What is truth?

by spectromize 45 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • JCole
    JCole

    What is better than best, or ideal, is if Jah had had the Bible written in such a way that we don't have to guess what is truth. However, for whatever reason, He wants us to figure out what is truth. That means we are left to speculate, which inherently means we are going to be wrong quite often.

    As you suggest, there would be no mistakes if everything was labeled "Not Sure". However, human nature is such that most will come to some conclusion, even despite your label. For an organization of humans to exist, the leaders have to make the best guess they can with the evidence they have at that time. It is incumbant that they also change as the evidence changes.

  • mgm
    mgm

    I have quite difficults to use the word "truth", as Ben mentioned, the light at many teachings changed a lot of times, so how can we know, that the teaching from today is the right version??
    The truth is the truth and can be proofed 100%. Nobody can change the truth, otherwise it isn't.
    So why is the society so keen on keeping the witnesses away from any kritical literature??
    It shouldn't harm the truth, shouldn't it??
    Or is the truth much further away in many teachings than we ever think??
    MGM

  • Frenchy
    Frenchy

    I've always said and I firmly believe that speculation is fine as long as you know that's what it is. A C.O. once told me to be very careful of what I said AS AN ELDER, and especially on the platform. How much more so would that go for the Society? ESPECIALLY in cases where it means people's lives such as in the case of blood tranfusions. It really doesn't amount to any practical difference WHAT year Jesus was enthroned in the heavens...BUT it does make a difference what your stand is on blood when you are in an operating room and the doctor is telling you that you will die without it.

  • Stormy
    Stormy

    People make mistakes and even make predictions, which may prove to be true or false. The Society has elevated themselves to a special status, such as "God’s only channel", "God's beloved wife", "Jehovah’s theocratic organization, "our mother", "our parents along with Jehovah", etc. In putting themselves up on this pedestal and prophesying predictions for Armageddon with these dates 1914, 1915, 1925, 1943 & 1975 , they are guilty of not producing accurate "Truth"

    The Society claims that Jehovah has "touched their lips and put his word into their mouths" and "the angels transmit the information to their minds". Jehovah is not a God of confusion, he does not give wrong light then give the correct light.

    Don't pass this off as a mistake.

    Wt,6/15/57,pg370 identify Jehovah’s channel of communication for our day......respond to the directions of the “slave” as we would to the voice of God, because it is his provision.

    Wt1/15/59,pg40,41 ....Jehovah thrust out his hand of power and touched their lips and put his word in their mouths.

    Holy Spirit 1976,pg 175,176 He put his word in the mouth of his chosen people ....He has put his word, his message of the hour, into the mouth of the spiritual remnant.

    Some Wrong Truths

    1. Zion’s Wt,1/15/1892,pg1355reprint ... “battle” is definitely marked in Scripture as October, 1914.
    2. The Time is at Hand 1908,pg101 ....the “battle of the great day of God Almighty” (Rev.16:14) which will end in A.D. 1914, with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced.
    3. The Finished Mystery 1917, pg 398,399,485 . .... ........the people who are the strength of Christendom shall be cut off in the brief but terribly eventful period beginning in 1918 A.D. A third part are “burned with fire in the mist of the city.” .....After 1918 the people supporting churchianity will cease to be its, supporters, be destroyed as adherents,...Also in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions....
    4. Vindication 1, 1931,pg146,338,339 ..... ....years 1914,1918 and 1925 ..... they also learned to quit fixing dates for the future and predicting what would come to pass on certain dates....
    5. Wt,9/15/41,pg288 ...in the remaining months before Armageddon.
    6. Wt,5/1/68,pg273 Chart of dates 1975 end of 6th 1000-year day...2975 end of 7th 1000-year day....
    7. Aw,1/22/69,pg16 Other Bible prophecies clearly foretell God’s purpose to bring this wicked system to an end in a few years.
    8. Aw,5/22/69,pg15 If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. .....all evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. ....as a young person you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!
    9. Wt,10/15/69,pg622,623 ....seventh millennium from man’s creation by Jehovah God would begin in less than ten years.
    10. The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah,1971,pg 216 Shortly, within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day if Jehovah" will begin against modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom.
    11. In 1995 the generation of 1914 that would not pass away has changed to a contemporary generation.

    Stormy who is looking for the Truth...

    Edited by - Stormy on 1 May 2000 23:2:6

  • Caliban
    Caliban

    I must agree with Stormy on this one - I think it's pretty clear cut.
    The society has and still does claim to directly speak for Jehovah when they want people to follow them.
    However, when things don't turn out as they expected or they are forced to change their ideas then they claim that they are 'just imperfect men' and didn't have clear light etc... (like it was Jehovah's fault).
    There is no precedence as far as I know in the bible where the people that Jehovah's used got things wrong and this was part of Gods plan.

  • waiting
    waiting

    I'll add my two cents. True statements don't change, like the world being round. The Society uses that scripture to show that before people recognized this scientific fact, the Bible already stated it - as a Truth.

    However, the Society's truths are fluid, remarkedly like interpretations - they're just taught as dogmatic truths to their true belivers. We are taught not to question their truths, nor to question the new truths after the present truths have turned into old truths that we don't even discuss after awhile.

    I was amazed when I REALLY started reading our magazines, even in years past, the term "present truth".

    If we are being taught interpretations, we should be allowed to accept or reject - not put our lives on the line for someone's opinion of the Bible. We should be allowed to freely stay or leave if we don't agree with their interpretations. After all, we've always been taught that only the Bible is inspired.

    We are taught that these men interpret the Bible, but if we disagree, we will be looking at destruction at God's hands. At the least, having 666 stamped across our foreheads by our friends and family. Where is the freedom?

  • RedhorseWoman
    RedhorseWoman

    One point that has always bothered me about "truth" and which Frenchy touched on, is the impact "present truth" can have on our lives.

    What about the person who is disfellowshipped for having violated a Christian principle which at that point was truth and that truth is later modified so that it is no longer a disfellowshipping offense? Is there any effort put forth to find those who were disfellowshipped and give them a formal apology as well as rescind the disfellowshipping?

    After all, I'm sure that many of these people were totally discouraged and did not put forth the effort to get reinstated on their own (which brings up another issue that I won't elaborate on here about the need for encouragement in many cases rather than censure).

    I asked several elders about this a few years ago, but I got no answer. This bothered me no end. After all, being disfellowshipped is considered to be a death sentence, and yet no effort was being made to exonerate those who were wrongly accused according to the current "rules".

  • waiting
    waiting

    The Catholic Church told their followers for years that if they ate meat on Fridays, they would burn in Hell forever. Man, did we believe them! Then, all of a sudden, we could! We were no longer "croppy crunchers"! But what about all those poor souls burning in Hell who died last week before it was decided that it was no longer a mortal sin?

    The priest's answer was: Those poor souls are burning in Hell forever because they offended their own consciences. They believed it to be a mortal sin to eat meat on Friday - they ate the meat anyway - and therefore they sinned because they THOUGHT it was wrong and did it anyway.

    I believe that the Society has used that reasoning on some of their law reversals. I'm pretty sure of it, but that was in my half-asleep stage for the past 30 years. That is, to my sleepy knowledge, the argument for NOT looking up disfellowshipped persons.

    You see, the Christian was disfellowshipped for an action, or thought, that was taught by the Society to be a serious sin. Just because it was later determined by the Society that it was no sin at all does not excuse the Christian from responsiblity for offending his own conscience.

    What's really interesting, the WT wrote an article damning the Catholics for changing their teaching of no-meat eating on Fridays, saying that this totally confused poor Catholics, particularily since it wasn't a Bible teaching anyway. And they roundly patted themselves on their collective backs and assured us that we are not in an organization like those false prophets!

  • RedhorseWoman
    RedhorseWoman

    Ah,yes, how well I remember those Catholic-bashing articles. How well I remember my smug feeling of satisfaction that I was not brought up in such a horrible false religion. What great chagrin I feel to realize that the religion occupying most of my life was no different.

  • RayfordSteele
    RayfordSteele

    I think it's a purpose of the devil to try and make the truth more complicated than it is.

    The truth is that the watchtower claimed prophecies which were clearly attached to specific dates and which didn't come true. The truth is that the Bible says not to fear a prophet whose words don't come to pass, their words aren't from God.
    Therefore the society is not from God.
    However, they claim to be. That's not just human error, that's gross hypocracy and blasphemy.
    End of story.

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