Larry seems a little confused as to historical facts. And it seems, Biblical facts too. For instance, there was apostasy BEFORE the last of the Apostles died. That was why the ‘Pastoral Epistles’ of first and second Timothy and Titus were written by Paul to give them advice as they served as leaders. These epistles dealt with two big issues “False doctrine and Faulty leadership” (1 Timothy) Paul counsels Timothy on the problems of FALSE TEACHERS, public prayer, the role of women in the church, and the requirements for elders and deacons. Stresses sound doctrine and orderly church government. (2 Timothy)
Describes the true servant of Jesus Christ. Warns of the apostasy (rejecting spiritual beliefs in favour of an opposing belief) THAT HAD ALREADY BEGUN, and presents the Word of God as the remedy to correct all error.
The False doctrines being taught included Don't marry, Don't eat meat, Gain godliness, The resurrection has already come, vain babblings (angelologies, fables), and circumcision.
As for Paganism he obviously presents no historical evidence whatsoever for his claims. An interesting point is to look at what Augustine said about ‘pagan origins’ in his work entitled “On Christian Teaching.”
“we should not avoid music because of the associated pagan superstitions if there is a possibility of gleaning something from it something of value for understanding holy scripture. Nor, on the other hand should we be captivated by the vanities of the theatre if we are discussing something to do with lyres or other instruments that may help us appreciate spiritual truths. We were not wrong to learn the alphabet just because they say that the god Mercury was its patron, nor should we avoid justice and virtue just because they dedicated temples to justice and virtue . . . A person who is a good and a true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities…”
Consider the following also when talking about JW’s and Paganism.
Dave Brown former bethelite reports, "the Watchtower Society had promoted a new calendar which they called “the Calendar of Jehovah God.” Basically, the idea was that the civil calendar was tainted by paganism and should not be used by Christians. 3 issues of the Golden Age magazine detailed this new calendar and it also was promoted in the 1935 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower magazine. A few weeks after it appeared in Golden Age the whole project was shelved. Why? Apparently, saner minds decided it would make Jehovah’s Witnesses look too strange." So God changed is mind yet again, and it became ok for the society to continue to use the tainted pagan calendar.
UPDATE TO LARRY THE JW's COMMENTS ON MY ANSWER.
Unlike the JW's Larry the rest of us deal with facts. You say you were called Jehovah’s witnesses in 1935, but actually, you adopted the name in 1931 at the Columbus, Ohio convention. So, you are confused about that too. You really ought to research your own history. As for your comments about the birth of Jesus I would remind you that we are dealing with the question of ‘pagan customs’ getting into Christianity I fail to see how the birth of Jesus has anything to do with that. I have been a Christian for 45 years and have never met anyone who actually believes that Jesus was born on December the 25th. I will, however, remind you of what your organization formerly taught about Christmas. "Even though Christmas is not the real anniversary of our Lord's birth, but more properly the annunciation day or the date of his human begetting (Luke 1:28), nevertheless, since the celebration of our Lord's birth is not a matter of divine appointment or injunction, but merely a tribute of respect to him, IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR US TO QUIBBLE PARTICULARLY ABOUT THE DATE. WE MAY AS WELL JOIN WITH THE CIVILISED WORLD IN CELEBRATING THE GRAND EVENT ON THE DAY WHICH THE MAJORITY CELEBRAYE - "CHRISTMAS DAY."" (Zion's Watch Tower 1904 Dec 1 p.364). Were you not in the so-called ‘truth’ then?
The whole point of my answer was to show you that you also adopt many Pagan customs such as the use of the calendar, in fact you were even going to change it but decided to keep on using it, even though it has pagan roots.
As for your comment “Jehovah’s Witnesses is the fastest growing religion in the world.” This is a total fallacy, actually Islam is the worlds fastest growing religion. See this latest quote from ‘Fact Tank’ “Muslims will grow more than twice as fast as the overall world population between 2015 and 2060 and, in the second half of this century, will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religious group.”
As for growing fast the average annual growth in the Jehovah’s Witness organization has been a steady 1.5% for a good decade now. Check out your
last year's published grand totals and divide the number of hours spent in the field by the number baptised. It works out to over 7,000 hours spent for just *one* new person to join the organization. That's fast growing?
As for your NWT being ‘the most accurate bible known” provide me with the facts, outside your organization.