|
Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society says: "The Bible
teaches the doctrine of the Trinity!"
The Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society is the spiritual guidance and authority for Jehovah's
Witnesses. In one of the Watchtower's magazines they said the following:
"They say that it is
sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups
at home. But, strangely, through such 'Bible reading,' they have reverted
right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom's
clergy were teaching 100 years ago..." (The Watchtower, August 15,
1981, pages 28-29)
There are three things
in this quote that are very important to see:
-
The Watchtower addresses
those who read the Bible exclusively without anyone telling them what it
means
-
The Watchtower addresses
those who read the Bible alone
-
The Watchtower addresses
those who read the Bible in small groups
The Watchtower says,
"strangely, through such 'Bible reading,' they have reverted right back to
apostate doctrines." This means that those who interpret the Bible with
the Bible will believe in apostate doctrines. In other words, if a person
does not go with what the Watchtower says and reads the Bible alone, they
will believe in the Trinity. Now someone may say, "Where do they say
that?" The expression "apostate doctrines" is in reference to the doctrine
of the Trinity. (And other doctrines) The Watchtower in their books and
magazines labels the Trinity doctrine as an apostate doctrine.
In the brochure called
"Should You Believe in the Trinity?" the Watchtower says the
following:
"Do YOU believe in the
Trinity? Most people in Christendom do. After all, it has been
the central doctrine of the churches for centuries...This disreputable
history of the Trinity fits in with what Jesus and his apostles
foretold would follow their time. They said that there would be an
apostasy, a deviation, a falling away from true worship until Christ's
return, when true worship would be restored before God's day of
destruction of this system of things...The testimony of history is clear:
The Trinity teaching is a deviation from the truth, an apostatizing
from it...the Trinity doctrine also serves the interests of
clergymen who want to maintain their hold of people...By honoring God
as supreme and worshiping him on his terms, we can avoid the judgment that
he will soon bring on apostate Christendom." (Should You
Believe in the Trinity Brochure, 1989, pages 3, 9, 12, 31)
There can be no doubt
that the Watchtower was addressing the doctrine of the Trinity in their
August 15, 1981 magazine on pages 28-29. The references from "Should You
Believe in the Trinity?" makes that clear!
The Watchtower wants to
control their members by telling them that they cannot understand the Bible
outside of reading their publications. For example:
"Thus the Bible
is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as
an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they
may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the
Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization
in mind." (The Watchtower, October 1, 1967, page 587)
"Jehovah God has also
provided his visible organization, his "faithful and discreet slave,"
made up of spirit anointed ones, to help Christians in all nations to
understand and apply properly the Bible in their lives. Unless we
are in touch with this channel of communication that God is using,
we will not progress along the road to life, no matter how much Bible
reading we do." (The Watchtower, December 1, 1981, page 27)
"We have the opportunity
to show love for our brothers who take the lead in the congregation or in
connection with Jehovah’s visible organization worldwide. This
includes being loyal to "the faithful and discreet slave." (Matthew
24:45-47) Let us face the fact that no matter how much Bible reading we
have done, we would never have learned the truth on our own." (The
Watchtower, December 1, 1990, page 19)
"All who want to
understand the Bible should appreciate that the "greatly diversified
wisdom of God" can become known only through Jehovah’s channel of
communication, the faithful and discreet slave." (The
Watchtower, October 1, 1994, page 8)
These quotes are clear
on what the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society teaches concerning those who
can understand the Bible. The Watchtower says, "to read the Bible
exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely,
through such 'Bible reading,' they have reverted right back to the apostate
doctrine," which means anyone who studies the Bible alone will believe
in the doctrine of the Trinity.
|
