Retractions in the Watchtower

by Elsewhere 44 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Farkel

  : God’s people should keep in mind the “pyramid” delusion and the speculations that accompanied the study of chronology, and the pitfalls into which these things led many. Do not fall into a similar trap.

  That's about the only thing old Joe got right: CTR was a delusional man. One has to wonder why, after nearly 2,000 years, the all-knowing God decided to pick a delusional dreamer to restore the "true" Church, and then pick an alcoholic, greedy narcissist to point that fact out and then turn the Church into an even worse abomination.

  If God did all of that, then God is very, very stupid.

  Farkel
• 

  minimus

  Farkel the (poor) argument could be made that God has always used people to represent him that were less than perfect. Even the prophets that were supposedly normal, were viewed as crazy or typical sinners.
• 

  heathen

  Say, Y'all got me wonering whether there are other countries in the world today that use a different calandar .Anyone have any idea? For example say the arabs or the chinese.That is interesting ona , I mean jeeze how would you get away with changing the months and days of the week and still be able to function in the western world ? I think it'd be cool if they did tho .lol I never did like monday .
• 

  sunshineToo

  I heard that sometime in the 80s, the Watchtower megazine stated that the Armageddon would come in the 20th Century. Later it was corrected. I wasn't a jw at that time, but I heard this sometime ago. Does anyone know about this?
• 

  Elsewhere

  It was the January 1, 1989 Watchtower...

  Original Watchtower:
  

  Bound Volume Watchtower:
  
• 

  onacruse

  Else, thanks for those scans! I remember when I first saw that original article...my eyebrows practically fell off. And then when I saw they had changed it in the bound volume...well, it was yet another dart that moved me farther away from "the center." But, ya know, in all honesty, when I first read those words, my heart jumped a little and I seriously considered that they might just be right..I wanted it to be right. Such was the depth of my brain-washing.

  *****

  The 1930s Watchtowers had quite a number of "this was obviously incorrect" statements, as Rutherford and Franz proceeded to discredit and discard the majority of what Russell had taught. Another example, where they do a switcheroo even on themselves. (bold added):

  W8/1/34 230

  THE AVENGER

  Who is “the avenger,” or the one who executes vengeance antitypically upon such wrongdoers? The very language of the law of God makes “the avenger ” God’s official executioner. According to the Hebrew for “avenger” the execution of vengeance devolved upon one by reason of kinship, family relationship, such as the relationship of Boaz toward Naomi and Ruth, and against the defiling near kinsman. The

  W8/1/34 231

  Watchtower of 1925, page 182, paragraph 51, says: “It seems that Satan is the avenger of blood.” Clearly that statement is wrong, and The Watchtower hereby retracts it. It is true that Satan has the power of death, given him when he was appointed man’s overseer, and that he does cause the death of many, even of some of the faithful followers of Christ Jesus. But that does not mean that he is the offeial executioner of Jehovah, and particularly so far as the cities of refuge are concerned. Satan was never the kinsman of man so that he could fulfil the office of avenger or revenger by reason of being the near kinsman. Satan is a spirit creature; hence that alone would preclude him from filling the place. He was in no wise a kinsman of the Israelites, and holds no commission or appointment in connection with the cities of refuge.

  This "avenger of blood" and "cities of refuge" teaching may seem a little obtuse to JWs who've come in over the last 25 years (since 1978 the Watchtower has only discussed it once [ w95 11/15 pp. 10-20]) , but it used to be a "hot" topic for many years, even into the early 70s.

  Craig
• 

  Vanant

  heathen, most of the countries in East Asia traditionally use lunar (actually, lunisolar) calendars taken from the Chinese. Their new year starts between Jan 21 and Feb 21. This kind of calendar has 12 months like the Gregorian solar calendar does, but is a few days shorter, and uses leap months every few years to make up the missing days. In order to interact with the West, those countries now primarily use the Gregorian calendar, but still use the lunar calendar to keep track of traditional festivals and such. I think almost all countries in the world now are forced to use the Gregorian calendar if they want to do business outside of their own region.
• 

  run dont walk

  How can jw who does a lot of research, etc., not see this ?

  Exactly, it just baffles me,

  Great post as usual blondie. We'd be lost without you sometimes !!!
• 

  heathen

  That's about what I figured vanant. I still think it would be cool if the US started our own calandar and did away with all that pagan crap. I was thinking we could name the months after the presidents and the days of the week could be like peace day and love day or something

  sunshine and elsewhere --- that was a good catch there. I wonder if the WT ever wrote a retraction of that statement.
• 

  OHappyDay

  That hefty list of "clarifications" shows the arrogance of the policy of disfellowshiping people for disagreeing with WT speculations and dubious doctrine. Only a terroristic organization would instill such fear in its adherents that disagreement in the most minor of points jeopardizes a member's eternal future.

  I will never forget the betrayal of having my long-held belief that the "higher powers" or "superior authorities" were Jehovah and Jesus casually overturned by the "new light" that they were really the secular governments! Of course, this "new light" was what old Satanic Christendom had all along!