Christ was born under the Law of Moses, and yet he purposely broke the Sabbath Law by curing on the Sabbath. Thus he showed that love was more important than the law.
“However, if you had understood what this means, ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless ones. For Lord of the Sabbath is what the Son of man is.” After departing from that place he went into their synagogue; and look! A man with a withered hand! So they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?” that they might get an accusation against him. He said to them: “Who will be the man among you that has one sheep and, if this falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not get hold of it and lift it out? All considered, of how much more worth is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do a fine thing on the Sabbath.” –Matt. 12:7-12
If God’s laws are fulfilled by loving one another, no man-made laws, rules, traditions, or doctrines could possibly supercede the law of love. Therefore, any group that tries to control the behavior of its members by indoctrinating them with lists of “You Must” and “You Must Not” are overstepping Christ’s law of love.
Do not you people be owing anybody a single thing, except to love one another; for he that loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. For the law code, “You must not commit adultery, You must not murder, You must not steal, You must not covet”, and whatever other commandment there is, is summed up in this word, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor; therefore love is the law’s fulfillment. –Romans 13:8-10
Those who say Christ commanded us to “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them…teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.”—Matt. 28:19-20 must remember that he was speaking privately to his disciples at that time, not the general public. And they fulfilled preaching to the world in their day.
“So faith follows the thing heard. In turn the thing heard is through the word about Christ. Nevertheless I ask, They did not fail to hear, did they? Why in fact, “into all the earth their sound went out, and to the extremities of the inhabited earth their utterances.” –Romans 10:17-18
And what was this word about Christ they were preaching?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” –John 3:16-17
And what were “all the things I commanded you.”?
“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” –John 13:34-35
All religious groups, and even secular groups, have a measure of love for each other within their own groups. Does this mark them all as Christ’s disciples since the Scriptures point out this quality as an identifying mark? Looking at the Sermon on the Mount, we see this is not the case:
And if you love those loving you, of what credit is it to you? For even the sinners love those loving them. And if you do good to those doing good to you, really of what credit is it to you? Even the sinners do the same. Also, if you lend without interest to those from whom you hope to receive, of what credit is it to you? Even sinners lend without interest to sinners that they may get back as much. To the contrary, continue to love your enemies and to do good and to lend without interest, not hoping for anything back; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind toward the unthankful and wicked. Continue becoming merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” –Luke 6:32-36
So our love must extend beyond our own group, to address the needs of those we encounter, to the best of our abilities.
An individual who was attending both a Pentecostal church and a Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall to examine the Scriptures, prayed to be shown what was the truth. His mind was opened up to realize the whole truth of the Bible is in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. Love is the truth. Love is more important than faith, hope, or knowledge. We can have all the faith to move mountains, have all knowledge and know all the sacred secrets; yet if we do not have love, we are nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3) Doctrines divide Christians into different churches. Love unites. Love was what Christ was teaching in his parables, in his sermons, and by his example.
Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are gifts of prophesying, they will be done away with; whether there are tongues, they will cease, whether there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we have partial knowledge and we prophesy partially, but when that which is complete arrives, that which is partial will be done away with. ” –1 Cor. 13:4-10
No one has the full truth. No one has all the answers. No one can condemn others’ beliefs if no one knows all the answers. However, if anyone violates the law of love, then they condemn themselves.
Some may say do not judge a religious organization by the imperfections of the members. Certainly all religious groups have loving and not so loving members in them. Everyone is a sinner, therefore, no one has reached perfection yet. So there can be examples from many different groups, Jehovah’s Witnesses included, showing how the members have acted harshly to one another, and in some cases, even hatefully and criminally towards one another. The recent pedophile cases in both the Catholic church and Jehovah’s Witnesses confirm this. But how did the governing organization of these members handle these cases? Did they expel the evildoers from their midst? Or did they cover up the problem, blame and disfellowship the victims because they reported the problem to the authorities after receiving no justice from within the organizations? That is what we can judge for ourselves as to whether we wish to belong to an organization that violates the law of love.
Christ said, “No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends.”—John 15:13 This Scripture was referring to Christ primarily, of course. But it is true that the greatest love we could show for someone else would be to give up our life for them. When our children are threatened, we would do anything to protect them. When they need life-giving medical treatment, there should be nothing we wouldn’t do to save them, including giving up our life for them. (If indeed our eternal life would be taken away because we did the loving thing by not allowing them to die needlessly.) If the Watchtower Society says we must not “eat” blood, but says transplants are ok, and then goes on to define a blood transfusion as a “transplant” on their own website, why should we be willing to let our children die in order to please their ever-changing doctrines? (“Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.”—1 John 4:1 We should be willing to sacrifice our life, doing the loving thing, to save the lives of our children. Jesus did the loving thing to heal a man’s withered hand while breaking the Sabbath law, which should have condemned him as breaking the whole law, when he broke one commandment. But the law of love is above the Mosaic Law, and encompasses it. Because if you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t kill, steal, commit adultery, etc. If we have this Christian love, we will not kill our children by preventing them from receiving a life-saving blood transfusion. All sins will be forgiven us, except the sin against the holy spirit. (Matt. 12:31) Sinning by taking blood (if indeed it is even a sin) falls under the category of “all sins”.
An elder’s son who also was pioneering once said, “If going out in service wasn’t a requirement, I wouldn’t be out here.” His sister quickly shushed him, but it was too late as I had already heard the comment and it opened up the first small crack which was stored in the recesses of my mind until much later. I was too indoctrinated at that time to consider the comment further. But later on, at another congregation I brought up the thought to another publisher at the time: “If you’re going out in service motivated by love, then don’t keep track or report your time.” How many Jehovah’s Witnesses would go out in service if they couldn’t count their time, or if it wasn’t a requirement of the Watchtower Society? Are they really doing it motivated by love or because it is required and kept track of by timecards?
No one can add a cubit to his or her life. One could be at the wrong place at the wrong time. One’s life could end at any time. So we always want to adhere to God’s law of love. Put on a new Christ-like personality in love, being nonjudgmental.
Many Jehovah’s Witnesses feel the love surround them in the congregation. However, depending on the situation they are in, ANY group could fulfill their need to belong, from Amway to Breatharians. The doctrines or believability of the group is not important to them. It is the acceptance from the group that the newbie desires, and he will carry their doctrinal banner with much enthusiasm at first just to belong and be accepted. After the newness wears off and the newbie is able to see more clearly just what he is involved with, the momentum, routine, and barriers have already been in place to keep him from exiting. They must perpetuate the “truthfulness” of their doctrines, no matter how absurd, by strongly defending them (causing much stress), because otherwise they must admit they were duped, and it takes a great deal of effort to leave the group and accept the consequences: being shunned, labeled as evil, having depression, guilt, and the slow and painful rebuilding of a new way of life in a world considered evil.
However, once the break is complete, they will experience
the freedom Christ spoke about “You will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.”—John 8:32 “Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down,
and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for your souls.
For my yoke is kindly and my load is light.”—Matt. 11:28-30
Also, see more Love Scriptures on my website.