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One of the greatest activists of the last century ,Mahatma Gandhi described best the stages of a winning strategy of nonviolent activism against oppressive regimes :”First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
It would seem that the Watchtower Society is currently experiencing the effects of such nonviolent activism in the form of “apostate” websites such as this one that they can’t control .Instead of engaging in a dialogue with their alienated base they continue their continuous “witch hunting” with their latest Study article July 15th, 2014 “Jehovah Knows Those Who Belong to Him”.
Starting from paragraph 4 ,they set the tone for the rest of the article describing as “hypocritical worshipers” all those who disobey their self-imposed authority .(Please substitute the name “Jehovah” with “Governing Body” )
At first glance ,this quotation makes no sense .Who were these apostates in the first century ? and how were they inflicting spiritual harm to others ? The answer becomes obvious when you actually read these verses from the Bible and see what part of these verses they conveniently left out.Let’s read from the New World Translation:
There is no use of the word apostates here .In fact the word “ἀποστασίαν=apostasy” appears only twice in the Bible (Acts 21:21,2 Thess. 2:3) .First the Pharisees used it to describe Paul and later is used in the Bible to describe a future event relating with the deviation that would occur after the death of the apostles within the Christian congregation.The word was never used to describe active members of the first century congregation .
How about the actual teaching “these ones” were using to subvert the faith of some ? They were saying that the resurrection had already taken place .The literal resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very foundation of the Christian faith .Paul explains :” Now if it is being preached that Christ has been raised from the dead,how is it that some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If, indeed, there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised up. But if Christ has not been raised up, our preaching is certainly in vain, and your faith is also in vain.”(1 Corinthians 15:12-14) Apparently some in the first Christian congregation were saying that the resurrection had already taken place in a metaphorical way .
There is nothing in these verses to indicate that Paul was referring to apostates that questioned his apostolic appointment. Never.Never the less the Watchtower feels justified to alter the meaning of the text to fit its own agenda.