When confronted with hard evidence of corruption or doctrinal error, many Witnesses are now quick to assert that
"the organization is imperfect" or "they make mistakes sometimes". In this fashion, they can retain their extreme allegiance
to the Watchtower Society while quietly thinking that its errors are little more than dropping a milk bottle on a marble floor
- or merely a clerical oversight. Unspoken in this defence is also the quiet thought that whatever horror was discovered is now
corrected and that divinely directed perfection prevails now that the 'bump in the road' has passed.
The first problem with this attitude is that any civilized person would be expected to apologize for the wrong done and take
responsibility for any injuries. The Watchtower Society DOES NOT. Search carefully thru decades of publications and take
note of the total absence of the simple statement "We made a mistake, we apologize". Because they lack humility, bragging
to the world that they (and they alone) are "faithful and discreet", APOLOGIES ARE OUT OF THE QUESTION! Such honest
admissions would detract from their self appointed image as prophets. As Deuteronomy 18 commands, you're not supposed
to "fear" or hold respect for a prophet who falsely foretells the future. So, by example, the Society refused apologies when they
were exposed for publishing a misleading Awake article praising themselves in regard to the Holocaust - when in fact they made
anti-semitic comments and supported parts of Nazi propaganda at the time.
Indeed, not only apologies are missing - but honest admissions that "we were wrong" are nearly impossible to find. Often, the
Watchtower simply shifts the blame onto the flock and their "expectations" (stirred up, of course, by widely published Watchtower
speculations). BY THEIR OWN STANDARDS, in a "judicial committee" , this alone would be grounds for disfellowshipping!
They avoid responsibity, trying to place the guilt on others.
Beyond this, can we really attribute hurtful Watchtower mistakes to unknowing error? Or is something more sinister often
involved? Do they consciously pursue falsehood in some matters?
Consider the example of chronology: It has been about twenty years or more since an "apostate" elder wrote a detailed
refutation of the whole "Gentile Times" doctrine. The Society has made no reply or defense, prefering instead to simply repeat
the 1914 date without any detailed support.
The situation with blood transfusion is much the same - a total lack of detailed defense - after decades in which the doctrine
has been carefully refuted, scripture by scripture. In recent years, with the hot breath of internet exposure on their necks,
the Watchtower has attempted to discreetly walk away from this death-dealing issue - without abruptly triggering a fatal avalanche
of lawsuits and negative publicity - and, of course, without any apologies for the lives ended by their "mistake".
The matter of disfellowshipping is similar. Members of the Society's Writing Staff knew twenty years ago that the correct
scriptural response is to "not treat him as enemy, but admonish him as a brother" - not total shunning. The invention
of "disassociation" is completely without scriptural support, as Paul commanded "not to eat with anyone called a brother"
in cases of serious sin, excluding those who fade away without claim of being a "brother".
Conscious - and deadly - design was seen too in the Society's handling of the Malawi crisis during the 1970's - when they sought
to protect property in Mexico, in allowing for brothers to obtain false documents thru bribery while refusing Malawi brothers a simple
escape from death and torture. The detailed Branch correspondence remove any possibility that "we didn't know".
Finally, Witnesses fail to "put two and two together" in regard to this fallacy. while admitting to themselves that the organization
makes mistakes, they often take no note of the diminished credibility this creates. Why would anyone in their right mind, pay
attention to a printing corporation that has been saying that Armageddon is "Soon" FOR ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS?
If a business failed to deliver a product , ACROSS PARTS OF THREE CENTURIES, why, why, why wouldn't you TAKE YOUR
BUSINESS ELSEWHERE?
The evidence should be overwhelming by this point: The problem is not that the Watchtower commits mistakes but rather
that it doesn't 'own up to them' ---- and that it injures people by conscious design in maintainence of its facade as a modern
day prophet.
metatron