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Dear
Mother,
I don’t think you’ll mind being
addressed as Mother since many like to look at the Governing Bodyi
of Jehovah’s Witnesses as their motherii.
I’ll get right to the point,
Mother,
I took a fresh look at your character and now believe that you
crossed the line between telling the truth and stretching it.
How’s that?
O
h,
I know you’d always told me that you were imperfect and made
mistakes – and I accepted that. But the more I studied your
writings the more I found that you went beyond the honest
mistakes. You see, my real mom taught me something that I never
really applied in my relationship with you – until recently. I
trust you’ll agree that what she said makes sense:
“There
are honest mistakes – but never honest lies.”
Oh, you can’t believe the times I
defended you over the silly things you said – I mean the absurd
teachings you wanted us to believe. There were the miracle
wheatiii;
pyramidologyiv;
that evil aluminum cookwarev;
those teaching flip-flops on subjects like the resurrection of
ancient Sodomitesvi,
the Superior Authorities, medicinal vaccinationsvii,
along with others too numerous to mention here. Oh, and let’s
not forget your date predictions -- perhaps the source of more
contention among folks who have ever been associated with
Jehovah’s Witnesses than any other topic. Date predictions –
those pre-announced future events.
But I defended you, naively standing
up to your enemies and countering that those were merely honest
mistakes. However, as I started to re-examine your writings I
decided to look with the same critical eye as you taught me to
look at those from other organizations – Catholics, Baptists,
and Mormons – actually all other religions. And, Mother, I
would no longer be cutting you more slack than you allow others.
I digress. I really wanted to let
you know something about that more serious matter – honesty!
Take just one of those embarrassing
teachings of yours – the predicted dates. Yes, you wrongly
predicted them – and I defended you for that, calling each of
those instances mistakes, honest mistakes. But the more I
explored the aftermath of those predictions – your follow-up
denials and blame-shifting -- the more I came to the conclusion
that you weren’t truly apologetic for the misery you put us
through. Worse, I realized that you had crossed the line from
mistakes to downright dishonestyviii.
And you did it again and again -- no different than one of those
casino junkies thinking that the next spin would be a winner! I
imagine they helped keep your membership numbers on the rise.
Let me give you a few examples.
Case
1
In the late teens and early 1920’s
you told us that the exact year 1925 was to be viewed as the date
when Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old would
return. You were brimming with confidence about this year, using
words like “definitely” and “clearly”. We became excited.
Remember how you put it in the pages of your premier journal, the
Watch Tower and that popular Millions booklet?
Before
1925
"There
will be no slip-up...Abraham should enter upon the actual
possession of his promised inheritance in the year 1925 A.D."
The Watch Tower 10/15/1917,
p. 6157.
"Therefore
we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old...".
Millions Now Living Will Never
Die, 1920, PP. 89-90.
"...1925
shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old...".
Millions, p. 97.
"1925 is
definitely settled by the Scriptures...the Christian has much more
upon which to base his faith than Noah had (so far as the
scriptures reveal) upon which to base his faith in a coming
deluge." The Watch Tower
4/1/1923, p. 106.
"The year
1925 is a date definitely and clearly marked in the Scriptures,
even more clearly than that of 1914." The
Watch Tower 7/15/1924, p. 211.
After
1925
It’s a foregone conclusion that
the resurrection didn’t happen as “definitely” as you said
it would. In fact, it didn’t happen the next year -- or the
next. What you had said was an obvious error, a mistake. But
that’s not my point. It’s what you then said the
following year which speaks volumes of your character. Was it an
apology, an admission of error, a retraction? None of the above.
Let me jog your memory. Your spokesman, Joseph F. Rutherford, the
Society’s president, was asked a question in reference to those
earlier Watch Tower predictions, while attending a convention in
Basel, Switzerland.
Question:
Have the ancient worthies returned?
Answer:
“Certainly they have not returned. No one has seen them, and
it would be foolish to make such an announcement. It was stated
in the ‘Millions’ book that we might reasonably expect them to
return shortly after 1925, but this was merely an expressed
opinion; besides it is still shortly after 1925. There is no good
reason why we should expect the ancient worthies to return until
the church is complete and the work of the church on earth is
done.” The Watch Tower 1926,
p. 196.ix
Merely an expressed opinion?
Stop right there! You just turned some very precise date
forecasts into elusive disclaimers – turning a flagrant mistake
into an out-and-out lie. I know, you were probably bitter at that
reporter for asking what seemed like a barbed question, but what
did you expect – a rave review? That, Mother, was not honest –
and need I remind you what my mother told me about lies?
Case
2
You didn’t give up with that
sleight-of-hand. Instead of accepting responsibility, you quickly
followed with blame shifting, another dishonest tactic.
“Some
anticipated that the work would end in 1925, but the Lord did not
state so. The difficulty was that the friends inflated their
imaginations beyond reason; and that when their imaginations burst
asunder, they were inclined to throw away everything.”
The Watch Tower 1926, p. 232.
Oh, now it’s our fault? We
inflated our imaginations, did we? You mean we simply conjured up
those “definitely settled” and
“definitely and clearly marked” statements on our own,
visualizing out of the clear blue that the resurrection was going
to happen in a certain year? Why did you think we anticipated
those 1925 happenings in the first place? It was because you, the
spirit-directedx
leadership, persuaded us to draw that conclusion.
You did it, Mother, so how could you stoop so low as to transfer
the blame to us? Shame on you.
Case
3 — Long
After 1925
Some fifty years later in your 1975
yearbook you must’ve felt the need to re-address that issue.
But you hadn’t changed. Again, instead of making an apology
over what you had said about that failed 1925 prediction – and
more important, those sleight-of-hand phrases -- you published
some past recollection – an obvious inaccuracy – by one of
your devoted members.
“…So, as
Anna MacDonald recalls: '1925 was a sad year for many brothers.
Some of them were stumbled; their hopes were dashed...Instead of
its being considered a 'probability', they read into it that it
was a 'certainty', and some prepared for their own loved ones with
expectancy of their resurrection.” 1975
Yearbook, p. 146.
You couldn’t have solicited a
better testimony. Here, the blurred reminiscence of some innocent
elderly person would serve your purpose far better than taking a
few steps into your vast Bethel libraryxi
to write down an exact – yet most important – honest
reference.
You had never stated the word
probability in those pre-1925 writings – that lone
woman did it for you. Nonetheless, Mother, by quoting this
person, you willfully endorsed her error, knowing it would serve
your purpose – that of perpetuating Rutherford’s cover-up.
Rutherford’s cover-up now became your cover-up. Clearly,
this 1975 rehash turned into a well-planned and pre-meditated lie.
You might say, “Why are you
bringing up events that happened so long ago?” I say, thanks
for asking since it was your own 1975 yearbook (50 years after the
fact) with the Anna MacDonald quotation which motivated me
to study your true character.
Case
4
Finally, I would be remiss at
omitting another of your more recent prophetic statements, one
which didn’t fail till only a few years ago. In this instance,
rather than a specific year, you predicted a century.xii
“…Shortly, within our twentieth
century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will begin
against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom.”
The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah - How? 1971, Chap. 12
pp. 216-217
I
t
surprised me that you hadn’t tampered with that sentence before
its entry into the Watchtower Library 2005 CD [an eBay purchase].
Remember how you did that with the 1989 Watchtower? You know the
one -- January 1, page 12 where you said in its original printing,
“… a work
that would be completed in our 20th century.”xiii
Recall how you replaced the phrase “our
20th century” with “our day”
inside the Bound Volume? To check this out, honest-hearted persons
need only find originals or scans of originals.
Conclusion
It’s now clear to me, Mother, that
you made some serious mistakes. The problem I have with them,
however, is that you dishonestly tried to lessen their gravity in
the eyes of your flock. Fact is, I’ve examined follow-up
statements you’ve made on other topics of change. Your two-step
plan is no different.
-
Lie.
-
Blame the flock.
I don’t require four examples of
your lies to convince myself that you are just another group of
religious leaders that tells a lie for its own advantage – one
is enough. I no longer submit to leadership of some group that
must goes so far as to redefine the very meaning of a Liexiv
-- where
You see, honesty is a trait so
fundamental -- an element so universally recognized by people of
good will -- once you abuse it there is no way that you as a
professed spirit-directed representative of God can
convincingly earn it back. You, Mother, asked it quite well not
long ago, "...really, would you want to
be even associated with a religion that had not been honest with
you?" Is This Life All
There Is?, 1974, page 46.
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I
left Watchtower’s membership in 1977 and wish I could’ve
sent this recently composed letter at that time. Mom passed
away in 1981 and I can only wish she learned more history of
an organization to which she had dedicated her life. You may
contact me at
my email address follows: [email protected].
Last edited,
3/13/17
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