The new light doctrine has to be the most devious method the watchtower has
ever devised to continually change their doctrine yet keep control of their members.
The scripture they generally use to justify it, Proverbs 4:18, is taken completely out
of context anyway:
14 Into the path of the wicked ones do not enter, and do not walk straight on into the way of the bad ones. 15 Shun it, do not pass along by it; turn aside from it, and pass along. 16 For they do not sleep unless they do badness, and their sleep has been snatched away unless they cause someone to stumble. 17 For they have fed themselves with the bread of wickedness, and the wine of acts of violence is what they drink. 18 But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established. 19 The way of the wicked ones is like the gloom; they have not known at what they keep stumbling
Reading the whole passage in context, it is quite obvious that it refers to the differrent
outcomes that those following the right and wrong paths may expect, and has nothing
whatsoever to do with new revelations of bible truth or understanding.
When the watchtower changes a doctrine these days, the new teaching becomes almost
meaningless in comparison to the teaching it replaced. Take the generation change - prior
to 1995, the watchtower were quite definite that large numbers of those that saw the events
of 1914 would also see the end of the present system. By the 1990's, these people were
dying off, and the doctrine either had to be changed or the watchtower would have been faced
with the embarassment of explaining another failed prophecy. The watchtower's unwillingness
to ever admit to a mistake made a change imperative, so it was made, and now no one has
any clear idea which generation it is that will actually see the end.
The recent change in the May 1st watchtower, where they imply that the gathering of the
anointed, which they have long maintained was completed in 1935 apart from replacements, is
actually still taking place, gives them a way of explaining why the number of partakers at the
memorial rarely falls, and sometimes even increases. It also postpones armageddon again, as
I believe that they still teach that all the anointed must be gathered before the end comes. They
can now delay the completion of this gathering of the anointed for as long as they can get away
with it which, knowing how the majority of jws still accept anything the gb says as the truth, may
be for a good few years yet.
Just how long jws will continue to accept these changes without question is anyone's guess,
but the org seems to have the ability to replace ideas they previously stated as fact with newer,
less definite theories, and get many of their members to not only accept the "new light", but to
almost forget that they ever taught anything else. Therefore, more enforced changes may be on
the horizon for the wts, and though there may be some initial resistance, most jws will probably
just accept them without question.
dedpoet