Are Jehovah's Witnesses "The Truth"?

There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide. In Christianity alone there are more than 45,000 denominations.

"Is it logical to assume that the religion of your birth is automatically the true one?" Watchtower July 15, 1985 p. 4

"Many persons are the product of a religious organization that took them in hand at infancy, shielded them carefully from any teaching other than its own, and prescribed exactly what they must believe. They were indoctrinated, as were their parents and grandparents..." Watchtower June 15, 1970 p. 357

"Most stay with the religion in which they were reared, very often being afraid to make a change even if dissatisfied... The person who makes a change may become the object of popular hatred..." Watchtower May 15, 1959 p. 305

"Finding and accepting truth is more important and more vital to anyone than clinging to a deception, even if we and our forefathers have been ensnared by it for generations." Watchtower May 1, 1975 p. 271

"What results when a lie is let go unchallenged? Does not silence help the lie to pass as truth, to have freer sway to influence many, perhaps to their serious harm?" — Watchtower January 151, 1974 p. 35

"God’s servants in every period of history have had to... expose falsehood and... warn people of dangers and deception​ — not just in a general way, but in a specific way... It would have been far easier to keep silent or say only what people wanted to hear. But faithfulness to God and love of neighbor moved them to speak." — Watchtower January 15, 1974 p. 35

"Do you believe that lies should not go unchallenged? Then what about falsehoods told about God, misrepresentations of his announced purposes? Surely this is, not less, but more serious than lies of a general kind. Perhaps you agree that wrongdoing should be exposed. But what if the wrongdoing is done by religious people, perhaps persons in your own church? Will faithfulness to God cause you to speak out for what is right?" — Watchtower January 15, 1974 p. 37

"True Christians [must] speak out, not holding back in exposing false teachings and unscriptural practices of the world’s religious organizations." — Watchtower January 15, 1974 p. 37

"No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family." Awake! July 2009 p. 29

"The hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed, the Father is looking for ones like these to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those worshipping him must worship with spirit and truth." John 4:23, 24 (NWT)

"Jesus said to him: 'I am... the truth.'"
John 14:6 (NWT)

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Ever Hide the Truth?

"If the wolfish foes draw wrong conclusions from our maneuvers to outwit them, no harm has been done... Such outwitting of oppressors of the sheep is not a failure to 'render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s'" — Watchtower February 1, 1956 p. 87

"So in time of spiritual warfare it is proper to misdirect the enemy by hiding the truth. It is done unselfishly; it does not harm anyone; on the contrary, it does much good." Watchtower May 1, 1957 p. 286

"Today God’s servants are engaged in a warfare, a spiritual, theocratic warfare, a warfare ordered by God... God’s servants... need to exercise the extreme caution of serpents so as to protect properly the interests of God’s kingdom committed to them. At all times they must be very careful not to divulge any information to the enemy that he could use to hamper the preaching work." – Watchtower May 1, 1957 p. 286

"For the purpose of protecting the interests of God’s cause, it is proper to hide the truth from God’s enemies." – Watchtower June 1, 1960 p. 352

"While malicious lying is wrong in Jehovah’s eyes, a person is not obligated to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it. Even Jesus Christ did not give full details or direct answers when doing so could have brought unnecessary harm." — Watchtower December 15, 1993 p. 25

"Of course, being truthful does not mean that we are obligated to divulge all information to anyone who asks it of us... Jesus did not always disclose the full truth, especially when revealing all the facts could have brought unnecessary harm to himself or his disciples." Awake! February 8, 2000 p. 21

Questions for Review

  • Were you born into Jehovah's Witnesses?

  • Did you ever consider that Jehovah's Witnesses may not be "the truth"?

  • While Jehovah's Witnesses may not condone outright lying, do they encourage hiding the truth or misdirecting the "enemy"?

  • Do "God's enemies" include governmental authorities, courts of law etc?

  • How important is truth to you?

  • If Jehovah's Witnesses was not true, how would you know?

  • If you discovered Jehovah's Witnesses were not "the truth" what would you do?