW church, so why can’t there be more revelation?

They sound pretty good on their website:

“We come from hundreds of ethnic and language backgrounds, yet we are united by common goals. Above all, we want to honor Jehovah, the God of the Bible and the Creator of all things. We do our best to imitate Jesus Christ and are proud to be called Christians. Each of us regularly spends time helping people learn about the Bible and God’s Kingdom. Because we witness, or talk, about Jehovah God and his Kingdom, we are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

And if they haven’t shown up on your door yet, they probably will

What will you say, what will you do?

Galatians 1:8- But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

But does that mean we don’t try to share the gospel with them?

History and Beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses

The best stories to describe we’re we are at is a family story of how we got here:

As some of you have great stories of your family immigrating here, or moving.

So, in the same way, to understand the Jehovah Witnesses, we must understand their family history.

The history of the JW’s

A story of 7 powerful presidents

Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916)

Christian family

He was born to committed Presbyterian family and probably learned the bible well.

However In his teenage years Russell abandoned the Presbyterian church because he did not like their doctrines of predestination and eternal punishment

But, by the time he was 17 he became a skeptic of the bible and the church

he started to investigate other religions but couldn’t find what he was looking for.

Starting his own group

1870- He began to meet with some friends in a group they called “the bible students”

There they became obsessed with prophecy and trying to determine when Christ would return

As often happens, if you’re looking for someone to go along with your views, you can find them

Russell began dialoguing with a Adventist preacher and magazine writer named Nelson H Barbour in Rochester, New York

Rochester believed that Jesus had spiritually returned in 1874, thus the harvesting of true christians had secretly begun

But together they decided that in 1914 God’s kingdom would be established on earth

They had a falling out

Russell began his own magazine called Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence,

This would eventually become today’s Watchtower magazine.

He was a master at publishing, and was a “trending subject”

Imagine him as the modern youtube trending video

Many people loved this because it put a serious urgency to their spiritual endeavors.

The end was only 40 years away, they had to work hard and quickly

The group grows

By 1904 “Pastor Russell, as he was called. had written six volumes that came to be known as Studies in the Scriptures . This series would be foundational to all future Watchtower theology.

He said anyone who read these volumes alone, even without consulting the Bible, would nevertheless have “the light of the Scriptures.”

His followers continued to grow

They held him as “faithful and wise servant” of Matthew 24:45 “45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?”

Which takes us to the problem of changing views:

from 1879 to 1895 Russell held that the servant was the 144,000-member church. Later Russell’s followers proclaimed him as the servant.

Russell’s wife affirmed that also

—until, after their marriage developed irreconcilable difficulties (and ultimately ended in divorce), she changed her mind and said he was the “evil servant” mentioned a few verses later in Matthew 24.

By 1927 Christ’s “anointed” followers in the Society were viewed as God’s collective chosen servant.

Problems

Well, 1914 came and went, and no kingdom, so many were disillusioned and left the church.

Also, some pastors began to say Russell was a false teacher and he sued for libel.

But it was found out clearly that many sermons he printed and said he preached were never given to anyone.

And though he claimed to be a scholar, had never been to school.

He said he could read and write ancient greek, but when asked to give the alphabet, he could not.

Like many cult leaders, there were many moral questions about his life.

Obviously his wife didn’t think highly of him

Trans: He died 2 years after he said the kingdom would come, and another took his place

Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869–1942)

Background

Rutherford was born to a Baptist parents and taught the bible

But he would later account that he would argue with his parents about hell, saying he didn’t believe it.

He had been door to door salesman and vowed that if someone visited him and tried to sell him books, he would try to help out the salesman by making a purchase.

Rutherford converted to the Jehovah’s Witnesses when a member visited his office and sold him some Watchtower books.

He was a lawyer who supported the JW’s and was a stand in federal judge

Taking control

As the second president, Russell wanted him to be one among a series of leaders who would share power.

But Rutherford wanted the same power Russell had and started to push out others (who were supposed to have a lifetime positions)

The battle came to a head when he published Russell’s 7th volume without anyone permission, adding new theology to the group.

The story goes

He had directors removed after a 5 hours shouting match by force

They would go on to start other groups including Layman’s Home Missionary Movement and the Dawn Bible Students Association

His additions

During the 1920 and 30s the door to door witnessing became the emphasis that it is today.

Witnesses were encouraged to buy a phonograph and play Rutherford’s message for people at their doors or from their cars for others to hear

In 1931 To distinguish his group from the splinter groups, a new name of Jehovah Witnesses was added

Same old problems

Not learning from his predessors, he tried some prophecy too:

Bible prophecy, focusing attention on the year 1925.

Not only was the old order of things to pass away that year, but the Old Testament patriarchs were also to be resurrected and usher in the righteous government of Jehovah.

In expectation of this event, a magnificent residence called Beth Sarim was constructed in San Diego.

They said that whole spiritual presence in 1874…forget that Christ’s presence began in 1914, not ended

But 1925 came and went and that wonderful mansion where Moses was supposed to live was housed by Rutherford instead

… very convenient.

So, another eventually took his place

Nathan Knorr (1905–77)

Also raised in the Reformed church but became part of the JWs in 1922

He was the first to start training JW’s to give presentations on the doorstep, including how to answer common objections.

At this time a new bible was created

called the New World translation that makes great departures from the bible

And, of course, new prophecy

6,000 years of human history (from the time of Adam and Eve) would come to an end in 1975.

Armageddon was to occur that year, and Christ was to set up the Millennial Kingdom of earthly paradise.

This prophecy led many Jehovah’s Witnesses to sell their homes and quit their jobs in order to devote all their energy to witnessing to others.

many Jehovah’s Witnesses were greatly disappointed when 1975 came and went without anything happening.

From 1976 to 1978,

390,000 Witnesses left the Watchtower organization

With all the changes, the witnesses went from being run only by the president to a governing group

They were probably worried about another president making a disastrous prediction again.

Then came

Frederick W. Franz (1893–1992)

Franz grew up a Presybetieran and wanted to become a pastor

But he read some JW material, and found ways out of doctrines he didn’t like and joined the JWs

He developed many of the responses to Christian arguments that are still used today

But he’s infamous for forcing out his nephew from the governing body because of disloyalty

Raymond Franz and others began to study the history of the group a little more closely. He wrote a very exposing book about the lies of the JWs

Here began the practice that is still around today, if a Witness listens to a former witness, they’re guaranteed to hell

So, we have to be clear sometimes that we were never witnesses

Milton G. Henschel (1920–2003)

We finally have a man raised in the JW church

Note how many have not been, and

beware, just because someone grows up in the church, if you want to find a way out of God’s word, there are those who will give it to you.

He is famous for solving the whole prophecy problem

Remember 1914?Starting prophecy said

some of the people alive in 1914 would still be alive when Jehovah’s kingdom would finally be established.

The problem is, almost everyone alive during 1914 was dead by 1992.

On the basis of “new light,” he redefined the “generation” Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24 to mean “wicked mankind in general”—

any and all people of the earth in any generation who “see the sign of Christ’s appearance but fail to mend their ways.”

This “generation” could be people today or 100 years from now or anytime thereafter.

Then the last major one:

Don Adams (January 16, 1925 – December 30, 2019)

In 2000 Henschel resigned and Adams took control

Supposedly he has more administrative role as the group leadership tends to adjust their teaching if law suits become too costly.

then Robert Ciranko became president on in 2014

This family history has lead them to where they are today.

So let’s discuss some of their views

The totalitarian authority of the JW’s

They claim no other group than their own teaches the bible to mankind

One issue of The Watchtower refers to the society as “an organization to direct the minds of God’s people.”

Watchtower literature is also replete with admonitions to “dependent” Bible interpretation: “Avoid independent thinking . . . questioning the counsel that is provided by God’s visible organization [the Watchtower].”

“We should seek for dependent Bible study, rather than for independent Bible study.”

Their modified bible

The New World Translation

produced under Knorr’s leadership. The New World Translation “restored” the divine name of Jehovah 237 times in the biblical text from Matthew to Revelation.

It has never been stated who worked on this “superior translation”

None of those known to have worked on the NWT had any training in the Biblical languages, and none of the presidents had a college degree in any subject.

In a court hearing Franz was forced to admit that he could not translate a simple passage (Gen 2:4) from Hebrew into English.

Though he supposedly worked on it, he wouldn’t pass first year Hebrew

You do not need to know Hebrew, but someone who claims to translate should be able, right?

The unquestionable leaders

Anyone can be excluded from membership if they question the teachings

Russell taught that if one studies the bible alone, without Russell’s interpretations, that person will walk in darkness at the end of two years.

What do they believe?

What the Jehovah’s Witnesses DO NOT believe:

They reject the Doctrine of the Trinity.

They reject the Deity of Christ and affirm the early heretic Arius, as a “Great Christian Leader” and place him in their line of teachers.

He’s the infamous guy who came up with the phrase about Jesus “there was a time when he was not.”

And that Saint Nicholas of Santa Clause fame legendarily slapped for his heresy

They reject the bodily resurrection of Christ.

They reject the personality of The Holy Spirit. He is viewed as a “force” or “activating power,” not an individual member of the Trinity.

They reject the idea of eternal punishment contrary to jesus

Doctrine of salvation

The KEY issue with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or any cult, after their view of God and Christ, is their position on the doctrine of salvation.

Jehovah Witnesses teach salvation by works:

“It is for the reward of eternal life that every last person on earth should be working for” (Watchtower 15 Oct 1972, p. 492).

“Jehovah God will justify, declare righteous, on the basis of their own merit all perfected humans who have withstood that final, decisive test of mankind [the release of Satan from bondage after the 1,000-year reign of Christ]” (Life Everlasting-In Freedom of the Sons of God, 1966, p. 400).

The Jehovah Witnesses have more than a few oddities in their theology.

Only the best 144,000 Jehovah Witnesses Go to Heaven, the rest remain in a “millennial” earth.

When Jesus went to heaven He became who He had previously been, The Archangel Michael.

While begun as a “Bible study” the Witnesses believe that only the organization can correctly interpret the Bible.

“the Bible…belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe they can interpret the Bible” (Watchtower, 1 Oct 1967, p. 587).

They teach that Christ returned in 1914. He is currently administering His “still invisible kingdom” from Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn.

They teach that to accept a blood transfusion would cause one to lose their salvation.

They reject all holidays regardless of the type. Do not vote, hold political office, serve in the military, salute a national flag.

Then there is a strange translation issue:

John 8:58 ESV

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

In the first edition of the New World Translation, a note explains why a particularly Greek phrase egw. eimi (John 8:58) as “I have been” on the basis of the word being in the “Perfect Indefinite Tense.”

The problem is, there is no such tense in any language. The phrase is universally translated as “I Am.”

Let me finish with some tip I’ve found and tried to use in my interactions with JW’s

Witnessing tips to a JW

Be friendly and kind- not argumentative or trying to make them believe (you can’t!!!)

Be polite and courteous (they are taught that unbelievers will persecute and ridicule them).

Say “I’m a believer in Jesus christ.” Not I’m a Baptist or I got to Irvine Community Church

Don’t get sidetracked by minors issues like blood transfusion, not celebrating birthdays or christamas… Focus on jesus

Listen first… Ask them if you would listen for 15 mins if they would let you talk

Make a deal with them: Allow them to speak for 15 minutes, uninterrupted; as long as they will allow you do the same.

Ask leading questions that make them think

For example:

Since Jehovah always works through an organization, ask where was God’s organization between the apostles and your founder Charles Russell?

If John 1:1 says jesus is as God, is Jesus a true God? If he’s a true God is there more than one God?

Focus on using the bible only… don’t try to give an answer unless you can point back to the bible

They are very good with doctrine and will walk all over you.

Urge them to read the bible- Say why don’t you spend a week and just read your bible, let Jehovah speak to you directly through the bible.

Talk to the trainee (the person doing the less talking)

They will be more receptive and the trainer will allow them to engage with you

Conclusion

Sitting on a plane coming back from Tijuana with a little boy who was a JW

I asked if I could read through his book and it has all the stories we do

But what does it miss?

The gospel!

We have to keep the gospel as the center of what we do, or else we might be no different from the JWs