Turning to a source having a protestant or evangelical background, one finds these expressions in the book The Myth of Certainty, by scholar Daniel Taylor:
The primary goal of all institutions and subcultures is self-preservation. Preserving the faith is central to God’s plan for human history; preserving particular religious institutions is not. Do not expect those who run the institutions to be sensitive to the difference. God needs no particular person, church, denomination, creed or organization to accomplish his purpose. He will make use of those, in all their diversity, who are ready to be used, but will leave to themselves those who labor for their own ends.
Nonetheless, questioning the institutions is synonymous, for many, with attacking God—something not long to be tolerated. . . . Actually, they are protecting themselves, their view of the world, and their sense of security. The religious institution has given them meaning, a sense of purpose, and, in some cases, careers. Anyone perceived as a threat to these things is a threat indeed.
This threat is often met, or suppressed even before it arises, with power. . . . Institutions express their power most clearly by enunciating, interpreting and enforcing the rules of the subculture. Every institution has its rules and ways of enforcing them, some clearly stated, others unstated but no less real.15
It should be noted that the author was not writing about Jehovah’s Witnesses but of religious institutions in the broader spectrum. People in many denominations fall into the common error of thinking that commitment to a religious system is equivalent to commitment to Christ as Lord.
I think here of a saying that was passed on to me by a friend. It says:
The mind which renounces, once and forever, a futile hope, has its compensation in ever growing calm.
I have found that saying true in my own case. I know that it has proved true in the case of many others.
Whatever the initial distress—a distress that sometimes follows the demeaning experience of being interrogated by men who, in effect, strip one of human dignity, make the weight of their authority felt, and presume to judge adversely one’s standing with God—however torn one may feel inside, afterward there does come a distinct feeling of relief, of peace. It is not just knowing that one is finally outside the reach of such men, no longer subject to their ecclesiastical scrutiny and pressure. Truth, and the refusal to compromise truth, brings freedom in other fine and wonderful ways. The more responsibly one makes use of that freedom the finer the benefits.
The greatest freedom enjoyed is that of being able to serve God and his Son—as well as serve for the good of all persons—untrammeled by the dictates of imperfect men. There is freedom to serve according to the dictates of one’s own conscience, according to the motivation of one’s own heart. The sense of having a great burden lifted off, the lightening of a heavy load, comes with that freedom. If genuinely appreciated, this gives one the desire to do, not less, but more in service to the Ones giving that freedom.16
Traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest Friends. Perhaps nothing is more crucial or more helpful in making the transition than to come to a full appreciation of the need for that personal relationship with God and his Son. Without that, one may feel unable to have any sense of identity without membership in some system.
Christ clearly emphasized the personal nature of that relationship. (Matthew 10:32, 33) His call is, not “come to my organization” or “come to a certain church or denomination,” but rather it is, “Come to me.” (Matthew 11:28) In giving the illustration of the vine and its branches, his words were not “I am the vine and religious organizations are the branches and you are the twigs or the leaves connected to those branches,” but rather “I am the vine and you are the branches,” connected directly to him. (John 15:5) In his beautiful description of the good shepherd, he says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:14, 15) Among Eastern shepherds of that time, a shepherd gave names to each of his sheep and so could “call his own sheep by name.” (John 10:3, NRSV) It is wonderfully comforting and assuring to know that as our good Shepherd, God’s Son knows each individual in his flock by name and cares for us personally and individually.
Whatever sense of “belonging” that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the Scriptures present. The Son’s love mirrors that of his Father, of whom the apostle writes, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”17
We need, as well, to recognize that to be genuine, faith must be truly personal, individually arrived at and attained. There is no group or collective faith—except as each individual therein has gained and expressed such faith on a personal, individual basis. So, too, with conviction, it has no meaning or validity unless it is individual, personal. To believe because others believe is to have a borrowed conviction and a borrowed faith. To be genuine and to lead to life, these must be the product of one’s own mind and one’s own heart.
The apostle puts the matter on that individual basis when he writes, “For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. . . . For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” (Romans 10:10, 13, NRSV) Mouthing words that merely repeat traditional teachings of a religious system is not what is here described, but rather constitutes what the prophet calls worship based on a “human commandment learned by rote.” (Isaiah 29:13, NRSV) At the time of divine judgment we do not appear before God and his Son as members of some church group or organization. We stand as individuals, and “each of us will be accountable to God.”—Romans 14:10-12, NRSV.
Sadly, in the case of most Witnesses, the organization has so persistently pushed its own self to the fore, has occupied such a large place on the spiritual scene, focusing so much attention on its own importance, that it has kept many from the closeness of fellowship with the heavenly Father that should have been theirs. The figure of the organization has loomed so large that it has overshadowed the greatness of God’s own Son, has clouded the vision of many from appreciating the warm relationship he invites persons to share with him, has distorted their perception of his compassionate personality.18 It is not surprising, then, that many persons, if expelled from the organization, feel a sense of aloneness, of being adrift, floundering, due to no longer being tied to some visible authority structure, no longer having their lives channeled into its routine of programmed activity, no longer feeling the restrictive pressures of its policies and rulings.
In a sense, it seems that often one must undergo a measure of such painful adjustment to come to appreciate fully what complete dependence on God and his Son really means. I do not know personally of anyone who, in such circumstances, has recognized the need to draw closer to God, to give serious attention to the reading of his Word, to show interest in others by trying to be of spiritual uplift and encouragement, who has not been able to weather the experience well, to come through it feeling greatly strengthened, more strongly fixed on the only solid foundation, faith in God’s provision of his Son.19 They have realized more than ever before the intimate relationship they have with their Master and Owner as his disciples, whom he treats as personal friends, not like sheep that men have penned off in a mass enclosure, but sheep to whom the Shepherd gives individual, personal attention and care. Whatever their age, whatever the length of time it took them to come to this realization, the feeling they have fits the well-known saying, “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.” Their outlook is both happy and positive, for their hopes and aspirations are dependent, not on men, but on God.
To feel this way does not imply any failure to recognize that there is indeed a flock of God, a congregation headed by Christ Jesus. How does one become a member thereof? One facto
r and one factor only is determinative. It is not membership or affiliation with some denomination, church group or organization. Scripturally, this has no relevance or bearing on the matter. One shows that he or she is a member of that body of believers by being joined to its Head, God’s Son, responsive to that Head’s direction and guidance, and that alone is determinative. There is only one mediator in God’s arrangement and that is Christ Jesus, and no human organization can insert itself into that picture as a co-mediator or supplementary mediator. (Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 2:3-6) Between those in that congregation of believers there is an interrelationship and interdependency, not because they are subject to some organizational structure but because “we are members of one another,” and so we are subject, not to some authority group but are “subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”—Ephesians 4:25; 5:21, NRSV.
God’s Son gave the assurance that he would have true followers, not just in the first century or in this twentieth century, but in all the centuries in between, for he said, “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”20 Intermixed though they were among all the “weeds” that were bound to come, he would know who these genuine disciples were, not because they belonged to some organization but because of what they were, as persons. Wherever they were, however indistinguishable from the human standpoint their being part of his congregation may have been, down through the centuries he has known them, not only collectively but individually, and led them as their Head, their Master. His apostle tells us, “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his.’”21 Why should we doubt that this continues to be the case right up to the present time? God’s Word shows that it is not up to men—not even possible for men—to separate people out so as to say that they have now gathered all the “wheat” into one neat enclosure. The Scriptures make clear that only when God’s Son makes known his judgments will that identification become manifest.22
It is a pleasure now to be free to meet people and not feel obliged to look for some “label” in order to know how to view them. One feels no need to classify them automatically as either a Witness or a “worldling,” as either “in the Truth” or “part of the Devil’s organization,” as either someone who, by virtue of having the Witness “label,” is automatically one’s “Brother” or “Sister” or, because of lacking such, is a person only to be “witnessed to” but unworthy to associate with on a friendly basis. In place of this, there is a healthful feeling of being able to do what is fair and just by assessing each person in an unbiased way for what he or she is—as a person. It is reassuring to be able to do this because of knowing that “God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”23
Certainly one of the most painful experiences for many who have tried to be true to conscience is to realize how quickly long-term friendships within the Witness community can end, how abruptly an atmosphere of apparent love can change to one of cold distrust. A Witness in a southern state, one of the most active in her congregation, began to see how far the organization had strayed from Scriptural teaching. She told an acquaintance that, despite this, she had no thought of withdrawing. As she expressed herself, “There are so many people in our congregation that I personally studied the Bible with and helped to bring into association with the congregation. I feel a deep love for them and for others and for that reason I feel I should stay. I can’t walk away from these people I love.” Not long after this, the elders, becoming aware that she had reservations about some teachings, began questioning her “loyalty.” Almost overnight, attitudes toward her underwent change. She found herself being convicted by congregational innuendo and gossip. As she said, “I discovered that the deep love I thought existed was actually a one-way thing. Without even talking to me to find out how I really felt, persons I had dearly loved suddenly turned cold to me.”
When your very reverence, devotion and integrity toward God have been defamed—the greatest calumny possible—it is a chilling experience to hear someone that you considered a solid friend say, “I don’t know what happened and I prefer not to know.” Or to learn that such a one has said, “I don’t know the facts but whatever the organization did there must have been a good reason.”
All too often the vaunted love claimed as part of the “spiritual paradise” shows itself to be quite superficial. In a phone conversation, a Witness in a nearby state, still actively associated, told me that her husband, a prominent elder in their city, had for some time been under considerable pressure from other local elders. “If they could get anything at all against him, they’d hang him from the highest tree,” she said. My comment was that this reminded me of the saying, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” “You don’t know how many times we’ve repeated that,” she replied.
My feelings are like those contained in a letter from a person who had experienced cold rejection and who wrote:
Even the hurt I felt when many former friends of many years chose to believe these stories rather than come to me and find out the truth, was dimmed by my joy . . . and also the knowledge that the reason they were acting this way was because of the fear in them. I can really forgive them from my heart because I truly know how they felt—at best that I had abandoned Jehovah (by leaving his organization) and at worst that I was deceived and led astray by Satan. Either way put me in an unapproachable position. I am really sorry for any hurt that I have caused them or anyone in the organization. I really love them and would do anything in my power to reach them and try to explain the truth of what is happening to me.
My feelings coincide because I believe that the turning off of one’s affection with the apparent ease of turning off a light switch is also a product of organizational indoctrination, not something normal to most persons’ natural feelings.
Whatever the case, the Witness who follows his or her conscience may indeed find terminated virtually every friendship that he or she has had. In such circumstance, one surely needs to embrace the attitude voiced by the psalmist:
In case my own father and my own mother did leave me, even Jehovah himself would take me up.24
Only an increased awareness of God’s friendship and that of his Son can compensate, can put all other relationships in proper perspective as to their relative worth. Though it may take time, there is good reason to trust that other friendships will become available, if one is willing to make the needed effort. And there is a likelihood that they will prove more enduring, the affection being predicated, not on organizational membership, a sort of “club spirit,” but on what one really is as a person, on the Christian qualities demonstrated, the realities of one’s heart. I did not personally lose all my friends by any means. But for every one that I did lose I have found another. They are persons who have made clear that they are determined not to let differences of opinion or viewpoint have a disruptive effect on that friendship. This follows the counsel given:
Accept life with humility and patience, generously making allowances for each other because you love each other. Make it your aim to be at one in the Spirit, and you will be bound together in peace.25
The oft-quoted words at Hebrews 10:24, 25 are frequently made to say something different from what they actually say. If we love God and his Son we will also love those who share that love. We will want to associate with them, share companionship with them, benefit from them and seek to be of benefit to them. The writer of Hebrews says nothing as to time or place or manner. He does not speak of some formalized service or meeting, organizationally generated and supervised. Any of those things would have to be read into his words, superimposed on them. He speaks simply of getting together with other fellow believers, and doing so, not to absorb some particular format of church teachings but to be mutually upbuilt and to encourage one another to good deeds. Among early Christians this was customarily done in homes and, evidently, often in connection with shared meals.26
It may be diffi
cult, because of being so long accustomed to the organization’s extreme emphasis placed on numbers and the pretension that numerical growth is proof of divine direction and blessing, to take a humbler, more modest outlook, to scale down one’s viewpoint in such areas. For the first time, one may come to appreciate and cherish Jesus’ assurance that ‘where two or three are gathered together in his name he is present with them.’ In my own experience, I can say that sharing with only one or two others in reading and discussing the Scriptures has proved fully satisfying and rewarding. True, when at times a larger number of persons have shared with us, there has been a greater degree of interest and variety of comment. Yet the fundamental strengthening power and richness of God’s Word have not been diminished on those occasions when we have been just “two or three.” I can honestly say, in each case, that it has resulted in my carrying away with me things worth remembering to a greater extent than on so many occasions in the past when I met with hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of persons in organizationally programmed functions.
It takes faith to trust that this can result. But this is related to another of the benefits of the freedom that upholding God’s truth brings, namely, that in place of feeding on a strictly regimented “diet” prepared by a human authority structure, one can rediscover God’s Word for what it really is, for what it actually says. It is surprising how refreshing it can be to read the Scriptures and simply let them speak for themselves, contextually, without being “overprinted” by the traditional teachings of men. One person, in a southern state, who said that in her association as a Witness she had never failed to report activity every month for forty-seven years, with equally regular attendance at all meetings, expressed how thrilling she now found her reading of the Scriptures, saying, “I never felt moved to stay up until 2 a.m. reading the Watchtower but now I find myself doing just that with the Bible.”
Crisis of Conscience Page 42