Rational Compassionate Living

An implied assumption of the Watchtower’s ban on blood transfusions is that Law takes precedence over Love.

Let’s take the example of a mother whose eight year-old daughter has been hit by a car and is suffering internal bleeding. The massive loss of blood needs to be immediately replaced by a whole-blood transfusion. The love of the mother for her daughter will not hesitate in demanding that everything be done that can be done to save her life.

But wait! This mother is a Jehovah’s Witness. Watchtower law demands that the whole-blood transfusion be rejected, even if her daughter will almost certainly bleed to death in consequence.

What to do? In emergency situations there is no time to stop and ponder one’s philosophy of life. This is why it is critical to understand — right here and now –whether Law trumps Love or Love trumps Law. The Watchtower claims the former: the rest of the planet opts for the latter.

Since the Watchtower claims that all of its doctrines are based on the Bible, let’s turn there first to see if we can find an answer.

…they said to him: “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of committing adultery. In the Law Moses prescribed for us to stone such sort of women. What, really, do you say?” …he straightened up and said to them: “Let the one of YOU that is sinless be the first to throw a stone at her.”
—John 8:4-7 (NWT, 1984 ed.)

Unfortunately, the Watchtower removed this passage (as being spurious) from their 2013 revision of the NWT. Yet, we will show that this attitude of love and forgiveness over law still exists in the 2013 version. Consider the following verse:

But this is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. During the time his mother Mary was promised in marriage to Joseph, she was found to be pregnant by holy spirit before they were united. However, because her husband Joseph was righteous and did not want to make her a public spectacle, he intended to divorce her secretly. But after he had thought these things over, look! Jehovah’s angel appeared to him in a dream, saying: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take your wife Mary home, for what has been conceived in her is by holy spirit.
— Matthew 1:18-20 (NWT, 2013 ed.)

What’s interesting about the above passage is that it ascribes righteousness to Joseph for keeping Mary’s pregnancy secret prior to his knowing of its supernatural origin.

Why was this “righteous”? Well, what was expected of Joseph in this circumstance according to the Law? The Law clearly stated that men in Joseph’s position were to make the matter public, and if the betrothed was found to have lost her virginity she was to be stoned to death! “So you must remove what is bad from your midst.” (Deut. 22:13-21)

So, Joseph ignored the Law out of his love for Mary. The writer of Matthew calls this act “righteous,” and so do I. Joseph put love above law — biblical Law — and the Bible commends him for it!

If you were to ask a member of the Governing Body the question: “what are the commandments I must follow to gain eternal life?” You would likely find “abstain from blood” among the multitude of rules he’d recite.

But when Jesus was asked a similar question he only listed two commandments:

One of the scribes who had come up and heard them disputing, knowing that he had answered them in a fine way, asked him: “Which commandment is first of all?”

Jesus answered: “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and you must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.’ The second is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The scribe said to him: “Teacher, you spoke well, in line with truth, ‘He is One, and there is no other besides him’; and to love him with one’s whole heart, with one’s whole understanding, and with one’s whole strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is worth far more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

At this Jesus, discerning that he had answered intelligently, said to him: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
—Mark 12:28-31

Paul put it even more succinctly:

For the entire Law has been fulfilled in one commandment, namely: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”
— Galatians 5:14

Do not owe anything to anyone except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. 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 saying: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor; therefore, love is the law’s fulfillment.
—Romans 13:8-10

There you have it straight from the Bible. In contradistinction to the Watchtower’s rule book, the Bible has only one commandment that Christians must follow: the royal law of love.

Jesus disputed with the Scribes and Pharisees of his day over the issue of Love over Law. Were he alive today no doubt he’d continue this dispute with the modern-day equivalent of the Scribes and Pharisees: the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses:

“Go, then, and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came to call, not righteous people, but sinners.”

“But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”
— MT 9:13 (NWT); 12:7 (NASB)

Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor or family member. It does not withhold a life-saving medical procedure from them and then sit by self-righteously and watch them die. No; love nurtures and protects and goes out of its way to put the loved one ahead of one’s own selfish interests. Such love is “worth far more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices,” including sacrificing one’s children to the Watchtower’s erroneous blood ban.

 

Next: Sense over Nonsense.

First a bit of Nonsense for your amusement:

The blood in any person is in reality the person himself… The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood… Moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes – these often follow in the wake of blood transfusion.”
—Watchtower 1961 Sep 15 p.564

The Bible does not speak of a symbolic or spiritual heart in contradistinction to the fleshly or literal heart, just as it does not speak of a symbolic mind, and thus we do not want to make the mistake of viewing the literal heart as merely a fleshly pump as does orthodox physiology today… more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it. Love, hate, desire (good and bad), preference for one thing over another, ambition, fear—in effect, all that serves to motivate us in relationship to our affections and desires springs from the heart.”
—Watchtower 1971 March 1 p.133

And, if you believe the above is true, get ready for the contradiction “new light”:

The ancient Egyptians believed that the physical heart was the seat of intelligence and the emotions. They also thought that it had a will of its own. The Babylonians said that the heart housed the intellect as well as love. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that it was the seat of the senses and the domain of the soul. But as time passed and knowledge increased, these views were discarded. Finally the heart became known for what it is, a pump to circulate the blood throughout the body.
—The Watchtower, June 1, 1986, page 15

We have now gathered several such gems from the Watchtower over the course of these articles. In our journey towards resolution of the blood issue it might be good to summarize some of this medical wisdom handed down by the Watchtower over the years, and see just how right they have always been:

Witnesses are told that they must follow the dictates of the Watchtower unquestioningly because the Governing Body is the “faithful and discreet slave” appointed over them by their god Jehovah and his son Jesus. This is the real reason why Witnesses refuse transfusions. However, given the track record shown above, just how discreet has the Governing Body proven itself to be?

Being discreet means that you don’t just blurt out the first thing that pops into your head without verifying that it is true. This is especially so when people’s lives are at stake. Yet this is exactly what the Governing Body has done again and again and again, until it’s easy to see that they have been anything but discreet.

Since they have not been discreet it follows that they cannot be “the faithful and discreet slave” that they claim to be.

Since they are not “the faithful and discreet slave,” there is no reason for Jehovah’s Witnesses to refuse transfusions based on their say-so. This is especially true since what they say is nonsensical.

Back to the Nonsense

Although the current ban allows Witnesses to accept blood fractions, they have to obtain these from us “worldly” folks; they themselves are not allowed to donate blood — not even autologous blood (blood stored and reserved for the donor’s private use should the need arise.)

I sure hope they don’t inherit any of our “moral insanity and sexual perversions” or “the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal” from the blood we donate to them! Maybe the intrepid medical experts at Watchtower headquarters have developed a way to cut these objectionable things out during their fractionation of our blood. {sarcasm}

Also, keep in mind that the Watchtower blood ban applies to your pets as well: you can’t allow your vet to give your pet a transfusion, nor can you feed your pet anything with blood in it.

Part of the reason why the Watchtower changed its mind and started allowing blood fractions has to do with taking a lesson from nature:

That some protein fractions from the plasma do move naturally into the blood system of another individual (the fetus) may be another consideration when a Christian is deciding whether he will accept immune globulin, albumin, or similar injections of plasma fractions. One person may feel that he in good conscience can; another may conclude that he cannot. Each must resolve the matter personally before God.”
— Watchtower 1990 Jun 1 p.31

The above is basing the acceptability of blood fractions on the fact that such fractions are naturally transferred between a mother and fetus. However,  some red blood cells (and possibly other components)  can also pass through the placental barrier (at least at birth), so on this reasoning the Watchtower should permit transfusion of the “major components” of blood as well. But they don’t; their rules lack all consistency and sense.

And, if they’re going to take guidance from nature when it comes to blood transfer (as the above reasoning implies), then they need to contemplate the many Obligatory hematophagous critters that their god Jehovah created in such a way that they cannot survive without eating whole blood! If their god really didn’t want any animals drinking blood, why did he create such creatures as the leech, and bedbugs?

If you’re not allowed to feed your pet blood, then I hope you don’t have a pet vampire bat, or a lion (whom the Bible tells us will naturally lap up blood.)

Though storing their own blood for later use is prohibited for Witnesses by the Watchtower, they are allowed to use intraoperative blood salvage (aka “cell salvage”). This is where a patient’s own blood is salvaged during surgery and returned to them. Revealingly, according to Wikipedia, this process is also known as “autologous blood transfusion.”

The only difference between this permitted procedure and what the Watchtower distinguishes as the prohibited “autologous blood transfusion” is the length of time the blood is stored. The same can be said of dialysis: a permitted procedure in which the blood is stored for short periods of time when the dialysis machine pauses. Now, why in the name of all that’s holy, do you suppose their god would care about a time limit? If something is wrong it isn’t right for a few minutes or even a few seconds; it’s wrong from beginning to end.

The Watchtower’s rationale for prohibiting autologous blood transfusion is that “blood is supposed to be poured out onto the ground”; not stored for later use (based on the Mosaic Law, which they admit is not binding today.) Yet, what do they suppose is done with the blood we donate for their permitted fractions? It isn’t “poured out onto the ground”; it is stored for their later use.

The Watchtower’s stance on blood is so convoluted and nonsensical that most Witnesses don’t understand what is permitted and what is outlawed. For this reason the Watchtower has set up “Hospital Liaison Committees,” ostensibly to inform both the patients and their doctors of the Watchtower’s rules (while in reality fulfilling the more important function of pressuring Witnesses into conformity with those rules by obstructing any privacy in their decision-making and serving as visual reminders of their impending shunning should they disobey.)

And Now for Some Sense:

Have you ever been bitten by a mosquito? Most people have, including Jehovah’s Witnesses. That makes them blood donors, whether they like it or not. It’s a natural process that the Watchtower’s god Jehovah has created. Female mosquitoes require the blood of other creatures (such as you and me) in order to survive.

If this god had a thing about animals eating other animals’ blood, he certainly wouldn’t have created vampire bats and gone out of his way to make it easier for them to drink blood by putting anticoagulants in their saliva to inhibit their victim’s blood from clotting.

So, nature teaches us that its creator (if it had one) had no qualms about one animal drinking the blood of another. And as for Jehovah’s Witnesses, they:

• eat blood (in non-kosher meat)
• donate blood (to mosquitoes)
• accept fractionated blood transfusions
• accept whole blood transfusions (autologous within a time limit)

More than that, upon examination the Watchtower rules of today actually permit a Witness to transfuse whole blood (non-autologous and with no time limit)!

To prove the above startling assertion, please consider the following quotes from Watchtower publications:

Regarding the transplantation of human tissue or bone from one human to another, this is a matter for conscientious decision by each one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
(The Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 31)

As cardiovascular surgeon Denton Cooley notes: ‘A blood transfusion is an organ transplant.’
(Awake! Oct. 22, 1990, p. 9)

When doctors transplant a heart, a liver, or another organ, the recipient’s immune system may sense the foreign tissue and reject it. Yet, a transfusion is a tissue transplant.
(How Can Blood Save Your Life, 1990, p. 8; emphasis in original)

Now here’s the syllogism derived from the above Watchtower quotations:

• Organ transplants are permitted to Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Watchtower.
• “A blood transfusion is an organ transplant.”
• Therefore, blood transfusion are permitted to Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Watchtower.

No one within the organization seems to have connected the above dots yet, but now you have.

Some Facts About Transfusions

• More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the U.S. and Canada alone.
• 43,000 pints is the amount of donated blood used each day just in the U.S. and Canada.
• Someone needs blood every two seconds.
• About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood.
• Children being treated for cancer, premature infants, and children having heart surgery need blood and platelets from donors of all types, especially type O.
• Anemic patients need blood transfusions to increase their red blood cell levels.
• Cancer, transplant and trauma patients, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery may require platelet transfusions to survive.
• Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease that affects between 90,000 to 100,000 people in the United States, 98 percent of whom are of African descent. Many patients with severe sickle cell disease receive blood transfusions every month.
• A patient could be forced to pass up a lifesaving organ, if compatible blood is not available to support the transplant.
• Thirteen tests (11 for infectious diseases) are performed on each unit of donated blood.

The Watchtower has gone to great lengths to selectively quote-mine bad experiences with transfusions, and neglects to give its readers a balanced view. Millions of transfusions have been successfully performed, and countless lives have been saved as a result.

While it is true that a transfusion — just like every other medical procedure — has its risks, it’s also true that the risks are small, and nearly always smaller than the risks one runs without having a needed transfusion. Each individual must weigh the risks against the benefits of any medical procedure and decide for themselves (without the coercion of a “liaison committee” or collections of half-truths, slanted information, and cherry-picked anecdotes).

When I had major surgery many years ago I had to have several units of blood transfused into me. Thankfully I was no longer a Witness at the time, and didn’t hesitate for a moment to accept the blood. Otherwise I would’ve bled to death and wouldn’t be writing this. After the transfusions I did not become a murderer, thief, or sexual pervert [Honest! Just ask my wife.] Since then I have tried to return the favor by donating whole blood and platelets many times.

Yes, there are now alternatives to transfusions in some cases, and in some instances bloodless surgeries are available. That’s great. But there are still many instances every day where whole blood is the only available or sensible choice. Someday transfusions may no longer be needed, but that will never excuse the deaths the Watchtower’s baseless bans have caused and continue to cause.

So, please:

Think, and live.

Think, and be free!

 

Next up, our final chapter: Taking Responsibility.

At the time of this writing, an estimated 34,104 Witnesses have needlessly died due to the Watchtower’s blood policies since 1961.

Who is responsible for those deaths?

Certainly the Governing Body takes no responsibility. Looking back, there never was an apology or even a admission of wrong on their part when their former rules cost the lives of followers who were denied vaccinations, organ transplants, and fractionated blood transfusions — even after they realized the rules they’d laid down were bogus.

Nevertheless, we place the bulk of the blame squarely on their shoulders. When you have duped the gullible into believing that you know “God’s Laws” and you tell them that life-saving medical procedures are against those laws, and that they will be shunned and suffer eternal death for breaking those laws, then you bear responsibility for their deaths.

Of course individual Witnesses must also share some blame for not checking the facts for themselves. But we need to cut them some slack; it is not easy to fact-check when one is being unduly influenced by a cult.

Then what can we say of Jehovah’s Witness parents who blindly follow when the Watchtower says, in effect: “Let your children die rather than disobey our rules, no matter how wrong our rules may appear to you and no matter if they seem to lack common-sense”?

Only the undue influence of a cult is strong enough to come between the powerful love of a parent and a child. The fact that Witness parents allow their children to die for want of a transfusion is, in fact, the surest proof that they are the victims of cult indoctrination.

Some Witnesses feel that they are safe and secure as long as they follow whatever the organization tells them. They think that when they “meet their maker” they can say, “I just followed whatever your organization told me was right and avoided what it said was wrong.” Then, if it turns out the organization made mistakes about right and wrong, it won’t be their fault.

Here’s an example from a Witness who corresponded with me some years ago:

I therefore work to keep myself from freaking out on what doesn’t work at my own workplace and in my own cong. I go to work, its never perfect, but my GOAL in working? – – is to get a paycheck – – not run the damn thing.

Similarly I attend Christian meeting where my “goal” is life everlasting (truth FROM the bible), not to run the damn thing but to get a paycheck… and let Jehovah worry about everyone else, the Org, whatever.

When we overstep our realm of god given authority with actions, we commit actions against gods arrangements… Since individual Christians therefore are free to submit their thinking to the WTS. The WTS are the ones commissioned to make it happen or not make it happen (assuming they are the chosen channel for that sort of thing etc.) Our standing before god as free agents has been fulfilled, we have done our part. If we really believe that god runs things, we really believe that we are not responsible to freak out in actions against the revealed channels.

But there’s nothing in the Bible that suggests that we can shirk our responsibility in this way. Nowhere does it say that individuals are absolved of all responsibility for their actions as long as their actions are in accord with some autocratic organization — even one that claims to be directed by a god.

No, we are each responsible for our own actions. We cannot say “I was just following orders.” Even human tribunals (such as the courts of justice at the Nuremberg Trials) do not fall for such an excuse. It is our individual duty as human beings to decide right and wrong for ourselves, guided by our reason and our inherent empathy. As Jesus reputedly said:

Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?
Luke 12:57

If you are a Jehovah’s Witness parent, know that God (or nature) has made you responsible for the protection of your child. You cannot look your child in the eye and say, “I have to let you die because someone told me so; don’t blame me!” The responsibility is yours to make certain that the actions you take are truly in the best interests of your child’s welfare. After reading through this 8-part series of articles I don’t see how any rational person could help but see that what the Watchtower demands of parents in this regard is ungrounded, fallacious, counterfactual, and morally reprehensible. (And I’m putting it mildly.)

As we’ve seen, the Watchtower’s blood policies are not biblical, loving, or sensible. Therefore the Governing Body are unnecessarily putting the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses in danger.

According to the Bible, when we deliberately put someone’s life unnecessarily in danger, we could become bloodguilty.
(Awake!, June 22, 1985, p. 27)

Following the Watchtower’s own rule, as stated above, the Watchtower organization is bloodguilty.

What does the Watchtower tell us we must do if we find that we are a member of a bloodguilty organization?

The Scriptures show that if we are part of any organization that is bloodguilty before God, we must sever our ties with it if we do not want to share in its sins. (Rev. 18;4, 24: Mic. 4:3)
Such action deserves urgent attention.
(United in Worship of the Only True God, p. 155 – WBTS 1983)

The rest is up to you.

As shown in the quotes above, in the February, 2017 Watchtower article, “Who Is Leading God’s People Today?” the Governing Body admits to being error-prone and providing the wrong direction. Still, they claim to be the sole representatives of Jesus on earth, as his “faithful and discreet slave” to whom we owe our unquestioning obedience and total submission!

Since they cannot prove this by pointing proudly to their record of mistakes and fatally flawed direction, how do they attempt to prove their case?

Well, in that same article, under the sub-heading “WHO REALLY IS THE FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE?” they present three proofs of their claim:

1. Holy spirit helps the Governing Body.

The holy spirit has helped the Governing Body to grasp Scriptural truths not previously understood. For example, reflect on the list of beliefs clarified that was referred to in the preceding paragraph [“In fact, the Watch Tower Publications Index includes the heading “Beliefs Clarified,” which lists adjustments in our Scriptural understanding since 1870.”]. Surely, no human deserves credit for discovering and explaining these “deep things of God”! (Read 1 Corinthians 2:10.) The Governing Body echoes the apostle Paul, who wrote: “These things we also speak, not with words taught by human wisdom, but with those taught by the spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:13) After centuries of apostasy and spiritual darkness, can anything other than holy spirit explain  the rapid increase in spiritual understanding since 1919?

(parg. 13, Study Edition)

Anybody can lay claim to being helped by an immaterial spirit. But how does one prove such an incredible claim? The Governing Body presents as their evidence a long list of errors that they have made! I, for one, find this evidence not only underwhelming, but actually tending to support an opposite conclusion.

The “Bible understanding” since 1919 has been a long series of fumbling blunders, waffling back and forth, and outright contradictions. Since 1919 there have been prophecies proclaimed by the Governing Body as “certainties” which were utter failures (such as the resurrection scheduled for the year 1925.) There have also been fatally wrong doctrines banning vaccinations, organ-transplants, and other medical procedures, which were claimed to have been “against God’s law.” These have since been retracted, so they could not have been “deep things of God” “taught by the [holy] spirit,” unless the holy spirit purposely misleads its followers to their deaths.

2. Angels help the Governing Body.

The Governing Body has the huge responsibility of directing over eight million publishers in the worldwide preaching work. Why has that work been so successful? One reason is the support of the angels. (Read Revelation 14:6, 7.) In many cases, the angels have directed publishers to a person who had just prayed to God for help! The preaching and teaching work continues to grow even where there is intense opposition. This also is only possible with help from the angels.
(parg. 14)

This is another claim of immaterial spirit help, and likewise requires some strong, clear evidence to back it up. The Governing Body cites the “success” of their preaching work, and claims that the only possible explanation is that angels are behind that success: sending “publishers” to people who have prayed, and supplying growth despite opposition.

But there are certainly other possible explanations.

There are other religions that engage in successful “preaching work.” Islam — not the Jehovah’s Witnesses — is the fastest growing religion. And even if you’re a Mormon, knock on enough doors and you’ll surely come upon a householder who has just finished praying. Yet the Governing Body would staunchly deny that Islam or Mormons were helped in any way by angels. So their evidence does not support their claim.

 

3. God’s Word guides the Governing Body.

Consider what happened in 1973. The June 1 issue of The Watchtower asked whether “persons who have not broken their addiction to tobacco qualify for baptism.” The answer it gave to that question was based on Bible principles, and it was no! The Watchtower cited several scriptures and explained why a person who will not stop smoking should be disfellowshipped. (1 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians 7:1) It said that this strict standard does not come from humans but comes “from God, who expresses himself through his written Word.” No other religious organization has been willing to rely so completely on God’s Word even when doing so may be very difficult for some of its members. A recent book on religion in the United States says: “Christian leaders have regularly revised their teachings to match the beliefs and opinions gaining support among their members and in the larger society.” The Governing Body, however, is not guided by what most people like. Instead, its members are guided by God’s Word, which proves that Jehovah is the one who is really guiding his people today.
(parg. 15)

The final bit of evidence presented by the Governing Body is that, based on their own interpretation of the Bible, they enforce beliefs and policies that may be difficult for their followers to swallow or comply with.

So, instead of joining humankind’s moral progress, the Governing Body stubbornly clings to the primitive morality of ancient barbaric peoples who had laws demanding that parents stone sassy children to death, and requiring the execution of non-virginal brides.

A good case in point is their trying to apply the Mosaic Law to modern-day situations, and ending up with a rule that disfellowships rape victims for “fornication” if they fail to scream!

The “two-witness rule” is another gem of an example. This keeps them from reporting child abuse, and permits known pedophiles to lurk within their congregations and prey upon children unbeknownst to their parents!

The best known example is that of their misinterpretation of the Bible which leads them to refuse needed blood transfusions for themselves and their children.

But let’s consider the example given in the article: refusing to baptize smokers, and disfellowshipping already-baptized smokers.

Nowhere in the Bible is smoking mentioned. Smoking was not  a custom amongst the people and places mentioned in Bible times. Lacking any sort of rule against the practice, the Governing Body has tried to apply a “biblical principle” from Paul’s writing, to: “cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit.”

In refusing to baptize or threatening to disfellowship smokers, the Governing Body has “gone beyond the things that are written.” (1 Cor. 4:6)  There is no biblical precedent for disqualifying a baptismal candidate on the basis of their personal habits. Can you picture John grilling Jesus with scores of questions (as Jehovah’s Witnesses do today) prior to agreeing to baptize him? No, but just like the Pharisees of old, who pissed off Jesus so badly, they have added their own made-up rules over and above the laws of the Bible. By doing so they have actually gone contrary to the Bible.

In the Bible Jesus is reported as saying: “Nothing from outside a man that enters into him can defile him” (Mk 7:15) According to that, tobacco smoke cannot defile one. So the Governing Body’s ‘biblical principle’ cannot apply.

Paul also explicitly wrote: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (1 Cor. 10:23 KJV) If ‘all things are lawful,’ then smoking is lawful, and the Governing Body has no right to refuse to baptize or threaten to disfellowship a smoker, especially when they believe that such actions impact their everlasting life.

Finally, in direct opposition to the Governing Body’s characterization of biblical beliefs and rules as being “very difficult” for their followers, Jesus reportedly said:

“Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for yourselves. For my yoke is kindly, and my load is light.” (Mt 11:28-30)

Why is true Christianity so “light and refreshing”? The Bible tells us there is really only one law for Christians to follow: the law of love:

“Do not owe anything to anyone except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. 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 saying: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor; therefore, love is the law’s fulfillment.” (Romans 13:8-10)

So, far from providing proof that the Governing Body is “being led by Jehovah,” their example of law-enforcement of made-up rules actually proves that they fail to follow the spirit of the Bible, and so are not recipients of any divine guidance.

We’ve now considered the Governing Body’s case, put forth to prove their claim of being the “faithful and discreet slave.” Once again  they have utterly failed to establish their claim, and failed to earn our obedient submission.

Now for the counter-argument. To examine the case against the “faithful and discreet slave,” please see:

Is the Governing Body a “Faithful and Discreet Slave”?
Who’s a Faithful and Discreet Slave, Then?