"For example, if the GB had come out in '76 and said: "Brothers, we got carried away with what we thought was possibly significant chronology. It is with great sadness we have learned that some have made detrimental financial, health and career decisions based on our misleading direction. We humbly before Jehovah beg forgiveness for any harm we have caused. Many of us would have respected such a pronouncement."
They simply lack the humility to do so. However, they can dish out advice on how others should show humility. Note the following:
PARTING ADVICE TO GILEAD CLASS FROM GOVERNING BODY
"Admit Your Mistakes…Refusing to admit our mistakes is like claiming infallibility…Admitting our mistakes is the course of wisdom. How so? ‘No one can maintain the respect of others if he insists that he is right even when confronted with an obvious mistake. How can anyone have confidence in a person who he knows from experience will even sacrifice the truth just to give the appearance that he is right? Admitting a mistake builds in us strength, self-respect. But a failure to do so is cowardly, and it serves to weaken us morally."
I have known Fred Lanier since approximately 1955, when he weighed about 145 pounds. The kingdom hall was on Duffy Street in Savannah, GA. It was an ex-church of some kind. You'da thought they wouldn't use it - demons and all. I know that Fred had some pretty settled ideas on things he knew absolutely nothing about. And would base his opinions in judicial meetings on these erroneous ideas.
"At that level" huh? I'll bet he never even realized what he was saying, and how elitist and wrong it was.
But you're right, Fred is kindly. Not like some of the others, like C.B., a real "sheep skinner."
Francois
Francois,
Fred and I were out making return visits one afternoon. He was driving and made a left turn directly in front of two young ladies. The other driver absolutely laid on the horn and gave Fred a double-handed middle finger salute while screaming obscenities. Fred never heard a thing.
TMS
PARTING ADVICE TO GILEAD CLASS FROM GOVERNING BODY
"Admit Your Mistakes…Refusing to admit our mistakes is like claiming infallibility…Admitting our mistakes is the course of wisdom. How so? ‘No one can maintain the respect of others if he insists that he is right even when confronted with an obvious mistake. How can anyone have confidence in a person who he knows from experience will even sacrifice the truth just to give the appearance that he is right? Admitting a mistake builds in us strength, self-respect. But a failure to do so is cowardly, and it serves to weaken us morally."
