From Hector3001, a self-styled JW "apologist", URL is http://hector3000.future.easyspace.com/email.htm
As sent to me by one writer hoping to put a bad light on the WTS:
*** w65 3/1 151 Basis for Reliance on Prophecy ***
"The best method of proof is to put a prophecy to the test of time and circumstances. The Bible invites such a test. "The Watchtower is not the instrument of an man or any set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No man's opinion is expressed in the Watchtower [Note: Emphasis added]Reply: The only problem with this, is that the sentence highlighted is not actually in the article. This smacks of desperation. I too often find that people who just want to quote old Watchtowers against me (even fabricated ones as above), do so because they cannot quote scripture. Too sad.
In about 1895 a document was fabricated to incite hatred against the Jews. This document eventually fell into the hands of one Adolf Hitler, and the rest, as they say, is history. Since I tend to get alot of email from so-called "Christians," I have been finding a disturbing trend lately. Old Watchtower (and other WTS publications) quotations are floating around wherein the words quoted simply do not exist. These of course, are written in a way to make Jehovah's Witnesses look bad. It is sad, and ultimately frightening, that people are resorting to these kinds of tactics.
I always ask these people for a hard-copy, to date, I have never received one. I usually get the same answers, "I lost mine," or, most often, "I got it from a web-site, but I lost the URL."
Warning! Any document posted on a web-site AGAINST JW's that makes Witnesses look real bad, has an extremely high probability of being fabricated. People, this is not "Christian," this is evil.
There are actually two quotes from the WT given above. The first is referenced; the second is not. I posted a thread about the second one at CARM: http://www.carmforums.org/dcforum/DCForumID17/333.html (LONG!) I also wrote an e-mail to Hector3001:
Hello. I found your page titled "The E-Mail Bag" when I did a Google search, trying to find the context for the quote underlined above. You actually have two separate quotes. "The best method of proof is to put a prophecy to the test of time and circumstances. The Bible invites such a test." is found in The Watchtower, March 1, 1965, p. 151. The second quote, "The Watchtower is not the instrument of an man or any set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No man's opinion is expressed in The Watchtower." is found in The Watchtower, November 1, 1931 p. 327.The quote is not fabricated. It bears no resemblance whatever to The Protocols of Zion, which you allude to. There is no "desperation" involved. It is not true that the ability to quote old issues of The Watchtower indicates an inability to quote Scripture. Can you cite even one example of a "quotation floating around wherein the words quoted simply do not exist"? This quote is not such an example. "It is sad, and ultimately frightening, that people are resorting to these kinds of tactics"? Yes, I suppose it would be, if it were true.
Whoever sent you these two quotes without attributing the second one was a bit hasty and sloppy in his documentation, but he was hardly a false Christian, desperate, frightening, lying, or evil-- just careless.
Just as you have been careless, in hurling such accusations without any proof. If you wanted to find the source of the quote, you could have done as I did, run a Google search and find it. That quote is cited in ten websites that Google could find. Yours is the only one that gives the wrong issue and page number, or seems to. Actually, yours is the only page that offers the quote without a reference. All the others give the correct reference, November 1, 1931 p. 327.
If you would like hard-copy of the article that quote came from, I'll be happy to fax it to you. I have your fax number from your home page. It's eight pages long, so I thought I should ask you before faxing it to you. I can fax the whole issue if you'ld like.
Here's a post I wrote recently at CARM:
In the long thread "J. W's Past Failed Prophecies - Why Do J. W's Disregard them?"
(http://www.carmforums.org/dcforum/DCForumID17/244.html#56 ), Jonny asked me for the context of the quote you see in the scrolling text at the bottom of all my posts. [The Watchtower is not the instrument of any man or any set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No man's opinion is expressed in The Watchtower. (The Watchtower 1931 November 1 p.327) If you believe that, you'll believe anything! ]I don't blame him for asking; it is a pretty shocking quote, and one that is often contradicted, and often affirmed, in other WBTS publications. I couldn't find the complete article that contains that quote on the Internet, but I did find a CD-Rom for sale that contains every issue of The Watchtower published from 1930 to 1939, in PDF format. I bought a copy, and now I can present the full context.
In this post, I'll give the immediate context. Soon I'll post the entire article. It's very enlightening information. This article was the feature article of the Nov. 1st, 1931 issue, running for eight pages. The title of the article is "TAUGHT OF GOD", and the text is "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." -Isa. 54:13. The contents are: "Taught of God", "Who Are Zions Children", "The Birth", "The Children", "Who Taught", "How Taught", and "March to Victory". The quote is in the section "How Taught".
The central point of the article is that those JW's who still stubbornly cling to the Russellite version of the "Truth" and will not conform to the new, improved Rutherfordite "Truth" are wrong and are opposers of Jehovah. Hence the need to claim that Jehovah is responsible for the content (if not the form) of everything written in The Watchtower. So, here are paragraphs 18-21 of the article, with the questions. The quote is found in paragraph 19.
HOW TAUGHT
18 That there is a difference in the matter appearing in The Watchtower since 1922 from that which appeared prior thereto is quite manifest; but those who oppose the work of the Society have assigned entirely the wrong reason for such difference. There is no change or difference in any of the fundamental truths, but the difference relates to a clearer vision God has given his people. Those who oppose The Watchtower, but who still claim to serve God, insist that about 1875 the Lord began to teach his people by the words of Brother Russell, and that with the death of Brother Russell the revelation of truth to the people on earth came to an end; that The Watchtower is now publishing things that were not published by Brother Russell, and hence is wrong; and they claim that there is a studied effort made to discredit Brother Russell; and that such change is due to the fact that men other than Brother Russell control the publication of The Watchtower. For the purpose of illustrating the position of the opponents the following words are quoted from an announcement of a convention to be held by them in London in April, 1931, in which appear these words: "A number of brethren have been invited, known to be well grounded in the basic features of the truth as expounded by Brother Russel"
19 Such opponents of The Watchtower show that they are confused and they are very wrong. Brother Russell did not claim the truth to be his. Jesus Christ taught that the truth is that of Gods Word and that the truth does not belong to any man. There is no effort on the part of The Watchtower, nor is there any desire, to discredit Brother Russell. No good could be accomplished by such a course. The Watchtower recognizes the truth as belonging to Jehovah, and not to any creature. The Watchtower is not the instrument of any man or set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No mans opinion is expressed in The Watchtower. God feeds his own people, and surely God uses those who love and serve him according to his own will. Those who oppose The Watchtower are not capable of discerning the truth that God is giving to the children of his organization, and this is the very strongest proof that such opposers are not of Gods organization. Of a certainty no one can cite an instance in which The Watchtower during the past few years has attempted to laud or magnify any mans name; but at all times it has diligently sought to give honor to Jehovahs name.
20 One may say that all Christians are taught of God, and that would be true so far as Gods children have believed and followed the truth; but the text under consideration, namely, Isaiah 54:13, clearly and specifically applies to a special class. Prior to the coming of the Lord to the temple the holy spirit operated as a teacher of Gods truth, The promise of the text is not to any individual, but it is made to the children of Zion collectively. If one is not born in Zion the text could not apply to him. Zion is Gods organization, and it follows that those who are not of his organization could not be the recipients of the promise made to that organization. Those who deny that God has an organization on earth surely could not be of Gods organization, counted as the children thereof, nor be taught by Jehovah.
21 Zion, the city or organization of God, was not built until the coming of the Lord to the temple of Jehovah in 1918. Prior to that time those who are in Christ Jesus and his followers were on the way to Zion, but were not children of Zion and could not be until Gods due time came to build up Zion. When Christ Jesus came to the temple of Jehovah for judgment, that determined who were the children of Zion; and the ones whom he found faithful and brought into the temple, and made a part of Gods organization, constitute the faithful "servant" class, and the promise is to such that these shall be taught of God; and these are taught of Jehovah.
QUESTIONS FOR BEREAN STUDY
18, 19. Explain as to whether the matter appearing in The Watchtower since 1922 differs from that which appeared prior thereto. Just why have some regarded this as justifying opposition, while others have understood and appreciated it and have been blessed?
20, 21. "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord." How has this been accomplished?
Thanks for reading all this. I believe you have some retracting to do; I'll leave you to it.
God bless you,
Robert V Frazier
Hector did write back, but he did not admit that the quote is real. Nor has he retracted anything he wrote about it. I didn't expect he would. "Desperate" is issuing grave "warnings" about alleged practices that just don't happen. Nobody has to fabricate WT quotes (and nobody does!), there's more than enough of the real thing to deal with.
Robert V Frazier
Edited by - Robert_V_Frazier on 12 June 2002 8:4:54