Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

"Maybe you feel that the origins of holidays have little to do with how they are celebrated today. Do origins really matter? Yes! To illustrate: Suppose you saw a piece of candy lying in the gutter. Would you pick up that candy and eat it? Of course not! That candy is unclean. Like that candy, holidays may seem sweet, but they have been picked up from unclean places. To take a stand for true worship, we need to have a viewpoint like that of the prophet Isiah, who told true worshipers: "Touch nothing unclean!" - Isiah 52:11."

"Jesus himself set the example by being baptized in water. He was not sprinkled with water, and he did not just have some water poured over his head. (Matthew 3:16) The word "baptize" comes from a Greek term meaning "dip under water". Christian baptism therefore means being fully dipped, or immersed, in water."

"In replacing God's name with titles, Bible translators make a serious mistake. They make God seem remote and impersonal, whereas the Bible urges humans to cultivate "close friendship with Jehovah". (Psalm 25:14)"

"Clearly, the name Jehovah belongs in the Bible. Knowing its meaning and using it freely in our worship are powerful aids in drawing closer to our heavenly Father Jehovah."

"When the experts accuse Jehovah’s Witnesses for their teachings, they do not realize that they are actually making accusations against the Bible."

"They would choose to die rather than kill someone. Consequently, I am sure if only Jehovah’s Witnesses lived on the earth then wars would not break out anywhere."

"They do not abuse alcohol, they do not smoke, they are not money hungry, they do not break their promises, nor give false witness . . . It is not a mysterious sect, but law-abiding citizens. [They] are respectable, happy people, interested in history, literature, art, and life in all its aspects. To alter Voltaire’s words, we could say that if Jehovah’s Witnesses did not exist, we would do well to invent them."

"Jehovah’s Witnesses inculcate in their children high moral principles. They teach their children to avoid behavior, actions and even attitudes that, [while] considered in today’s world as normal, can be harmful to the children themselves and others. Therefore they warn their children about the dangers of using drugs, smoking and the abuse of alcohol. They recognize the importance of honesty and hard work. . . . Jehovah’s Witnesses teach their children moral qualities, to respect the authorities, other individuals and their property and to be law abiding citizens."

"When they read in the Bible, they believe God is talking to them. Whenever problems appear in their lives, they take God’s Word and search in it for a solution. . . . For them, God’s Word is still alive."

"I often say that the best prevention for AIDS is for one to become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, for the members of that religion are neither homosexuals nor bisexuals, they are loyal to their marriage—they associate it with reproduction—don’t use drugs and, to complete the picture, they don’t accept blood transfusions."

"The conventions and arrangements they have are almost perfect in their form and order. Nothing is left to chance. The success of sports teams and youth-group projects is often dependent on the willingness of each member to lend a hand. These should take note of the way Jehovah’s Witnesses organize their projects. Much can be learned by observing the willing spirit they display. It is almost unbelievable."

"No Jehovah’s Witness will ever go to war. . . . If everyone in the world in position of power had been of this faith, [World War II] would never have happened."

"It ought to be said that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the first to live the faith they preach: They don’t get angry, they don’t smoke, they don’t accumulate riches, they keep out of political discussions, . . . they pay the taxes, they follow a virtuous and honest life-style, they are happy and obliging. All of this has made them well liked."

"Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted for who they were. The Witnesses were persecuted wholly for their religious beliefs and because they did not believe in racism, in swearing allegiance to an evil, worldly dictator. And they didn’t believe in fighting his war. . . . Jews struggled to maintain their values and their faith against tremendous opposition. The museum celebrates such spiritual resistance. For that reason, this institution also acknowledges and admires the faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses during the Nazi era."

"Big mother is alive and well and living in Brooklyn, New York! Her "children" live with the constant reminder of that fact. While the Christian is taught to have faith in Jesus Christ, Jehovah's Witnesses are told to put faith in an organization. An individual Witness has no direct personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Their hope of eternal life depends not upon Jesus alone but upon a chain of salvation in which the organization is an essential link."

"A Witness who dies either naturally or at the battle of Armageddon without reconciliation with the organization goes immediately into eternal death, along with all mankind who do not come to God's true spirit-directed organization."

"Truth, as understood by Jehovah's Witnesses, changes continually as "new light shines forth." They are conditioned to expect and accept change as a normal consequence of advancing or progressive truth. Witnesses accept this phenomenon even thought the change may reverse a belief long held dear and may be very costly to the individual Witness. As with the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's society, the Watch Tower organization sanitizes its history and eliminates anything that discredits it. These adjustments by the "faithful slave" organization are made continually and are passed off as increasing "light" or a refinement of understanding."

"When a person is disfellowshipped from the organization, he is treated like a leper. He must be totally shunned by Witnesses. He cannot even be greeted on the street. Should a Witness decide to ignore this rule and associate withe the disfellowshipped friend or relative, he in turn will be disfellowshipped."

"Jesus never taught that God's kingdom was a government composed of Himself and 144,000 co-rulers from the earth. He never taught a two-stage coming with a protracted invisible presence culminating in a destructive cataclysm. He never taught that His heavenly bride of associates would engage in a cleansing and perfecting of manking. He did not teach that there would be two classes of believers- heavenly and earthly. He certainly never taught that God's kingdom rule would not have His personal visible oversight here on the planet but instead would be ruled by Witness elders or "princes" during the millennial reign. And He most certainly did not suggest that people would be separated into two classes of sheep and goats based on a parabolic faithful and discreet slave's spiritual food as offered and served by door-to-door consumer/publishers."

"A person who is initially exploring the Witnesses will not immediately learn what is really believed about Jesus. The use of familiar Christian terminology might lead some to believe that the Witnesses' Jesus is the same as the traditional Jesus. But that is not the case. The Jesus of the Watch Tower is actually Michael the archangel!"

"... to Jehovah's Witnesses, there is a strange preoccupation with anything remotely related to demons. Persons who oppose the Watch Tower are referred to as "demonized". Should a Witness develop a nervous condition, the demons are immediately suspect. Demons continually come up in normal conversation among Witnesses. Their literature and discourses also make reference to demons on a continual basis. In the Watch Tower Publications Index, published in 1986, there are approximately 5000 references to the occult."

"The New American Standard Bible renders the verse "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This verse is one of the strong statements in the Bible concerning the deity of Jesus Christ, and all legitimate, recognized translations have a similar rendering. However, the Watch Tower renders the last phrase "and the Word was a god." In other words, he is a lesser god - one of many. This effectively denigrates Christ's deity."

"The really important question is: Do Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood on scriptural grounds or because the Watch Tower organization tells them to? We believe that if the organization published a different interpretation of the Bible verses which they use in support of their stand on blood, Jehovah's Witnesses would agree to take blood transfusions without any hesitation. Why do we say this? Because as soon as the Watch Tower leadership reversed its teaching on vaccination, organ transplants, and blood serums and fractions, thousands of Witnesses abandoned their conscientious refusal. They were really following the changeable Watch Tower organization's instructions rather than the Scriptures, which never change."

"If blood is essentially an organ transplant, and organ transplants are now permissible for Jehovah's Witnesses, does it follow that perhaps the Governing Body will eventually change their rules on blood transfusion? Unfortunately, we feel they will not. They have dug themselves into a deep hole with this teaching. The Watch Tower leadership will never directly say that taking blood is up to the individual's conscience, because of the serious reaction they would receive from members who have let a loved one die. Parents would realize that their children had died needlessly and might be tempted to storm the doors of Watchtower headquarters."

"In many ways the Witnesses have become ossified. For many decades now they have pursued the same missionary techniques with little adjustment for either societal or technological changes. More and more they have become hostile to new intellectual developments, the intellectual world, and to independent-minded intellectuals in their own ranks. And more significantly, their leadership has become a self-perpetuating caste which refuses to open itself to new and constructive criticism of any sort."

"At first congregational judicial committees acted largely against persons who disagreed openly with the society's teachings and policies. Such were those who "created divisions" or "promoted sects" as described by Romans 16:17, 18 and Titus 3:10, 11. However, this focus changed from 1952 forward for many years. What the society became primarily concerned with from that date until the late 1970s was "keeping the organization clean." Consequently, through congregational committees, it began to disfellowship fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, and persons guilty of other immoral practices. As time went by, it broadened the number of offences for which one could be cast out of the Witness community. For example, associating with a disfellowshipped person was, for a dedicated Jehovah's Witness, declared a ground for disfellowshipment as was the taking of a blood transfusion after 1961. Disfellowshipment became a terrible weapon. Witnesses in good standing were not to speak to disfellowshipped persons or even to greet them. In business dealings, they were to relate to them as little as possible. When they died, they were not to attend their funerals. To all intents and purposes they were regarded as eternally damned."

"There is nothing in the English-speaking world to compare with the system presented in the books for error. The great heretical leaders of the early centuries were not more daring, more blasphemous or more destructive than is the author of these books. They contradict almost every fundamental of evangelical faith by a bold denial of the proper deity, incarnation, resurrection, ascension and high priestly intercession of Jesus Christ."