Ironic: g73 2/8 p. 4 The Wisdom of Admitting a Mistake

by 4thgen 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  4thgen

  What ya all think about this?

  *** g73 2/8 p. 4 The Wisdom of Admitting a Mistake ***

  Of course, admitting we made a mistake is the right, honest and decent thing to do. But it is more than that. It is also the course of wisdom. For one thing, admitting to having made a mistake is a lesson in humility. This, on the one hand, protects us from the snare of pride, which is ever ready to entrap us. And, on the other hand, the humbling experience of admitting we made a mistake may well serve to make us more careful so that we will be less likely to make that same mistake again. Wisely we are warned: "He that is covering over his transgressions will not succeed [with God], but he that is confessing and leaving them will be shown mercy"—by God and by God’s servants. Yes, the very confessing of our errors will aid us to leave them.—Prov. 28:13.

  Admitting to making a mistake is the course of wisdom in that it builds in us strength and self-respect. Failure to do so is cowardly, and serves to weaken us morally...Further, admitting a mistake is the course of wisdom because it makes for better relations with others. When we refuse to admit we have made a mistake, we outrage the judgment of others; and they will conclude that we are either too proud, or dishonest, or too stupidto recognize that we made a mistake—all of which may well cause a barrier to come between us and those around us....
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  Laika

  Proud, dishonest and stupid is probably a fair description.
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  maninthemiddle

  The answer I would expect:

  If you are referring to the Governing Body, they can't make a mistake, because the term only applies when they are acting as a group with holy spirit, so this shields them as individuals.

  But as individuals they can make mistakes, but as individuals they don’t run the organization.

  Interestingly the Mormons have a relatable moniker.

  As a group they think they really are prophets, so when something has to change they blame the individual and say “he was speaking as a man” and this somehow covers over everything.
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Here's why the GB/WT never admits to a mistake:

  "Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets. False prophets will try to hide their reason for feeling shame by denying who they really are. "
  (Paradise Restored to Mankind By Theocracy 1972, Pages 353 & 354)

  ---

  w72 11/1 p. 643 Be Big Enough to Admit a Mistake

  "Stumble" is just another word for "make a mistake." And though we all make mistakes, how difficult it is to admit making one! It goes against one’s pride. When one is charged with making a mistake one is prone to want to justify oneself, to make excuses, to shift blame onto others, or to deny having made the mistake. It takes bigness to admit a mistake, to shoulder the blame, to admit that one has been wrong, or used poor judgment.

  ...Refusing to admit that one has made a mistake is like claiming infallibility"

  **

  straight from the horse's mouth
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  StephaneLaliberte

  I love your quote 4thgen!
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  DATA-DOG

  Great points, everyone. So here is a question. The individual members who become the "SLAVE" are not infallible, but is the "SLAVE" infallible??? It's like Voltron or Captain Planet. The 5 lions are not Voltron until they combine. The Planeteers are not Captian Planet until they combine their powers. So do Voltron and Captain Planet make mistakes? Does the collective FDS of 8 men make mistakes?? If so, what's the advantage of combining into the "SLAVE." All that work to become a spirit-directed, non-inspired and fallible "true prohet-like" entity seems silly. Why would an infallible, loving creator kill me for not putting blind trust in that flawed theological combine?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtUF1nEQ_2c
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  maninthemiddle

  The individual members who become the "SLAVE" are not infallible, but is the "SLAVE" infallible?

  data-dog, I would argue that is exactly the perception they are pushing.
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  BU2B

  It would be nice if JWfacts, with our help could make a page dedicated to all of the ironic, hypocritical, self condemning quotes of the WT, just like he did with the deceptions and lies article. It would be nice to have all of them in one place.
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  WTWizard

  I don't think anyone can go without making mistakes. They trust the wrong sources, they miss research, they stumble and choose the wrong words, they make predictions that turn out wrong. That is inevitable, which is why it is so dangerous to take anyone's word as the end-all.

  However, when you insist that people follow your mistakes until you fix them yourself, then it becomes a matter of damning others to fall for your own stupidity. When others have to abide by, and teach, your bad doctrines until you yourself fix them, you are ensuring your bad doctrines are going to do the maximum amount of damage possible. Then, when you fix them, you fail to acknowledge your error but simply clear it out--as often as not, with an even worse doctrine that can do even worse damage.

  Take the 1975 disaster. From 1968 to 1975, they were teaching that 1975 was the end. They used "Perhaps" a lot, but they were expected to sell out so they could pious-sneer. People were pressured into joining during 1973 and 1974, since their destruction was imminent. On this bad information, people were hounded to sell out. Had people been allowed to use their own judgment, most of those who sold out would have hedged and asked "What if the end doesn't come in or around 1975?". But no, they were expected to abide by (and teach--hence incoming witlesses were hounded to sell out and pious-sneer, too) the bad doctrine. Hence, it did more damage than a simple mistake.

  And when 1976 came, did they try to fix the damage? Or, did they add a guilt trip that anyone that sold out for 1975 because they were threatened that joke-hova would destroy them if they didn't was responsible for their bad situation? Unaddressed medical conditions (or ones caused by excessive stress), debt, and putting off marriage and children are among the complications--and those who were hounded into going along with it were faulted. Not only did they not address their error (which was more than a simple bad-research error), but they blamed those affected! Admitting their fault? Hardly--they just magnified it greatly (hounding people to abide by and teach it) and then transferred the fault to those affected.
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  Doug Mason

  " 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 after 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 judgment of such persons? " (Watchtower, May 15, 1976, page 298)