Chapter 1: The Concept–Reviewed & Revised (4/9/10)

Don Cameron in his book, Captives of a concept, in chapter 1 page 11 goes on to compare Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to David Koresh and his followers and Jim Jones and his followers. I believe Cameron does this purposefully to convey negative emotions and connotations when one thinks about the group known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. What other purpose would this comparison serve? This is also, by the way, a fallacy known as a “fallacious comparison.” Sneaky trick isn’t it? But anybody who is honest with themselves can easily see the problem. There is no comparison. This doesn’t need to be further explained or defined; it’s obvious. A simple look at the history of the Society and of Koresh and Jones proves any and all comparisons invalid.

On a footnote on page 11 Cameron states:

The Society promotes the belief that whatever they say, it is as if God is the One who is speaking. For example, the February 1, 1967 Watchtower says, “What (the Witnesses) are telling people is what God in his Word says; he is the one talking…. So too, God uses men to speak to those within the congregation of believers…When they give counsel…it is God who is speaking by means of them.”

Let’s see if what Cameron is saying is true. Let’s investigate if the February 1^st, 1967 issue of the Watchtower is really giving an “example” for what Cameron claims the Society says, namely, “whatever they say, it is as if God is the One who is speaking.”

Quote:

Of course, not everyone listens to God by reading the Bible. But this does not muzzle God. No, because he sends his Christian witnesses to the homes of the people, to tell them about his kingdom, even as Jesus Christ foretold for our day: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:14) This is being done in 199 lands and principal island groups. What they are telling people is what God in his Word says; he is the one talking.

So we learn that if the quote is read in context it is saying that God talks to people by means of those who preach ‘God’s Word,’ not that “whatever” “the Society promotes” “is as God is the One who is speaking.”  Great way to rip that quote out of context and misrepresent what the article actually says, Don. Let’s continue examining this footnote. He further cites the same Watchtower, but here’s what the quote says in context:

Quote:

So, too, God uses men to speak to those within the congregation of believers. For example, when overseers in the Christian congregation counsel their fellow believers, who really is speaking? Well, who designated them as overseers? It is God’s Word that set out the qualifications. If they are serving because they meet those qualifications, they are designated by God. When they give counsel in harmony with the Scriptures, it is God who is speaking by means of them.—1 Tim. 3:1-7.

Why does the article say that it is “God who is speaking by means of” men who “speak to those within the congregation of believers”? It even gives an example to clarify for us. Because these “men” meet the qualification laid out in God’s Word, the Bible in 1Timothy 3:1-7. Nothing more, nothing less and nothing to do with “the Society promot[ing]” “whatever they say” is true. But now the question remains: How do we know God “speaks” through those whom preach God’s Word? The article makes this very plain and very clear:

Quote:

They stick to God’s Word the Bible and faithfully teach what it says… they live in harmony with it… [And as] Jesus said… “they are no part of the world,” steering clear of involvement in its social and political strife… they produce the fruits of God’s spirit in their lives… they [are] readily identifiable as distinct from all others because they love one another as Jesus said would be true of those who really are in union with him and God his Father.

With this we have demonstrated that Don Cameron misapplied and misrepresented the original intent and meaning of the 1967 February 1^st Watchtower.

On Page 12 Cameron continues:

One of the things that makes the Watchtower’s organizational concept so powerful is that nobody notices that it is “in fact, the dominant, controlling force” in their decision-making process.

Well, “nobody notices” because this simply isn’t true. Anyone making a decision does so with their own freedom of choice. However, it must be said and emphasized that they do try to make their decision harmonious with Bible principles and in agreement with their scripture-trained conscience, especially if it a big decision such as marriage , a new job, etc. but this is true of any Christian, not just Jehovah’s Witnesses. Notice, though, how Cameron merely asserts something as if it were true and doesn’t actually prove what he is asserting to be true. He doesn’t prove that there’s some “organization concept so powerful” that is ‘controlling their decisions.’ This is what is called a Bare Assertion Fallacy. This is defined as a fallacy in formal logic where a premise in an argument is assumed to be true merely because it says that it is true. Pay careful attention to this fallacy because it occurs and reoccurs too often in his book.

On Page 13 Cameron writes:

And in case anyone does think they notice something wrong, they are warned that they must never try to do anything about it but simply wait for God to do something about it because, after all, ‘It is his organization’

Then he goes on to quote the May 1^st 1957 Watchtower as if it proves his point of Witnesses being instructed to “never try to do anything” with regards to disagreements. What he actually does is quote only part of the Watchtower issue and not the entire paragraph and in fact, leaves out the part that does refute his claim. Pretty dishonest tactic in my opinion, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he genuinely didn’t mean to misquote the magazine even though earlier he misapplied and misrepresented the 1967 Watchtower. The May 1^st 1957 Watchtower actually says the following:

If we have become thoroughly convinced that this is Jehovah’s organization, that he is guiding and directing his people, then we shall not be unsettled by anything that happens. If something comes up that we do not understand we will wait patiently until it is made thoroughly clear to us. If we feel sure something is wrong we will ‘keep the commandment’ of our Father and take whatever theocratic steps are open to us and then wait on Jehovah

Clearly, then, we can see that the Watchtower article does say we can “take whatever theocratic steps are open to us” which conveniently, is a part of the article that Cameron left out. Would not an objective researcher take into consideration the full article and its context or would the researcher merely look for what may look good and run with it? I’ll let the reader answer that.

On page 14 Cameron goes on to say:

Belief in this concept has given the men of the Governing Body tremendous control over the thinking of the rest of Jehovah’s Witnesses. To question them, to doubt them, to disagree with them becomes the same as questioning, doubting and disagreeing with God himself!

This is simply not true. If the Governing Body says something that is in complete harmony with the Scriptures and we do question that, then in fact, it is questioning God because this counsel is Biblical. This is an obvious point, in my opinion. I don’t think anyone would dispute that. However, if we do find something that perhaps doesn’t fit with the Scriptures as harmonious as we’d like it to, then we can do as the May 1^st 1957 Watchtower said, namely, we can “take whatever theocratic steps are open for us.” But of course, Cameron doesn’t mention this. Throughout his book Cameron tries to paint an image of Jehovah’s Witness that is severely misleading. He seems to suggest that Jehovah’s Witnesses simply accept the teachings of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses without first confirming it to be true. In fact, the Society encourages its members to confirm these teachings by means of studying the Bible. For instance consider the following quote from the May 15th 1996 page 18:

Yes, every Christian who has the complete Bible in his language should read it from Genesis to Revelation. And our objective in reading the Bible and Christian publications should be to increase our comprehension of the great body of Scriptural truth that God has made available through the ‘faithful slave.

In the November 1st 1991 Watchtower on page 21, the Society encourages Jehovah’s Witnesses to “confirm the teachings”:

At Acts chapter 17, verse 11, people are called “noble-minded” because they were “carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so,” things taught by the apostle Paul. They were encouraged to use the Scriptures to confirm the teachings even of an apostle. You should do the same.

Many other articles and publications could be quoted to further back up my position, of course, but I think these 2 quotes are sufficient in expressing my point. Cameron’s assertions and misquotes can severely lead the reader to come to a conclusion that is in error. Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t expected to simply accept any and all teachings just because they’re told so, but rather they are expected to “confirm the teachings” just as the Bible teaches and like the Society encourages.

Page 15 Cameron writes:

Witnesses don’t notice how often they accept what comes from the Society simply because they believe it is God’s organization rather than because they can prove it to themselves from the Bible

Give us an example Don. This is the sort of trickery I’m referring too. Cameron provides absolutely no examples or evidences for his assertions, but merely states his contentions as if they were factual. This is, again, a Bare Assertion Fallacy.

He continues on page 15:

Of all the things that can be known about this religion, there is only one thing that needs to be know

Let me state what he means and says by means of a chart in his book. He is suggesting that theology and all things involved with it don’t really matter; this is what can be known but isn’t necessary to know according to him. Cameron insists what is necessary to know is if the Society is God’s organization. However, this is an error. Off this error is where Cameron bases the next 130 page of his book. The way you know if a religion is true or not is if you can prove its theology from the Bible! When Cameron says that it doesn’t really matter what they teach about the Bible, what he is really doing is changing how to identify whether if what a religion teaches is true or not! This is such a subtle move that even looks harmless, but this is a very clever play with words. I would argue the other way around, I would say that you need to know theology first before you can determine if an organization is “God’s organization” or not. This, of course, is based on a premise that God wouldn’t “back up” a group whose teachings are completely unharmonious with the Bible. Seems logically enough to me. Why does Cameron disagree though?

Cameron writes on page 17:

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Watchtower Society received that appointment in the spring of 1919 in fulfillment of the most important Scripture in Watchtower theology—Matthew 24:45-47.

This is another deliberate attempt by Cameron, which in my opinion, is to deceive his readers. This is most definitely not the most important Scripture and in fact, I don’t even know if there is a so called “most important Scripture” because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

However, if you want to talk in terms of most important teaching, then I’d have to say the most important teaching in Jehovah’s Witness theology is the belief in God and who he is. Take for instance this quote from the November 1^st 1991 Watchtower on page 23:

Ask yourself: Why would the Bible only “imply” its most important teaching—who God is? The Bible is clear on other basic teachings; why not on this, the most important one?

Cameron, instead of attacking the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses, goes on to attack the Watchtower Bible and Track Society in hopes of somehow discrediting what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe. However, Cameron needs to be corrected. Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was “appointed” as God’s organization in 1919.  This will be a point I further develop in later blogs.