I've been hearing from the friends that I should avoid your sites because you're an "apostate." What IS an apostate, because it seems like the Society defines it differently from what I can find in the Bible itself? Also, how do you defend against these charges that that is what you are?
Basically, the term “apostate” is applied to those who not only abandon their faith, but it also is applied to any of Jehovah’s Witneses who may happen to disagree with certain teachings and policies of the Watchtower Society.
This means that if any of Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the Society’s specious 1914 doctrine, for instance, they are subject to being labeled as an apostate.
A question from the readers in the April 1st, 1986, Watchtower asked why Jehovah’s Witnesses can be disfellowshipped for apostasy even if they still believe in God and the Bible. The Watchtower’s answer included the following statement:
“Approved association with Jehovah’s Witnesses requires accepting the entire range of the true teachings of the Bible, including those Scriptural beliefs that are unique to Jehovah’s Witnesses. What do such beliefs include? ...That 1914 marked the end of the Gentile Times and the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the heavens, as well as the time for Christ’s foretold presence.”
Think of the implications of the Watchtower’s policy. There was a time when the Watchtower taught that Jesus Christ returned invisibly in 1874. Obviously, Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer believe that, and fortunately the Watchtower did not impose disfellowshipping upon any Bible Students back then who may not have believed that Christ’s presence began in 1874. But just think if they had. How many people have been heartlessly made to bear the stigma of being apostates? How many lives would have been ruined because they had been cut off from family and friends?
Considering that the Watchtower demands that Jehovah’s Witnesses accept all of the Watchtower’s teachings without question, even those that can be Scripturally proven to be false, or at least open to serious question, the charge of being an apostate for not believing and teaching mere organizational dogma is not a label I accept for myself.
6 comments:
This quote is taken out of context. The last paragraph shows that it only applies to someone who UNREPENTANTLY PROMOTES such beliefs not just for doubting them.
Here is the last paragraph.
"Following such Scriptural patterns, if a Christian (who claims belief in God, the Bible, and Jesus) unrepentantly promotes false teachings, it may be necessary for him to be expelled from the congregation. (See Titus 3:10, 11.) Of course, if a person just has doubts or is uninformed on a point, qualified ministers will lovingly assist him. This accords with the counsel: "Continue showing mercy to some that have doubts; save them by snatching them out of the fire." (Jude 22, 23) Hence, the true Christian congregation cannot rightly be accused of being harshly dogmatic, but it does highly value and work toward the unity encouraged in God's Word."
"if a Christian (who claims belief in God, the Bible, and Jesus) unrepentantly promotes false teachings, it may be necessary for him to be expelled from the congregation".
Dear Anonymous,
Out of your own quotation I challenge you as to who is promoting false teachings The Watchtower with its bogus 1914 do or die dogma OR the e-watchman.
I humbly suggest you to please read your Bible without the special Watchtower 3 D glasses of 1914 phobia.
Then perhaps the scales may also fall from your eyes too!
The Watchtower Organization has caused much pain in my life and that of my family.
Much material is now available that will give either members or non-members the real truth about the so called "Truth".
Take care
Someone who has been hurt by an uncaring organization of men.
Face the facts everyone:
The Watchtower is a high control group that has said a lot of things over the past 120, and those things have not come to pass.
The Watchtower organization promotes extreme shunning (something they gloss over till you get baptized first) including your own family and friends!!! There is a lot of people who don't believe but can't say anything or leave. They will be punished with the most cruel form of pushishment, the loss of your loved ones. This religion is no better than the extremists we read about in the papers everyday.
Sorry if you can't take the truth about the so called "Truth".
Someone from Canada
Just as Judaism disintegrated in God's eyes, so too it seems that Christianity as we see it and practice it today will phase out of existence. This has been apparent in Christendom for centuries and more recently now our Watchtower institution, who has championed fundamental Bible truths and principles in these last days. This disintegration is attributed to our inherent sins and imperfection, even as evidenced by the efforts of first century Christians to maintain a measure of peace and unity among themselves and the congregations.
This struggle goes back to ancient Israel. So all along, even further back to Adam’s fall we have been dealing with a harsh master, our sinful imperfect human nature. A case in point: Jesus as a perfect son of God was the only one who was able to keep the Law perfectly.
As the Mediator of a better covenant, he has instituted a new covenant for a kingdom with his disciples. This agreement will continue in force until all its members are gathered in heavenly Jerusalem and its effect will go beyond the millennium of Christ reign.
It is from this heavenly vantage point that God will fulfill the Abrahamic covenant of blessing all nations. So our failures will become more evident as our fights for righteousness become more pronounced in the near term into the great tribulation.
Those with genuine faith in God will prevail over any human intrigue. If they lose their life on account of Christ, they will gain it back. The priests and the rulers of this present religious and political system will do what they must. Their goal is to perpetuate a system that by all intents and purposes will be superseded by the Kingdom of God. But God will have used even this imperfect system through Christ from which he is refining and gathering his chosen ones.
It is not that Christ second coming or presence began in 1914 that merits our full attention, as that may very well be a fallacy. It is the fact that he rules over his congregation and serves in God’s heavenly sanctuary as a High Priest.
The selection process of his chosen ones that started in the first century is still on-going until they are all sealed in completion of the contract that he made with them as represented by his sacrificial death.
It is safe to conclude that this contract will be completed when all its members are gathered during Christ’s actual presence and at the close of the great tribulation. Then Christ comes as King of kings with his heavenly army of faithful angels and his associate kings and priests fully empowered to destroy the wicked at the War of God the Almighty at “Har–Ma•ged'on.”
Dear Watchman:
It is rather shocking to learn that you have been disfellowshiped for disagreeing with the WT. Yes, I am shocked that you have been put out of the congregation for apostasy based upon what you have published on e-watchman and that the elders consider it apostasy to disagree with the Society. It saddens me that you can never be reinstated unless you take down e-watchman and accept the doctrine of 1914 and all that goes with it. Such reasoning seems utterly unreasonable. I do not know how you can reverse your position on some doctrinal matters and become reinstated. Rather it would seem appropriate for the WT to examine some of its teachings to see if they are in need of adjustment.
For as long as anyone continues to champion the truth, they are on Jehovah’s side. It is because of our love for the truth that we became Jehovah’s Witnesses and it is this love that defines us as Christ’s disciples. We know that God sent him for us and we accept him in our life to do his work in us. It is in his name that we bend our knees to God, acknowledging and confessing our sins daily before his throne of underserved kindness. We yearn for his spirit to dwell in us and for the washing away of our sins by means of Christ’s ransom sacrifice.
Notice that you have not been disfellowshiped for disagreeing with the Bible, but for disagreeing with the Watchtower. Could it be then that the Watchtower believes that everything it teaches comes from God? Has Christ actually established the faithful and discreet slave over all of his belongings? Or do we see a situation today where both the faithful and evil slave coexists, as shown in Jesus’ many illustrations? The WT says that it’s not infallible. Yet it acts as though it is in fact infallible. Isn’t that what is implied when they disfellowship someone for merely disagreeing with a particular teaching? Has Christ already sent forth his angels that will do the work of collecting the weeds from among the wheat? If so why do we see so many weed-like individuals in our midst?
These issues and many more have been presented on e-watchman and have not been proven to be in error. One must then conclude that the WT may have become an idolatrous image. If not, then it must be on the road to becoming such. If prophecy serves us right, we may very well see this trend in development in relation to the Watchtower’s image, as it is being propped up and embellished for survival into the new system of things. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments, he was distressingly awe-struck to see that the people had congregated themselves in worship of a golden calf, announcing it as their god, saying: “This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.”
It’s interesting to note how this statue of a calf was fasten with nails and overlaid with gold and how they went on sacrificing to it. In their mind, it is as if this image was to become a permanent structure, seeing that they were attributing to it even Jehovah’s grand acts of salvation on their behalf. Still, a considerable amount of men died during that incident, owing to the fact that they did not side with Moses. Surely, had Moses not interceded on their behalf, Jehovah would have exterminated them in a hurry.
This brings us to Jehovah’s great capacity for love and forbearance for his people, as he instructed Moses to proceed with his plan to lead the people into the Promised Land. Throughout their journey toward the land flowing with milk and honey, God’s love for his people was very much in evidence.
Prior to their enslavement in Egypt, God demonstrated his love for them as shown under the administrative oversight of Joseph, preserving the nation from a seven-year long famine. When they were made slaves, God raised Moses to deliver them from that bitter bondage. They knew about their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the promises that God had made to them. So they were hopeful and look forward to a day of deliverance. That day eventually came when God through Moses sent ten plagues against the nation that had held them captive for over four hundred years, defeating their false gods and finally drowning Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea.
Of course the bad Pharaoh that brought Israel under the Egyptian yoke of slavery felt that they were getting too numerous there in the land of Goshen. Thus, he resorted to a genocidal practice of reducing their number by ordering the killing of the baby boys. But we know the story from there how baby Moses was saved.
It seems apparent that due to man’s deep-seated desire for power and to maintain authority over others, they will at some point feel threaten; thereby resorting to these fiendish measures to annihilate others whom they perceive as being a threat. This is true of man’s quest for political, religious and economic power or gain.
Again, if you were not disfellowshiped for a violation of a clear biblical standard, then it’s possible that you were disfellowshiped by what might amount to nothing more than a perceived threat of the WT’s power and position of authority. After all, Jesus said within the context of men expelling you from their synagogue, that “the hour is coming when everyone that kills YOU will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God.”
No one who wants to follow after Christ has it easy. Of course I know that you are very well aware of this. I just thought I’d mentioned it. We may not know all the details, but we know how it’s going to end. “Where I am going you cannot follow after me now,” Christ told his disciples, “but you will follow afterwards.” The implication being that many of his disciples would experience a death like his as they strive to maintain a faithful course of integrity toward God, and receiving their heavenly reward when Christ returns.
Remain strong, remain faithful and when you are at your weakest moment, he will be there to infuse you with power beyond what is normal. Moreover, our faith in God is our treasure in earthen vessels. This thought is further developed in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, and it reads as follows: “We are pressed in every way, but not cramped beyond movement; we are perplexed, but not absolutely with no way out; we are persecuted, but not left in the lurch; we are thrown down, but not destroyed. Always we endure everywhere in our body the death-dealing treatment given to Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in our body.
A good advice that I have taken to heart from your site is that e-watchman encourages JWs to attend meetings at their local kingdom halls, even if certain things doesn’t seem right, and properly placing our faith in Jehovah and his means of salvation through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Moreover, we are to endure the issues and tests of faith that come upon us, as these things are allowed by God for a refining of his people. The extent of this refining process is shown in Zechariah 13:8-9, and it reads as follows: “And it must occur in all the land,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “[that] two parts in it are what will be cut off [and] expire; and as for the third [part], it will be left remaining in it. And I shall certainly bring the third [part] through the fire; and I shall actually refine them as in the refining of silver, and examine them as in the examining of gold. It, for its part, will call upon my name, and I, for my part, will answer it. I will say, ‘It is my people,’ and it, in its turn, will say, ‘Jehovah is my God.’”
We can still maintain our joy even though God’s adversary does not want us to succeed; as evidenced by the many stumbling blocks in our way. Knowing the adversary’s game plan should all the more draw us close to God, “for we are not ignorant of [Satan’s] designs.” Nonetheless, appreciating God’s love for his human creation is the main engine that drives us forward.
As regards your being disfellowshiped, the elders might have viewed you as a rebel rouser, since part of their job is to maintain peace and unity within the congregation. However, from what I’ve read on your site, likely, you would not have acted in any way shape or form to disrupt the unity and peace of the congregation. In which case, you would have been disfellowshiped not for disagreeing with certain teachings but for disrupting the peace of the congregation. I hope that this is not the case.
The Witnesses holds on dearly to Proverbs 4:18. There it says that “the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” So we are always in eager expectation of new truths being revealed through the Watchtower. Any voice emanating outside of the Watchtower, most do not recognized as being the voice of the fine shepherd, Jesus Christ. They have every right to believe that, since the Watchtower has taught us fundamental Bible truths and many deep things of God, such as the theme of the kingdom, the issue of God’s sovereignty, the sanctification of his name and our integrity to God’s universal principles of righteousness.
Nonetheless, you have tackled the difficult issues of faith as noted on your site for Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower. Indeed those are difficult issues you have presented, which might be too much for many to bear at this time. However, many of us are able to bear them with comprehension and appreciation for your bringing these things to light.
Therefore, I am of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with your site. No one says that the truth has to be a lullaby that puts people to sleep. In fact it should be of such caliber that it awakens people to their senses and infuses us with a sense of urgency of the time that we are living in.
With all said and done I do not think that they should have disfellowshiped you for disagreeing with some teachings. The views on your site are presented with candor,competence and clarity of mind and spirit that I am sure harmonizes with the Bible’s true message of love and hope.
Indeed the Bible’s message is one of love and hope. John 3:16 which we all know as a miniature gospel says this: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.
I believe that it is in keeping with that spirit as found in our miniature gospel that you have invested so much of your time sharing your insight into Bible prophecy with so many people who are hungering for spiritual food in these critical last days. “So let us not give up in doing what is fine, for in due season we shall reap if we do not tire out. Really, then, as long as we have time favorable for it, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to [us] in the faith.”
Maintain your joy, even with your brothers who may have wrongly disfellowshiped you. You can teach them a thing or two about love and perseverance. They’ll be glad you did. But even if they do not, you have done your best; and God is the one that gives to each one their due reward.
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