The Watch Tower book ‘Qualified To Be Ministers’ published in 1955 states on page #156 “If we have love for Jehovah and for the organization of his people we shall not be suspicious, but shall, as the Bible says, ‘Believe all things’ all the things that the Watchtower brings out, in as much as it has been faithful in giving us a knowledge of God’s purposes and guiding us in the way of peace, safety and truth from its inception to this present day. ” Is this really what I Corinthians 13 is saying?
The Watchtower January 15, 1983, page #22 says Jehovah’s Witnesses must ‘Avoid Independent Thinking’ “How is such independent thinking manifested? A common way is by questioning the counsel that is provided by God’s visible organization.” On page 27, Witnesses are told to ‘Fight Against Independent Thinking’ and why independent thinking is dangerous. If you do not think independently how are you thinking? Are you to think what you are told to think?
Curiously, the August 1st., 1958 Watchtower on page #460 had this to say about the Irish Catholics: “Fear has a great hold on the people. People are afraid of what their neighbors, their friends, relatives and clergy might think if they were even so much as to read the Bible on their own. For centuries the clergy have dominated their lives,told them what they can read,what they should believe and do. To ask a sound religious question is a demonstration of lack of faith in God and the church,according to the clergy. As a result,the Irish people do very little independent thinking. They are victims of the clergy and fear; but freedom is in sight. –
Since the Watchtower has been ‘teaching truth since its inception’ how is it that Catholics should think independently but Jehovah’s Witnesses must not? Is the Watchtower inferring that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not as smart as Catholics and therefore cannot trust their own thinking? If I were a Jehovah’s Witness, I would be quite offended by the Watch Tower’s assessment of me as a Witness.
I am still thinking about and looking into the question of how one of Jehovah’s Witnesses could ever know if he/she were wrong. I plan to continue this post.
Ted Brown
From time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah’s people those who have said it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, STRANGELY, through such Bible reading, they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago … The Watchtower …. August 15, 1981 …. pages 28 & 29