“It is the only religion which doesn’t go to war. We have friends in every country on Earth and we all think alike---We have the true understanding of the Bible. We are the true religion which God approves………..” Says the JW.
To put JWs in the context of the question of true religion, we first have to get an insight into how a JW thinks and these points above are the selected criteria chosen by JWs to judge themselves. This very fact of cherry picking anything which puts JW belief into a good light is a characteristic of JW thinking i.e. the desire to highlight their separateness from others and to create an aura of being special. This is done to promote the ‘JW brand’.
But how about the concept of a “true religion”? What would that mean?
In common language, do most people think of religion in categories of true and false? Not really if ever—except by Jehovah’s Witnesses and perhaps a few other minor groups.
So why do JWs want to use the expression “True religion”? Is it not because they want to attract new members with the lure that they are the exclusive holders of this title?
So let’s look at the JW defence for their belief that they don’t take up arms for war. This of course is not exclusive to them. Many conscientious objectors have been executed during war time for their pacifism and around 4 million members of the Jain religion will not kill humans or animals for that matter. It might be said that a vast number of people today are no longer prepared to go to war to resolve problems.
“JWs think alike”—yes this is quite true but wait a moment! It is a vital element of being a JW to have uniform belief and therefore like-minded thinking is actually enforced. Should any witness wish to contradict the governing body or deviate from orthodox teaching, they will feel constrained from doing so by being shamed, excluded and shunned. So this claim is true but only remains true by virtue of threats and punishment.
“JWs have the true understanding of the Bible”. Ever since someone claimed something to be “God’s word” there has been disagreement as to what was meant. Since the Bible is the result of a deliberate fusion of religious belief drawn from Judaism, God-men savior cults and Mithraism amongst others, it is hardly surprising that it contains a myriad contradictions, false assumptions, scientific impossibilities and fake claims as to spiritual demands. It is categorically impossible to form a coherent narrative and account of the works and wishes of an invisible spirit being. The Bible is undeniably human in origin and focus. If religion or Christianity were true it could be expected that there would be an orthodoxy of teaching. But all the forty thousand sects of Christianity claiming that their way is the only true faith demonstrates the evolution of unprovable belief proliferating in the absence of concrete evidence and divine supervision. No-- the way it works is you pays your money and you takes your choice! There is no such animal as true religion. No one religion stands out, they are all institutions of hope, companionship and trust in the unknowable, they are a consolation for the anxious.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses have the only true religion” Well if that was the case, then surely they would stand out head and shoulders above the others like a beacon of hope for mankind showing the world that their way has shown divine influence which has enabled them to surmount the trials of being human by their exemplary behavior. However the fact of the matter is that like other utopian dreamers, JWs imagine their behavior is outstanding but in reality the religion often attracts the desperate, sometimes the mentally challenged and those without hope for material comfort in life. They bring with them the trappings of the underprivileged namely the gullibility of the uneducated which includes a dependence on the irrational triumph of belief over evidence. The Governing body foster this ignorant culture which favours their leadership enabling them to keep their followers in lock-step and in strict adherence to their demands. For the time being, this is the source of their power to exist and continue.
There cannot be such a thing as true religion anymore than there is an objective real life category called false religion --except in the minds of cult members. These are terms only used by cult leaders.
“JWs were chosen by God!” There is not one singular piece of evidence to show that there is divine insight or approval exclusively on Jehovah’s Witnessess which cannot be addressed to other sects. If they were truly under divine influence and representatives of an almighty and therefore an inerrant God, then why in one hundred and forty years have JWs never got anything right?
The concept of “True religion” is just the propaganda slogan of a mind-bending high-control religious cult which is living past its sell by date --which happens to have been “The Generation which saw the year 1914”.