Galatians 5:23
Galatians 5:2323gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Well known and frequently taught. The fruitage of the spirit is presented as the evidence that Jehovah's spirit is at work, and it is applied outward — to show that Christendom's churches lack this fruit and that the organisation's global unity and conduct demonstrate it. It is rarely turned inward toward the organisation's own founders or practices.
Accept the test. Jesus set it himself in — you know a tree by its fruit — and Paul lists the fruit here. The only question worth raising is whether the test is being applied in both directions. The Watchtower applies it outward with confidence. Ask, gently, whether the same list can be held up to the organisation's own history: the way disagreement among its early leaders was resolved, and the way members who reach different conclusions are treated now. Mildness, patience and kindness are on this list. So is love. It helps to go first. The apostolic record is not spotless — Paul and Barnabas split in anger, Paul rebuked Peter publicly — and Christians do not hide it. What the record also shows is restoration: Peter calling Paul beloved, Paul asking for Mark at the end. That is the fruit, visible over time, in the New Testament's own account of its leaders. The question then asks itself, and you do not have to press it. Compare , , .