Doctrines of
the Watchtower Cult
The easiest way to treat the doctrinal system of this cult
is to present its denials of evangelical Christianity.
Doctrinal denials include
the:
1. Denial
of the Trinity;
2. Denial
of the deity of Christ (Arian view);
3. Denial
of the Personality of the Holy Spirit (viewed
as “God’s active force”);
4. Denial
of man’s immortal soul (It should be
noted that scripturally “immortality” applies to man’s future body. Orthodoxy
uses immortality as a term to explain that man’s soul or spirit continues to
exist after death);
5. Denial
of the Biblical view of the Atonement (Christ’s
death is viewed by the Witnesses as that of only a perfect man and as a
“corresponding ransom”); Christ is the mediator only for the 144,000;
6. Denial
of the bodily resurrection of Christ (the Witnesses teach that He rose a spirit
creature as Michael the archangel and materialized bodies on various occasions
in order to be seen by His disciples);
7. Denial
of salvation by faith in Christ alone; a two class system of salvation –
144,000 in heaven, and the great crowd on a paradise earth;
8. Denial
of salvation outside their organization;
9. Denial
of the “born again” experience for all (this
experience they say is just for 144,000 of the Witnesses);
10. Denial of
the eternal punishment of the lost (claiming
annihilation is their fate);
11. Denial of
the bodily, visible return of Christ (Christ
“returned” invisibly in 1914 and there was an invisible “rapture” in 1918).
Other Characteristic Doctrines
1. The
Bible cannot be understood today without the Society;
2. Blood
transfusion is rejected; if a Witness received one willingly it would result in
his eternal death;
3. Witnesses
refuse to serve in the military and to salute the flag; to salute the flag is
an act of idolatry;
4. Holidays
and celebrations, such as Christmas, Easter and birthdays, are rejected as
pagan in origin.
Publications
The printed page has been one of the most effective tools
of the Witnesses. As of
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was
completed in 1961. Dr. Hoekema agrees with what many
others have said concerning this version:
“Their New World Translation is by no means an objective
rendering of the sacred text into modern English, but is a biased translation
in which many of the peculiar teachings of the Watchtower Society are smuggled
into the text of the Bible itself” (Anthony Hoekema, The
Four Major Cults, pp. 238, 239) . Greek scholar, Dr. Robert Countess wrote
a well documented and thorough critical analysis of their New World Translation
in which he concluded, “(It) must be viewed as a radically biased piece of
work. At some points it is actually dishonest. At others it
is neither modern nor scholarly” (The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New Testament,
p. 93).
The Witnesses also have two Greek interlinear New
Testament texts. The older work is The Emphatic Diaglott,
translated by Benjamin Wilson, a Christadelphian with no credentials in Greek.
The other is The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the
Greek Scriptures, published in 1969, combines the Westcott and Hort Greek text with the Society’s translation and an
improved text of the New World Translation.
Both works clearly reveal a doctrinal bias.
Program
All movements have a program of some kind to bring in the
converts. It was William Schnell, author of Thirty Years a Watch Tower Slave,
who clearly explained the Witnesses’ “seven-step program.”
1. Get
literature into the hands of people through house-to-house or other outreach.
2. Follow
up with a “back call” to determine and encourage interest.
3. Try
to arrange a “book study,” using the Society’s latest books.
4. Get the person showing interest to come to the
congregational “book study.”
5. Bring
those showing interest to the “Watchtower study.”
6. Encourage
attendance at the “Service meeting” and the “Theocratic Ministry” school. These
two meetings train the Witnesses in their outreach program.
7. The
last step is the dedication of the life to Jehovah in baptism.
Watchman Fellowship, Inc., 1996.