Because... there's less war than ever.

Key to the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses is that we’re in the last days of this world, and to demonstrate that we only need to look around and see that there are more wars now than ever before. Sure this is a sign!

Except it’s not.

Consider how many people have died in war. For example, World War II killed between 40-70 million people. That’s terrible! That’s almost as bad as the Muslim conquest of India, which happened between 1000-1525 and killed 60-80 million people. The Taipeng rebellion in China may have killed 100 million people.

You want to hear something crazy? The Mongol conquest killed half of Asia. Genghis Khan lowered the Earth's temperature due to all the people he killed. So many died that farmlands were reclaimed by forests, which lowered the earth's temperature.

Because... they lie about child sacrifice in the Bible.

So here's the story: The good judge Jephthah was facing down a huge battle, and he was freaking out. He turned to Jehovah, and made this promise at Judges 11:30,31:

30 Then Jeph′thah made a vow to Jehovah and said: “If you give the Am′mon·ites into my hand, 31 then whoever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Am′mon·ites will become Jehovah’s, and I will offer that one up as a burnt offering.”

We know how the story ended. The battle was won by Jephthah's men, and on the way out, who would come to meet them but Jephthah's daughter. We continue:

Because... they don't teach right and wrong.

Anyone who's been around the organization for a bit knows the refrain: Someone leaves the organization, and shortly thereafter gets a drunk driving conviction / tattoo / unplanned pregnancy. The next thing you hear is other Witnesses tut-tutting:

"That's what happens when people leave! They go crazy! People really need the organization, don't they!"

Is that what really happens? What actually causes people (especially kids who leave) to go so crazy?

Because... Abraham was kind of a jerk.

Let’s look at the story of Abraham first of all. He was rich and prosperous in the city of Ur until God told him to leave. He packs up everything and heads out into the wild toward Canaan with all of his people.

We’re going to focus on one of the most important parts of his life: His attempted sacrifice of his son Isaac. Let’s reread the story from Genesis 22:1-13 out of the New World Translation: