Agree with comments but also realize many WANT to believe,---Armeggedon not here yet, overlapping generations that explains that, number of partakers growing, people are misguided. Easier for many to accept the changes then admit they were misguided and cut their losses and run.
How do they get away with "New Light"?
by moreconfusedthanever 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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AverageJoe1
@Pontoon
The Mulder complex!
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pontoon
Average Joe, no idea what that is, have to take your word for it!!
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tor1500
Hi,
Because they realize people are more educated now...they can read...even though they may not question they can read....they have gone so far ahead of the scriptures to appear more knowledgeable than the other religions...at the time they started, how many in or out of the truth were able to dispute the truth the org. found in the same bible the world has been reading, they were pulling out of the bible reasonable truths that if not challenged to the average JW it made sense....
New Light is nothing but back peddling...Jesus ain't Michael, 144,000 (are virgin men, not only JW's), no two different classes, FDS is just a parable, God didn't really mean not to have blood transfusions...& on & on...
The question is how do they get away with it....because I'm a witness and know ttatt, most of my congregation knows the ttatt, but they feel it's the best place to be...
They feel the new light is very commendable of the society, they admit they were wrong, so that makes them humble, & that's what rocks the boat of the average witness, they admit their mistakes...as long as the org. does that and the friends don't have to admit theirs, they are quite happy for the new light because it takes the light off of them of the stuff all us witnesses do in the dark.
The more the org. tells us not to do the more we sneak and hide...we are children dressed up in adult clothing...
Just think a grown person tattling on another grown person & they are ok with that...& they need a new light to tell them, it's wrong....
The ORG. is a social setting just like the rest of the world...I work and folks only come to work to socialize, drink coffee all day, go to the bathroom a million times...(they go to Starbucks, all day)...& sometime during the day they work...the same with witnesses, they love to socialize & then sprinkle a little religion on it...
The only message the witnesses don't get it is the message of PEACE...they will never admit how empty they are after the meetings...never...
Tor
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OrphanCrow
moreconfused: One thing that bothers me greatly is the fact that they can change their policies and beliefs and just say its "new light" and no one bats an eyelid.
Change/newlight is part of the 'hook'. It serves a critical function. It solidifies "truth" by redefining it. Remember Russell's "present truth" doctrine?
Heh. I have memories of being a child and the build up to summer assemblies - "oooooh...what new light will be revealed?" and my mother's intense searching of new literature, examining and discussing...looking for that "new light" as though it was something precious and special....a special gift that came right from...God himself!!!!
A person only has a problem with "new light" if their concept of an unchanging, stable "god" transcends human interpretation. If a person has accepted an outside source (the org) as the authority on all things divine, then "new light" becomes the confirmation and the cement that holds them inside the cult. New light is confirmation of authority from god and a sign of progress. The "truth" gets brighter. Or so they say.
Here is a quote (translated) that is taken from an unnamed JW who gave an interview in an unnamed country (and sorry...it comes from an unnamed source...yeah, I know, bad form and all that), that explains how an educated JW who works occasionally in the academic world (he teaches at an American university), views "new light"/revision:
I have also gone in ******* until my 27th birthday and then in america again through the academic mill. And I can assure you that the study discipline of JW is readily comparable to a high-quality academic education in the US, that means, every statement that JW make is based on a certain research, which, like any other research, also occasionally requires some revision. What I consider rather to be a strength than a weakness. This means, JW are well-educated people...
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AverageJoe1
no idea what that is, have to take your word for it!!
@Pontoon
Really? Agent Fox Mulder from "The X-Files": "I want to believe" was his catchphrase.
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sir82
Just remember the number one, unchangeable, never-to-be-repealed doctrine of JWs:
The governing body speaks for God. Their words are exactly equivalent to God's own words. Obeying the GB is exactly equivalent to obeying God, and disobeying them is exactly equivalent to disobeying God.
All other doctrines - ALL other doctrine - is subject to change.
But if it changes, well, that's just a consequence of that number one, unchangeable, never-to-be-repealed doctrine.
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eyeuse2badub
I have had this very discussion many times with my wife and mother in law since I have successfully faded and of course they always come back to me with the "company line" in Proverbs 4:8 which we all know is bs.
So this is how I have tried to reason with them:
I have no problem with the FACT that the wtbts (or any other organization) comes up with new understandings and/or teachings, especially when the shelf life of some of their 'old' understandings expire. The real problem is that the wtbts labels ALL of their teachings and doctrines "the truth" and since (by the very definition of truth) "the truth" cannot and does not ever change, labeling wtbts teachings "the truth" is a serious misnomer. So while it is not necessarily wrong to change a teaching or understanding when new information comes to light, it is very wrong for the wtbts to sanctimoniously and piously label their dogma "the truth" when in fact, it is only their best guess! Knowing the truth of this fact about "the truth" really does set one free!
just saying!
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Phizzy
If you as an active JW start teaching as truth what they now reject, it having been replaced by Noo Lite, you will be disfellowshipped for............ not teaching the truth.
I had the opposite of this, sort of, I came up with some "new light" of my own as a young JW, ( too boring to bother with the details), and I was publicly told how wrong I was by an Elder.
A year or so later it came out as New Light in the WT publications.
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DesirousOfChange
most of my congregation knows the ttatt, but they feel it's the best place to be...
I have a couple friends & family members that fit the description. But it's their social network. It's a source of "good" friends. They know the doctrines are bullshit. They put no faith in the religion. They laugh at the idea of "New Light". They sent their kids to college (some are still "in", thankfully most are not). They would quietly agree to a blood transfusion if a matter of life or death. They covertly break the "little rules" -- buy a lottery ticket, occasional visit to casinos, more than occasional overdrinking, (in one case) even sharing a joint with their kid who is "out". Not only would they never agree to DA (and I understand that), but they have no interest in "fading" and losing their network of friends.