A Biblical Standard for Evaluating the Jehovah’s Witnesses

If the Jehovah’s Witnesses belong to the true "congregation" (i.e., their preferred translation of ekklēsia, which is most often rendered as "church"), then there must be scriptural evidence that their particular ekklēsia is the one, true, and visible body of Christ, which has existed in unbroken continuity since its very foundation. I'll be using their own translation of the Bible to support this particular standard.

• Christ himself built his ekklēsia (Matthew 16:18). 
• The ekklēsia is the body of Christ (Colossians 1:24) and is therefore one, since Christ has only one body.
• The ekklēsia is “a” bulwark of truth (1 Timothy 3:15).[1] 
• The ekklēsia is a visible body.  For "if your brother commits a sin," how can you "speak to the congregation [i.e, ekklēsia]" to resolve the matter if you can't even find it? (Matthew 18:15-17). 
• The ekklēsia must be a permanent body since Jesus says that not even the “gates of the Grave” (Matthew 16:18) will overcome it.

With these points in mind, the Jehovah's Witnesses should be asked the following:

• Where in history do we find anything remotely similar to the ekklēsia of the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
• If you believe that your ekklēsia was the original ekklēsia, but somehow went missing for a number of centuries (as is evidenced by the vast difference in beliefs and practices between you and Christians of the intervening period), shouldn’t we conclude that the “gates of the Grave” did indeed overcome the ekklēsia until Charles Taze Russel “resurrected” it in the 1870s?  In other words, did Jesus predict wrongly in Matthew 16:18?

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[1] The NWT inserts the indefinite article “a” in this verse, presumably to imply that the ekklēsia is but one “pillar and support of the truth” among others.  However, among the 28 renderings listed on Bible Hub, the vast majority (93%) translated stylos to mean the pillar.

On Scripted Prayers

...if your soul wishes to pray in its own and not in other men's words, give it freedom." - St. Theophan the Recluse ("The Art of Prayer")

In a recent conversation, a Jehovah's Witness friend of mine raised the issue of "scripted prayers" (e.g., the Lord's Prayer).  She subtly suggested that those who offer such prayers are the hypocrites referred to in Chapter 6 of St. Matthew's Gospel.  The following verses appear to be of greatest relevance to her implicit claim:

Verse 1: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Verse 5: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” 

Verse 7: “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

Her comments brought to mind a couple points worth mentioning.  If Jehovah’s Witnesses are similar to Evangelical Christians, then they prefer spontaneous (or “free-style”) prayer over the recitation of such composed prayers as the Our Father. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll call those who pray the former "free-stylers", and those who pray the latter “reciters”. Here’s the important question: Isn’t it possible for free-stylers, as well as reciters, to display a fake righteousness to others (Verse 1), to pray like hypocrites (Verse 5), or to babble like pagans (Verse 7)? If it is possible, then one cannot logically conclude from Chapter 6, alone, that reciting composed prayers is in some sense wrong or unhelpful.  Speaking personally, when I'm struggling for the appropriate words or am distracted, I've found that, as both a free-styler and a reciter, my prayers suffer. 

Beyond the Scriptures, one must understand that spontaneous prayers are not discouraged in the Orthodox Church (nor, I suspect, in the Roman Catholic Church). My sense is that some critics assume that our prayer life is monopolized by scripted prayers, when, in fact, we are expected to free-style, as well. As 19th century Russian Orthodox saint, Theophan the Recluse, put it:

As you begin to accustom yourself to praying as you should  with prayers written by others, your own prayers and cries to God will well up in you.  Never neglect these aspirations to God that manifest themselves in your soul.  Every time that they arise, be still, and pray with your own words; nor think that in so praying you do harm to prayer itself.  No: it is just in this way that you pray as you should , and this prayer ascends more quickly to God than any other.