Is it "Deception" or are they simply "Misguided"???

The Scotsman

As many of you know I have been looking abit closer at the teachings of the WTBTS or is it the FDS or is it the Governing body, its all abit cloudy now.

Anyway my point is this - Is it deception (a deliberate attempt to mislead people) or is it that they are misguided (think they are right but are not).

My own opinion - I think they are in the middle somewhere. Some on the writing committees, even on the GB must have some doubts about some of the teachings, but in an attempt to keep control they knowingly keep up the current teachings. ""1914 being a prime example"". But I am also of the feeling that much of what is said or printed is done in good faith, with sincerity.

Of course a problem with someone who employs deception is that they can no longer be trusted!!!!

AlphaOmega

I was asked the same question recently by a Witness...

In my opinion, originally (in Russell's day) they were misguided, then the deception and self serving crept in with Rutherford's "hostile" takeover of the organisation.

Nowdays, the Watchtower is stuck trying to undo or "forget" Rutherford's doctrines.

So, I imagine deception remains - as to know the truth, but mislead people is deception.

However, maybe nowdays they are deluded - as many of the Elders aren't aware of the murky history of the organisation.
I have an analogy of this that I will post when I get home.

metatron

You ask a good question. The truth is probably like that scripture about "deceivers and being

deceived". If you read CoC, it's hard to escape a notion that some of them know it's just bogus

nonsense, especially the chronology.

metatron

The Scotsman

<<AlphaOmega>>

You said -- then the deception and self serving crept in with Rutherford's "hostile" takeover of the organisation.--

Can you elaborate on why you call it a "hostile" takeover?? I am on a big learning curve.

Cheers

ninja

they are "captives of a concept" as the book says......they are trying to twist everything to suit their doctrines.....yet at the back of their mind a small voice is telling them its wrong.....horrible thing is...they have 6 million people thinking they are speaking to and for God

AlphaOmega

From my understanding of things, I seem to remember that Rutherford broke the conditions laid down in Russell's will - and that he then sacked the board of directors at the time - giving himself total control.

I will dig out some PDFs that should shed some more light on it. I would like to read more about the issue too, as I say, I have some PDFs at home and will post them here later this evening along with the analogy that fits that they are "deceived deceivers" and "captives of a concept"...

...basically, it goes like this...

... they were lied to...
they acceted the lie...
now they teach the lie...
this continues...
until no one is alive that remembers the original lie.

AO

This may help as an overview... http://www.jwfiles.com/rutherford.htm

ninja

hey scotty....try and get the douglas walsh case on pdf......the watchtower former vice president hayden covington admitted under oath at a court trial in Edinburgh that they promulgated false prophecy in saying Jesus arrived in 1874......and if their adherents didnt accept it they would be disfellowshipped......I think this is the only ADMISSION of false prophecy in their history.........can someone post the douglas walsh case for scotty if possible?

AlphaOmega

...and this might help too.

Google Books Link

Also here

According to instructions Russell left behind, his successor to the presidency would share power with an editorial committee and with the Watch Tower corporation's board of directors, whom Russell had appointed "for life."

Rare Photo of Board of Directors after Russell's Death
Top: (left to right)J.A. Bohnet, R.J. Martin, Giovanni DeCecca, F.H. Robinson, C.J. Woodworth
Bottom: A.H.MacMillan, J.F.Rutherford, WE. VanAmburg
Joseph Franklin ("Judge") Rutherford soon set about concentrating all organizational authority in his own hands. A skilled lawyer who had served as Russell's chief legal advisor, he combined legal prowess with what opponents undoubtedly saw as a Machiavellian approach to internal corporate politics. Thus he used a loophole in their appointment to unseat the majority of the Watch Tower directors without calling a membership vote. And he even had a subordinate summon the police into the Society's Brooklyn headquarters offices to break up their board meeting and evict them from the premises. (Faith on the March by A. H. Macmillan, pp. 78-80)
After securing the headquarters complex and the sect's corporate entities, Rutherford turned his attention to the rest of the organization. By gradually replacing locally elected elders with his own appointees, he managed to transform a loose collection of semi-autonomous democratically-run congregations into a tight-knit organizational machine run from his office. Some local congregations broke away, forming such Russellite splinter groups as the Chicago Bible Students, the Dawn Bible Students, and the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement, all of which continue to this day. But most Bible Students remained under his control, and Rutherford renamed them "Jehovah's Witnesses" in 1931, to distinguish them from these other groups.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2919/wthistory.html

AlphaOmega

hey scotty....try and get the douglas walsh case on pdf......the watchtower former vice president hayden covington admitted under oath at a court trial in Edinburgh that they promulgated false prophecy in saying Jesus arrived in 1874......and if their adherents didnt accept it they would be disfellowshipped......I think this is the only ADMISSION of false prophecy in their history.........can someone post the douglas walsh case for scotty if possible?

Ninja - this thread has an earily familiar feel to it Both of "the" trials are located here and can be download free of charge. Walsch - http://www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=762879&fBuyItem=5 Moyle - http://www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=969512&fBuyItem=5

Leolaia

It's both: It's self-deception.

Is it "Deception" or are they simply "Misguided"???

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