The Watch Tower organization must be trusted

When Paul preached in Beroea, the Jews there “accepted the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11, New World Translation). Luke calls them “more noble-minded” for it.

They were examining the apostle Paul’s teaching, and Paul wrote much of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Instead of accepting his words because of who he was, they opened the Scriptures and checked, and the Bible holds them up as an example.

Paul himself invited this. “Even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond the good news we declared to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). He includes himself. The message is the standard, and the messenger is measured by it. See Galatians 1:8.

John says the same: “do not believe every inspired statement, but test the inspired statements to see whether they originate with God” (1 John 4:1). And when Peter, an apostle and an elder in Jerusalem, acted wrongly, Paul says, “I resisted him face-to-face, because he was clearly in the wrong” (Galatians 2:11). If an apostle could be tested and corrected, no later body of men is above it.

Read the parable to the end. Jesus asks, “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave?” and he answers: “Happy is that slave if his master on coming finds him doing so” (Matthew 24:46). The slave is shown to be faithful when the master comes and finds him at work. Faithfulness is judged at the end, by the master.

The next verses describe another slave, an evil one, who says in his heart “My master is delaying,” and begins to beat his fellow slaves (24:48-49). The parable is about two possible servants, and its point is that each will be judged by what he does while the master is away. It is followed by the parables of the ten virgins and the talents, which make the same point: be ready, be faithful, you do not know when the master returns.

Nothing in the parable says the slave can be identified in advance as one group of men, or that once identified, its teaching should not be checked. In Luke’s account, Peter asks, “Lord, are you telling this illustration just to us or also to everyone?” (Luke 12:41), and Jesus answers with the same parable, as a warning to every servant. A parable that warns servants to stay faithful cannot be used to put any servant beyond question.

Proverbs 4 is a father’s teaching to his son. “The path of the righteous is like the bright morning light that grows brighter and brighter until full daylight. The way of the wicked is like the darkness” (4:18-19). It contrasts two ways of living: the one who walks in wisdom finds his path clearer; the wicked stumble without knowing why. It is a promise about a righteous person’s life, not a statement about how an organization’s teaching will develop.

Even if it were applied to teaching, morning light grows brighter in one direction. It does not turn back toward darkness and then brighten again. Some Watch Tower changes have been of that kind. For decades, Awake! magazine stated on its contents page that the Creator would bring a peaceful new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passed away. In 1995 that statement was withdrawn, and the meaning of “this generation” has been revised since. A teaching that was held, taught as certain, and then given up is a reversal, not a brighter version of the same light.

It is good to give up a mistaken teaching. But calling it “increasing light” makes it sound as though Jehovah had been leading his people toward it all along, and it makes the next teaching harder to question.

Watch Tower publications do not claim that the Governing Body is inspired. In February 2017, The Watchtower said plainly: “The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.” That is an honest statement.

Follow it through. If the Governing Body can err in doctrine, then some of what it teaches may be wrong. If some of it may be wrong, someone must be able to notice. The only way to notice is to compare its teaching with the Bible, the way the Beroeans did. So testing the Governing Body’s teaching is what its own statement requires, not rebellion against it.

The difficulty is that, in practice, a Witness who tests a teaching and concludes it is wrong is not free to say so. Disagreeing openly with the Governing Body’s teaching is treated as apostasy, a serious sin. That puts you in a hard place: told that the teachers can err, and told that recognizing an error is disloyalty.

Deuteronomy 18:22 gives Israel a test for anyone who speaks in Jehovah’s name: if what he says does not come true, “then Jehovah did not speak that word,” and “You should not fear him.” This page does not cite it to label anyone a false prophet. The verse shows that God gave his people permission not to fear a teacher whose words have failed.

The New Testament does teach discipline. 1 Corinthians 5:11 tells the congregation not to keep company with a so-called brother who is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard, or an extortioner. 2 John 10 tells believers not to receive a teacher who denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. These are real commands.

Look at what they concern: open, unrepentant wrongdoing, and the denial of Christ. They do not concern a member who reads the Bible and reaches a different conclusion about 1914 or the 144,000. And their aim is restoration. When the Corinthian man repented, Paul told the congregation to “kindly forgive and comfort him” and to “confirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8). To another congregation he wrote, “do not consider him an enemy, but continue admonishing him as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:15).

When avoiding a person becomes a way to make others afraid of asking questions, discipline has moved away from what the Bible describes. It is fair to ask whether the fear you may feel about reading this page comes from Jehovah or from somewhere else.

Peter once said to Jesus, “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life” (John 6:68). Those words are sometimes applied to the organization. Peter said them to Jesus.