Posted by nimrod [nimrod] on October 27, 1999 at 01:40:30 {dPkPwxsNJEzgQRPel3DwYlrZ1MnHis}:
"Serious Mistake" now bright shinning light
The WTS said in 1984 that it would be a "serious mistake to reason" that Jesus’ parable of "Sheep and Goats" could not apply now, i.e. since 1914:
Survival into a New Earth (1984) p.120
It would be a serious mistake to reason that, because the destruction of the "goats" is everlasting, the parable could not apply until later on, perhaps during the Millennial Reign of Christ. On the contrary, Jesus gave this parable as part of the sign of "the conclusion of the system of things." (Matthew 24:3) What he describes takes place after he is enthroned but also while his "brothers" are still in the flesh and experiencing the hardships that he mentions.
11 years later in 1995 WTS decided that they would rather follow the "serious mistake".
The Watchtower 1995 10/15 pp. 21-23
Although Jesus is now King of the Kingdom, his further activity mentioned at Matthew 19:28 will include sitting on a throne to judge during the Millennium. At that time he will judge all mankind…Does this parable apply when Jesus sat down in kingly power in 1914…But what judging did he do soon thereafter? It was not a judging of "all the nations." Rather, he turned his attention to those claiming to make up "the house of God." …Yet nothing indicates that at that time, or for that matter since, Jesus sat to judge people of all the nations finally as sheep or goats…Jesus’ ‘sitting down on his glorious throne’ for judgment, mentioned at Matthew 25:31, applies to the future point…Understanding the parable of the sheep and the goats in this way indicates that the rendering of judgment on the sheep and the goats is future. It will take place after "the tribulation…"
nimrod