The JW library CD - Are the articles in their original version?

by bohm 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  bohm

  Hey! I stumbled on something on jwfacts.com. On this page (http://jwfacts.com/index_files/1800s.htm) it says: (my emphasis)

  "He was laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century." Watchtower 1989 January 1 p.12 This is as written in the originally printed 1989 article, not as contained in the bound volume or the version on the CD library. I pioneered during the late 1980's and was strongly influenced by the statements in the 1980's articles. I told my Bible studies and many people when preaching that it would be almost impossible that the end would not have arrived by the year 2000.

  Thats quite new to me, i thought the articles contained on the CD was in their original versions. Does anybody know if this is true and if so, to what extend this is happening? Is alterations on material on the cdrom systematic? What is the version of the quote on the CD?
• 

  leftbelow

  Yes they changed that sentence in both the bound volumes and the CD ROM.
• 

  StoneWall

  bohm I see you're relatively new to the board, so let me start by saying Welcome!

  Getting back to your post tho yes it's true what is at jwfacts regarding that particular watchtower.

  It is funny to me that you picked up on that because that was one of the first things to get me really looking into all

  the other publications and checking into them for contradictions or "new lite".

  I didn't have that single issue left in my library but I did have both the bound volume and the society's CD-Rom and

  both of them was the same. So I went to one of my family members house that always keeps the single issues and

  put's them in the binders to form a complete years worth of the mags that way. I asked them if I could look something

  up in them that I was researching and they said sure. I was amazed when I saw it with my own two eyes that it had

  been changed in that same year. Then I asked a brother in the hall that I went to that had been a long time witness

  for many years if the info in the individual mags was exactly the same as what appears in the bound volumes. His

  answer was yes its always the same. You shoulda seen his eyes when i showed this to him. You coulda heard a pin

  drop. He couldn't believe his eyes then when he compared the two. Needless to say he went on that tangent about

  oh well at least they changed it within the one year blah,blah,blah.

  but I can guarantee you that he will never tell anyone else that the info is always the same. LOL

  THe look on his face was priceless. I guess kinda similar to what was on mine when I first seen it.

  Anyways if you got a friend or family member that keeps the single copies in a binder or just in a box around

  their house ask them if you can see that issue. It's the WatchTower 1989 Jan.1 issue page 12.

  It's paragraph 8 in the study article if my memory serves me right.

  Regards,

  StoneWall
• 

  stillajwexelder

  They announce as a disclaimer on their CD that the content may differ from the original
• 

  wizardca

  false prophecy revised.
• 

  freddo

  It is extremely rare to find a difference - and that is the only one I have ever found. I treasure my single paper copy of that WT which I keep safe for future reference. And the bound volume matches the CD. So they did change it before the CD came out.

  Interestingly on the latest 2008 CD-ROM if you look up "books" you will still find (KJ) Know Jehovah 1971 and on page 216 (Chapter 12) para. 9. you will see - "Shortly, within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will begin..."

  Type "shortly within" into the CD-ROM search box - you'll find it under books soon enough!
• 

  jwfacts

  And the bound volume matches the CD. So they did change it before the CD came out.

  When I was at bethel pre-cd days, one of the printers told me that the bound volumes were regularly changed from the printed magazines to edit out any errors that had slipped past the proof readers.

  Also different versions of some books vary, for example:

  The 1968 edition of The Truth book contained subtle quotes pointing to the fact that the world could not survive past 1975.

  "Back in 1960, a former United States Secretary of State, Dean Acherson declared that our time is "a period of unequaled instability, unequaled violence" And he warned: "I know enough of what is going on to assure you that, in fifteen years from today this world is going to be too dangerous to live in"" The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life p.9 1968 edition

  The revised edition published in 1981, replaced this quote to read as follows:

  "Also, as reported back in 1960, a former United States Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, declared that our time is "a period of unequaled instability, unequaled violence." Based on what he knew was then going on in the world, it was his conclusion that soon "this world is going to be too dangerous to live in."" The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life p.9

  Likewise the 1968 edition contained a quote from the book Famine--1975! referring to how unlivable the world would be by 1975.

  ""By 1975 civil disorder, anarchy, military dictatorships, runaway inflation, transportation breakdowns and chaotic unrest will be the order of the day in many of the hungry nations.""The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life pp.88-89

  The 1981 edition replaced this with a 1980 quote on famine from the London Times.

  There are numerous changes between the different versions of Studies in the Scriptures as prophecies went unfulfilled.
• 

  jwfacts

  Here are some scans of the articles

  

  
• 

  bohm

  Thanks a lot for the response!

  JWFacts: Thanks for the scans! You got to love the talk of the sword from the all-loving God. I say the poor devil should have been removed as a child, only child with such a violent dad..., no wonder he turned out the way he is! :-) .

  StoneWall: Good story... this is actually also the one change in the chronology that surpriced me the most... it just seem so arbitrary to change this one sentence and still leave so many strange things in the other magazines. Its my impression most witnesses know that now and then there are a lot of new light (or perhaps rather, things that can be interpreted that way by people who dont have the full picture..), but they believe the magazines are reprinted as they were.

  stillajwexelder: I know that its possible to come up with explanations like "but they quickly realised this was an human error made by the guy who wrote the article, not actual 'light'" (and lets face it, that is actually a reasonable explanation), but it leaves a lot of questions, like: "if they realised so quickly this was changed, and it had such a simple explanation, why was it not written in the subsequent edition of the watchtower? wouldnt they be in the FDS's interest that everybody has the proper light at all times?" or "i believe jehovas witnesses are very proud that they admit errors when they are made as opposed to the catholic church? Do you believe having a transparent policy with regard to changes in doctrine is important? (etc.).
  I want to make a small thought experiment. Suppose that the catholic church printed a book with what appeared to be verbatim copies of older puplications the vatican had printed. Suppose they realised that one of the articles was wrong shortly after it was printed, but did not puplish an errandum at the time. Now, suppose that the reprint of the article contained that change... and it was quite an important change, i mean, assume it was the most important part of the article and something the catholics had talked about amongst themselves at the time... but nothing indicated that a change had been made.
  Do you believe this would indicate a transparent politic with regards to changes in previous puplications? Suppose that the only way a catholic could find out about this change was to actually go to a library or something and find an actualy copy of the magazine from the time it was printed, which was decades ago, do you believe that is an easy/honest/transparent way of letting the catholic have acess to the churchs history?. Would you advice him to spend at least a night or two searching for information on his church to see if other changes had been made, so he could put his mind at ease that his church did not handle its own past in a dishonest way, and that this change was just a one time error?"

  Well, i think i will try it out on a witness if i get a chance. im quite interested in seing how one can rationalise these things.
• 

  JustHuman14

  Like George's Orwell novel 1984 the party changes the history books in order to fit their current history. If they were in war with Eurasia and allies with Eustasia and now it is the opposite, the books must be according to the current present. The past didn't matter. This is how WT is changing their past in order to fit their present.

  Does any average JW have access to Russell's books or Booze Jo's rainbow? Even in Kindom halls you can NOT find those books. They are very rare among JW's. That is why the CD gives only few decades only and not the entire written history of the WT. Can you imagine the impact if they could read the Finished Mystery, Thy Kindom Come, Millions now living will never die? Not to mention Angels and Women, Russells false prophecies, Occult roots, pyramidology, numerology?

  Orwell said: " Everything Faded to the mist, the past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became TRUTH"