From: todd@palomar.tivoli.com
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: JWs -- Part 4, Doctrinal Vacillation
Date: 2 Sep 92 02:42:48 GMT
Distribution: talk
Organization: TIVOLI Systems, Inc.


Jehovah's Witnesses -- Part 4, Doctrinal Vacillation of the WTS

**** Warning **** 

This is a long posting, divided into several parts.  Each part begins
with this same paragraph, skip ahead if you have read it before.  This
is a series of postings that I hope will encourage some intelligent
discussion in this newsgroup on the Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs).  I am
not a Jehovah's Witness, and I have never been a Jehovah's Witness.  I
believe that many JWs are not completely aware of the facts that are
presented here.  Unfortunately, my understanding of the JWs is almost
entirely from secondary sources (books, articles, and so forth that
cite JW publications).  I do have access to some JW publications and
the JW's own translation of the Bible, the New World Translation
Please let me know if any of you find my sources unreliable.

**** End of Warning ****

Some abbreviations:

  JWs = Jehovahs Witnesses
  WTS = Watch Tower Society, the official organization
  NWT = The WTS translation of the Bible
  *xyz* = xyz in italics present in original quotations.

In previous postings I have discussed the doctrines and early history
of the JWs (Part 1), their claim to be God's prophet (Part 2), and
some of the silly teachings of the WTS (Part 3).

I would like to repeat my statement that although I believe the
information in this posting to be correct, much of it comes from
secondary sources that are frankly opposed to the WTS, but in almost
every case they cite primary sources that are official publications of
the WTS.  

Doctrinal Vacillation of the WTS
===============================

As I have pointed out in a previous posting, Part 2 -- JWs claim to be
God's Prophet and Part 3 -- Silly Ideas, the WTS has made a number of
prophetic predictions most concerning the end of the world as we know
it. These predictions have proven time and again to be false.  

The Witnesses have had many failed predictions (see Part 2 for the
citations).  Here are some of their more important dates:

  1873  End of 6000 years since Adam, Christ's Reign begins
  1874  Beginning of the time of trouble and destruction of this age 
  1914  Armageddon of the Scriptures
        Christ's Reign begins (again?)
  1918  God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by
        millions 
  1925  The return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.  They even built a
        California mansion for them to live in when they got here.
  1925  All members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly
        glory.
  1932  "Christendom" [other religions] destroyed
  1941  Months before Armageddon
  1975  End of 6000 years since man's creation (what happened to 1873) 
        Armageddon will be all over by autumn of this year

Questions for Witnesses:

[1] Did you know of these predictions.
[2] The WTS claims to be Jehovah's organization and that its Governing
    Body is directed by Jehovah.  How could Jehovah make these
    mistakes?

Why isn't this a problem for the WTS; many Witnesses don't realize
the constant flip-flopping that the WTS has done in the past because
it isn't a popular subject in current WTS literature.  But God,
communicating through his channel, has changed his mind a number of
times.  Consider some of the following: 

The Great Pyramid's Prophecy
----------------------------

How could the "truth" revealed by the Great Pyramid (see Part 3 for
more about the pyramids) change to accommodate these ever changing
prophecies?  Its accomplished quite easily through deceptive editing!
Consider the following passage from page 342 of Thy Kingdom Come,
Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3, 1889 edition:

  ... Then measuring down the "Entrance Passage" from that point, to
  find the distance to the entrance of the "Pit," representing the
  great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when
  evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3416 inches,
                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~
  symbolizing 3416 years from the above date, B.C. 1542.  This
              ~~~~~~~~~~
  calculation shows A.D. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period
                         ~~~~
  of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1874 years A.D. equals 3416
  years.  Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the
                                                       ~~~~
  chronological beginning of the time of trouble ...

After this prophecy didn't come to pass, God's channel changed its
mind and printed a new edition with new dates (I guess God was only
guessing the first time).  The 1905 edition said:

  ... Then measuring down the "Entrance Passage" from that point, to
  find the distance to the entrance of the "Pit," representing the
  great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when
  evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3457 inches,
                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~
  symbolizing 3457 years from the above date, B.C. 1542.  This
              ~~~~~~~~~~
  calculation shows A.D. 1915 as marking the beginning of the period
                         ~~~~
  of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1915 years A.D. equals 3457
  years.  Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 will be the
                                                       ~~~~ ~~~~
  beginning of the time of trouble ...

Actually, neither of these measurements is accurate.  

[3] Does it seem deceitful to make these changes?  Can you put your
    faith in any of the facts in these publications?

God's Bible in Stone becomes Satan's Bible
------------------------------------------

Part 3 should be read to understand the significance that the WTS gave
to the great pyramid.  The WTS has finally given up on the Great
Pyramid (as well it should considering their prohibitions on having
anything to do with anything pagan).  If they are God's prophet, then
God must have changed his mind once again because, after decades of
praising the "truth" of the Great Pyramid, in 1928 they stated (The
Watchtower 11/15/1928, p 341.):

    Is it not passing strange that if God intended his church to be
  taught by the measurements of a pile of stone neither Jesus nor any
  of the apostles has one word to say about it, but, on the contrary,
  emphasize the necessity of adhering closely to the Word of truth and
  unselfishly serving it?  If, therefore, God did not intend his
  church to be taught by, of and concerning the great pyramid of
  Gizeh, then to teach it in the church is a waste of time, to say the
  least of it.  It is more than a waste of time.  It is diverting the
  mind away from the Word of God and from his service.
    If the pyramid is not mentioned in the Bible then following its
  teachings is being led by vain philosophy and false science and not
  following after Christ.

and on p. 344:

  Then Satan put his knowledge in dead stone [the Great pyramid],
  which may be called Satan's Bible, and not God's stone witness.

[4] Does this seem like a case of new light enhancing the old?  Or
    does it seem like a complete reversal?  If such a reversal of
    doctrine is possible, would it also be possible for other
    important teachings to be reversed?  Is God changing his mind?

The 1914 Prophecy
-----------------

Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3, a pre-1914 edition states:

  That the deliverance of the saints must take place some time before
                                                               ~~~~~~
  1914 is manifest ... Just how long before 1914 the last living
                                     ~~~~~~
  members of the body of Christ [the 144,000] will be glorified, we
  are not directly informed; ...

Of course, 1914 came and went and there was no glorification so in a
subsequent edition they creatively edited their prophecy (Studies in
the Scriptures, vol. 3, 1923 edition):

  That the  deliverance of the saints must take place very soon after 
                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  1914 is manifest ... Just how long after 1914 the last living
                                     ~~~~~
  members of the body of Christ [the 144,000] will be glorified, we
  are not directly informed; ...

[5] Why would God's channel have to make such changes?

A Prophecy for 1918
-------------------

From The Finished Mystery, p. 485, 1917 edition

  Also, in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and
  the church members by millions, it shall be that any that escape
  shall come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of
  the downfall of "Christianity."

This didn't happen so in the 1926 edition the mistake is carefully
edited out:

  Also, in the year 1918, when God begins to destroy the churches
                                   ~~~~~~	
  wholesale and the church members by millions, it shall be that any
  that escape shall come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the
  meaning of the downfall of "Christianity."

[6] Have you read other WTS literature that seems to indicate a steady
    and consistent doctrine but that has had subtle changes made to it
    over time?

Will the men of Sodom and Gomorrah be resurrected
-------------------------------------------------

Yes, according to The Watch Tower, 6/1879
No, according to The Watch Tower, 7/1/1952
Yes, according to The Watchtower, 8/1/1965
No, according to The Watchtower, 6/1/1988

[7] President Knorr has clearly said that a Witness must accept as
    authoritative the teachings and obey the instructions found in The
    Watchtower.  How do you feel about the fact that as a Witness you
    must accept these teachings one year and in another must accept
    just the opposite?

Vaccination
----------

Golden Age magazine (the predecessor to Awake!), 2/4/1931:

  Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that
  God made with Noah after the flood.

Thousands of parents were forced to lie to school officials before
1952 by the WTS's prohibition against smallpox vaccination.  William
Cetnar, who worked at the WTS headquarters during this period, reports
that a common practice was the use of acid on children to produce
vaccination-like scars and the forgery of vaccination certificates.

[8] If you had a child that had died, gotten sick, or been scared
    would you have felt that it was God's will?

In 1952, God changed his mind and allowed vaccinations!

[9] How would you have felt about it after 1952?

Organ Transplants
-----------------

The Watchtower, 11/15/67, p. 702:

  Those who submit to such operations are thus living off the flesh of
  another human.  That is cannibalistic.  ... God did not grant
  permission for humans to try to perpetuate their lives by
  cannibalistically taking into their bodies human flesh, whether
  chewed or in the form of whole organs or body parts taken from
  others. 

Awake!, 6/8/1968, p. 21:

  ... the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, who consider *all*
  transplants between humans as cannibalism.

[10] Do you feel that the WTS feels a sense of responsibility for the
     suffering and deaths caused by its restrictions.

As David Reed says, this meant that JWs that needed a cornea
transplant to prevent blindness or a kidney transplant to stay alive
had to refuse them.  But after wreaking the lives of such members in
the sixties and seventies, the WTS reversed its position in 1980.
From The Watchtower 3/15/1980, p. 31:

  ... there is no Biblical command pointedly forbidding the taking in
  of other human tissue. ... It is a matter for personal decision.
  (Gal. 6:5) The congregation judicial committee would not take
  disciplinary action if someone accepted an organ transplant.  

[11] Has the WTS ever acknowledged that their previous stand might
     have been wrong?  Have they ever published any sort of
     acknowledgment, explained how it could have happened, or
     apologized? 

What does the WTS itself say about doctrinal vacillation?
---------------------------------------------------------

From The Watchtower, 5/15/1976 concerning the vacillation of doctrine
in others:

  ... Paul answered: "If the very things that I once threw down I
  build up again, I demonstrate myself to be a *transgressor* -- Gal.
  2:18. 
    It is a serious matter to represent God and Christ in one way,
  then find that our understanding of the major teachings and
  fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures was in error, and then
  afeter that, to go back to the very doctrines that, by years of
  study, we had thoroughly determined to be in error.  Christians
  cannot be vacillating -- "wishy-washy' -- about such fundamental
  teachings.  What confidence can one put in the sincerity or
  judgement of such persons?

[12] Could Paul's teaching be applied to the WTS?

Grounds for Divorce
-------------------

This is certainly an important topic.  Let's see what Jehovah's
Organization has to say about it.  Since the nineteenth century it has
taught that the only grounds for divorce is adultery with a member of
the opposite sex.  This changed in during 1972, consider this
statement in the Watchtower, 1/15/1972:   

  While both homosexuality and bestiality are disgusting perversions,
  in the case of neither one is the marriage tie broken.  It is broken
  only by acts that make an individual "one flesh" with a person of
  the other sex other than his or her legal marriage mate

[13] A Witness divorcing a mate for homosexual relations would have
     been disfellowshipped (excommunicated).  Would you have felt
     right in making this decision?

Later that same year the Watchtower, 12/15/72 stated that fornication
all types of illicit sexual intercourse were covered.

[14] What happened to those disfellowshipped over this in previous
     years? 

Sex in Marriage
---------------

Beginning in 1973, even within marriage sodomy, oral sex, and
masturbation were condemned.  Sex during menstruation was prohibited.
Because Witnesses were discouraged from marrying at this time,
the prohibition on masturbation was a significant burden for
unmarried Witnesses.

In the Watchtower 2/15/1978, the WTS stated

  It must be acknowledged that the Bible does not give any specific
  rules or limitations as regards the manner in which husband and
  wife engage in sexual relations.

They reversed themselves once again.

[15] How would you have felt if you had been compelled to divorce a
     spouse in over this before they had reversed themselves?

[16] Why does the organization that firmly claims to be the means by
     which the Will of God is worked out on earth change its position
     so often?

Sources
=======

William Cetnar, Questions for Jehovah's Witnesses "who love the
  truth", 1983. (more good photo reproductions of actual WTS
  publications)  
M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, 
  University of Toronto Press, 1985. (recommended)
David A. Reed, How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watch Tower, 
  Baker Book House, 1989. (lots of good photo reproductions of the
  actual Watch Tower issues quoted above)
Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, 1983. (A very
  important book.  Franz was a former governing body member that
  reveals the inner workings of the WTS.  I don't see how any Witness
  can read this book and remain in the organization!)
WTS, The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1961.
WTS, Aid to Bible Understanding, 1971.


In Part 5, I will discuss the Leaders of the WTS










--

Todd
-- 
Todd Smith                                     TIVOLI Systems, Inc.
todd@tivoli.com                                6034 West Courtyard Dr.
                                               Suite 210
(512) 794-9070 [794-0623 fax]                  Austin, TX   78730