Why I Can Never Go Back

Going back to the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses can be compared to a Christian going back to Judaism in the days of the Apostles; for the Organization operates much like the Nation of Israel under the old Law Covenant.

The Nation of Israel was set up as a large community. The people were governed by laws handed down by Jehovah to the priesthood. The priests in turn dispensed those laws to the people. Because they were human and imperfect, the people could not obey these laws. For this reason Jehovah provided the priesthood. The priests were to act as intermediaries for the people. Though the sacrifices the priests offered up and the various duties they performed, the people were provided with a way to stand clean before their God.

To leave the nation of Israel, this community, would mean stepping outside of God’s favor and protection. Such a person would in effect be leaving God’s people, God’s arrangement, God’s provision for sanctity through the priesthood. Once outside, he would be dealt with as all those on the outside. He would no longer be one of Jehovah’s people.

As the time approached for Christ’s appearance on the scene, Judaism had become a religion of more than what God had given his people in the way of laws. There were additional laws, laws for every possible activity. The spirit of the law had been lost to the letter of the law. There was no room for a person to move one way or the other without some law to tell him whether he was behaving rightly or wrongly.

Today this situation exists in the Organization. It too is a large community. The Witnesses are governed by the Governing Body’s interpretation of God’s laws written in the Bible. This Body claims to have been set up by Christ to act in a priesthood capacity as mediator between those who are part of this Organization and Jehovah. They are the ones through whom all “new light” comes. They speak for Jehovah and to challenge their authority or interpretations is to challenge Jehovah himself. And, like in the days of Israel, if any person were to leave this community, he would be stepping outside of God’s favor and protection. He would be leaving God’s arrangement, his provision of the priesthood and would be dealt with as all those outside the Organization--as unbelievers.

Like Israel in the days of Christ, the Organization provides a myriad of books and magazines covering every situation and the way to behave in each situation. These laws are given as much weight as the Bible laws as they are believed to be extensions of those laws. This knowledge is believed to have come from Jehovah by way of the Governing Body much the same as it was in the days of the Pharisees.

I doubt that any Witness would disagree with this assessment as they themselves parallel the Organization with the nation of Israel and the Governing Body as "the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time." Matthew 24:25 Acting in this capacity they consider themselves, in effect, a Christian priesthood.

Consistent with this idea, they claim to be the mediators between Jehovah and his people much like the priests of Israel. To quote The Watchtower April 1, 1979, page 31, "Christ is "mediator" only (underlining mine) for anointed Christians.... The "great crowd"...is not in that new covenant. However, by their associating with the "little flock"...they come under benefits that flow from that new covenant.... (See also The Watchtower August 15, 1989, pages 30,31.)

So the question one must ask, was it Jesus’ purpose for his followers to mirror the Nation of Israel and to set up another priesthood that would act as mediator and dispenser of all truth from God? To the contrary, the book of Romans records the lengths Paul went to stop this very thing from happening in the Christian community.  Unfortunately, it has happened, not only in the Jehovah's Witnesses' community, but in other Christian communities as well. 

Jesus came to fulfill the law.  In him we are free from men as mediators and dispensers of God's laws.  God's people no longer have to rely on a priesthood of men to stand clean before God.  Christ alone is our mediator, our high priest, our teacher through the Spirit of God, and the one through whom we seek to find God. Christ said, "No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:6

We don't need, nor does God want us to rely upon,  man-made organization's to save us.  Christ is not the mediator "only for annointed Christians."  Christ is the mediator for "all men."  He sets us free from the heavy loads men would have us carry.  And this is why I will never go back.  I can never go back to enslavement now that I've been set free.  "For when the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  John 8:36