ours is the privilege to.
plenty to do in this harvest work?1 cor.. 15:58.. .
did russell expect there still to be harvesting today?.
"Do you avoid unnecessary fellowship with schoolmates and fellow workers who do not share your beliefs?" (par 17)
Wow. They don't even bother with the pretense that all non-JWs are "bad association" and for that reason should be avoided. Rather, non-jws are to be avoided simply because they are not jws....
wt 12/1/1894 p. 384.
wt 5/1/57 p.274.
wt 11/15/28 p.344.
Hi Barbara,
As I mentioned in my essay found at Freeminds, it was a terrible blow to me to find out I had been lying to people when I taught them WT's 1923 interpretation of the parable. I felt as though I had misrepresented the God that I thought I had served for over forty years.
In my opinion, this speaks to your character.
I am surprised and disappointed that JWs in general are not more concerned about (continuing to) misrepresent God by bringing doctrines to the door, only to have those doctrines discarded down the road.
Even current JWs must realize that there is no certainty that what they believe (and carry to the doors) today will be "truth" tomorrow. And yet they continue to preach these uncertain doctrines and to present them as "God's truth".
I wonder how many times the average JW has "put God in the light of a liar" by preaching something that was subsequently discarded as error?
How many "untruths" has the average JW carried to the door and presented as God's will?
I enjoyed your essay, and, again, I thank you for the info.
.
is chocolate one of the major food groups?
i love but never actually buy chocolate; today i succumbed to a seller's entreaty to give the ol' chocolate chewie bistro cake a try [for half price].. i'm entering into a coma even as .... .
I require that chocolate covered woman that Outlaw posted... ;)
wt 12/1/1894 p. 384.
wt 5/1/57 p.274.
wt 11/15/28 p.344.
Barbara,
Thanks for the info. It was not my intent to write an essay or to delineate all the nuances of the Society's historical positions on Matt 25:31-46; just to present an overview of another doctrinal flip-flop.
I don't think I mispoke when I summarized the WT views thusly:
Prior to 1923: The separating of the sheep and the goats is a future event taking place after the tribulation.
1923-1995: The separating of the sheep and the goats began in 1914 and is currently taking place.
1995-current: The separating of the sheep and the goats is a future event taking place after the tribulation.
Imo, the bigger issue here is not (another) WT doctrinal flip-flop, but that the 1923 doctrinal position was attributed directly to God:
Stirring up increasing interest in them, Jehovah caused to be preached from 1918 onward the startling public message "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," and in 1923 he provided the interpretation of "the parable of the sheep and the goats." (Matt. 25:31-46) --WT, 11/15/1955, p.698.
The above is a very plain statement by the Society attributing what is now said to be DOCTRINAL ERROR to God.
It is my opinion that shifting doctrines (including even back-and-forth doctrinal flip-flops) are by and large readily accepted by individual JWs as they deem these to be examples of "the light getting brighter". However, attributing false doctrine - doctrinal error - to God is an entirely different issue which I consider to be far more damning to the Watchtower Society and much more difficult for individual JWs to reconcile.
Watchtower doctrine leaves no room for a God who provides doctrinal error to the JWs or anyone else for that matter: God is Truth. This means that the Society's claim to have received doctrinal enlightenment from God regarding Matthew 25:31-46 in 1923 is patently FALSE. This calls all other similar claims into question, for if the Society is demonstrably wrong(lied) about receiving new light from God in this case, why should any other such claim be believed?
Secondly, what of the ramifications of portraying God as a liar? Based on the Society's current doctrinal position regarding Matt 25:31-46 and their comments regarding their previously held view, God LIED to the Watchtower Society in 1923. By putting God "in the light of a liar", the Watchtower Society has sealed their own fate, according to their own teaching:
We may not tell untruths in his name, for that puts God in the light of a liar. "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." (Rom. 3:4, NW) In Jeremiah's day the false prophets prophesied lies in Jehovah's name and lied against his purpose, foretelling in his name what he had not foretold. Therefore Jehovah was against them. He executed judgment against them at Jerusalem's destruction in 607 B.C. (Jer. 23:25; 27:15) Religious liars like them today cannot escape a like judgment but will meet a like end at Armageddon. --WT, 2/1/1956, p.88.
wt december 15, 2010. snippets from this watchtower are below.
keeping in mind that all articles are written with an agenda, to address problems in the organization or to pave the way for new guidelines, look at what i highlighted.
my conclusions are:.
undercover:
"In the years since that book was first published, the light has been getting brighter on a number of topics, and some of the expressions used in that songbook have become outdated. For example, we no longer speak of "the new order" but of "the new world". And we now state that Jehovah's name will be "sanctified, not "vindicated." Clearly, from a doctrinal standpoint, there has been a need to bring our songbook up-to-date."
Wow, indeed!
This is messed up on so many levels...
For one thing, to suggest that a new songbook was necessary because of minor wording differences such as "new order" vs "new world" and "vindicated" vs "sanctified" is ludicrous..
Secondly, we're honestly to believe that it was "new light" from God that revealed the necessity of such trivial changes?? CLEARLY, "Jehovah" has far too much time on his hands...
wt december 15, 2010. snippets from this watchtower are below.
keeping in mind that all articles are written with an agenda, to address problems in the organization or to pave the way for new guidelines, look at what i highlighted.
my conclusions are:.
clarity, I had the exact same thought. Memorize the lyrics?? The lyrics are nothing short of WT PROPAGANDA! Blatant mind control/thought reform...
watchtower offers huge donation of "field" assistancediv class=subhead>the rvba leads the way to a continuous rondout valley rail trail</div><pby chris rowley .
pine bush a startling offer from watchtower, the jehovah's witnesses' organization centered on red mills road, worth about $136,000, has the pine bush central school district scrambling to see if it can take advantage of the offer.
at the school board meeting on tuesday, september 14, tom walraven, physical education teacher and varsity baseball coach, presented a plan to the board for repairing the e.j.russell field.
This is a great PR move by the WT$.
They're not donating money... just the use of their equipment, so it really doesn't cost them anything. And they get some good PR.
wt 12/1/1894 p. 384.
wt 5/1/57 p.274.
wt 11/15/28 p.344.
One more:
SEPARATING OF THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS (Matt 25:31-46)
Prior to 1923: The separating of the sheep and the goats is a future event taking place after the tribulation.
1923-1995: The separating of the sheep and the goats began in 1914 and is currently taking place.
1995-current: The separating of the sheep and the goats is a future event taking place after the tribulation.
A couple things to note.
1. The current (since 1995) view is actually a reversion to OLD LIGHT.
2. The previous (1923-1995) view is now considered OLD LIGHT and DOCTRINAL ERROR, yet was ATTRIBUTED TO GOD:
The Lord revealed to his people the meaning of the parable of the sheep and the goats, showing how the "sheep" only would be spared by Jehovah when his wrath is expressed at Armageddon. All this information came not from or by man, but by the Lord God... --WT, 2/1/1938, p.35.
Stirring up increasing interest in them, Jehovah caused to be preached from 1918 onward the startling public message "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," and in 1923 he provided the interpretation of "the parable of the sheep and the goats." (Matt. 25:31-46) --WT, 11/15/1955, p.698.
For the anointed remnant who had begun to enter into the modern antitype of the festival of booths, spiritual illumination from Jehovah's heavenly temple beamed forth. It was during the gathering in of the spiritual class prefigured by Ruth and Esther that Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats, as recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, was given special illumination for the enlightenment of their understanding. At the 1923 general convention... --WT, 2/15/1980, p.19.
Since they have produced the fruits of God's Kingdom, Jehovah has blessed them richly by bringing them up to date in "the greatly diversified wisdom of God."-Ephesians 3:10. Thus, in 1923 Jesus' great prophecy about the sheep and the goats was properly understood, and it was discerned that the whole world was under judgment. (Matthew 25:31-46) --WT, 5/15/1986, p.14.
According the WT$, God provided FALSE DOCTRINE. How insane is this? Any lurkers wonder how God might feel about the WT$ attributing DOCTRINAL ERROR to Him?
We may not tell untruths in his name, for that puts God in the light of a liar. "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." (Rom. 3:4, NW) In Jeremiah's day the false prophets prophesied lies in Jehovah's name and lied against his purpose, foretelling in his name what he had not foretold. Therefore Jehovah was against them. He executed judgment against them at Jerusalem's destruction in 607 B.C. (Jer. 23:25; 27:15) Religious liars like them today cannot escape a like judgment but will meet a like end at Armageddon. --WT, 2/1/1956, p.88.
i'm asking because i just watched "the road".
it may not be the saddest but it's up there.
"my sister's keeper" was a real tearjerker too..
The ending of Gladiator always gets me...
i'm disgusted.
so, i'm formally challenging djeggnog to either substantiate or retract his outrageous claim that:.
1. russell made no predictions about 1914.. 2. specifically, russell never predicted christ's "coming" for 1914.
Damn, I'm not on this board enough anymore. I don't even know who the f*ck DJ Eggnog is.
Meh, you're not missing much.
Eggnog:
Answer my question correctly, and I'll answer your question.
LOL. No, we both know you won't. I've asked on at least three different occasions. You've been backed into a corner by your previous (nonsensical) statements and are now unable to answer the question without contradicting yourself and exposing your lies and Russell's failed prophecies in the process.
You're no prophet, eggnog. You're just a liar. And not even a good one at that.
peacedog - 2, djeggnog - 0
