The Watchtower, “Keeping God’s Congregation Clean in the Time of His Judgment”
“They may now be given a reasonable period of time, such as six months, in which to free themselves of the addiction. … If persons already baptized are not willing to abandon their addiction to damaging and enslaving products, what then? … They should therefore be removed from the congregation due to such conduct unbecoming a Christian.”
The article classifies nicotine with addictive drugs, says those still using tobacco do not qualify for baptism, gives already-baptised users about six months to stop, and provides for expulsion if they do not. The two quoted sentences are paragraphs 22 and 24.
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Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Keeping God’s Congregation Clean in the Time of His Judgment
Confidence note. Article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full. Paragraph 22 sits after the page 340 marker and paragraph 24 begins immediately after the page 341 marker; the article runs pp. 336-343.
Corroborated by. src-chg-p-km-1974-02-employment-tobacco, src-chg-p-kr-2014-ch11-tobacco
Notes. The ellipsis joins paragraph 22 to paragraph 24; the intervening paragraph 23 compares tobacco withdrawal with withdrawal from hard drugs.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-w-1973-0601-congregation-clean