by FatFreek 2005 19 Replies latest watchtower bible
Thanks all for some very thought provoking points. Whether Watchower pubs have contradicted themselves once or 8 times on this single teaching, they prove themselves less than honest (it's called lying) when they declared in 1981:
"At times explanations given by Jehovah’s visible organization
have shown adjustments, seemingly to previous points of view. But
this has not actually been the case." The Watchtower (WT), 1981, 12/1 p.
27
Len
Who authorized the Watchtower to say who is going to be raised up by Jesus Christ in the Resurrection? Please explain that to me, I am "too stupid" to grasp their fantastic doctrines!
Since the Watchtower keeps Jesus Christ hidden in one of their Magazine Holes, does that mean the Governing Body is going to be raising the Ancients up from the dead?
A poster asks, ' Who authorized the Watchtower to say who is going to be raised up by Jesus Christ in the Resurrection?'
I agree! We should always ask, WHO AUTHORISES ANYONE TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE?
Yet people will always be asking questions, because much of the Bible is written in with obscure words. And, go into any church and you will hear preachers expounding all sorts of nonsense.
Take the question, What is the sin of Sodom? Basing an answer on the context of the incident and say Jude 7, most are going to say, that the sin was sodomy.
And yet, one of the most important texts that describes more fully the sin of Sodom is Ezekiel 16:49,50** and maybe the worst sin (here's where I start expounding-haha) was pride ('arrogance' in the quoted text). Interesting, isn't it!
NIV rendering: 49 “ ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen
I think the full list is:
WILL THE MEN OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH BE RESURRECTED?
1879 YES WT July, 1879 p.8
1952 NO WT 6/1/52 p.338
1965 YES WT 8/1/65 p.479
1967 NO WT 1/7/67 p.409
1974 YES Awake! 8/10/74 p.20
1988 NO WT 6/1/88 p.31
1988 SOME WILL Insight On The Scriptures, Vol.1, p.616
1988 YES Insight On The Scriptures, Vol.2, p.985
1988 NO Revelation - Its Grand Climax p.273
1988 YES You Can Live Forever... p.179 (Old Edition)
1988 NO You Can Live Forever... p.179 (New Edition)
Splash
Hi Splash, your list looks exciting. Since they are all 1988 and so we can confirm their sequence can you please list the month and day on the following?
1988 NO Revelation - Its Grand Climax p.273
1988 YES You Can Live Forever... p.179 (Old Edition)
1988 NO You Can Live Forever... p.179 (New Edition)
Its like Zombies, are they dead or undead...
FatFreek,
You are correct - this has long bothered me about this list. Clearly, there are years when a change is made and some publications are already in print. Particularily with stitch bound volumes like the Insight books. There was one change of teachings in 1988 - not a flip-flop back and forth. Likewise, one of the references in the 60's is to the destruction of the city, not the people.
There are so many legitimate reasons to call out the WT for the shifting sand that I cannot fathom why we need to invent more by a lack of charitable reading or by obvious order manipulation.
In the early 90's I came across this argumentation and it reinforced my conditioned response that apostates lie and twist things.
"Let me give you an illustration that will be forcible: The Sodomites. Surely if we find their restitution mentioned you will be satisfied. But why should they not have an opportunity to obtain eternal life as well as you or the Jew? They were not wicked in the proper sense, for they did not have law or much knowledge. True, they were not righteous, but neither were you when God gave you your opportunity. Christ's own words shall tell us that they are not as guilty in His sight as the Jews, who had more knowledge: "Woe unto thee Capernium, for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained unto this day." Thus Christ's own words teach us that they had not had their full opportunity. "Remember," Christ says of the Sodomites, that "God rained down fire and destroyed them all." So, if their restoration is spoken of, it implies their resurrection." Watchtower 1879 Jul 1 p.8
"Thus our Lord teaches that the Sodomites did not have a full opportunity; and he guarantees them such opportunity." Studies in the Scriptures, Series I p.110
This shows us clearly that the eternal fate of the Sodomites is not sealed. When we turn to the Word of the Lord through Ezekiel the Prophet, 16:46-63, we have abundant testimony that the Sodomites will not only be awakened from the sleep of death, but when awakened will be brought to a knowledge of God and to an opportunity of obtaining everlasting life, through The Messiah, by willing obedience. Watchtower 1913 Feb 1 p.45
"The Scriptures distinctly tell us that the Israelites and the Sodomites will be sharers in that work of restoration, restitution." Watchtower 1920 Oct 15 p.316
"Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to complete desolation, from which there is no possibility of recovery; and so likewise the modern Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites shall be destroyed, and the place where they have inhabited shall be, as prophesied, "even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation." The religious-totalitarian rule and rulers,the commercial robbers and those who have defied Jehovah God and his Theocracy, shall perish for ever at the battle of Armageddon, as the prophecy declares." Watchtower 1941 p.367
"The ancient destructions upon Noah’s contemporaries and Sodom and Gomorrah must be just as final, else how could they illustrate the one Peter was discussing?” Watchtower 1952 Jun 1 p.335
"Similarly, Sodom did not endure its judgment day, had failed completely, and the Jews knew its fate was sealed. Their opinion of Sodom was the lowest possible. So when Jesus told them that it would be more endurable for utterly depraved Sodom than for these Jewish cities they got the powerful point. These Jewish cities had heard the warning and had seen powerful works; they had had their fair judgment trial and by their decision showed they were worthy of eternal destruction." Watchtower 1952 Jun 1 p.338
"He was pin-pointing the utter impossibility of ransom for unbelievers or those willfully wicked, because Sodom and Gomorrah were irrevocably condemned and destroyed, beyond any possible recovery." Watchtower 1954 Feb 1 p.85
"As in the case of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus showed that Sodom, bad as it was, had not got to the state of being unable to repent … So the spiritual recovery of the dead people of Sodom is not hopeless" Watchtower 1965 Mar 1 p.139See also Watchtower 1965 Aug 1 p.479
"How will these, having been caught, be disposed of? Will they be preserved alive? Will they be killed and buried in Hades or Sheol, which is the common grave of dead mankind, from which resurrection is possible? No, these political organizations are slated to be “hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur.” This the Bible describes as the “second death.” (Rev. 20:14) It means the death from which there is no resurrection. They will be burned up root and branch, as completely gone forever as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which Jehovah God burned up by a rain of fire and sulphur from heaven, never to be rebuilt. It is destruction in Gehenna in which God destroys both body and soul (any right or possibility of living)." Watchtower 1967 Jul 1 p.409
"Moreover, God’s undeserved kindness and care are so great that he will bring back the people of Sodom by a resurrection, with opportunity to learn and turn around to the way of life, even as his Son stated." Awake 1974 Oct 8 p.20
"Consequently, in addition to what Jude 7 says, the Bible uses Sodom/Gomorrah and the Flood as patterns for the destructive end of the present wicked system. It is apparent, then, that those whom God executed in those past judgments experienced irreversible destruction." Watchtower 1988 Jun 1 p.31
“This is also illustrated by what happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their inhabitants. Jude indicated that these cities were everlastingly destroyed. (Jude 7; compare 2Pe 2:6.) However, Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 10:15 show that at least some of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah will receive a resurrection.” Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 1 p.616 (Released Jun 17, 1988)
""It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city." Sodom and Gomorrah were everlastingly destroyed as cities, but this would not preclude a resurrection for people of those cities." Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2 p.985
"Some adjustments will be made in future printings of the Live Forever book. The only significant change is with regard to the Sodomites, on pages 178 and 179. This change appeared in the Revelation book, page 273, and in The Watchtower of June 1, 1988, pages 30 and 31. You may wish to note it in earlier printings that you have on hand." Kingdom Ministry 1989 Dec (US Edition) p.7
"A definite indication is found at Jude 7, where we read that "Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them … are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire." Yes, the destruction of the gross sinners in those cities was eternal, as will be the destruction of the wicked at the end of the present system of things." Watchtower 1990 Apr 15 p.20
"Those who are judged unworthy of a resurrection are pitched into “Gehenna,” or “the lake of fire.” (Matthew 5:22; Mark 9:47, 48; Revelation 20:14) Among these would be the first human pair, Adam and Eve, the betrayer Judas Iscariot, and certain ones who died when God executed judgment upon them, such as the people in Noah’s day and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah." Watchtower 2005 Jul 15 p.31
A more charitable list, IMHO:
Original view - Resurrected
1st Change - 1941 - Not Resurrected
2nd Change - 1965 - Resurrected
3rd Change - 1988 - Not resurrected
I think the 1967 reference is not conclusive in suggesting the people will not be resurrected. To me it is drawing a comparison to how the cities were never rebuilt as they were destroyed by fire and sulphur with how souls will be destroyed by the fire and sulphur of Gehenna. I see how a reader might see this as pertaining to the souls therein, but it does not appear clear to me.
I don't think I need to elaborate on how 1988 was one change in thinking by the GB, not multiple changes.
