Unchangeable wisdom from the "slave" of yesteryear! 😀

by BoogerMan 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  BoogerMan

  Brethern, and Cistern, today's lesson from the Golden Calf is one of profound importance - never to be forgotten!

  w56 6/15 p. 360 - "We usually believe what we want to believe, and one thing we like to believe is that we do our own thinking. Hence it is not too hard for clever propagandists to make us think their thoughts are ours. They plant the thought and nourish it, but do it so subtly that we think it is our own. (2 Cor. 4:4) We should know the clever tricks of Satan's propagandists. They are many, but to mention just one, unsavory labels (like, 'apostate'?) are stuck on anything that they oppose.....But to be pushed around by such social pressure, to be shoved and maneuvered by a fear of labels, is to show a pathetic immaturity, an inability to think for ourselves, a lack of intelligent convictions. We should gain accurate knowledge for ourselves, “in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men. Why be tricked by crafty men into adopting their thoughts, especially when those men have themselves been snared by Satan and pumped full of his poisonous subtleties? Why allow yourself to be brainwashed by dupes oblivious to their own mental bondage?"

  2 Corinthians 13:5 - "Keep testing......keep proving..."

  1 Thessalonians 5:21 - "Make sure of all things."

  1 John 4:1 "...test the inspired statements to see whether they originate with God."
• 

  Sea Breeze

  The devil always tells you his game plan, he likes to hide in plain sight.

  Thanks For the reference!
• 

  Konagirl

  Sea Breeze, that is so true.
• 

  Jalisco

  what is the title of the article? i would like to find it in other languages
• 

  TonusOH

  In the 1954 court case (in Scotland, was it?), Franz admitted that the view of the WTS is that they quite specifically do not want the rank-and-file to test what is written in JW literature. What they wanted was for the individual to read the articles, read the provided chapter/verse, and recognize that the WTS was correct.

  His testimony made it clear that a JW who tested what was being written was doing it wrong. As a JW, you are supposed to read the material and come to an understanding that is in conformity with the WTS interpretation. Testing what they wrote is a sure way to get in trouble with the organization.
• 

  BoogerMan

  @ JALISCO - w56 6/15 p. 357 Getting and Giving the Thoughts of God

  (sorry for delay - suffering with Covid 24 😓)

  
  
• 

  Vidiot

  re. TonusOH’s post…

  Yeah, the Walsh trial’s pretty much the main reason why the Org’ll bend over backwards to keep GB members from being called to the stand.
• 

  TonusOH

  The cross-examination is just brutal. Franz definitely understood the implications of perjuring himself...

  Q: I may assume, may I, that you, yourself, have anxiously and carefully studied the whole literature of your movement from the beginning?
  A: Yes.
  Q: Am I right that you put what is described as the end of the time of the Gentiles in October, 1914?
  A: Yes.
  Q: Is it not the case that Pastor Russell put that date in 1874?
  A: No.
  Q: What date did he fix?
  A: The end of the time of the Gentiles he fixed as 1914.
  Q: Did he not fix 1874 as some other crucial date?
  A: 1874 used to be understood as the date of Jesus' Second Coming spiritually.
  Q: Do you say, used to be understood?
  A: That is right.
  Q: That was issued as a fact which was to be accepted by all who were Jehovah's Witnesses?
  A: Yes.
  Q: That is no longer now accepted, is it?
  A: No.
  [...]
  Q: So that I am correct, I am just anxious to canvas the position; it became the bounden duty of the Witnesses to accept this miscalculation?
  A: Yes.
  Q: In what form was the miscalculation corrected?
  A: When we reached the date 1914 and the world developments went forward, then we say that we had not understood some of the prophecies correctly. Therefore, we saw that there was a need for a review of our beliefs respecting how the prophecies would be fulfilled.
  [...]
  Q: I thought, correct me if I am wrong, that you had agreed that between the matter being considered by the editorial committee and finally by the Presidend it was a matter of consideration by the Board of Directors, am I right in that?
  A: The Board of Directors read the publications and they conform to them.
  Q: Do you mean they must accept the editorial committee's interpretation?
  A: That is true. There is to be no disharmony among the members of the Board of Directors both as members of the Board and also as Christians.
  Q: Do you mean by disharmony that there can never be any difference of view as to interpretation?
  A: If there is not an understanding that is in accord then there is the discussion in order to arrive at agreement.
  [...]
  Q: Are [Russell's Studies in the Scriptures] still issued as authoritative by the Society?
  A: No.
  Q: Why not?
  A: Because we have advanced in the greater life, and there have been corrections in our understandings of the Scriptures.
  Q: In other words again some of those pronouncements of Pastor Russell as to interpretation of the Scriptures were in error?
  A: Yes.
  [...]
  Q: And [Rutherford] took the view, did he not, that Satan is the God of this world?
  A: Certainly.
  Q: And that the British Empire was the sent of this beastly organization?
  A: I heard him say that very thing in the Royal Albert Hall in 1926.
  Q: Does the Society still take that view?
  A: No.
  Q: So that once again Judge Rutherford preached error?
  A: He didn't preach the full round-about truth of the matter.
  Q: In that particular, not putting too fine a point upon it, he was in error?
  A: He was in error.
• 

  Duran

  [8-22-78 Awake – EDUCATION teaches you how to think. Propagandists tell you what to think. True educators present all sides of an issue and encourage discussion. Propagandists hammer hard on their view and discourage discussion. Many times their true motives are hidden. They sift the facts, tell the favorable ones and conceal the others. They distort and twist facts, specialize in lies and half-truths. Your emotions, not your logical thinking abilities, are their target. Many fall easy prey because it takes no effort to feel, whereas thinking is hard labor. And the propagandist sees to it that his message is made to seem wise, the right and moral one, and gives you a sense of importance and belonging if you follow it. You are one of the smart ones, you are not alone, you are comfortable and secure​—so they say. Proverbs 14:15 states: “A simple man believes every word he hears; a clever man understands the need for proof.” (The New English Bible) Many today are like sponges; they soak up whatever they are submerged in. It is the easy way. Exercise for the muscles is hard work; exercising the mind is even harder. It is so much easier to soak up whatever is around​—and today, for the most part, that is television, the printed page, radio and movies. There are, however, some good books, movies and television programs. They require more mental effort to read or to watch. So each individual must choose what he will feed his mind. It is said that we are what we eat, and this can apply to food for both the body and the mind. Whatever you read or watch or listen to, test whether it is propaganda or whether it is the truth. “The god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,” that they might not know the vital truths of our time. What about you? Will you let others think for you, or will you do your own thinking? Do your own, and “thinking ability itself will keep guard over you.” ]
• 

  TonusOH

  More from the Walsh trial, the cross-examination of Fred Franz:

  Q: Yesterday's errors cease to be published do they?
  A: Yes, we correct ourselves.
  Q: But not always expressly?
  A: We correct ourselves as it becomes cue to make a correction, and if anything is under study we make no statement of it until we are certain.
  Q: But may one not assume that Judge Rutherford did not publish until he also was certain?
  A: He published only when he was convinced, and he withheld publication until he was convinced that he was correct.
  Q: So that what is published as the truth today by the Society may have to be admitted to be wrong in a few years?
  A: We have to wait and see.
  Q: And in the meantime the body of Jehovah's Witnesses have been following error?
  A: They have been following misconstructions on the Scriptures.
  Q: Error?
  A: Well, error.
  [...]
  Q: And that Judge Rutherford took the view that man came upon this earth in 4025 BC?
  A: 4124 BC.
  Q: What is the present view?
  A: One hundred years have been taken off.
  Q: What was Pastor Russell's view?
  A: Pastor Russell had an extra one hundred years in there.
  Q: So that that date has been altered three times, has it?
  A: The date has been corrected.
  Q: But once the date was published by the Society all Jehovah's Witnesses were bound to accept it as Scripturally true?
  A: Yes.
  Q: And liable to be disfellowshipped if they demurred to the date?
  A: If they caused trouble over it, because the Scriptures say that if anyone is a disturber inside the congregation he is hindering the growth of the congregation and its activities and should be disfellowshipped.
  Q: Even though he perchance were supporting the date now taken by the Society, when the Society was publishing a wrong date?
  A: One who may have a difference of understanding like that will wait upon Jehovah God to see if he is correct, and he will abide by what is published for the time being.
  Q: But if he so awaits and understands he is correct what is he to do?
  A: He gets a blessing because of his submission and waiting upon Jehovah and not leaving it to his own understanding.
  [...]
  Q: BethSarim was, was it not, a mansion in San Diego kept for the second coming of some of the Prophets?
  A: Kept for the resurrected Prophets.
  Q: Namely who?
  A: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Moses, and so on... Daniel.
  Q: Was that in the days of Judge Rutherford or Pastor Russell?
  A: No, that was in the days of Judge Rutherford.
  Q: Were the whole body of Witnesses instructed to accept that the mansion was being kept for this purpose?
  A: Yes.
  Q: What has come of the mansion?
  A: It has been sold.
  Q: Why?
  A: Because it was there, and the Prophets had not yet come back to occupy it, to make use of it, and the Society had no use for it at the time, it was in charge of a caretaker, and it was causing expense, and our understanding of Scriptures opened up more, and more concerning of the Princes, which will include those Prophets, and so the property was sold as serving no present purpose.
  Q: Am I right that it was at one time forecast that in 1925 Abraham and other Prophets would come back to earth?
  A: They were expected to come back approximately then.
  Q: But they did not come?
  A: No.
  Q: It was published, was it not, to the body of Jehovah's Witnesses that that was to be expected in 1925?
  A: Yes.
  Q: But that was wrong?
  A: Yes, and Judge Rutherford admitted it to the Headquarters.
  [...]
  Q: I understood the position to be - do please correct me if I am wrong - that a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses must accept as a true Scripture and interpretation what is given in the books I referred you to?
  A: But he does not compulsorily do so, he is given his Christian right of examining the Scriptures to confirm that this is Scripturally sustained.
  Q: And if he finds that the Scripture is not sustained by the books, or vice-versa, what does he do?
  A: The Scripture is there in support of the statement, that is why it is put there.
  Q: What does a man do if he finds a disharmony between the Scripture and those books?
  A: You will have to produce me a man who does find that, then I can answer, or he will answer.
  Q: Did you imply that the individual member has the right of reading the books and the Bible and forming his own view as to the proper interpretation of Holy Writ?
  A: He comes--
  Q: Would you say yes or no, and then qualify?
  A: No. Do you want me to qualify now?
  Q: Yes, if you wish?
  A: The Scripture is there given in support of the statement, and therefore the individual when he looks up the Scripture and thereby verifies the statement, then he comes to the Scriptural view of the matter, Scriptural understanding as it is written in Acts, the seventeenth chapter and the eleventh verse, that the Bereans were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness, and they searched the Scripture to see whether those things were so, and we instruct to follow that noble course of the Bereans in searching the Scripture to see whether these things were so.
  Q: A witness has no alternative, has he, to accept as authoritative and to be obeyed instructions issued in the "Watchtower" or the "Informant" or "Awake"?
  A: He must accept those.