Posted by proplog2 [proplog2] on April 08, 1999 at 12:01:27 {vxsc0.TBNk/CPYT8orz2lJ4aSwVkqg}:
This will be a three part message. Having trouble getting booted off line before I finish.
The May 1 1999 Watchtower has come out with some "new light" on the scripture at Matthew 24:15,16 Unfortunately this is a patchwork change that creates more questions than it answers.
First let's look at the text under discussion.
Matthew 24:15,16 "Therefore, when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains."
For years the Watchtower has said that this scripture has application in our day and that it is necessary for individuals to flee from false religion to the true religion. In other words they used to claim that this is not a literal flight but a symbolic flight. Now they are saying in paragraph 19 on page 18 of Watchtower May 1, 1999 that "Jesus' disciples certainly need no warning about fleeing from one religion to another; they had already become true Christians."
I guess this straightens out what they said as recently as June 1st 1996 "This flight to safety is NOT a geographic move, such as Jewish Christians made when abandoning Jerusalem. It is a flight to the place of safety within Jehovah's theocratic organization."
To be continued in part 2...