A Close Comparison Of Two Distinct Paragraphs Written In The Watchtower magazines . . .
The July 15th, 1976 Watchtower magazine quote:
"But it is not advisable for us to set our sites on a certain date... If anyone has been disappointed
through not following this line of thought he should now concentrate on
adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that
failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own
understanding was based on wrong premises." Watchtower 7/15/1976 p.441
At first, it looks like the Watchtower writers are placing the real blame upon the brothers in general, for the false expectations, and disappointments from the false teaching of 1975.
But actually, they are not.
The first quote was written while the then President of the Watchtower
Society Nathan Homer Knorr and His Vice-President Frederick W. Franz were
still alive. The above statement was originally written to primarily
humiliate them both, while occupying their offices of oversight, since
it was believed (and generally known) they were mainly responsible for pushing the date of
1975, as an insinuated, Armageddon date in the JW literature. They taught it was more of a "probability"
than a mere "possibility," which proved to be very, very wrong.
In other words, "2 schools of thought" at Bethel Headquarters on the date of 1975.
It seems, this bold statement was made by eager members of the newly
empowered Governing Body, who could actually make such bold admissions,
since they had duly received power and authority over Watchtower
publications, ever since January 1st, 1976. So, the Watchtower magazine was used to chastise these men.
Now, let us notice the following quote, which tells more about the critical situation.
The March 15th, 1980 Watchtower magazine quote:
"With the appearance of the book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons
of God, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the
millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of mans
existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975.
Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, There
were other statements published that implied that such realisation of
hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility.
There were statements made then, and thereafter, stressing that this was
only a possibility. It is to be regretted that these latter statements
apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a
build-up of the expectation already initiated....In
saying anyone, the Watchtower included all disappointed ones of
Jehovah's Witnesses, hence including persons having to do with the
publication of the information that contributed to the build-up of hopes
centered on that date. (Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 17-18)
(For more information on this topic, please see this link: http://jehovahstruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=107
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