# **"Serious Mistake"

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Posted by Gedanken [Gedanken] on October 27, 1999 at 17:04:47 {dPkPwxsNJEHdgEG/iekYGxDfYXLgH2}:

In Reply to: *"Serious Mistake" posted by Friend on October 27, 1999 at 10:32:20:

Friend,

It is a contradiction because the present teaching differs from the previous one. In fact the Society admits this much when it says:

> Does this parable apply when Jesus sat down in kingly power in 1914 as we have long understood?

> WT 10/15 1995 p. 21 (italics mine)

Obviously the new answer is "no" and so the previous teaching is contradicted. A contradiction does not exist in the literature, however, since the second teaching clearly replaced the first. Nimrod was not saying that such a contradiction exists in the teaching itself. Rather, he was showing that thinking that was once considered to be seriously mistaken is now "present truth."

You argue that the wording of the first citation allows for what you call constriction. That is not true. The first citation was saying that it would be a serious mistake to conclude that this judging could not apply until a later time. The Millennium was simply given as an example of a possible later time but it was not the only later time possible. That is why they used the phrasing "perhaps ..." Any later time would do. In other words, anyone who reasoned that the parable did not apply "right now" was making a serious mistake (presumably one serious enough to get one DFed for so thinking and so stating). Why would it be a mistake? The Society was using this reasoning to emphasize the importance of doing more in the preaching work. Note the question that accompanies this paragraph in the Survival book: 15. (a) How do we know that this parable applies now? (b) So, what work is of vital importance?

Again, the Society was being its normal dogmatic self and browbeating the flock with its threats.

As for the sentence structure consider the following. Imagine the US announces that it will bomb country X if some problem is not corrected. The Secretary of State then announces that "It would be a serious mistake for country X to conclude that this warning could not apply until some later time, perhaps after Congress has given its approval." That clearly says that the warning applies from now on. The mistake would be to think that it did not apply now, as nimrod correctly stated.

Gedanken

Follow Ups:

- ***"Serious Mistake" nimrod 01:59:42 10/28/99 (3)
  - ****"Serious Mistake" Friend 05:45:52 10/28/99 (2)
    - *****"Serious Mistake" nimrod 14:55:32 10/28/99 (1)
      - ******"Serious Mistake" Friend 16:13:20 10/28/99 (0)
- ***"Serious Mistake" Friend crtn II 20:51:00 10/27/99 (16)
  - ****"Serious Mistake" Gedanken 05:36:41 10/28/99 (15)
    - *****"Serious Mistake" Friend 05:57:24 10/28/99 (14)
      - ******"Serious Mistake" Almost forgot 06:12:06 10/28/99 (13)
        - *******"Serious Mistake" Gedanken 06:39:37 10/28/99 (12)
          - ********"Serious Mistake" Friend 07:31:03 10/28/99 (11)
            - *********"Serious Mistake" Rational 08:27:33 10/28/99 (10)
              - **********"Serious Mistake" One more thing 09:19:00 10/28/99 (7)
                - ***********"Serious Mistake" Rational 10:08:09 10/28/99 (6)
                  - ************"Serious Mistake" Friend 10:20:48 10/28/99 (5)
                    - ************* Rational 15:02:15 10/28/99 (4)
                      - ************** Friend 16:09:04 10/28/99 (3)
                        - *************** Rational 17:30:31 10/28/99 (2)
                          - **************** Friend 20:16:53 10/28/99 (1)
                            - ***************** Friend addendum 20:38:29 10/28/99 (0)
              - **********"Serious Mistake" Friend 08:44:17 10/28/99 (1)
                - ***********"Serious Mistake" Rational 10:00:46 10/28/99 (0)
- ***"Serious Mistake" Friend crtd 18:44:09 10/27/99 (0)
- ***"Serious Mistake" Friend 18:41:06 10/27/99 (0)

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