DOCTRINAL CHANGES______how SIGNIFICANT?

by Terry 14 Replies latest jw friends

Terry
Source: Wikipedia online encyclopedia
"Changes in viewpoint that took place up to 1939:
- 1921 - Vaccines banned.
- 1927 - "Faithful and Discreet Slave" is identified as a group of Christians and not an individual
- 1927 - Celebration of Christmas and birthdays banned
- 1928 - Great pyramid of Giza has nothing to do with God's purpose
- 1929 - "Superior authorities" of Romans 13:1 identified as Jehovah God and Jesus Christ
- 1930
  All of Russell's dates were changed, the majority to commence in, rather than be completed by 1914
  Moved beginnning of Christ's Second Coming from 1874 to 1914
  Moved Christ's enthronement as King from 1878 to 1914
  Moved the beginning of the resurrection of the "Bride of Christ" from 1878 to 1918
  Moved start of last days from 1799 to 1914
  Moved Armageddon from 1914 to within a generation, with the understanding of generation changing several times
- 1931 - Adoption of the name 'Jehovah's Witnesses'
- 1932 - Application of restoration prophecies to Christian congregation, rather than to the literal Jews
- 1935 - Identity of "great crowd" of Revelation 7
- 1936 - Use of the cross as a religious symbol banned
- 1938 - Communion bread and wine identified as symbols of the body and blood of the 144,000
- 1939 - Complete neutrality in worldly affairs
Significant Changes in Doctrine 1940—present:
- 1944 - Disfellowshipping (although this had already been practised in some form earlier)
- 1945 - Blood transfusion forbidden (clarification of existing stance on blood and specific application to transfusions)
- 1952 - Vaccines allowed. It was clarified that the Witnesses' position on blood does not apply to vaccination (some Witnesses were already accepting vaccinations at least as early as World War II) (Watchtower 15 December 1952)
- 1954 - Jesus no longer to be worshiped (though the Watch Tower legal charter still states that the organisation exists to promote the worship of Jehovah and Jesus)
- 1956 - Communion bread and wine identified as symbols of Christ's body and blood (return to pre-1938 position)
- 1962 - "Superior authorities" of Romans 13:1 identified as earthly governments (Watchtower 15 November 1962)
- 1967 - Organ transplants classed as "cannibalism" (Watchtower 15 November 1967)
- 1973 - Tobacco use viewed as incompatible with membership (it had been strongly discouraged throughout the prior history of the organization) (Watchtower 1 June 1973)
- 1980 - Organ transplants acceptable
- 1995 - Meaning of the term "this generation" referred to at Matthew 24:34 restored to a class of people displaying certain characteristics. (Matthew 17:17) (Watchtower 1 November 1995)
- 1995 - Time of fulfillment of Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats (Watchtower 1 February 1995)
- 2000 - Fractions derived from blood are deemed permissable and left up to conscience of individual Witness
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Significance of Doctrinal Changes

If there is little doubt that Jehovah's Witnesses have changed some of their doctrines over the past century, there is considerable controversy in some quarters over the significance of the changes.
Watch Tower literature recognizes that doctrinal changes have taken place though it states: "Matters on which corrections of viewpoint have been needed have been relatively minor when compared with the vital Bible truths that they have discerned and publicized." (Reasoning from the Scriptures, page 136-137)
Thus, Jehovah's Witnesses' publications, while recognizing that adjustments have been made, emphasize that the core elements of their belief are constant. They maintain that their understanding of the Bible gets clearer at the proper time, just as the understanding of doctrine among Christ's first-century disciples was also clarified gradually. Witnesses see these changes as evidence of divine blessing on their efforts to understand the Bible."
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Comments anyone?
cyber-sista

Very,
JWs say that God's word never changes and yet the WT Org continues to make major doctrinal changes. A reasoning person would say that if God's word never changes--and the WT does-- that the WT is not from God. But the JWs are trained to view it as "new light" or "the light is getting brighter as the day draws near. Of course when that day is nobody knows and the WT adherants continue on their dizzy roundabout carnival ride afraid to get off lest they miss their promised prize at the end. (And we all know how valuable those carnival prizes are)
cybs (feeling rather weirdly wordy this morning)
Nicely laid out time-line by the way
Terry

IF the Bible says anything; it says what it says.
What is said doesn't change because nobody is continuing to write it.
The Bible cannot change, then.
God's Word (if that is what the Bible is) doesn't change.
However, if any person or group INTERPRETS the Bible's doctrines and the doctrines CHANGE, then,
it must be the INTERPRETER who is in error. (I call it "error" because; why change it otherwise?)
Who would have enough hubris to risk representing God's word one way---and declare it TRUTH--only to ~~CHANGE~~ that ~~TRUTH~~ into something else?
Answer: The Watchtower Society!
If errors are called "God's anointed revealing of Truth" and the truth is error--who gets the shame but Jehovah himself?
Hint: When you call yourself Christian your behavior reflects on Christ.
When you call yourself Jehovah's Witness and your "witness" is false it reflects on Jehovah.
Somebody has a lot to answer for.
Leolaia

I would love to see a copy of the infamous Dutch edition of Consolation, September 1945, p. 29. This was several months after blood transfusions became banned, yet this Watchtower publication stated: "God has never published a decree which forbids employing medicine, injections, and blood transfusions. It is a human invention like the Pharisee's disregard for mercy and grace. To serve Jehovah with all one's mind does not mean to put our intelligence in a box, principally because there is a human life at stake. Life is of great value and is holy to Jehovah."
This sounds as if it could have been written by a modern-day "apostate". It also reads almost like a protest of the new position taken by Brooklyn. I would imagine this issue of Consolation is extremely scarce, but I wonder if one of our Dutch "brothers" could locate a copy and scan this page...
Neo

Leolaia, I had never heard of that! Does anyone have additional info on this Dutch WT issue?
Neo
lisaBObeesa

1938 - Communion bread and wine identified as symbols of the body and blood of the 144,000
Is this correct?? I never knew that!!
Super_Becka

IF the Bible says anything; it says what it says.
What is said doesn't change because nobody is continuing to write it.
The Bible cannot change, then.
God's Word (if that is what the Bible is) doesn't change.
However, if any person or group INTERPRETS the Bible's doctrines and the doctrines CHANGE, then,
it must be the INTERPRETER who is in error. (I call it "error" because; why change it otherwise?)

How very true. In this sense, the Bible is like any other written word - it doesn't change. If I write my name down on a piece of paper, that word doesn't change at all, it stays the same. The Bible has always said what it says, it doesn't change, it can't change. Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and the Bible can't change, ergo God's Word can't change, and so doctrines based on God's Word as it is written in the Bible can't change, either. It just makes sense. Apparently the WTS is naive enough to think that the rest of the world won't see what they're doing as they work to change their rules and keep their followers in an iron grip.
"God has never published a decree which forbids employing medicine, injections, and blood transfusions. It is a human invention like the Pharisee's disregard for mercy and grace. To serve Jehovah with all one's mind does not mean to put our intelligence in a box, principally because there is a human life at stake. Life is of great value and is holy to Jehovah."
Whoa, where can I find some information on that publication, that's incredible!! I want to see this in writing, or at least see something that has a full reference (date, page number, publication title, etc.) to it. Leolaia, where did you get that quote?? Is that a direct quote or did you recite it from memory?? Is there a link or something I can visit that has some information about this, even without the original document??
If there are any Dutch JWDers out there who have access to that book, please scan it for us!! I would LOVE to see this!!
-Becka :)
Leolaia

Super_Becka....This article is cited in two sources I have...Bill Cetner's volume (most positively "apostate"), and the 1990 Social Science & Medicine article on blood transfustions. Because the original was written in Dutch, Cetner has a different translation than the medical journal article. The article is available on the web on an "apostate" website:
http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/blood.html
But if you want a PDF of the original journal article, I can email it to you. BTW, since the author is Dutch and gave his own translation, I bet he has a copy of the original article (Vertroosting, September 1945, p. 29).
gumby

Here's is what was said about Leolaia's statement.
Nevertheless, The Watchtower of July 1 1945 introduced the prohibition. Ironically, two months later, the Dutch edition of Consolation states:
God never issued provisions prohibiting the use of medicines, injections or blood transfusion. It is an invention of people who, like the Pharisees, leave Jehovah's mercy and love aside (23).
This notorious quote, often used by the movement's (Dutch) adversaries as proof of doctrinal inconsistency, did not emanate from the Society's headquarters in New York, but was written by its regional editor, who, apparently, was unaware of the new doctrine: a situation unthinkable today and probably a result of post-war communication breakdowns. During the late forties, the Society hardly paid any attention to the new ruling.
Gumby
greendawn

Very useful information, vaccines were banned for 30 years, and blood for 60 years and counting, we can see in that chronology of events how the JWs were increasingly acquiring a cultic nature with an increasing number of thou shalt nots building up that invisible wall that isolates them mentally from the rest of the world to this day.

As for the FDS being a group of ppl rather than an individual that was only in theory in practice the FDS was just Rutherford and then Franz with Knorr, so they carried on as Russell's FDS successors, always the presidents of the society and from the mid 70's the 10 or 20 GB members.

DOCTRINAL CHANGES______how SIGNIFICANT?

Significance of Doctrinal Changes

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