Posted by Jeffery M. Schwehm [JefferyMSchwehm] on March 31, 1999 at 09:42:22 {ohFII14TUc7mGcjg8rgIMdud7girzQ}:
Hi Friend-
I wanted to make sure that I understood your position. It seems like we agree that false prophecying is when an individual or group of individuals misrepresent God while claiming to be God's spokesperson. This could include prophecies that predict something or not. Is that correct?
Your stand is that the way that the Israelites treated false prophets is different from the way Jesus treats false prophets. In Revelation Jesus allows time for the false prophet to repent. Is this correct?
I have to say that I believe that Jesus would certainly forgive someone who uttered a false prophecy if they repent as is described in Revelation. Of course, if someone truly repents of false prophecying, then it seems to me that they would then be forced to admit that they never did speak for God when they uttered those false prophecies or misrepresentations.
Now, I do not recall the Society saying, whenever they changed a prophetic utterance because it turned out to be false, that they were not speaking for God at the time of their false prophecy. Instead we are told that God is still speaking through them [the Society] and that this new prophetic utterance, which many times contradicts the old prophectic utterance, is "new light" from God that is here just to explain the old light.
In fact, some JWs are so accustomed to changing truths that we hear the phrase "present truth" and I have heard JW elders say that the belief that Jesus was invisibly present in 1874 was not false but was "present truth" in 1874 whatever that means.
In addition, the closest thing to an apology that I recall reading in the Society's literature was the apology in 1979 (I think it was) about 1975. However, this apology did not admit to the rank and file JW that the Governing Body was not speaking for God when it focused on this date. No, it said in effect that certain individuals within the organization put too much emphasis on this date if I remember correctly.
It seems to me that the Society has never really come clean about its past and its false prophecies. Now, I cannot read the heart of each and every JW so I do not know how God will deal with such ones. It is my hope that God will save all of them and that in some way all JWs will realize that they do not need the Watchtower Society, Governing Body, or the Faithful and Discreet Slave class in order to be saved.
However, I can say from reading the literature that the official statements of the organization indicate to me that their is very little if any remorse for any of the misrepresentations that the Society has made. It seems like they try to rationalize their false statements or mispresentations of God while still claiming to be God's official spokesperson. To make matters worse, those individual JWs who realize that the Society has misrepresented God before the organization changes these misrepresentations through "new light", are sometimes treated like criminals and their families are held hostage when they are shunned.
I am hopeful that someday the Society will come clean and admit that they never have served as God's spokesman and that this "new light" rationalization for changes in prophecy is just a way to rationalize misrepresentations about God while clinging to the notion that they are somehow God's official spokesperson. But, it has not happened yet.
Jeff S.