New Light or A More Tangled Web?

by DNCall 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  DNCall

  “The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.” (Isaiah 28:20 NIV)

  In Chapter 10 of Crisis of Conscience, Raymond Franz cited the above passage as a subheading to that chapter. He applied it to the Watch Tower Society’s manipulating Scripture to fit its theology, and the uncomfortable position in which it places itself by doing so. A secular quote that describes the same situation is Sir Walter Scott’s:

  “ Oh what a tangled web we weave,
  When first we practise to deceive!”

  In the late 1800s, when the Watch Tower Society began marketing the parable of “the faithful and discreet slave” (the “Slave”) as a prophecy, an interpretation had to be devised that would: (1) be prophetic; and (2) point to the prophecy’s fulfillment within the Watch Tower community.

  The identity of the “Slave” has been revised from time to time as the leadership of the Watch Tower community has changed. The most recent revision is quite a departure from the last revision.

  Formerly, it was published that since the master’s leaving in 33 CE, there has always been a remnant of anointed Christians to act as the “Slave” in caring for the master’s household during his absence. The revised identity of the “Slave” as a small group of anointed brothers at Watch Tower world headquarters, working together as a governing body, from 1919 CE to the present, leaves the master’s household uncared-for in the centuries between 33 CE and 1919 CE. By design, this revised interpretation bolsters the exclusivity and importance of today’s leadership in the Watch Tower community.

  While this most recent revision may not seem problematic so long as the rank and file accept it, it creates a potentially larger problem: it is now easier to trace how the leadership has distorted Jesus’ parable to establish, define and maintain its authority.

  It can only be speculated as to what further revisions may be needed going forward, but no matter what is devised, the bed will still be too short, the blanket too narrow and the web more tangled.
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  00DAD

  DNCall: It can only be speculated as to what further revisions may be needed going forward, but no matter what is devised, the bed will still be too short, the blanket too narrow and the web more tangled.

  They made their bed; they can lie in it!

  Why not lie there too, they lie everywhere else!!!

  00DAD
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  whathappened

  Once you tell a lie, you have to keep telling lies to cover the first one up. This particular lie was such a doozie, they will never be able to recover.
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  wha happened?

  it really is a cluster isn't it?
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  wha happened?

  this is weird, because I remember reading about in the WT's and awakes, about christians over the centuries that read the bible and decided to preach. Also, the WT talked about persons like Tyndale who may have been part of the annointed class over the centuries. So now, they are all just regular dudes in the whole scheme of things, and I would venture to say that they may call these ones, on jumping ahead before the proper time.
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  Apognophos

  The "new light" doesn't really surprise me much. I think that it was always clear that the GB placed themselves above the regular anointed because after all, who was publishing the literature? I could swear I had already read in the literature sentiments to the effect of what is now being officially announced as new light; perhaps it was my imagination and I was reading the logical thing into the matter myself, or perhaps they were working towards this announcement.

  I'm personally more interested in how they mark 1919 as the beginning date for the FDS and whether it hints that they might try to move away from talking about 1914. After all, 1919 is a concrete date where something actually happened with respect to the Witness organization, whereas 1914 was invisible and the reasoning on its significance is, as we well know, dubious at best. I also heard 1919 mentioned in a recent public talk, rather than 1914, which seemed like a new point in the outline to me. Could they be trying to get away from this embarrassing old teaching based on "pyramid power"?
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  DNCall

  Apognophos, to what are you referring when you say, "After all, 1919 is a concrete date where something actually happened with respect to the Witness organization . . ."?
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  Apognophos

  Well, I assume they're thinking of Rutherford et al. being let out of prison? That was supposed to be the "fall of Babylon the Great" because it meant that B to the G no longer had power over true worship.
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  Phizzy

  What true worship was that then ??????
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  DATA-DOG

  The revised identity of the "Slave" as a small group of anointed brothers at Watch Tower world headquarters, working together as a governing body, from 1919 CE to the present, leaves the master's household uncared-for in the centuries between 33 CE and 1919 CE. By design, this revised interpretation bolsters the exclusivity and importance of today's leadership in the Watch Tower community

  This is good. You should expand on this thought for lurkers.

  DD