Proud Member of The Jehovah’s Witnesses
Interesting response to this article by Luigi G Riccoboni. In typical Jehovah’s Witness rhetoric, the red herring arguments and circular reasoning are evident throughout this response.
Firstly, he assumes that only JWs really study the Bible (when, in fact, they study the Watchtower’s publications and their slant on what the Bible says) and that only JWs try to follow its principles or are examples of good behavior. Secondly, to say that, if they were not decent people, governments would have gotten rid of them by now, is arbitrary and capricious, since the same could be said of Mormonism, Christian Science, Scientology, the New Age movement, or any other such groups that the JWs consider to be cults. Furthermore, the Watchtower considers all of Christendom to be wrong and evil even though the Christian Church has been around for over 2,000 years-almost 1,900 years longer than the JWs have been around. So, from either angle, this argument simply does not wash.
Finally, as far as the false doomsday prophecies of the Watchtower are concerned, the scripture he quotes has absolutely nothing to do with the matter, whatsoever. The Apostle Peter is speaking about people who leave the church and return to a non-believing state, that is true. However, that is a big assumption to claim that it is the JWs who are “God’s recognized Christian organization”. If that were the case, then there would not be a vast history of false prophecies. We would also have to wonder what had become of the Church for the 1900 years between its institution and the advent of the JWs, especially when Christ Himself foretold that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church.
Finally, for the JWs to even claim the Christian title for themselves is a misnomer when the Apostle Paul clearly says, in 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4, that anyone who comes preaching another Jesus or another Gospel than what the apostles preached, does so by the power of a counterfeit spirit (not the Holy Spirit). Do the JWs preach another Jesus and another Gospel? Yes, indeed! They preach a Jesus who is believed to be Michael the Archangel, even though the Apostles never preached such a thing and, in fact, went to great lengths to refute this heresy. They also preach a Gospel of works which is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of Grace found in the Bible.
The fact is that JWs can parade under the banner of Christianity all day long, but like Mormons, Christian Scientists, and many others that I consider counterfeit and cultic groups, they will never be Christian on their best day! They will be counted among those to whom Christ will say, upon His return: “Depart from me. I never knew thee.”
Candy Gwen Pouliot Cult Awareness & Apologetics www.freewebs.com/wwwsoundnessofmindcom http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Freedom_Beacon_Ministries