Do the Jehovah's Witnesses attribute DOCTRINAL ERROR to God?

Question

SEPARATING OF THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS (Matt 25:31-46)
Prior to 1923: The separating of the sheep and the goats is a future event taking place after the tribulation.
1923-1995: The separating of the sheep and the goats began in 1914 and is currently taking place.
1995-current: The separating of the sheep and the goats is a future event taking place after the tribulation.

A couple things to note.
1. The current (since 1995) view is actually a reversion to OLD LIGHT.
2. The previous (1923-1995) view is now considered OLD LIGHT and DOCTRINAL ERROR, yet was ATTRIBUTED TO GOD:
The Lord revealed to his people the meaning of the parable of the sheep and the goats, showing how the "sheep" only would be spared by Jehovah when his wrath is expressed at Armageddon. All this information came not from or by man, but by the Lord God... --WT, 2/1/1938, p.35.
Stirring up increasing interest in them, Jehovah caused to be preached from 1918 onward the startling public message "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," and in 1923 he provided the interpretation of "the parable of the sheep and the goats." (Matt. 25:31-46) --WT, 11/15/1955, p.698.
For the anointed remnant who had begun to enter into the modern antitype of the festival of booths, spiritual illumination from Jehovah's heavenly temple beamed forth. It was during the gathering in of the spiritual class prefigured by Ruth and Esther that Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats, as recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, was given special illumination for the enlightenment of their understanding. At the 1923 general convention... --WT, 2/15/1980, p.19.
Since they have produced the fruits of God's Kingdom, Jehovah has blessed them richly by bringing them up to date in "the greatly diversified wisdom of God."-Ephesians 3:10. Thus, in 1923 Jesus' great prophecy about the sheep and the goats was properly understood, and it was discerned that the whole world was under judgment. (Matthew 25:31-46) --WT, 5/15/1986, p.14.

According the WT$, God provided FALSE DOCTRINE. Any Christians wonder how God might feel about the WT$ attributing DOCTRINAL ERROR to Him?

Answer 1

the JW's and more specifically the Watchtower Society (WTS) do not view their changes as an expose of previous errors per se.

The WTS has done a very good job at white washing their human errors by misapplying Proverbs 4:18



"But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established." Proverbs 4:18



The WTS has repeated this mantra for over a hundred years, hammering into the minds of JW's through limitless repetition that their "changes" are actually God revealing even more light (truth) to them.



Most JW's actually see these changes as evidence Jehovah is "guiding" the WTS toward brighter truth more and more as the "day draws near".



Your inference is valid, in effect the WTS is indeed attributing their errors (or as they call it - "old light") to Johavah. This is why they are very careful with their wording and use phrases like old light, old truth, prior truth, present truth, etc.



If they were to call them errors or mistakes then it would mean that Jehovah was NOT the source of that teaching, leaving them open to criticism regarding all of their "present truth".



The WTS has also attributed errors to the actual Rank & File (R&F) members of the organization, accusing them of "running ahead of the organization". No greater example of this is the 1975 fiasco where Fred Franz prophesied that 1975 would be the beginning of 7th millenia which it would be "appropriate for Jehovah" to enact Armageddon and begin his 1000 year reign.



Of course 1975 came and went and so did about 500,000 JW's during 1976 - 1980, a massive exodus from the ranks of the JW's. In 1976 the WTS accused R&F of "running ahead" and they never said that without fail Armegeddon would come in 1975. This was a disgusting betrayal by the leaders of the WTS. The mass exodus during the next 5 years forced the WTS to print a limited apology in 1980 where they partially accepted responsibility for the build up of 1975.

The irony of this is that they passed off their responsibilty as just being "zealous" for Jehohvah, yet for those "zealous" R&F prior to 1975, their zealousness was "running ahead" (=bad) but the WTS zealousness was love for Jehohah (=good!)



The reality is the WTS is a fleshly, non-inspired, imperfect, human corporation that even claims to be as such, yet at the same claims to be "guided" by god. (guided = not inspired prophets but knowing more than you cause we're guided by Jehovah and your only guided by us but we're not inspired, just guided. Yes this is exactly what it means)



short answer: yes, the WTS blame Jehovah for their mistakes

Answer 2

Which doctrines do you believe are errors? Jehovah is the only true God? Jehovah does not torture his creation in a place of fire and brimstone forever? Jesus is God's representative and the anointed king and high priest? The trinity man-god is a false god? Which of these are not 100% accurate? Which doctrines do you think are in error? Which doctrines have changed? Organ transplants? What else? Think about this as you ponder my question. All Born again Trinitarians teach that they have the indwelling of the holy spirit. They say that the Holy spirit directs their life. They teach that only born again Trinitarians are true Christians and only they are directed by the holy spirit. They say they have been "called". Yet not all Born again Trinitarians teach or believe the same thing but they all claim to be directed by the holy spirit. Which one of these Born Again Trinitarians are really directed by the holy spirit? Spirit directed is not inspired of God.

Answer 3

If they could only see that all "their doctrines" are of man, fleshly understandings of scriptures coupled with a bias concept. The Bible should dictate doctrine not fleshly men who are fleshly picked as anointed by a concept created by men in the first place. Their main ideal of the sheep and the goats come from a preconceived concept and how they interpret this verse to fit that agenda. Look at the Parable in Matthew 13 where Jesus speaks of the Wheat and the tares, the Jehovah's Witnesses, or I should say their anointed ones have inserted their preconceived ideal of the 144,000 heavenly bound and the "other sheep" earthy bound in this Parable as has nothing to do with the "other sheep" in other words the Parable is about the righteous and the unrighteous yet they forgo all other. They totally interpret the Parable by their preconceived concept, not of the Bible but by their "fleshly" concepts.

This religion is flawed in so many ways. Those whom follow this religion are doing the work of Satan and not the will of God.

Answer 4

By its language, the Watchtower has made it clear that it gets its information directly from God.

"The Lord revealed..."

"All this information came...from...the Lord God."

"...Jehovah caused to be preached..."

"...he provided the interpretation..."

"...spiritual illumination from Jehovah's heavenly temple beamed forth."

"...Jesus' parable...was given special illumination..."

"...Jehovah has blessed them richly by bringing them up to date..."



And after saying ALL THAT, the official line is that "Our organization is merely spirit-directed and not directly inspired as were the prophets and Bible authors." Do you detect a smidgen of deception here?



When the Witnesses originally made the erroneous predictions and interpretations, they used misleading language to convince everyone that God had spoken to them directly. Witnesses said that Jehovah provided information which subsequently turned out to be incorrect, so wouldn't it make sense to blame him for the errors? Of course it would, but that means that Jehovah is imperfect, and they will never suggest that. So, now all of their previous statements look contradictory when edited to reflect the new light...



"The Lord revealed..." [but he didn't].

"All this information came...from...the Lord God." [but it didn't actually come from him].

"...Jehovah caused to be preached..." [but it wasn't really Jehovah].

"...he provided the interpretation..." [but it was actually someone else].

"...spiritual illumination from Jehovah's heavenly temple beamed forth." [but it wasn't spiritual].

"...Jesus' parable...was given special illumination..." [that wasn't given by anyone].

"...Jehovah has blessed them richly by bringing them up to date..." [but it wasn't Jehovah].



Will this just keep on happening for 100 more years? Will four or five more generations be combined into one? It must be nice to keep making mistakes without ever having to suffer the consequences.

Answer 5

the Holy Ghost had the Bible written by men.

Since the JW's don't believe the Holy Ghost is a person,

then they blame Him.

or the scribes or anyone they "think" did it.

Answer 6

All religions are CULTS!!! They are DENOMINATIONS!!! They go by denominational laws. Denominational Laws states you must go by mans traditions and have your own belief not GODS BELIEF!!!

People in the bible had God they didnt have man belief Okay. All religions From Catholic to Baptist to Zionist to Jehovah Witnesses. They all are FALSE RELIGIONS all denominations make false prophecies because they are a DENOMINATION!!

People in the bible made true prophecies.

All religions have the same belief as PAGANISM!!!

gO TO MY SOURCES AND LEARN!!~

Answer 7

Yes, more than i could list here

Answer 8

pork chops