Every time I hear “the Governing Body has decided…” it makes me stop and think: Who exactly gave them the authority to decide anything for millions of people?
That phrase carries an immense, almost divine weight. But if you strip away the religious trappings, what you’re left with are just eleven men in New York making unilateral decisions. These aren’t minor points; they’re decisions that directly impact your family, your body, your conscience, your relationships, and your entire future.
If you are a JW browsing here, please distinguish their words: It’s not “God has decided,” nor is it “the Bible says.” It is, quite simply, “they have decided.”
And that distinction truly matters.
There are no votes, no consultations with congregations, no transparency whatsoever, and absolutely no room for dissent. It’s simply: they decided and just like that, it becomes policy, doctrine, or the basis for your next judicial committee.
They’ve decided to change doctrines that led to people being shunned.
They’ve decided to reinterpret verses, costing individuals their jobs, marriages, and educational opportunities.
They decided that is now ok to wear beards, when thousands of brothers were judged to wear one, and god forbid that you feel vindicated.
They’ve decided what truly counts as “repentance” or “spiritual progress.”
“The Governing Body has decided that publishers can USE THEIR BIBLE TRAINED CONSCIENCE…”
They even dictate when conscience is allowed. Can you believe that?
And when they’re wrong? Silence. No apologies. In 2023, the governing body stated that they are not embarrassed in adjustments (errors) made, nor an apology needed for their errors. They essentially blamed God, since he revealed these errors to them.
Just “new light” as if the damage done in the past no longer matters because now they’ve simply decided something else.
If you are a JW, please consider, that phrase isn’t just a formality; it’s a glaring red flag. It exposes a system of centralized control and a profound lack of real accountability, with NO divine backing.
In John 6:60, there were those disciples who said about Jesus’ teachings; “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said in Matthew 10:37-39
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Many Witnesses are not willing to lose family and long time friends, so they stay, suffering, pretending, some even living double lives.
And so, some like the disciples, you may ask “where shall we go?” Well, we know how the Governing Body interprets this question.
March 1, 1978 Watchtower, page 25, par. 18
Well could Jesus ask his apostles: “You do not want to go also, do you?” Peter had the right answer: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life; and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69) And so today; in view of all the foregoing the course of wisdom is indeed to keep associating with the “faithful and discreet slave.” That “slave,” on the one hand, makes the “sayings of everlasting life” understandable to us and, on the other hand, helps us as we apply those “sayings” in our lives to both our present and our eternal welfare. Should we not be grateful to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ for having that “slave” in our midst?
Once again, the Governing Body has usurped Christ’s authority.
It is Jesus, who has “sayings of everlasting life.” It is to Jesus to whom we go. Not to man, or man-made organizations, but to the one who gave his life so that we may live.