"False Prophets" part notably uncomfortable (page 2)

ablebodiedman

"Jehovah's organization has never claimed to be inspired."

Maybe the brother giving the talk was jittery because he had read the May 1st 1959 Watchtower Magazine!

w59 5/1 p. 269 Attain Completeness in the New World Society

To hold to the headship of Christ, it is therefore necessary to obey the organization that he is personally directing. Doing what the organization says is to do what he says. Resisting the organization is to resist him.

never claimed to be inspired?

abe

Splash

I pointed out that even though the Reasoning Book listed 1914 as 'one of the doctrines that has never changed', it has actually changed, having previously been 1874. Naughty Reasoning Book. Splash

Crazyguy

That court case came right to my mind, Jehovah the editor or something like that.

Captain Blithering

Gotta admit, it felt quite odd but good in the demo telling the other chappie i thought he was a false prophet cos of '75!

Not so good was having to act like I accepted his specious reasoning...

HamsterBait: Even the Revelation (anti)Climax book says that the anointed resurrected after 1918 have a part in transmitting new understanding to the BOrg in our day. They haven’t done a very good job have they?

I visited the JW website a year or two ago and the explanation given was that they don’t consider themselves prophets, nor do they produce anything that could be placed besides the Bible as scripture. Now, seeking to find that same caveat, I went to the website again today and, though it took me awhile to find it, it seems that the Governing Body is now putting itself on the same level as the ancient apostles. For example:

This is far more aggressive than it was previously. The Governing Body seems to be consolidating its power, but it needs to explain just how it got this inspiration. Certainly their claim to speak for God places them in the position of claiming to be prophets. And if they are prophets, what they write is as binding on people as the scriptures were in the days of the apostles. Why try to equivocate?

There is also an implied claim to be prophets in a 1979 - 80 Awake on alien life. After discussing the ideas on this, they say that there cannot be any alien life forms on other planets, because the “slave has not heard about this” and Jehovah will not do anything unless he informs his servants the prophets. (THEM in other words!)

Can you get me the reference on this. I’d love to see it. If the Awake! articles are written or overseen by the slave, why does the author of this story write as though the Governing Body doesn’t read it.

The scripture by Amos also is horribly abused. The Bible never claims to reveal everything to God’s servants, the prophets. Life on other worlds does not pertain to the inhabitants of this world, and I suspect that when God speaks to prophets on other worlds, he doesn’t reveal the affairs of this world. It would be like saying there are no black holes in the universe because the “slave has not heard about this.” There was a time when black holes were theoretical. None had been found, but astrophysicists said they were distinctly plausible. Well, the Governing Body hadn’t heard anything about them, so the logic expressed above is as foolish as trying to pin down the year of Armageddon! Geesh, the audacity of these guys. And the amazing thing is that they hide behind their publications. You don’t see articles by them where they take bold stands; they let their staff writers pass on the information so no one knows quite where this spiritual “food” is coming from. They say it’s from God, but their foundational claims are non-existent.

Honesty

Nathan Natas

"Jehovah's organization has never claimed to be inspired."

Then why do any damn thing they say?

DesirousOfChange

I think this is an effort so that it can be said "See there! The Society isn't trying to COVER OVER anything in their past! They are up front about "some" having FALSE EXPECTATIONS (who were those some?). We can't expect them to be any better than the Apostles -- who were also wrong in some expectations, etc etc.

They realize they can no longer "manage" their past nor hide their past, so it's better to come on as being UP FRONT about it all. Seeeeeee how honest we are about it all. We admit our mistakes. We are not like false religion than covers over their errors.

Doc

Ultimate Axiom

the Reasoning Book listed 1914 as 'one of the doctrines that has never changed', it has actually changed, having previously been 1874

Ah but Splash, the doctrine that the Gentile Times ended in 1914 hasn't changed - that's been here from the beginning. Ironic really, because it wasn't Russel who came up with it, plus the fact that it's now demonstrably wrong.

Of course, what was supposed to happen at the end of the Gentile Times changed completely. Well it had to. Armageddon didn’t come.

BTW, not just moving Christ's Return from 1874 changed the significance of 1914 - his "Crowing as King" and the start of the "Time of the End" both moved from 1878 and 1799 respectively to 1914.

"False Prophets" part notably uncomfortable

Londo111