New Light on Sheep and Goats?

by notsurewheretogo 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  slimboyfat

  Found it.

  https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtAnnMtg/pub-jwb_202102_3_VIDEO

  Before 1995 they taught that the preaching work divided people between the sheep and the goats.

  After 1995 they taught that Jesus would judge the sheep and the goats in the future during the Great Tribulation.

  Now they (in particular Kenneth Cook) are saying that Jesus will deliver the judgment at the Great Tribulation, but that he will do so on the basis of evidence and consideration of actions leading up to the Great Tribulation, just as a judge takes time to consider the evidence before delivering his judgement.

  Is this really “new light”? It’s not exactly a return to pre-1995 old light. It’s more like a corrective elaboration (dancing on the head of a pin) on the 1995 teaching. I can imagine some will take it as new light, and many more won’t even notice the difference. In recent years Watchtower has tended to signal “new light” as such in their presentation. So we may wait and see if they elevate this tinkering to the status of “new light” in a Watchtower Study article or elsewhere. Was this morsel handed out to Kenneth Cook as the new boy on the GB as a sort of baptism into the routine of announcing doctrinal adjustments? Or maybe he came up with the “new” idea himself.
• 

  waton

  sbf: right, The teaching is that once the great tribulation starts, and the GB and buddies are gone to heaven, the door of the ark will be shut. last minute, deathbed regrets will not matter.

  The judgement will be based on what you did, while it mattered. It still depends whether you "took " the magazines, now, googled jworg.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  If [John Cedars] produced a 3 and a half hour video on the topic. . . .

  That sounds about right. He evidently really likes to hear himself talk. Most of his videos could be summarized in 10 minutes and he'd get 10x the listeners.
  
• 

  BluesBrother

  Thank you Slimboyfat.. that link saved me a lot of looking. Very interesting, I view it as a tweak rather than a complete change of doctrine. They say that judgement will still be finalised and delivered at the end, but he is watching,listening and forming opinions now, so watch out!

  I suppose it amounts to the same thing. They say that at the end one has to be a functioning active Witness to be judged righteous, although the Bible does not say that.

  I wonder how this affects the view of those who die now..?

  in recent years dead relatives were always spoken of as in line for a resurrection because all judgement was future , but now ? I don’t know.
• 

  smiddy3

  The JW is always looking out for new light ,hoping for the big A now.

  The average JW now is there because of feelings ,the majority have no idea of doctrines, and how could they with the changes that are constantly occurring .

  All they understand is ..A wicked world we live in , Armageddon will destroy it ..Paradise earth... is awaiting faithfull JW`s , and that`s about it .

  And some lucky JW`s will rule with Jesus for a thousand years .

  All based on feelings not facts/evidence .
• 

  St George of England

  I too wondered where Cook's talk was going but decided that if it was to be "new light" it would probably have been delivered by David Splane. Speaking of Splane, have we seen him much of late?

  George
• 

  notsurewheretogo

  Sorry but it is not a tweak it is a fundamental change to doctrine. They believed the separation would happen at the GT but now it is happening now, that's a big change and indeed is like pre 1995.

  What it does is add more fear to the JW's that they must right now be sheeplike.
• 

  Slidin Fast

  This feels like studying the entrails of a mouse in the hope that the results will cast an insight into the future. I find this return to what seems significant to the faithful, the very kernel, of all that leaves me bored and cold.

  To anyone that finds it interesting, good luck to you.
• 

  HappyDad

  Maybe its just me, but I can't listen to or watch anything that self-serving Lloyd Evens does. How can he expect anybody to pay attention when he looks like an unkempt recluse who just awoke out of a drunken stupor? Is there and address that he can receive mail? I would love to send him a comb with instructions on how to use it.
• 

  nowwhat?

  To his credit, lloyd finally got a hair cut and his videos have been a lot shorter lately