Why The Governing Body Does Not Respond To Lies

"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks". - Winston Churchill

This quote basically summarizes the governing body's position when it comes to their attitude toward rebuttals in the media. Truth is, there is a lot of "barking" through various media outlets, that is, accusations and lies told about them and Jehovah's Witnesses as an organization. Responding to them is a full-time job and can be very time consuming. That is why organizations have entire PR departments designed to handle inquiries.

I used to ask myself why the governing body let so much be said about them and us without responding publicly. I wanted them to prove people wrong. I could not understand why they seemed to be so silent. But we have to look at this in light of the Bible, and look at one man in particular to understand why they take this route. We will also discuss ways in which they do respond.

Who They Attacked First

When Jesus was insulted and lied on, he did not repay that to his opposers. (1 Peter 2:21-23) At times, he was silent because he knew some were not really interested in truth. (Luke 23:8-12) He also remained silent when others would twist anything he said and did so to further falsely accuse him. (Luke 23:2)

It is also worth noting that Jesus was relentlessly hounded by his opposers. They would convene meetings and other gatherings with the sole purpose of finding conniving ways of catching him in his speech. (Matthew 22:15) They resorted to flattery with the aim of weakening his defenses. (Matthew 22:16-18) They even lost control of themselves and wanted to outright kill Jesus. (Matthew 26:4) Likewise, we are hounded from every angle by people who simply hate us. They use any means and say literally anything that could block the way to truth. They are actively trying to destroy us by lying to governments in an effort to restrict or ban our work. We expect this because we have the assignment to bear witnesses to Jesus. (Matthew 5:11)

But despite all this, Jesus never let that distract him from his ministry. He knew his purpose and was exemplary in fulfilling it. (Luke 4:43) He instructed his followers to "let them be". (Matthew 15:14) The governing body also have a life-saving assignment from Jesus. That assignment is to preach the good news, and feed his sheep. (Mark 13:10; Matthew 24:45) We now understand why the governing body ignores opposers and keep on spearheading the preaching and teaching work.

Why Promote The Lie?

The fact is, giving rebuttals to everything said about us would only serve to (1) distract the governing body from its work, and (2) serve as a vehicle to give the lies and accusations free publicity. Those who want to spread lies must exhaust their own time and money in doing so, and we will never help them. Nothing would please detractors more than having us arguing and debating things said about us.

Another thing to consider is that persons deliberately spreading false information are not really interested in truth, or they would have followed the proper channels we have in place to have questions and concerns answered. They would not first sell their stories to the media, and then accuse the governing body of not answering them when they call.

Satan would love for the governing body and its committees to spend all their time chasing and putting out fires started by opposers. All Satan would do is start more fires to chase, creating an endless circle of us chasing them and putting them out. The governing body would hardly get any important work done.

Really, those telling these lies do so in hopes to get a reaction from Jehovah's Witnesses. They want to get us angry. They want us responding to them so they can have more opportunity to fill our minds with their poison in order to turn us against the organization and use us as their weapons. (Matthew 24:49; Acts 20:30) Ignoring these lies benefits us. (Ps 37:7; Pr 11:12) Responding and debating benefits them. (Pr 26:4) However, there are ways we set the record straight while not getting baited into rebuttals.

How We Make A Reply

In Matthew 11:18, Jesus made it clear that people would criticize and lie on him no matter what he did. He stated: "The Son of Man did come eating and drinking, but people say, Look! A man who is a glutton and is given to drinking wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners..."

Did Jesus say that debating or rebuttals would help make his case? No, because the last sentence of that verse says: "Wisdom is proved righteous by its works"... not "words", but "works". So ultimately, innocence is proven by actions that people can see.

The governing body also have faith in people and their ability to see through the lies and misrepresentations. Consider the May 2015 JW Broadcast and this statement by Anthony Morris:

"People in general can usually see right through the exaggerated stories and outright lies. They know our good motives and our good works and our true reputation remains in tact." - Emphasis Ours

This is why we do not need to place a call to a major network and request a camera crew and invite them to headquarters to rebut accusations. Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their good reputation, even among those who do not agree with us. However, there are ways we do reply and set the record straight. Jesus, while instructing his followers to ignore apostates, did not always let accusations go completely unanswered. When the situation called for it, he boldly responded to those who slandered him. (Matthew 15:1-3; Mark 3:22-30) So how do we answer and keep in line with Jesus example?

By Controlling Our Own Message

The benefit of the Watchtower magazine and especially JW Broadcasting is that these mediums allow us to articulate our responses and reach Jehovah's Witnesses and potential Bible students. This is important to have in this "click-bait" society in which media outlets tend to cater to the general public's unquenchable thirst for a juicy story. The JW Broadcast edition mentioned above also gave compelling evidence on how we protect our children from predators, and how we focus on preventing child abuse, instead of just reacting to it for example. Had we relied on the media to cover this on their own, this evidence would have not been presented.

Other examples include breaking the news about the threat of a ban in Russia, and covering the unjust decision made by the Russian courts. We are able to keep our members informed without them needing to rely on the media, who in turn, generally rely on apostates.

By Addressing Facts, not Accusations

The governing body deals with reputable media outlets when they must respond to a serious issue. And when they decide to respond in using media outlets, they endeavor to get a clear message to the audience. For example, in response to our views on blood transfusions in 2016, a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada stated: "There are over 400 references to blood in the Bible" and explained why blood was sacred to God. The interviewer endeavored to get him to comment on speculations regarding the patient who refused to accept transfused blood. Our brother simply stated that he will not comment on a case in which facts are scanty, but he reiterated known facts; the Bible's view of blood and our stance in line with that.

By Letting Our Reputation Speak

We have been in the media recently because of the unjust treatment we are dealing with in Russia. They labeled us "extremist" just to have a pretense to suppress our freedoms. However, this has caused many non-Witness, independent experts to speak out in defense of our reputation as peaceful, law-abiding citizens. One of these experts stated: "If Jehovah's Witnesses are extremist, I think we all are", which is an acknowledgement of our reputation and the falsehood of the accusation.

There have been many other accusations such as: "you break up families", with the European Court of Human Rights replying that it is not us, but often the non-Witness family members who do not respect our beliefs as the reason for whatever friction exists. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. Jesus' words ring true: "Wisdom is proved righteous by its works".

How Can You Present This Information?

If you are one of Jehovah's Witnesses, there will be times in the ministry in which you may be asked why does your leadership not respond to allegations made about them. What can you say? It may be a good idea to tell them that the governing body does not respond unless they believe the issue is serious enough to warrant a response, otherwise, they would only help propagate the allegations. Remember Matthew 15:14 in which Jesus told his disciples to "let them be".

If the person is not satisfied with that reply, give him a contact card which points him to our website where he can get facts about us, our beliefs and practices and if he has any questions, to ask them when you return.

Further Reading
Why Jehovah's Witnesses Do Not Respond to All Accusations Made Against Them
Witnesses Recognized for Community Service in Russia
Putin Gives Witness Family "Parental Glory" Award