Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Subject: Jehovah's Witnesses (part 3 of 3)
From: j1w@icf.hrb.com (Doug ('Oscar') Works)
Date: 4 Sep 92 16:58:36 EST
Organization: HRB Systems, Inc.

Here's the last part.  If you know anything about the Witnesses that is not
included in any of these three postings, or believe that I have stated 
something in error, please E-mail or post a reply.  I think everyone would
be helped by it.  Thanks for the interesting discussions and tidbits
already!

                                                 - Doug
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    				       6

THE PARADOX	      o  They had said that "to disregard the Message (i.e., 
    			 Russell as 'that servant') would mean to disregard 
    			 the Lord." [24] 
    		      o  But if they had falsely claimed he was "that servant",
    			 then they had committed creature worship of a deceiver
    			 and promoted it.
    		         o  "The creature worshipper is unable to exercise the 
    			     mind of Christ . . . [or] "to receive God's 
    			     spirit." [25]

MY PART		      1)  Show them Christian concern and love.
    			  o  They'll need it to convert.
    		      2)  Show them verses in context.
    			  o  Ask how the setting of a passage relates to the 
    			     meaning that the Society gives it.
    			  o  JESUS IS GOD!
    			  o  Use the _King James Version_ or the _American 
    			     Standard Version_; the Society prints both.
    			  o  Don't use, or worry about, their _New World 
    			     Translation_.
    		      3)  They need to realize that the Society has no authority
    			  to direct other peoples' lives.
    			  o  The _Watchtower_ claims that they are Jehovah's 
    			     prophet to warn of "dangers and to declare things
    			     to come." [26]
    			  o  Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says that if one claims to be
    			     a prophet of God, they must be validated by their 
    			     predictions coming true.
    			  o  The Watchtower Society fully agrees that to be a 
    			     true prophet, one's prophecies "must come to pass,"
    			     whereas a "would-be prophet. . . could not have his
    			     prophecies come true," and "that alone is strong 
    			     evidence that they are false prophets." [27]
    			     o  This is especially true of "those in times past
    				who predicted an 'end to the world,' even 
    				announcing a specific date. . . Yet nothing
    				happened.  The 'end' did not come.  They were 
    				guilty of false prophesying." [28]
    			  o  Under Russell's leadership, the Watchtower Society
    			     declared that the final battle ("Armageddon" or 
    			     "the battle of the great day of God Almighty") 
    			     "will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow
    			     of the earth's present rulership." [29]
    			  o  Later, the Society announced 1925 and then again 
    			     1975 as end dates. [30]

    			  *  These failures have shown the Watchtower Society, 
    			     by its own definitions, to be a false prophet.

    			  *  In fact, in the "Scottish Court of Sessions" case 
    			     cited above in endnote [4], Watchtower Society 
    			     leaders admitted that they had, in fact, given 
    			     false prophecies. [31]

CONCLUSION	The "Society" is NOT a dependable spiritual guide.

    		Turn to Jehovah HIMSELF (Ps 32:5-8).
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    				   References

 [1]	William Miller, _Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second 
    	Coming of Christ about the Year 1843_, Boston:  Joshua V. Himes, 1842.
 [2]	N. H. Barbour & C. T. Russell, _Three Worlds and the Harvest of This 
    	World_ (Rochester, N.Y.:  N. H. Barbour & C. T. Russell, 1877).
 [3]	_Watchtower_, 15 September 1910, p. 298.
 [4]	Charles T. Russell, _Thy Kingdom Come_ (Brooklyn: International Bible 
    	Students Association, 1904), p. 342.
 [5]	Scottish Court of Sessions, Douglas Walse v. James Latseim Clyde, Cs 
    	258/2788 [November 1954]; Pursuer's Proof, pp. 7, 61, 342-43.
 [6]	_Kingdom Ministry_, May 1974, p. 3.
 [7]	The translators requested that they remain anonymous, even after their 
    	deaths, but William Cetnar, who served at Watchtower headquarters at the
    	time of the translation, named the five:  N. H. Knorr, F. W. Franz, 
    	A. D. Schroeder, G. D. Gangas, and M. Henschel (Edmond C. Gruss, _We 
    	Left Jehovah's Witnesses - A Non-Prophet Organization_ [Phillipsburg, 
    	N.J.:  Presbyterian & Reformed Publ. Co., 1974], p. 74).
 [8]	_Let God Be True_ (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1952), 
    	pp. 101-2.
 [9]	Ibid., p. 108.
[10]	Ibid., p. 32.
[11]	_Let God Be True_, p. 138.
[12]	Charles T. Russell, _The Time Is at Hand_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 1910), 
        p. 129.
[13]	_Make Sure of All Things_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 1950), p. 314.
[14]	_The Truth Shall Make You Free_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 1943), p. 295.
[15]	Joseph F. Rutherford, _Prophecy_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 1929), p. 65.
[16]	_Watchtower_, 1 December 1981, p. 8.
[17]	_Let God Be True_, p. 68.
[18]	Ibid., pp. 92, 99.
[19]	_Theocratic Aid to Kingdom Publishers_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 1945), pp. 
    	249-50. _Watchtower_, 15 December 1972, p. 755.
[20]	_Watchtower_, October-November 1881, p. 5.
[21]	_Watchtower_, 15 July 1906, p. 215; 1 March 1896, p. 47; 15 June 1896, 
    	pp. 139-40; 1 September 1900, pp. 270-71.
[22]	_Watchtower_, 1 December 1916, p. 367; 1 May 1922, pp. 131-32. 
        15 December 1922, p. 396; 1 May 1922, p. 131.  Cf. J. F. Rutherford, 
    	_The Harp of God_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 1921), p. 239.  The reference was 
    	completely deleted from the 1928 edition.
[23]	_Watchtower_, 15 February 1927, p. 56; 1 August 1950, p. 230; 
    	1 October 1967, p. 590; 15 January 1969, p. 51.
[24]	_Watchtower_, 15 December 1916, p. 391.
[25]	_Watchtower_, 1 May 1964, p. 270.
[26]	_Watchtower_, 1 April 1972, p. 197.  See also similar claims to be a 
    	prophet in _The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah_ (Brooklyn: WBTS, 
    	1971), p. 70;  _Watchtower_, 15 January 1969, pp. 40-41; 15 March 1972, 
    	p. 189.
[27]	_Watchtower_, 1 March 1965, p. 151; _Aid to Bible Understanding_ 
    	(Brooklyn: WBTS, 1971), p. 47.
[28]	_Awake!_ 8 October 1968, p. 23.
[29]	Russell, _The Time Is at Hand_, p. 101.
[30]	_Watchtower_, 1 September 1916, p. 265; Joseph F. Rutherford, _Millions 
    	Now Living Will Never Die_ (Brooklyn: IBSA, 1920), pp. 89-90; 
    	_Watchtower_, 1 September 1922, p. 262; _Informant_, May 1940, p. 1; 
    	_Watchtower_, 15 September 1941, p. 288; _Awake!_ 8 October 1968, p. 13.
    	For documentary reprints concerning Watchtower prophetic failures, see 
    	Duane Magnani's _Eyes of Understanding_.
[31]	Pursuer's Proof, pp. 103-5, 342-43.
-- 
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....    |         "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep,             ....
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.......................  Internet: j1w@icf.hrb.com .............................
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    J. Douglas Works * HRB Systems, Inc. * State College, PA  16804  USA
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