Ok, here is the latest conversation we've had. I took some of your suggestions and incorporated them into my reply. His comments are in the boxes:
"....Again the WTS is using the term "prophet" in the basic sense of a spokesman. ALL Christians when they speak or share from God's word are "prophets" in that basic sense...."
Sorry Paul, but the WTS does NOT get to pick and choose how they want to use a word, apply it to themselves without using the full meaning. A "prophet" is someone "...gifted at expositing divine truth" (Stongs) or "..an interpreter or forth-teller of the divine will" (NAS Exhaustive Concordance). Jehovah's Witnesses (most notably the leaders) have done this very thing from it's inception in the 1870's.
The Organization most definitely has said they were told directly from Jehovah, they HAVE said they speak for Jehovah, they HAVE claimed inspiration. They call themselves the Ezekiel class, the Jeremiah class etc. over the years, paralleling themselves with the prophets mentioned in the bible.
I'm not sure how old you are, but you should try checking the inside cover of the Awake! magazines before they changed the "Generation of 1914" doctrine in November 1995. Before that it specifically stated that:
"...Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away."
Who did they say made this promise? It says right there in black and white that Jehovah made the promise. If that's not 'speaking for God', I don't know what is. And after that infamous WT article that wiped out a decades old belief with the stroke of a pen, they went and replaced it (apparently hoping noone would notice) with the following:
"...Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure world that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of things."
That says it all.
"...The term is NOT being used to describe a "Prophet" who has direct inspiration to reveal NEW things directly from God. This is consistently taught and we, Jehovah's Witnesses, know this and do NOT look at any man as a "Prophet" in the sense Mr Rhodes used it and you are seeing it...."
Surely you jest. Witnesses MUST view the 'Faithful and Discreet Slave' as getting all their info directly from Jehovah and Jesus. They teach that to question anything they say is paramount to "apostasy". I'm sure you are aware of this, but if you are not, please let me know and I will provide you with countless quotes from their literature showing that what I say is true.
"...Note; that is what ALL Christians do. "proclaim the divine message, urge others to believe in Christ", etc."
Um, Christians of all denominations do this and have been doing it for the past 2,000 years. Are you suggesting that all Christians of all denominations are 'prophets in the basic sense'?
"...Prophetic Inspiration and being filled with the Spirit ( to use a common expression) do NOT mean the same thing."
Then again, I ask you: If your leaders have no special "gift" of prophecy, then WHY are the rank and file Witnesses being told that they have to accept the "Slave's" version of what "truth" is, on pain of being disfellowshipped for apostasy if they state that they do not agree with what is being taught? Here's a good example:
The WTS has changed what "this generation" means several times (trying to justify it as being "new light" or "present truth"---something that is found nowhere in the bible). For decades they taught that the generation of 1914 would still be alive to see The End. It's now presently being taught that Jesus was "evidently" talking about an 'overlapping generation' (another laughable idea that is also found nowhere in the bible).
If I were a Witness and declared 20 years ago that I didn't believe the Generation of 1914 would be the ones to see The End, I would have been disfellowshipped for going against "the faithful and discreet slave", even though they were dead wrong. They change their doctrines back and forth back and forth, never with an apology to those who based many life decisions on what they were told, but with the arrogant attitude "well, we've changed it, too bad, just accept it and don't whine about it."
"...Being guided by God's spirit, which we should all pray for as we read and medicate on His word, is different than being inspired to Prophecy or foretell the future or give NEW Revelations not found in Scripture. We don't claim that."
So tell me Paul: How can someone have God's Holy Spirit on them, call themselves 'prophets' (even in the basic sense as you are trying to claim), tell people that The End is right around the corner for the past 130 years, print countless books and magazine that in fact, DO try to predict the future, but claim you don't call yourselves "prophets"? It's fairly obvious that the Organization is trying to have their cake and eat it too: 'We don't officially call ourselves prophets, but you have to treat us like we are.'
"...It is a created argument used by those who do not care what we say but wish to twist our words, so they can claim we are a false prophet."
Sorry to burst your bubble Paul, but you ARE, by biblical definition, 'false prophets'. Deuteronomy 18: 20-22 describes a false prophet this way:
"...However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: "How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?" when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him."
It's really quite simple: If someone predicts an event and claims that they are speaking for God, either the event will come true (proving that they are a true prophet), or it will not come true (proving that they are a false prophet), end of story. There is no allowance in the scriptures for anything else, no matter how well meaning someone may be.
Yet this is exactly what the Watchtower Society has tried to do. While admitting that they have "made mistakes" regarding future events, they gloss over what turned out to be "false predictions" by claiming `well, we've never lost faith or ceased to be watchful'----as though that some how excuses them for "speaking presumptuously". This concept is completely foreign in the scriptures as Jehovah has never said: "well, as long as you don't lose faith, I'll overlook your false prophesying". No, it simply says that if a prediction does not come true, then whoever predicted it constitutes a "false prophet."
If you like, I can provide you with countless examples of when the Organization predicted that something was going to happen and it didn't.
That's all I'm going to write tonight Paul. Tomorrow I will provide you with several quotes showing that the Organization has made specific predictions for Armageddon on certain dates.
