The quotes
in Blue are comments from JW Files
The quotes in Black are from the Watchtower
Society and Boldfaced for emphasis.
*** Watchtower 1986 3/15 12-14 'Do Not Be
Quickly Shaken From Your Reason' ***
Have
No Dealings With Apostates
7 Now, what will you do if you are
confronted with apostate teaching—subtle reasonings— claiming that what you
believe as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses is not the truth? For example, what will
you do if you receive a letter or some literature, open it, and see right away
that it is from an apostate? Will curiosity cause you to read it, just to see
what he has to say? You may even reason: ‘It won’t affect me; I’m too strong
in the truth. And, besides, if we have the truth, we have
nothing to fear. The truth will stand the test.’ In thinking this way, some
have fed their minds upon apostate reasoning and have fallen prey to serious
questioning and doubt. (Compare James 1:5-8.) So remember the warning
at 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does
not fall.”
This scripture is
quoted above:
*** Rbi8 James
1:5-8 ***
5 So, if any one of YOU is lacking in wisdom, let him
keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching;
and it will be given him. 6 But let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting
at all, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown
about. 7 In fact, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from
Jehovah; 8 he is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways.
Says we are to ask God not the Society.
8 With loving help from caring brothers, some having doubts sown by apostates
have recovered after a period of spiritual turmoil and trauma. But this pain
could have been avoided. At Proverbs 11:9 we are told: “By his mouth the one
who is an apostate brings his fellowman to ruin, but by knowledge are the righteous
rescued.” Jude told fellow Christians to “continue showing mercy to some that
have doubts; save them by snatching them out of the fire.” (Jude 22, 23) Paul
advised the overseer Timothy to instruct “with mildness those not favorably
disposed; as perhaps God may give them repentance leading to an accurate knowledge
of truth, and they may come back to their proper senses out from the snare of
the Devil, seeing that they have been caught alive by him for the will of that
one.”—2 Timothy 2:25, 26.
9 Tragically, others have gone into
complete darkness, even going back to Christendom’s erroneous teachings. The
apostle Peter wrote about the tragic outcome for some who first walked in the
truth but then turned aside. He said: “Certainly if, after
having escaped from the defilements of the world by an accurate knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they get involved again with these very things
and are overcome,
the final conditions have become worse for them than the first.” Peter
said they are like the dog that returns to its vomit and the bathed sow that
turns back to wallowing in the mire.—2 Peter 2:20-22.
What if the Societies
teachings does not go along with what the Bibles says?
10 When a fellow human tells us, ‘Do not read this’ or,
‘Do not listen to that,’ we may be tempted to ignore his advice. But remember,
in this case Jehovah is the One who tells us in his Word what to do. And what
does he say about apostates? “Avoid them” (Romans 16:17, 18); “quit mixing in company with” them (1 Corinthians 5:11); and
“never receive [them] into your homes or say a greeting to [them]” (2
John 9, 10). These are emphatic words, clear directions. If, out of curiosity, we were to read the literature of a known apostate, would
that not be the same as inviting this enemy of true worship right into our home
to sit down with us and relate his apostate ideas?
Jehovah's advise
is to stay away from apostates. We are not an apostate to Jehovah, Jesus and
his true teachings. The Society puts itself on the same level playing field
as with Jehovah. The Society doesn't want you to look at their past teachings,
that is why they go to such great lengths to scare you not to look. Jehovah
warns us stay away from such ones as in the following scriptures:
*** Rbi8 Matthew
12:36-37 ***
36 I tell YOU that every unprofitable saying that men
speak, they will render an account concerning
it on Judgment Day; 37 for by your words you will be declared righteous, and by your words
you will be condemned.”
*** Rbi8 Deuteronomy
18:20-22 ***
20 “‘However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my
name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name
of other gods, that prophet must die.
21 And in case you should say in your heart: “How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?”
22 when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the
word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak.
With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.’
*** Rbi8 1
John 4:1 ***
4 Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression,
but test the inspired expressions
to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone
forth into the world.
** Rbi8 Ezekiel
13:8-9 ***
8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah
has said: “‘For the reason that YOU
men have spoken untruth and YOU have visioned a lie, therefore here I am against
YOU,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.” 9 And my hand has come
to be against the prophets that are visioning untruth and that are divining
a lie. In the intimate group of my people they will not continue on, and in
the register of the house of Israel they will not be written, and to the soil
of Israel they will not come; and YOU people will have to know that I am the
Sovereign Lord Jehovah,
*** Rbi8 Matthew
7:15-16 ***
15 “Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to
YOU in sheep’s covering, but inside
they are ravenous wolves. 16 By their fruits YOU will recognize them. Never
do people
gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they?
*** Rbi8 2 Peter 2:1 ***
2 However, there also came to be false prophets among
the people, as there will also be
false teachers among YOU. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive
sects and will disown even the owner that bought them, bringing speedy destruction
upon themselves.
*** Rbi8 Ephesians 5:6-10 ***
6 Let no man deceive YOU with empty words, for because
of the aforesaid things the wrath
of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partakers with
them; 8 for YOU were once darkness, but YOU are now light in connection
with [the] Lord. Go on walking as children of light, 9 for the fruitage of the light consists
of every sort of goodness and righteousness and truth. 10 Keep on making sure of what
is acceptable to the Lord;
11 Let us illustrate matters in this way: Suppose your teenage son received
some pornographic material in the mail. What would you do? If he was inclined
to read it out of curiosity, would you say: ‘Yes, son, go ahead and read it.
It won’t hurt you. From infancy we’ve taught you that immorality is bad. Besides,
you need to know what’s going on in the world in order to see that it’s truly
bad’? Would you reason that way? Absolutely not! Rather, you would surely point
out the dangers of reading pornographic literature and would require that it
be destroyed. Why? Because no matter how strong a person may be in the truth,
if he feeds his mind on the perverted ideas found in such literature, his mind
and heart will be affected. A lingering wrong desire planted in the recesses
of the heart can eventually create a perverted sexual appetite. The result?
James says that when wrong desire becomes fertile, it gives birth to sin, and
sin leads to death. (James 1:15) So why start the chain reaction?
12 Well, if we would act so decisively
to protect our children from exposure to pornography, should we not expect that
our loving heavenly Father would similarly warn us and protect us from spiritual
fornication, including apostasy? He says, Keep away from it!
13 But suppose we are preaching the
good news and people raise questions or objections similar to those raised by
opposers? Of course, if a person is not sincere and merely wishes to argue,
usually it is best to excuse ourselves and go to the next door. But if someone
sincerely asks about certain claims of apostates, what can be done? First, we
can ask what, exactly, has caused the concern. It may be only one or two points.
Then we can stick to these and answer from the Scriptures, from the Society’s
publications, and from what we truthfully know about the subject. We need not conclude that we have to read a book or a pamphlet that is filled
with slander and half-truths in order to refute the false claims and teachings
of opposers.
What half truths have I presented to you, all I have shown
you is from the Bible and from the Societies own old light literature. The truth
does not change. Remember thay don't want you to read anything negative about
them. How could you fairly set on a jury trial if you only took one side. You
have to examine the whole truth not just what is presented to you from Brooklyn.
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