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What are traditions?
This article is based on two articles in the Watchtower Dec 1, 1995 : Must Tradition Conflict With Truth? and When Tradition Conflicts With Truth. The Watchtower defines traditions as "information, doctrines, or practices that have been handed down from parents to children or that have become the established way of thinking or acting." The Society also admonishes that one should not blindly follow tradition and that "even if we feel that our traditional religious beliefs are based on the Bible, all of us should take the time to examine them carefully."
The Watchtower commends the
Bereans who "were noble-minded in carefully examining the
Scriptures as to whether these things were so." They warn
that many of today's traditional beliefs are "at variance
with the very writings of the apostles" and can be "empty
deception" by being merely traditions of men. On page 5 of
the Dec. 1, 1995 Watchtower the Society connects teachings
that have no foundation in the Bible as being demon-inspired
ideas. With all this in mind we would like to follow the
Society's recommendation and check out the Watchtower's
traditions to see if they are based on the Bible or if they
themselves are teaching demon-inspired ideas.
Watchtower traditions
If you are a Jehovah's Witness we challenge you to check out the Bible and show us what scripture verifies the Watchtower's current teaching that God will become your heavenly Grandfather during the Millennium. Can you give Biblical reference that documents the Watchtower's tradition that says Jesus was not born the Christ but instead became the Christ at his baptism? Can you give the chapter and verse in the Bible that confirms the Society's tradition that the door to heaven was closed in 1935? What scripture would you use to justify the Society's tradition that certain blood components are allowed to be transfused into a patient, yet whole blood is not?
Can you support Biblically the Watchtower's tradition that all non-Jehovah's Witnesses will be destroyed at Armageddon? Can you Biblically document the Society's tradition that a Jehovah's Witness who dies before Armageddon will definitely be resurrected into the new earth, but if the same Jehovah's Witness were to be alive when Armageddon starts, they may not be considered worthy by Jehovah God to survive Armageddon and be allowed into the new earth?
Has Watchtower tradition brought harm?
The harm that this last tradition holds to Jehovah's Witnesses and to their children has become evident in the last few years by media reports of Jehovah's Witness children committing suicide to ensure they will enter into paradise. A few years ago a report was highlighted concerning the deaths of two young boys in Wisconsin. The mother writes quote "Anyone, even a couple of young, healthy children that can reason and think, realizes that this Armageddon only kills those people that happen to be alive at a certain time period. Everyone else who sinned and did wrong things escapes if they die before Armageddon comes, and come back to life in a paradise earth according to the Jehovah's Witnesses...It doesn't take much imagination on how to be safe!" End of quote.
The boys believed the
Watchtower's tradition that Armageddon only kills those
people that happen to be alive when it starts. Since they
didn't believe that they were worthy enough to survive
Armageddon and since they believed the Society's teaching
that Armageddon would come very soon, they followed the only
thing they knew that would guarantee their
entrance into the new world - their own deaths! Certainly
the Watchtower's tradition is a very deadly tradition!
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