Before 1981 the WTS said things like this:
12/1/77 p 723 Is Your Advice Hard to Take?
When we advise others we should use reason and scriptures, not demanding compliance because of a position we might have. (Phil. 4:5) We should be like Paul, who did not use his position as an apostle to pressure people. Instead, he commended them for checking to see whether his teaching was based on the Bible. "They received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so. Therefore many of them became believers."—Acts 17:11, 12.
The Devil used Scripture when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and Jesus used scriptures to refute him. Both used scriptures, but with this difference: Satan misapplied them, but Jesus used them properly. (Matt. 4:1-10) We should never twist texts to serve our own purpose, as Satan did. Let us make sure that God is saying what we say that he is saying!
Up after 1981 when the apostate hunt started at Bethel, the Bereans were held as doing something fine but note this ominous change:
2/15/81 p 18-19 Do We Need Help to Understand the Bible?
A NOBLE-MINDED VIEWHow shall we view the spiritual food provided by this "faithful and discreet slave"? Should it be viewed critically—‘Oh, well, it might be true but then again it might not be and so we have to scrutinize it very critically’? Some apparently have felt that way about it. To support their way of thinking they have quoted Acts 17:11, which says of newly interested persons at Beroea: "Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so."
But does this mean that those Beroeans were looking for flaws in the message they were hearing, or that their attitude was one of doubting? Does this set a precedent for regarding critically the publications brought forth by the "faithful and discreet slave," with a view to finding fault? Not at all!
Jesus’ disciples wrote many letters to Christian congregations, to persons who were already in "the way of the truth." (2 Pet. 2:2) But nowhere do we read that those brothers first, in a skeptical frame of mind, checked the Scriptures to make certain that those letters had Scriptural backing, that the writers really knew what they were talking about.
And in 1998
9/1/98 p 14-15 Stay Close to the Theocracy
How can a human organization be ruled by Jehovah, who dwells in the invisible heavens? (Psalm 103:19) In that those associated with it follow the inspired counsel: "Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding." (Proverbs 2:6; 3:5) They allow God to rule them as they observe "the law of the Christ" and apply inspired Bible principles in their day-to-day lives. (Galatians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 9:21; 2 Timothy 3:16; see Matthew 5:22, 28, 39; 6:24, 33; 7:12, 21.) To do this, they have to be Bible students. (Psalm 1:1-3) Like the "noble-minded" Beroeans of old, they do not follow humans but constantly verify in the Bible the things that they are learning. (Acts 17:10, 11; Psalm 119:33-36) They pray like the psalmist: "Teach me goodness, sensibleness and knowledge themselves, for in your commandments I have exercised faith."—Psalm 119:66.
The WTS are some of the best scripture twisters I know.
Blondie
