Incredible!!..I forgot about that post..There it is,5yrs later.I still feel the same way..Fisherman you are an idiot.The WBT$ continues to be corrupt..That is sad...OUTLAW
Mistakes Admitted by WTS?
by Marvin Shilmer 35 Replies latest jw friends
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Fisherman
Outlaw you are a pea brain. Learn to read before yapping.
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lighthouse19something
1)They said they were wrong to have observing Christmas
2)They said they were wrong to have to have observed a "National Day of Prayer"
3) They missunderstood the real meaning of 1914 in the 1800s
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Leolaia
The wts never errs. Although not infallible, they as time goes on get clarifications but their views were not wrong at the time because the light gets brighter and brighter. Make sense?
Does it make sense if they originally had the "correct" position, then change it to a different one claiming that "light is increasing brighter and brighter", only to go back to the original view? That has happened many times.
In 1906, the Watchtower stated that "Our Lord Jesus in his own person has been the Mediator between the Father and the 'household of faith' during this Gospel age" (15 January 1906, p. 3709). Then in 1909, a new article on the subject quotes this very statement and declares: "This statement is incorrect. No Scripture so declares. It is part of the smoke of the dark ages which we are glad now to wipe from our eyes". Ah, increasing light! Thus, "God did not provide Him as our mediator, proves that we do not need Him as such ... The church does not need a mediator" (1907; What Pastor Russell Said, pp. 99-100). Similarly, the new creatures "need no mediator" and that it is a "mistake" to believe that "his mediatorship and the New Covenant have something to do with the church" (Watchtower Reprints, 1 January 1909, p. 4310, 15 September 1909, p. 4477). Rutherford accepted this view initially: "No Scripture could be found to state that Christ was acting as Mediator for the church" (Watchtower, 15 October 1921, p. 308). But then Rutherford went right back to the "smoke of the dark ages" and reasserted the original view: "Christ Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant toward his own brethren, that is to say, spiritual Israel ... There is one mediator between God and men, that is, all men who are consecreated to do the will of God, and that mediator is Christ Jesus the Redeemer" (Watchtower, 1 April 1934, pp. 104-105).
Similarly, Russell wrote that "in the brighter shining of the Lamp of God's Word upon our pathway as a light in a dark place, we see most distinctly that the New Covenant belongs exclusively to the coming age" (Watchtower Reprints, 1 January 1907, p. 3916). Increasing light! But in reality, this statement rejects the very view that is today accepted by Society, that the New Covenant is already in operation (cf. Watchtower, 1 November 1955, p. 658).
Another example is the teaching on the "superior authorities" in Romans 13:1-7. Originally, under Pastor Russell, the Society taught that these referred to political governmental authorities: "The Bible directs the followers of Jesus to be subject to the powers that be. (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17) But while seeking to be thus law-abiding in every respect, Christians are to recognize that there is still a higher law and a still higher Ruler” (Watchtower Reprints, 15 January 1916, p. 5840). But Rutherford in 1929 started teaching that the "superior authorities" were Jehovah and Jesus (1 & 15 June 1929 Watchtower). He claimed that these adjustments God "makes clear by the flashes of lightning upon his Word" (15 June 1929 Watchtower, p. 185). Increasing light! Indeed, this is how it is presented in the Divine Purpose book:
There were many false doctrines and practices that had not yet been cleaned out of the organization . Not all of them were recognized at once, but gradually over the years that followed it became evident to what extent the brothers had been in Babylonish captivity at that time. With considerable misunderstanding they had accepted earthly political governments as the "superior authorities" that God had ordained according to Romans 13 :1; and as a result the Witnesses had been held in fear of man, particularly the civil rulers. (Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, 1959, p. 91)
Indeed, what increasing light! But then the Society reverted right to the position that Pastor Russell originally had, that Romans 13:1-7 refers to earthly governmental authorities (1 & 15 November 1962 Watchtower). And guess what? Instead of what Rutherford took to be "increasing light," the Society today considers its present view (= Russell's original view) the result of "increasing light":
*** jv chap. 10 p. 147 Growing in Accurate Knowledge of the Truth ***
As Jehovah has shed more light on his Word by means of his spirit, his servants have been humbly willing to make needed adjustments. Such progressive understanding was not limited to the early period of their modern-day history. It continues right down to the present. For example, in 1962 there was an adjustment of understanding regarding "the superior authorities" of Romans 13:1-7. For many years the Bible Students had taught that "the higher powers" (KJ) were Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. Why? In The Watch Towers of June 1 and June 15, 1929, a variety of secular laws were cited, and it was shown that what was permitted in one land was forbidden in another. Attention was also drawn to secular laws that required people to do what God prohibited or that forbade what God commanded his servants to do. Because of their earnest desire to show respect for the supreme authority of God, it seemed to the Bible Students that "the higher powers" must be Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. They still obeyed secular laws, but the emphasis was on obedience to God first. That was an important lesson, one that fortified them during the years of world turmoil that followed. But they did not clearly understand what Romans 13:1-7 was saying.
*** w90 11/1 p. 11 The Christian’s View of the Superior Authorities ***
For some years, until 1962, Jehovah’s Witnesses held that the superior authorities were Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. However, in line with Proverbs 4:18, light increased, and this view was adjusted, which may raise questions in the minds of some.
But if the current position is the result of increasing light, how is it that increasing light in Rutherford's day led him to reject the correct view?
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restrangled
If you personally had to admit to a mistake, what would you say?
Most likely it would contain a version of the following....
"I'm sorry, I was wrong, I made a mistake, please forgive me.
Never in my lifetime has the society said anything of the sort.
It has always been blamed on the rank and file, or excused as new light or old light, and a lot of additional verbage to avoid the subject.
NO HONEST APOLOGIES FROM THE WTBS EXSIST.
R.
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Black Sheep
In 1980 (?) they admitted some responsibility for the 1975 debacle. Was that written by Ray Franz pre WT exit?
COC page 253: "....I had to be governed by-not what I would have liked to say or even what I thought the brothers needed to hear-but by what could be said that would have some hope of approval by two-thirds of the Governing Body when submitted to them."
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fairy
"When we make mistakes, as all imperfect humans do, let us be ready to acknowledge them, even as the "faithful and discreet slave," made up of imperfect fleshly men, has had to make corrections." Watchtower 8/15 1981 Page 28
Doesnt their information come from jehovah? So, if it does, then is he giving them the wrong information?
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jwfacts
Here is a fairly recent admission.
*** w97 6/1 p. 28 Questions From Readers ***
It must be acknowledged that we have not always taken Jesus’ words in that sense. There is a tendency for imperfect humans to want to be specific about the date when the end will come. Recall that even the apostles sought more specifics, asking: "Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?"—Acts 1:6.
And the 1975 admission
Watchtower 1980 March 15 p.17
“In modern times such eagerness, commendable in itself, has led to attempts at setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth. With the appearance of the book Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of man’s existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975. There were statements made then, and thereafter, stressing that this was only a possibility. Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility. It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of the expectation already initiated.