Blondie highlights the change of emphasis in the way the Org has used Acts 17:11 since the early 1980s.
However, the fact is that the verse still indicates that the Beroeans were evaluating what they were told, in the context of what the Scriptures actually say.
The 'explanation' quoted in the WT article from 1981 still doesn't wash. It's not really relevant whether you are reading 'critically' or with a desire to believe and trust. Even if you want to believe what you are told and you are intending to give the speaker "the benefit of the doubt", you should still be evaluating what you are told in light of what the scriptures actually say. For example, if a friend tells me something is a fact, I may really want to believe them, but if I check what they say in an encyclopaedia and it's wrong, it's still wrong.
But that's not what the GB want. They want the reader to evaluate the scriptures in light of what they say - so that their explanation should come before, and be the filter through which, the reader interprets or understands the Bible. That's the exact opposite of what Acts says the Beroeans were doing when hearing Paul's words, and it commends them for doing so!
I suspect that's why in recent years, even in the time since I became a JW, the WT use of this scripture has dwindled away because they've realised that it is awkward for them.
When I was studying, and later when I first was teaching others, Acts 17:11 was a vital scripture. In the past 10 years or so, however, it feels like it's rarely used.
To test this out, I had a look in the latest WT index on how often Acts 17:11 has been referred to since 1989. Here we see:
Seven references from 1989-98, but only six more in the 20+ years since, with a big gap between 1998 and 2007, and hardly anything since 2011!
The two most recent references to that verse (bt 137-138 and lff lesson 2) are self-contained around believing what the Bible itself says, not what someone else says in comparison. The 2011 WT reference also skims over the aspect of the Beroeans analysing what Paul said. You have to go right back to the March 2008 Awake reference to find Acts 17:11 used in the context of evaluating what someone else tells you to believe.
Acts 17:11 has clearly become an embarrassment to the GB of today, as it contradicts their ramped up message that tells the R&F to accept whatever they say without question or hesitation.
