I was a Spiritual
Hostage for 43 years as a practicing and non-practicing
Jehovah's Witness. During this time, I struggled with the
harsh judgments from my JW family and members of the congregation.
No matter how hard I tried, it was never enough. Even when I
was doing everything expected of me, a fellow sister in my
congregation and wife of a ministerial servant told others that I was "bad association".
I crumbled under the judgments
and know others are struggling with similar situations.
After being hurt one last time, I stopped practicing my
religion and simply prayed to God and read the Bible. And,
that is what led to my eventual spiritual freedom.
Simply praying and reading the
Bible is the best way to learn the TRUTH that will set you
FREE. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society would have
their followers believe otherwise.
The Watchtower states that one needs the organization to
understand the bible and one should not "interpret" the Bible on
their own:
NOTE - 2 Timothy 3:15-17 says the
scriptures alone are enough to make one wise unto
salvation. And, why does the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society believe the Bible needs to be interpretted? Are
we not to read it in the literal context? Yes, but the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society will interpret scripture for it
followers - that is why their followers need their Watchtower
publications to explain their Bible interpretations.
Additionally, as a Jehovah's Witness one feels like a spiritual
hostage because you have been trained to believe that God chose the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society as his sole earthly organization to communicate the
true meaning of the Bible. And, that salvation is only through their
organization. The Watchtower, November 15, 1981 went so far
as to show an organization chart. You are also told to never
read anything other than the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
publications. One feels trapped and afraid to ever question
anything.
Over the years the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) has flip-flopped on the
viewpoint of questioning and independent study
(thinking), at one time saying that, a person would go
into darkness after two years of reading the Bible alone.
(See The Watchtower Magazine, Sept. 15, 1910, p298).
Other times they would encourage questioning and then as recently
as 2009 they flipped back to the viewpoint of trusting them
completely. The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 2009, p27 implies that
we should completely trust the Faithful and Discreet Slave, since Jehovah and
Jesus trust them. http://www.jwfacts.com/print/jw-studies-pamphlet.pdf
According to the scriptures, the
Bible alone should be enough to understand what God intended us to
know.
2 Timothy 3:16, 17 (NWT)
says:
"All
Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for
reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in
righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent,
completely equipped for every good work."
Notice the phrase, "completely
equipped". No, you needn't have anything other than
the Bible to understand the scriptures. There is no need to
add books and "modern-day
prophets".
Jehovah's Witnesses may take the scripture Daniel 12:4 out of
context and tell you God had Daniel make secret the words until the
time of the end. However, that is not the meaning of this
scripture. They will reason that God unlocked the meaning of
the words to Jehovah's Witnesses and that they are the
only true religion - God's sole channel of communication (See
The Watchtower Magazine, July 15, 1960, p439;
The Watchtower Magazine, October 1, 1967,
p587; The Watchtower Magazine, April 1, 1972, p197)
I struggled my entire life with the concept of there being only
one true religion. I was held hostage to my religion
until I gained spiritual freedom by simply praying and reading the
Bible. Spiritual Hostages is a
website intended to assist struggling Jehovah's Witnesses, and for
that matter anyone in any religion who feels held hostage or thinks
that their religion's doctrines don't add up.
Does the Bible say there is only one true religion?
No, but Jehovah's Witnesses have been taught that there is only
one true
religion, citing Ephesians 4:5, 6 (NWT) "one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God
and Father of all [persons], who is over
all and through all and in all."
However, looking at the definition of "faith" in the Bible at
Hebrews 11:1 it tells us that "faith" is not an organized
religion.
Read more.
Where in the Bible does it say salvation is through one organized religion?
Salvation is contingent on us believeing in and having faith
that Jesus is our Savior. It is not owing to works (Ephesians
2:8, 9). Also see, 2 Timothy 3:15, Romans 6:23, Acts 16:30,
John 6:28, 29, John 5:24. Nowhere in the Bible does it say
the way to salvation is through an organized religion, their rules
and the works they prescribe. Read
more.
I was a Spiritual Hostage
I am not a Bible scholar and I have no formal training. I
simply have the knowledge from being born and raised in a strict
Jehovah's Witness home and studies of the scriptures, both as a
Jehovah's Witness and now as a born-again Christian.
The New World Translation (NWT) from the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society is quoted in most cases. If you are a struggling Jehovah's Witness,
you can use your own Bible to find the truth to set you
free. If you have a loved one who is a Jehovah's
Witness, and need to be knowledgeable on how to ask them questions
and/or respond to them, using their bible is best. After all,
they will tell you their
bible is the most accurate.
If you have a specific questions, please contact
us.
