Why do you blame Jehovah's Witnesses for false predictions ?

by Phizzy 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Phizzy

  What motivated me to post this was that when I was in, and yet very doubtful about the 1914 thing and actually being in the time of the "End", I wished the scripture in 2 Peter had never been written, because when I expressed my doubts, it was quoted at me, that I was one of the "ridiculers" if I did not follow the WT herd.

  It has occurred to me recently that the writer of 2nd Peter included his little diatribe because the early Christians were looking silly with their expectations, it was not a prophecy for our time, but an excuse for their false predictions that had not come true by the end of the 1st century, and still have not come true of course.

  As the old 10CC song has it "2,000 years and He ain't shown yet".
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Phiz-

  You mean, no JW quoted these WT publications excerpts to you?:

  Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets. False prophets will try to hide their reason for feeling shame by denying who they really are. (Paradise Restored to Mankind By Theocracy 1972, Pages 353 & 354)

  How will Jehovah show that such clergy prophets are fakes? By not fulfilling what they announce to be "an utterance!" or what they presume to speak in his name. He does not back up their falsehood. "‘Here I am against the prophets of false dreams,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘who relate them and cause my people to wander about [going astray] because of their falsehoods and because of their boasting.’ ‘But I myself did not send them or command them. So they will by no means benefit this people,’ is the utterance of Jehovah." (Jer. 23:32) Too bad for the people! (Watchtower 9/1/1979 Page 30, Par 29)

  True, there have been those in times past who predicted an "end of the world", even announcing a specific date. Some have gathered groups of people with them and fled to the hills or withdrawn into their houses waiting for the end. Yet, nothing happened. The "end" did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying.
  (Awake 10/8/68 page 23)

  It has occurred to me recently that the writer of 2nd Peter included his little diatribe because the early Christians were looking silly with their expectations, it was not a prophecy for our time, but an excuse for their false predictions that had not come true by the end of the 1st century, and still have not come true of course.

  --

  And WT proudly continues this tradition.
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  Watkins

  Preterists think stuff DID happen in the 1st century. Partial-preterists believe SOME things happened 1st cent., but leave other things open for future fulfillments, like the bulk of Revelation.

  I wonder if they're right?

  It's 'normal' for religiously-inclined people to look for, and find, fulfillment of major prophecies in their time... evidently. They've been doin' it for 2,000 years, anyway.

  Like DCMS said - they're carrying on a long tradition.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  edited to delete
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  BluesBrother

  WT 2011 10/15 p8

  "What the Bible teaches: We must be sincere in our worship, avoiding pretense and hypocrisy. Jesus told the religious leaders of his day why God had rejected them: “Isaiah aptly prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me.’” (Mark 7:6) Yet, sincerity alone does not guarantee that God will accept our worship.

  Jesus made this clear by exposing the key flaw in the worship offered by those religious leaders and their followers. He applied to them God’s words: “It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men.”

  So when they seek to excuse their human mistakes by saying.

  WT March 1, 1979; p. 24)

  "But let us never forget that the motives of this "slave" were always pure, unselfish; at all times it has been well-meaning. "

  ( I can accept "well meaning" at least) They are accepting there that the words are human, the thinking of men, flawed and prone to error. I could even accept that if the stuff was seen in that light, to be accepted or not, debated and up to your own conscience to follow or reject. But they insist also that :

  WT Sept 15 2010 p13 par 8

  "The Governing Body publishes spiritually encouraging literature in many languages. This spiritual food is based on God’s Word. Thus, what is taught is not from men but from Jehovah"

  Saying "IT IS FROM JEHOVAH" when it clearly is not, is a serious matter in the words of The Bible. God will be their judge
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  Ucantnome

  i think that they made my salvation dependant on joining with them in preaching these predictions and not dependent on accepting Jesus ransom and preaching this with out additions.
• 

  Terry

  phizzy:

  When you read the pseudapigraphical 2nd Peter chapter 3 and other NT writings about the parousia and how close it is, or why it hasn't happened yet, why is it a surprise that the WT/JW's get it wrong all the time ?

  If those early Chrisitian writers could make totally false claims, and yet their words are supposed to be "inspired of God", why is it so wrong that the WT/JW's do the same ?

  Cut 'em some slack fellers, the WT may be false prophets, over and over, but they are in good company.

  I accept this as a FAIR QUESTION if you accept my response as a FAIR rejoindeer!

  1. Most of us make mistakes but few of us influence as many people as we can to embrace our mistakes as Divinely Originated.

  2. We all entertain far out and sometimes fringe notions about health in our lifetime. What we don't do is insist millions of obedient underlings practice

  those fringe notions to the detriment of their own health and that of their children.

  There's THAT.

  Now, concerning the emotional and psychological well-being of families and children, we look at the impact historically on Witnesses for the last hundred years and find a hazardous pattern of abuse!

  This religion drives families to withdraw from normal social settings. Children are made oddballs among their schoolmates and neighbors. Further, young people are made anti-social and cynical about institutions such as Girl Scouts, Meals on Wheels, PTA, Women's shelters, Outreach to homeless, Voters groups and a host of other benign orgnizations.

  So much focus is concentrated on CRACKPOT PREDICTIONS of the End of the World....their's is an insidiouos abandonment of people's REAL NEEDS in the here and now!

  There is a pattern of duplicitous scape-goating among the leaders whenever their absolutism goes off the rails in disproof. The rank and file are blamed

  for "reading into" predictions rather than merely obeying the GB.

  The disfellowship policies, especially since 1983, have destroyed families unnecessarily by creating a false dichotomy between concern for blood-kin and a threat of extinction at Armageddon.

  Friendships are curtailed with ordinary people and made to be viewed as "worldly" contaminated dupes of demons!

  This religion, while driven by end times apocalyptic fantasies, is virulent and provocative in carrying unworkable solutions to unreal problems into the homes of strangers. Like a cancer it destroys its own hosts.

  The intellectual dishonesty of the leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses has been demonstrated time and again.

  As their prophesy crumbles and rots in full view the books and magazines which support those ideas grow silent and then sly and finally abolishes

  wrong-headed certainty with an airy wave of the GB "hand" in painting over the rust with New Light.

  We BLAME Jehovah's Witnesses for having NEVER PRODUCED ANY DECENCY in handling those who find their teachings disagreeable.

  They are quick to condemn without due process any member who grows skeptical. They label them enemies, apostates and mentally diseased. They tear them away from friends and families and are impudent enough to say they speak OFFICIALLY for Jehovah in so doing!

  The poison of JW teachings does not end there. Oh no!

  Each and every one of the 7 million members must view their Governing Body as a SUBSTITUTE for Jesus Christ and invest 100% unquestioning loyalty in their serial goofiness cum policies.

  I blame Jehovah's Witnesses for having the temerity to convict people of THOUGHT CRIMES and by group bullying marginalise former member's humanity by destroying their value in the eyes of others.

  When this religion is WRONG it is as absolute a wrong as can be possible.

  So far, this WRONG-ness has never dropped below 100% prophetically.

  I personally was admonished to view the instructions of JW leadership as a substitute for my OWN conscience and instructed to lie in carrying

  out so-called NEUTRALITY toward the Military when I was a teen.

  My own life was brought to a screeching pause for 2 years in non-productive and feckless idleness IMPRISONED due to Watchtower idiocy!

  We can BLAME Jehovah's Witnesses for not using their own rational minds in discarding pre-enlightenment superstition to guide their own steps and we can BLAME Jehovah's Witnesses for carrying this ignorance into neighborhoods and calling it "the TRUTH".

  It ISN'T "the TRUTH". It is POISON.

  There is nothing to celebrate when poisoners go about their work with unrelenting seriousness empowered by a cartoon god and sociopathic mindset.

  All that is necessary for EVIL to prosper is that good men do nothing to stop it!
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  Honesty

  I never thought of it that way Phizzy.

  You're right.

  The CBS/TMS/SM is tomorrow night.

  Thanks to you, I'll be sure to attend so I can receive accurate knowledge from God's mouthpiece.
• 

  garyneal

  When you read the pseudapigraphical 2nd Peter chapter 3 and other NT writings about the parousia and how close it is, or why it hasn't happened yet, why is it a surprise that the WT/JW's get it wrong all the time ?

  If those early Chrisitian writers could make totally false claims, and yet their words are supposed to be "inspired of God", why is it so wrong that the WT/JW's do the same ?

  Cut 'em some slack fellers, the WT may be false prophets, over and over, but they are in good company.

  Indeed they are in good company. Jack Van Impe Ministries made the mistake of getting too carried away in tying current events to Bible prophesy and make a prediction of when the tribulation will begin (somewhere around 1998). The Millerites, the Adventists, Ellen G White, Harold Camping, and many many others.

  The main problem I see with the witnesses is that they are so quick to condemn other people's religious beliefs while hiding behind "human error" to justify their own blunders. You can't have it both ways. I told Brother Hero during our study that I believed that when it came to 'accurate teachings' concerning God and Christ that I believed NONE of the churches really had it 100% correct. My point was why bicker and fight the way we do and have the Christian religion split into some 40,000 schisms?

  My experience with the IFB's taught me early on to doubt any church that claims to have the 'true teachings.' This experience caused me to never fully accept the witnesses claims to teach TRUTH. Their failed predictions simply validate my stand.