by Gordy 20 Replies latest watchtower bible
Am I right in thinking that about 1995 the teaching on the "sheep and goats" of Matt 25 changed.
I vaguely remember that pre-1995 it used to regarded that the sheep and goats were judged on how they received the preaching work
Then post-1995 it changed to that Jesus would judge them when he came at Armageddon.
Can anyone tell if this is right.
Thanks
You are correct. The JW doctrines have pushed the 'judging' and 'separation' of mankind into the future. Now people are only "sheeplike" or "goatlike", but not judged/separated -- according to WTS doctrine.
This isn't the only such change where they have drastically altered their timeframe. They formerly believed that the great tribulation was the ENTIRE timespan from the beginning of the end times (1914) until Armargeddon. In the 60's or so, they pushed that Bible event into the future.
Such shifts in doctrine give the illusion of "new light" and a "progressive teaching" program.
Yes you are right. More proof the watchtower is retiring. Every thing that made JWs an exclusive group is almost eroded. If more JWs understood what they were reading most would only attend on sundays, and become normal "church" people. The watchtower is moving on inertia. I don't know of any modern article that show JWs to be anything, but "God's" name barer. Maybe I am out of the loop, and in fantasyland, but most people are trying to wrestle the ghost of the watchtower. I am not saying they are no longer profitable. I am not saying the WTS is dying. In fact it will probably grow substantially in the future. I am just saying they are a normal religion pretending to be a "cult" to keep the dinosaurs, and "true believers" pacified.
You see it reflected now when non-JWs die. It used to be very iffy they would be resurrected since they died "away from Jehovah" during this judgment period. Now JWs are relieved that the person died, thinking it is a slam dunk that they will be resurrected "into the new system."
Blondie
PS I heard a JW say, "It's a blessing they died, otherwise they would have died at Armageddon." I leaned over and said, "Maybe we should go door to door shooting people so they are guaranteed to be in the "paradise."" Boy, that got me a strange look.
Hi Blondie - agree to your P.S. comment
That's also the rationale behind some suicides - as I've posted before, the mother who told her daughter, "I'd rather you do commit suicide than leave the org." She felt the daughter would have a better chance of getting in that new order if she just followed through with her already suicidal intent because, she'd have no chance (JW mindset) if she left the org now.
I remember tho that after about 6 months they made light of the new intepretation commenting that the since final judgment (in grt trib) is based upon their previous response to the JW preaching anyway, little had changed. I'm sure the change was due to an influential person's interpretation, while the majority still were insisting that people who impugn their work or were not convinced by it were doomed to eternal death.
The doctrine changed in 1995 as reported, but the Watch Tower doctrine spinners missed the old doctrine and the new understanding was swept under the spiritual carpet. In the March 1, 2004 Watchtower magazine the sheep and the goats are referred to as if they have already been identified. Anyone reading that magazine would never know the sheep and the goats are not yet identified according to the 1995 article.
Round and round it goes . . . . where it stops, nobody knows. GaryB
Gary:
Can you or anyone else post that 2004 article (including page numbers). I'd like to be forearmed, to launch that one a few places...
They made a huge problem for themselves that apparently they didn't think through. By saying the sheep and the goats are only identified AFTER Armageddon starts, they can no longer refer to the "other sheep" because those are (some of) the unidentified sheep. AND they can't refer to the great crowd because they also have THOSE tied to the (other) sheep that are not yet identified. So now they have two conflicting doctrines at once.
1. ) ... The sheep and the great crowd are not identified and will not be identified until after Armageddon.
2.) ... The sheep and the great crowd are identified.
The problem with the unidentified great crowd, is the whole spider web of doctrines looses it's adhesion. Here's another thought. If the great crowd class is not identified yet, because they are connected to the other sheep class, who are connected to the sheep class, maybe the faithful and discreet slave class is not identified yet either because the same (sheep - - little flock) verses apply to them. They have only been separated by a timeline that now the Watch Tower has dismantled. It's all just smoke and mirrors and it will just need more rigidity to keep people from questioning it all. GaryB
I have been wondering --- why did they choose SHEEP TO CLONE?
