The scriptural requirements to be a good Christian are refreshingly few and simple, perhaps encapsulated by these few scriptures (NWT):
Matthew 7:12 “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them; this, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean.
1 John 3:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.”
Acts 15:28 “For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, 29 to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!”
Romans 10:9 “For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your own mouth,’ that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 13:8 “Do not you people be owing anybody a single thing, except to love one another; for he that loves his fellowman has fulfilled [the] law. 9 For the [law code], “You must not commit adultery, You must not murder, You must not steal, You must not covet,” and whatever other commandment there is, is summed up in this word, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor; therefore love is the law’s fulfillment.”
1 Cor 6:9 “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, 10 nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom.”
1 Cor 15:3 “For I handed on to you, among the first things, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 4 and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures; 5 and that he appeared to Ce´phas, then to the twelve. 6 After that he appeared to upward of five hundred brothers at one time,…”
James 1:27 “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.”
1 John 5:1 “Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God, and everyone who loves the one that caused to be born loves him who has been born from that one. 2 By this we gain the knowledge that we are loving the children of God, when we are loving God and doing his commandments. 3 For this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments..”
There are no convoluted creeds, chronologies, forced and fanciful prophetic speculations and strained interpretations, no harsh, legalistic, nit-picking policies, rules and regulations. There is no emphasis on slavish works, organisations, centralised control structures, heirarchies. There is just a very simple template of belief in Jesus Christ and his resurrection and obedience to Christ's commands for living a good, clean, moral life revolving around faith and love for others.
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NOW, Compare that simple framework with the Watchtower Society’s authoritarian, legalistic, prescriptive approach:
"Q: Why have Jehovah's Witnesses disfellowshipped for apostasy some who still profess belief in God, the Bible and Jesus Christ? A:
Approved association with Jehovah's Witnesses requires accepting the entire range of the true teachings of the Bible, including those scriptural beliefs that are unique to Jehovah's Witnesses. What do such beliefs include? ...That 1914 marked the end of the Gentile Times and the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the heavens, as well as the time for Christ's foretold presence." (Watchtower, Question From Readers, April 1, 1986 pp 30-31)Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
Yes, The Watchtower Society has gone far beyond the simple, scriptural template/framework for what a Christian must necessarily believe in and practice to have God’s favour and to enjoy the right to wholesome association with fellow Christians
The Watchtower Society needs to drastically rationalise (reduce) the body of doctrine that it dogmatically insists all JW's must profess and accept; they need to bring their thinking back in line with the simple pattern of primitive Christianity and eliminate everything that is not absolutely clearly expressed in scripture. Until they do that, they are going beyond the "good news" the apostles & Paul established (Gal 1:8 & 9). They are presently burdening JW's with a whole range of debateable creeds and traditions that go far beyond the "necessary things" that Jesus and the apostles and the holy spirit regarded as necessary for Christians to adhere to. Until they get back to original Christianity they can find no favour with Jesus Christ.