Okay, Serendipity, I did it. I included a section in my already War-And-Peace-Like letter that drawns attention the quote you mention--and others like it. Here it is...
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(I've left off with inviting her to consider ALL of the information available...)
If you do you will be utterly floored to find that so many of those negative things we have heard people say over the years—the stuff we’ve always pooh-poohed—is not the flimsy faultfinding we thought it was. You will also note how the organization’s teachings on its own authority have, just like the leaven of the Pharisees, grown out of control.
"A visible organization is out of harmony with God’s divine plan." [Watchtower, December 1, 1894, p. 1743]
Then later…
“How is such independent thinking manifested? A common way is by questioning the counsel that is provided by God’s visible organization.” [Watchtower, January 15, 1983, p. 22]
Next…
"Beware of "organization." It is wholly unnecessary. The Bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others consciences, and do not permit others to bind yours. Believe and obey so far as you can understand God’s Word today, and so continue growing in grace and knowledge and love day by day." [Watchtower, September 15, 1895, p. 1866]
But later…
"Unless we are in touch with this channel of communication that God is using, we will not progress along the road to life, no matter how much Bible reading we do.” [Watchtower, December 1, 1981, p. 27]
Even as recently as 1961, this appeared in The Watchtower…
“If one renders obedient service to someone or some organization, whether willingly or under compulsion, looking up to such as possessing a position of superior rulership and great authority, then that one can Scripturally be said to be a worshiper.” [Watchtower, September 1, 1961, p. 525]
But what does the Society teach today?
"Those who desire life in the New Order must come into a right relationship with the organization." [Watchtower, November 15, 1981, pp. 16-17]
The above is a small glimpse at how what started out as a fairly harmless group became a legalistic and authoritarian institution. Their own words condemn them. But there is so much more, and you deserve to see it.
I also added to (imagine that) the part about the Society's 607 blunder...
Yes, at some point they will see that it’s not just “mistakes” that have been made. As I told you on the phone, whether you realize it or not, the entire foundation for the Watchtower Society’s claims of authority rests upon their calculation of 1914 as the date when Jesus began to rule. Their claims have vacillated through the years, but for some time now they’ve taught that in 1918, three years after they say Jesus sat down on his throne, he came to inspect those claiming to be Christians, and after a period of cleansing appointed associates of the Watchtower Society “over all his belongings.”
Problem: In the late 1960s, when conducting research for Aid to Bible Understanding, it was discovered that Jerusalem did not fall in 607 BCE, but in 587 BCE. This would necessarily make the end of the “Gentile times” 1934 instead of 1914. Later a remarkable amount of research was conducted by a Swedish pioneer elder who found seven lines of evidence demonstrating this very thing. Everyone else on the planet knows Jerusalem fell in 587. Only the Watchtower Society, because of an apparent reliance on bad information provided by Russell’s one time associate Nelson Barbour, used 607. When the truth was discovered, the Governing Body considered a revision to the former Gentile Time date calculations. But they realized this would devastate all former teachings about Jesus coming in 1914 and choosing them in 1918/1919—and would dash their claims of having been appointed as God’s sole channel of communication. So the majority voted not to release this information.
The brother in the writing department assigned to pen the information under “Chronology” in the Aid book later confessed he was simply given the task of finding whatever fault he could with the new information they found. He, along with other longtime brothers in the writing department, many other Bethelites and even that Swedish brother, would eventually be disfellowshipped for not keeping this and other information deemed embarrassing to the Society quiet.
Mother, any argument about “waiting on Jehovah” or things being taken care of “in Jehovah’s due time” is pointless since it presumes that the leadership of this organization has grounds for proclaiming their unequaled divine authority. But they don’t! They were not at any time—and they certainly aren’t now—chosen to be God’s mouthpiece, and their insistence that they be recognized as such makes them no different than the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. You have every right to examine the evidence in this regard, Mother. And you should be suspicious of anyone telling you not to.
Confession, of the "Just When You Thought You Were Finally Done Class"
