Can somebody explain the changes I read in the WT??

by diana netherton 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  diana netherton

  My grandmother asked me to read to her so I asked her what she wanted me to read. Of course, it

  was the Watchtower, but she specfically asked for the one with "the timeline." She's been out of

  it for a few days and apparently hasn't read up. So I started reading. I know there were some

  posts here about it a while back, but I had to stop reading at the 10th paragraph. Am I right in

  surmising that the whole 1914 thing has been tossed? What's the implication of this? Does it

  just buy them more time? When I asked my Grammy whether she understood it, she said, sort of.

  I have to mull it over. I continued reading on myself but wasn't quite getting the gist of it.

  Does anyone have the 101 version???
• 

  tiki

  yeah - wt101 - we were wrong and rather than admitting it, we are going to twist some words and ideas around and confuse you further, but it is new light and such a blessing.

  i am not up on the latest twists and turns, but i believe the 1914 date is currently being buried. and the whole idea of the anointed 144k number being attained in the mid-30's is out the door. and then there's that ludicrous thing about overlapping generations, making the generation jesus referred to completely meaningless. other than that - i am sure others will be able to explain in depth!!
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  Comatose

  At the search box search July 15 watchtower. There are several deep threads on it. Happy reading.
• 

  AndDontCallMeShirley

  A few key changes were made (searching here, as Comatose suggested, will give much more detail):

  1. WT has always asserted that a faithful and discreet slave class has been in continual existence since the first century. That has been abandoned.

  2. CT Russell was a member of the faithful slave and passed on the 'truths' of the FDS into modern time. That has been abandoned.

  3. The WT has always taught that the FDS is all anointed ones on earth. That has been abandoned.

  4. The WT has rejected the idea in the past that the FDS is a small, elite group in the Org. (see W 3-1-81., pp. 24-26 ). Now, it teaches precisely that idea and calls what it used to reject as "apostate" thinking, "new light".

  5. The FDS is now exclusively the governing body. All other anointed ones have been marginalized as only "domestics".

  Essentially, WT has abandoned core concepts it has held as absolute truth from God for the past 100 years and, without admitting it, is now teaching those doctrines were false.
• 

  leaving_quietly

  Adding to AndDontCallMeShirley:

  6. WT used to teach that Jesus came invisibly in 1918 or 1919, inspected the Bible Students, chose them and appointed them over all his belongings. This has been abandoned.

  7. WT now teaches that Jesus appointed the Rutherford as the first FDS member in 1919, and appointing them over all his belongings will not happen until he arrives in the future.

  8. WT used to teach that only the anointed were part of the domestics. This has been abandoned. Instead, the domestics are made up of both the anointed and great crowd.

  To clarify, 1914 has NOT been abandoned. The current WT teaching is that Jesus was enthroned as King in 1914 in the heavens, and that is when he cast Satan out of heaven.
• 

  coffee_black

  "6. WT used to teach that Jesus came invisibly in 1918 or 1919, inspected the Bible Students, chose them and appointed them over all his belongings. This has been abandoned."

  And now they teach that the governing body is the FDS. The governing Body did not exist at the time they were chosen. The governing body originated in the early 1970s.

  Oh the irony!

  Coffee
• 

  jookbeard

  Chuckie must be spinning in his grave, if they dump 1914, their major claims to "the Channel/last days/ The Big A etc are all surely out of the window?
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  To clarify, 1914 has NOT been abandoned. The current WT teaching is that Jesus was enthroned as King in 1914 in the heavens, and that is when he cast Satan out of heaven.

  To add a little more info to that: 1914 has not been abandoned as the year Jesus was enthroned as King -- however the understanding of the "generation" that will not pass away" (Matt 24:34) has changed significantly.

  This generation changed through the years from those old enough in 1914 to recognize the events indicating Jesus' enthronment (14 yrs old or more), and gradually changed to "born in 1914". Obviously those people have passed away -- they are all dead. Two years ago, the WTS changed the understanding of that "generation" to be multiple generations (of annointed persons) that overlapped the period of time from Jesus' enthronement until the start of the Great Tribulation. (Yeah, confusing & ridiculous).

  Thus, their example the life of Fred Franz (an adult in 1914 but dies before GT) overlaps with the life of (your pick, let's say Geoff Jackson, new GB member) who was not even born until the 1950s but whose life overlaps that of FFranz, and thus the GT should begin within Jackson's lifetime (which could be another 30 years). Of course, there are much younger persons who claim to be of the "annointed" and so the 30 year window could easily be said to be 40 or 50 years.

  Also --

  For decades they taught that the choosing of the annointed was "sealed" (closed) in 1935 when they recognized the "other sheep" group. Any few new annointed ones after 1935 were thought to be "replacements" of any who were unfaithful. However in recent years there have been 1000s of "new annointed" ones, so this doctrine that the number was sealed or closed is now abandoned. Although, they warn that many of these new partakers are likely still caught up in false religious ideas (communion) or are mentally ill (and thus not REALLY of the annointed). But who is to say which of them are "real" or mentally ill?

  Interestingly, NONE of the current GB were even born before 1935 (Herd is close, but still after 1935, I think), let alone were they partaking of the bread/wine by that date. Thus one might wonder if they are caught up in their former false religious ideas? Or, mentally ill?

  Doc
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  Terry

  If you study the history of the 2nd Adventist movement you will discover a couple of astounding things.

  1.The Adventists came up with the crazy ideas first and Fred Franz copied them

  2.The same errors were made by the Adventists (such as shutting down the way into heaven for new anointed) first also

  It is one thing to have to learn from your own mistakes as they happen. But, it is completely weird to see somebody else make an error

  and jump right in and repeat it for yourself!

  The changes the Watchtower has undergone have been FORCED upon them by falsifying events and pressure from outside.

  I always hear JW's say that the Watchtower ADMITS its mistakes and I compare that to farting and ADMITTING it stinks.

  No prize for that one, Dude!
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  And here's the WT that gave foregleams that the FDS was about to be marginalized so that the definition of who the FDS could be changed with the goal of centralizing the authority of the GB even more:

  Memorial

  partakers. This is the number of baptized individuals who partake of the emblems at the Memorial worldwide. Does this total represent the number of anointed ones on earth? Not necessarily. A number of factors—including past religious beliefs or even mental or emotional imbalance—might cause some to assume mistakenly that they have the heavenly calling.

  We thus have no way of knowing the exact number of anointed ones on earth; nor do we need to know. The Governing Body does not keep a list of all partakers, for it does not maintain a global network of anointed ones." -W 8/15/11, p22, QFR

  ----

  The WT has always maintained the entire group of the remnant/FDS was responsible for teaching the organization, although only the staff in Brooklyn did it directly.

  With the admission quoted above, it shows that claim to be a lie. The GB does not know how many anointed there are, so it is impossible to represent them, and it does not care who they are, as no global network is, nor ever has been, maintained. The WT further implied that any claiming to be of the anointed now are most likely 'emotionally unbalanced'.