Q: Your articles on dedication are puzzling to me i think dedication is a requirement but not the common view of what dedication is i think dedication to Jehovah means faith in Jehovah accompanied by works and the type of faith where you never plan to leave him regardless of what happens or what people view you as dedication doesn't mean just going to meetings and doing things for outward appearances but it means your dedicated to Jehovah him and him alone above all else and that should be reflected in how we do things in our daily lives and how we treat people our ethics morals ect. our personal relationship one on one with Jehovah is our dedication which is then later symbolized outwardly in front of others with water baptism which i believe is true that's how i interpret the scriptures and the articles and i think they are in harmony, what's most important is the dedication to Jehovah not necessarily the baptism the dedication takes place in the heart and even a minor step towards dedication the faith real faith will make prayers heard whether outwardly symbolized or not. Was i misinterpreting what you wrote there?
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A: Thank you for sharing your thoughts on what dedication to Jehovah means to you. Since the Scriptures are silent on the issue, your explanation is as good as anybody's. I am sure that you must be aware that there is not a single Scripture that tells us that our baptism is about dedication; or even that we must get dedicated. There are numerous Scriptures, though, that do say that baptism is for forgiveness of sins, a fitting symbol of our being cleansed by Jesus' blood. (Acts 2:38; 10:43; 22:16; Heb. 9:13,14; 10:18, 21,22; Num. 8:7) The doctrine of dedication has its root in Christendom, based on the belief that a person cannot go to heaven upon death unless he belongs to God, therefore the baptism of dedication. The main difference between the various religions of Christendom is the argument over the age of the person being baptized. Some churches, notably the Roman Catholics, baptize their infants to avoid the need for them to be expiated in a purgatory in case of their untimely death.

You may be familiar with the Society's argument as to why we need to dedicate ourselves to God, pointing to such Scriptures as "faith without works is dead;" or Jesus' words that we must "disown ourselves and pick up our torture steak, and continually follow him." But neither James nor Jesus taught the requirement for dedication. James explained that to love our brothers means more than simply telling them so, but it must includes action when we see them in need; while Jesus pointed out the cost of discipleship, which also includes being hated by the world. (James 2:14-17, 26; Matt. 16:24-26; John 15:18-20) Although the Society acknowledges that John the Baptist preached "baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins," their claim that the meaning of baptism changed with Jesus' baptism—because Jesus was without sin—doesn't "hold water." After all, although Jesus never sinned, yet he died. Why? Not for his sins, but for ours. Likewise, he was baptized, not for his sins, but ours. That is why Peter wrote: "He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live in righteousness. And 'by his stripes you were healed.'" (Mark 1:4; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:22) But I explain all that in my article "God's View on Dedication."

I would like to mention that the purpose of my website is not to prove the Society or anyone else wrong, but rather to explain the present situation that exists within the organization, since the present troubles were foretold in the Scriptures. We need to face the fact that our teachings and traditions make us who we are, and impacts our relationship with Jehovah. We cannot worship God in whatever way suits us, and expect him to accept that. That has never been the case! Deviating from the truth of God's word always has consequences, as Paul writes, for "whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap." (Matt. 15:6-9; John 4:24; Gal. 6:7) Paul's words regarding God's people in "the last days," well sums up the condition of many of our congregations today. (2 Tim. 3:1-7) As you may already be aware, approximately one third of our brothers have left the organization over the past thirty years, brothers and sisters that at one time attended the meetings and zealously shared in the preaching work with us. This is a huge loss when we consider that a single lost sheep is precious to Jehovah. (Luke 15:3-7) A few have been disfellowshipped simply for questioning some teachings of the "faithful and discreet slave." This happened to an elder in my congregation after he cast doubt on the accepted "fact" that the "faithful and discreet" was appointed over all God's household back in 1918. This phobia of "apostates" among us, who no longer put their trust in the governing body as the "faithful and discreet slave," as they like to call themselves, has resulted in "witch hunts" in many of the congregations.

Like most others, I too had put faith in their promise that the generation of 1914 would "by no means pass away" before the end of this system arrived. There was a time when I believed without question everything we were taught by the Society in the publications; even the things not supported in the Scriptures, thinking that if it was not in the Bible then they must have received the information directly from Jehovah. I obviously failed to apply to myself the fact that if something is not in the Bible then it is not from God. Since coming to an understanding on what it is that identifies God's people, who are his temple, I have at the same time come to understand that the prophecies that Jehovah addresses to "my people" apply to us, including me, and not the churches of Christendom. That means that, according to Jehovah, we are not as wonderful in his eyes as we have been led to believe. (Prov. 30:12) And the prophecies regarding Jehovah's denunciation of his shepherds for leading his sheep astray and scattering them, applies to our shepherds, our leaders, not the clergy of Christendom. (Ezek. 34:2-10) The problems that God's people are facing in these last days, including the many who have stumbled or simply strayed from God's household, are a result of our having "gone beyond the things that are written." Can we expect Jehovah to bless us when we refuse to listen to him? (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:6; 1 Cor. 4:6)

Take for example the matter of dedication that you explain in your letter. Dedication is seemingly a good thing. How can it not be! After all, as you note, what can be wrong with dedicating ourselves to Jehovah "where you never plan to leave him regardless of what happens or what people view you, as dedication doesn't mean just going to meetings and doing things for outward appearances but it means your dedicated to Jehovah him and him alone above all else and that should be reflected in how we do things in our daily lives and how we treat people our ethics morals etc." You seem pretty convinced of what you say, and although it may sound right to you, if it does not reflect God's view on the subject it becomes a matter of going "beyond the things that are written." (Compare Gal. 1:8,9) Would you be surprised to know that the Watchtower has acknowledged that the early Christians did not preach any dedication? The Watchtower back in 1952 said in this regard: "Searching through the Christian Greek Scriptures we do not find either the word dedication or the word consecration used to designate this step of giving oneself exclusively to God through Jesus Christ." (The Watchtower, May 15, 1952, page 315, under the study article "Dedication for Life in the New World") Pastor Russell taught that without "consecration," as it was known before 1952, there is no salvation. Does it really matter if something that we strongly believe is not taught in the Scriptures? Why are we going from house to house if we ourselves don't faithfully stick to God's word of truth? Who are we making disciples for? (Matt. 23:15) Will we receive everlasting life because of having dedicated ourselves to God; or because Jesus died for us and it is God's free gift which no one can earn due to works? (Rom. 3:23,24)

One of the consequences of deviating from God's word by our doctrine on dedication is that we break God's law on love, for when we love our brothers there is no room for judging them. (Matt. 7:1-5; Rom. 14:4, 10-13) Yet we measure our brothers' spirituality by how well they live up to their dedication, whether they are spiritually strong or weak by the meetings they attend or miss; or the number of hours (or lack of them) they spend in the preaching work each month; even deciding whether a brother is or is not good association, based on their performance. Indeed, the first thing a visiting Circuit Overseer does is inspect the publishers' record cards, and he judges the individuals' and congregation's spirituality by what the records reveal. Jesus commanded us not to judge our brothers; we are told not to "look down" on our brothers; and no one is to be judged "in comparison with the other person." (Matt. 7:1,2; Rom. 4:2-8; 14:4, 10-14; Gal. 6:4) Have we not failed to pay attention to the more important things of God on account of the dedication doctrine? Does any of this matter to Jehovah, when we don't listen to him? Our many problems within the congregations are a direct result of that! Jehovah takes notice of our individual attitude regarding these things, and he will deal with us accordingly. (See Isaiah 9:4-6; Matt. 7:21-23; 16:27)



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