Posted by Jaypeeto [Jaypeeto] on March 31, 1999 at 15:53:25 {ohFII14TUc0hi4VK0MIQHq/lZhRVmk}:
In Reply to: *Friend-False prophecy posted by Friend on March 31, 1999 at 15:25:02:
I know this question wasn't for "me,"
but,
" In your opinion, had the Jezebel of Revelation 2:20 stopped her false
prophesying and said I was mistaken and then gotten on with doing what
Jesus wanted done as best as she
could, what response do you think that
would have drawn from Jesus? If she later fell back into the same
practice of falsely prophesying do you think Jesus would have again
given her time to repent?"
====In my opinion, she
would have had to admit
to having PRESUMED to a role she had never in fact rightfully held.
====If she had fallen AGAIN, would Jesus have
forgiven her? I'd say yes, if the repentance was utterly sincere.
===Russell's statement's
about "that servant"
show, certainly, at least at the time of his writing, a level of humility not found much
later on in, say, the writings of JF Rutherford,
and especially not in his withering recordings.
===ALso, a genuinely
repentant "false prophet"
would SURELY extend the "olive branch" to those whom he has wronged, would he not?
I wonder how many letters of Apology and humble requests for forgiveness Raymond Franz, Carl
Olof Jonsson, P. Gregerson,
and others have
received to date?
====I also acknowledge that, at times, the WTS writers do make a statement to the effect that they aren't "directly" inspired when making such predictions. Okay, then. But they BEHAVE as though
anyone who questions the current prediction is an Enemy of God and to be treated as such.
Ask Ray Franz. Ask COJ. Ask anyone.
Moreover, for all intents and purposes,
these society predictions, etc., aren't just
"practices" and
"disciplines" that can CHANGE over time, no, for all intents and purposes these
are DEFINED DOGMAS ("positive", "indisputable" and other such terms have frequently been used).
And this is true at any given time.
Now, the first
time around, we could probably excuse Russell. Maybe even the second time around. Maybe!
But by Rutherford's time, there had been numerous
false predictions, ALL coming STRAIGHT FROM THE TOP of the Organization, NOT "generally held
opinions" of the rank and file!
And in SPITE of this 100% failure rate,
the society's leadership CONTINUED to insist on absolute conformity.
I would personally see that as evidence
that there had been no "genuine"
repentance
at all, whatever grudging admissions may have been made after the fact.
One thing that gets me really angry to this day
is hearing a JW under 30 years of age tell me
that "The Society" never made ANY predictions about
what would transpire in the mid-1970s.
I don't get mad at the YOUNG JW who SAYS it.
I get very angry because I know WHY he is saying it. That is the "SPIN" being put out about that issue by those who do not ALLOW "independent"
thinking. That young JW cannot remember all the
breathless JWs pounding on our doors in 1972 and 1973, telling us that the game was all over.
I was told, flat out, by numerous JWs (and remember, if the Society wants a viewpoint
STOPPED, it WILL be STOPPED) not only here, but also in other parts of the country where I lived (this wasn't a mere "local rumor") that I could count on it. The mid-1970s hysteria came straight from Brooklyn. The mathematics and charts
in the pages of the WT left no room for honest doubt about what year they were pointing to,
ESPECIALLY when coupled with words like "it may mean a difference of weeks and months, not years"
connected with the claim that Armageddon
would come 6000 years after the FALL of Adam and Eve.
I would really like to see even a hint of repentance from these folks up in Brooklyn.
I am not a malicious man. Though I am quite vehement in my opposition, I would much rather
cheer a repentance than GRIPE about stubbornness.
You raise good questions about repentance and false prophets. I hope I haven't bored you too much with my answers.
Really, I think we all would be better off if we cut to the CORE of
this whole Watchtower society
thing: ARE THEY, or HAVE THEY EVER BEEN,
God's Chosen Representatives.
What is their claim?
Does the claim meet the test of history?
I maintain after years of study that the only correct answer is NO on all counts.
Warm regards,
Jaypeeto