Shoot First, then Paint Your Target Around the Arrow - You'll Always Get a Bullseye! {-} Cracks in the Walls of the Watchtower {-} Chapter 2 {-} Part 5

Jehovah’s Witnesses visit you at your doorstep and immediately try to win your trust. This is accomplished with a friendly demeanor and sincere disposition.

Next, they will invite you to engage in conversation with them about an issue that is of general importance, such as world peace. For example, they are trained to say to you,

“We find that just about everyone says he wants world peace. Most of the world leaders also say that. Why, then, is it so hard to attain?” (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p.14.)

In this way, Jehovah’s Witnesses draw you into a discussion that will inevitably permit the Governing Body's doctrinal solution to world war to be introduced to you.

The reason why world peace has not been achieved, they tell you (parroting what they have learned from 'Reasoning from the Scriptures'), even though most humans want it, is because, according to Governing Body doctrine, the entire world belongs to and is controlled by Satan the devil. And the solution to Satanic rule over the world, they tell you, is wiping out the Devil and his cohorts - including all of his human and non-human agents on earth who make world peace impossible.

That will only be accomplished, they tell you, by the soon-to-come reigning King of God’s Kingdom, Jesus Christ, along with His 144,000 anointed brothers who are all specially chosen by Him from among the worldwide pool of Jehovah’s Witnesses who fall into the class of Jehovah's Witnesses called "the faithful and discreet slave".

They will conclude by admonishing you to consider studying the Bible with them if your interest has been piqued.

Otherwise, if you refuse, then you run the risk of being killed during Armageddon and losing your one and only chance at living an eternal life in Jehovah’s coming new paradise kingdom on earth.

During their conversation with you, they ‘salt’ (or is it 'pepper'?) their presentation, here and there, with a number of proof texts from the various books of the Bible (all taken out of context) that seem to support their views. This gives you (the 'householder', as they refer to you in private) the impression that they have a thorough knowledge of the Bible, and creates the illusion that their assertions are Biblically-based.

If you buy into their presentation, then the next step of your indoctrination begins.

A so-called "Bible study" is regularly scheduled with you, at your convenience, and is conducted once or twice a week with you. You will now be seen as a "potential candidate" for conversion.

What was promised to you as a Bible study, however, quickly turns into a systematic study of the doctrines of the Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Jehovah's Witnesses. Your "Bible study" is subtly transformed into a study of a book put out by the Governing Body of the Watchtower Organization, entitled, ‘You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth’ (this is the book that was used for my indoctrination in 1987; I don't know if it is still used today).

You are told that it is merely an aid to Bible study; that it does not replace the Bible, but helps to explain it.

Your Bible study conductor(s) will assure you that you may verify the veracity of what the book teaches you about the Bible, simply by looking up the verses of Scripture cited there in each paragraph of the book. In this way, your guard goes down as you feel like you are studying the Bible; your defenses are lowered; and you are subtly, and very tactfully, led to believe that the Bible is being studied - when, in fact, you are studying an interpretation of the Bible, taught and required by the Governing Body.

However, the Bible is not being studied at all. Its entire context is ignored or twisted; it is not studied according to sound principles of Biblical hermeneutics; rather, Jehovah's Witnesses are trained in the ways of how to use the Bible as a proof text in order to support the views of the Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

An amusing little Jewish story well illustrates the method of study that Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught and trained how to employ:

“A wanderer was startled when he came across a rather unusual sight in the forest. He saw many trees, each having a solitary arrow struck dead-center in a target. Impressed with the incredible accuracy of the shooting, he began looking for the talented archer. When he encountered someone nearby with a bow and quiver, and expressed his admiration, the stranger said that it was really no big deal – “You see, I’m not a very good shot. First I shoot the arrow at the tree, and then I draw the target around it.”” (Dubnoer Maggid, over 200 years ago, quoted in ‘The Counter-Missionary Survival Seminar’ workbook, Jews for Judaism, 1995, p.26.)

As with all of the teachings of the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society, its interpretation of Matthew 24:45-47, which is used in support of its claimed authority to rule the lives of millions of its followers, amounts to shooting "the arrow at the tree" first, then drawing "the target around it".

In other words, it first invents a doctrine, then searches the Scriptures for any kind of support or proof that it can find, even if it’s just a part of a verse.

My next post will enter into a detailed discussion of how the Governing Body interprets Matthew 24:45-47.

THE APOSTATE

As always, thank you for your support!

Click to gain access to the Table of Contents and read Cracks in the Walls of the Watchtower from the beginning.