Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! We’ve been going lately through the Watchtower booklet of “Should You Believe In The Trinity?” The next section is about Athanasius whom we’ve already discussed. I prefer to move on ahead past that then to the section on Apostasy Foretold.
Apostasy is an important part of the Watchtower system, as it is part of the Mormon system. The Mormons talk about the great apostasy and they would see the Watchtower as part of that. The Watchtower talks about an apostasy and would see the Mormons as part of that. Christians can believe there are apostates and would see both groups as part of that, in that they are falling away from the true teaching.
For the Watchtower, this hinges on prophecy. Followers of the Watchtower should know that they don’t have a good track record on prophecy. How many times has Armageddon been predicted now and been wrong? What exactly is going on with the 1914 generation? Those of us who are regularly countering cults like the Watchtower are wondering what is going to be done when those in charge of the organization pass away and there is no one left in the generation to take over.
Of course, the Watchtower assumes a futurist stance. If someone does not hold to this stance, then they will handle what the Watchtower says differently. However, let us suppose one does not. Again, there is no need to take what the Watchtower says seriously. As we have seen, the evidence is not on the side of the Watchtower, particularly when we looked at the church fathers.
The question to ask the Watchtower is to ask them how they know they’re not the apostasy. Then, once can present the material that has been presented earlier in this blog to them. If they really want to be on guard against an apostasy, is it not reasonable for them to check and make sure that they are not the ones who are being apostates?
In reality, I believe that the draw is powerful for Witnesses in this area. It would be very exciting to believe that you are part of a group fulfilling prophecy and you alone have the truth no one else has because your organization is in connection with the Almighty. While prophecy is not our focus here, there are enough sources of information, online and offline, about the history the Watchtower has with prophecy and the Witness should be confronted with these.
Also, while what the Witnesses say could be consistent with what Christ teaches, that does not mean that is what Christ had in mind. I do not wish to go into eschatology, but both the preterist and futurist camps can answer this. One might want however to engage the Witnesses on eschatology and particularly when it comes to personal eschatology and get into the question of what they must do to be saved.
However, the Watchtower is sure they know where the teaching of the Trinity came from if not from the church, which is a good question. If it was so contrary and outside of Scripture, then where did it arise and why was it Arius that caused a stir and not Athanasius?
Hopefully we can start that tomorrow.
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
