following on from a recent post that asked for a list of the watchtower changers since you left, it would be intetesting to compile the list with WHY the changes were made.
Watchtower Changes. Why
by new hope and happiness 24 Replies latest watchtower bible
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LostGeneration
There are only two reasons the WT changes anything, legal and monetary. Most of the legal reasons can be traced back to money as well (ie blood fractions being allowed to minimize lawsuits).
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done4good
Legal/monetary are pretty much cut from the same mold. In the end, they are about protecting the WT's material assets.
A third reason would be controlling the sheep. This has both monetary and illustrative value. WT not only needs the money of the R&F, but also needs the numbers unto itself, since any "increase" indicates Jehovah's blessing, supposedly. If the lose control of the R&F, eventually people leave.
The part of this they do not understand, (consistent with any authoritarian regime), is that the tighter they make their grip, the further they push their best and brightest out. This is commonly referred to as brian drain in the corporate world.
d4g
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Oubliette
LG, I posit they also change things for two other reasons:
- To maintain the illusion of forward motion - since nothing has happened they have to do SOMETHING to make it seem like something is happening
- To remnd the R&F they are in control - doctrine doesn't matter, but accepting without question any and all changes does. See my recent thread:
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AndDontCallMeShirley
@ Oubliette: "To maintain the illusion of forward motion"
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"It's entirely circular thinking. "The Organization must be right because it changes it's teachings." First you postulate the existence of a single organization that God works through. Then, when that organization changes it's teachings you use that as "evidence" of God refining it's mouthpiece over time. This is an ingenious way for a religion to completely transform itself into whatever it wants without future generations being aware." -Don Cameron
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WT has always roundly condemned "Christendom" for never changing its core doctrines. WT sees this as a fatal flaw, 'evidence' that other religions are not progressive, therefore, not the "true" religion. If god was truly using those religions, then he'd be "refining" them. Conversely, WT portrays itself as the "true" religion because it changes its own doctrines on a regular and frequent basis. Today's truth becomes tomorrow's "I can't believe we used to believe that" doctrine. WT fails to realize that if something is true, it does not, and cannot, change.
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transhuman68
A lot of changes have been forced onto the WTS by the passage of time. It is the nature of this religion that they apply Bible verses to current events and organizations, and of course Armageddon is always 'around the corner', but all this creates problems when things change: e.g. the end of the Cold War meant the U.S.S.R. could no longer be the 'King of the North'. Reading the rubbish that Russell & Rutherford wrote shows that the WTS has a long history of doing this, which is why their books will never be reprinted. The WTS is a travelling circus- travelling through time- always fresh, always relevant to the current situation... and always proved wrong by time...
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sspo
One of the reason i was impressed by the Watchtower society was reading the "Daniel" book(can't remember the name,green). It was 1975.
Being a Catholic it blew my mind how they were able to "know" things to come, it all made sense.
How they in detail explained verse by verse the 12 chapters of that book and it convinced me they had the " truth".
Load of crap it turned out to be.
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FatFreek 2005
Oubliette: "To maintain the illusion of forward motion"
Great thinking.
To be honest, this impressed me before I got out in '77. Every time they announced a change, most of us applauded the fact that NEW LIGHT continued to tantalize our appetite for more and more. Little did we know that if you're not careful (Watchtower wasn't) you might return to an exact teaching you advocated before. And in those years and earlier it happened and there weren't many watchdog critics able to spot those flip-flop teachings. Computers and the internet were just gleams in the eyes of high tech folks of that era. Even Watchtower writers had very challenging tasks, with no computer, to search for teaching positions on certain topics prior to their day.
The Great Watchtower Contradiction emphasizes such a scenario. The following is a link to that free 11 minute read. http://goo.gl/TkcHt
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quellycatface
Great post.Thanks.I was just thinking as well, that you can't change the bible's message.it is what it is.
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blondie
Expiration dates
1914 - the end did not come
1925 - the end did not come
1975 - the end did not come
1995 - the 80 year generation of Ps 90 expired in 1994 (1914 + 80)
Inconvenient doctrines
Allowing substituting community service for military requirements
Going from pouring out blood to allowing products made out of expired blood
Polygamy allowed among jws until 1947 in Africa
rank and file jw not minister - OKM becomes OKS - drop off in ministry
all religions false, WTS not a religion: too confusing