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Authority and accountability · Claim record

In October 1967 The Watchtower stated that the Bible 'belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals' and 'cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind'.

Claim ID claim-authority-1967-bible-cannot-be-understood-without-organizationConcerns 1 October 1967Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 1 October 1967 Verified

In October 1967 The Watchtower stated that the Bible 'belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals' and 'cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind'. The Watchtower, 1 October 1967

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Finding Freedom with Jehovah’s Visible Organization”

1 October 1967 · pp.585-591 · par. 9 (p. 587) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.”

Argument that each Bible book was written to the congregation as an organisation, so interpretation belongs to the organisation.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened the WOL document; page marker confirms p. 587 (the brief's page reference is correct).

Notes. The sentence 'Jehovah's organization alone, in all the earth, is directed by God's holy spirit' does NOT appear in this article (it is from w73 7/1 p. 402; not opened in this session).

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-w-1967-1001-finding-freedom-visible-organization

Claim page

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