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Watchtower Justification For- The Light Is Getting Brighter by Yooguyz: 6:27pm On Jul 31, 2014
Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be the only group to have truth revealed to them by Jehovah. In
this case, why do they require ongoing changes in doctrine?
Does truth really change? A key premise of this site is that constant changes in doctrine and failed predictions are a clear
indication that Jehovah does not direct the Watchtower Society.
For the external observer this is the logical conclusion, yet for one
of Jehovah's Witnesses it barely raises a grimace. How can this be? Because changes and failures are immediately dismissed in the mind of a Jehovah's Witness by the thought
stopping concept:

"The Bible tells us the light would get brighter".
Addressing the flawed logic of this claim is required to render
the information contained within
this site effective.
The main justification from the Watchtower for changed doctrine is Proverbs 4:18.

““The path of the righteous ones
is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established,”
states Proverbs 4:18.

Yes, Jesus’ leadership is progressive, not
stagnant. Another way to
cooperate with Christ’s
“brothers” is to have a positive attitude toward any refinements
in our understanding of
Scriptural truths as published by “the faithful and discreet slave.””
Watchtower 2011 May 15 p.27

“Regarding progressive spiritual enlightenment, Proverbs 4:18
has proved true. It says:

“The path of the righteous ones is like
the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” How thankful we are for the progressive spiritual enlightenment we have
experienced!” Watchtower 2001
Jan 15 p.18

“IT IS proof of divine wisdom that, in keeping with Proverbs 4:18, the revealing of spiritual
truths has taken place gradually by means of flashes of light. In
the preceding article, we saw how this text was fulfilled in apostolic times. If the large body
of Scriptural truth had been revealed all at once, it would have been both blinding and confusing—much like the effect of coming out of a dark cave into brilliant sunlight. Moreover,
gradually revealed truth
strengthens the faith of
Christians in a continuous way. It makes ever brighter their hope
and ever clearer the pathway they are to tread.” Watchtower
1995 May 15 p.15

The Watchtower interprets the word "light" in Proverbs 4 as
referring to Watchtower
"doctrinal" understanding, yet
this is simply done as
justification for prior error.
Aspects to consider are:
What is the intended meaning of Proverbs 4:18?

Is Watchtower doctrine getting brighter or changing?

Would Jehovah direct a religion to promote falsehood?
Re: Watchtower Justification For- The Light Is Getting Brighter by Yooguyz: 6:43pm On Jul 31, 2014
Proverbs 4:18

For thousands of years, people have understood Proverbs chapter 4 to be discussing behaviour, as is easily identifiable
when reading the entire chapter in context. The verses surrounding 18 state:

"… the wicked do not sleep unless they do badness. … The
way of the wicked ones is like the gloom; they have not known at what they keep stumbling …
listen to the discipline of a father … keep my commandments …
safeguard your heart."

Christian writers explain:

"What is clear from Proverbs is that the reader can choose to
either seek wisdom or live a life of folly. (Prov
4:14-19)" (thisischurch.com/
christianinfo/proverbs.htm 25 Mar 2005)

Proverbs 4:18 was not intended to be prophetic indication that
God gradually reveals truth to the Watchtower Society. Rather than
extract a sentence, when taken in entirety the context of Proverbs chapter 4 is a
comparison of behaviour
between good and bad people, not the dispensing of doctrinal
truth through an organization.
From the outset, it can be seen that using this Scripture to discuss doctrinal errors and
changes is without basis.
Brighter or Changed
Proverbs 4 identifies that
righteous people fare better than the wicked, and not prophetic of
the Watchtower Society.
However, let us entertain the idea that within this passage there is
the prophetic foreshadowing
that God progressively reveals truth to his people during the
time of the end. This concept cannot apply to Watchtower history, as Watchtower doctrine
has not refined but changed. Consider whether the following
change is really a matter of doctrinal light getting lighter:

Imagine being the Witness parent of a child that needed a kidney transplant in 1970.
Although the Awake! 1949 Dec 22 had described transplants as
"wonders of modern surgery", in 1967 God revealed that transplants were wrong in his
eyes. The Watchtower 1967 Nov 15 pp.702-704 stated that being
now "enlightened by God's word" God's people understood that transplants are against
divine principles and
cannibalistic. The parents must sincerely have believed they were
putting Jehovah first when watching their child die, refusing them the opportunity of possible
survival through a transplant.
How would that parent feel on reading the Watchtower 1980
Mar 15 p.31 -

"There is no Biblical command pointedly forbidding the taking in of other human
tissue. It is a matter for personal decision. " The enlightenment of
1967 had proved to be dark, harmful and in need of later correction, a regressive doctrine
that resulted in the unnecessary death of members. When a
doctrine changes and then reverts back to the original position this is not evidence of
light getting brighter, it is
evidence of a lack of Holy Spirit directing the Governing Body.
Russell eloquently wrote the following truism that:

"If we were following a man undoubtedly it would be different with us; undoubtedly
one human idea would
contradict another and that which was light one or two or six years ago would be regarded
as darkness now;… But with God there is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning, and so it is with truth; any knowledge or light coming from God must be
like its author. A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth. "New Light" never
extinguishes older "light" but adds to it…" Zion's Watch Tower
1881 Feb pp.3,188

The concept of light becoming brighter implies that previous
doctrine was correct, but
incomplete. The Watchtower Society has promoted many
significant doctrines that were later discarded as incorrect.
Others have changed back and forth, even reverting to their original position, in each case contradicting a former truth.
It has regularly been the case that Watchtower doctrine is not
illuminated but eclipsed. It was not increasing light that dictated:
In the 1950's that Jesus was no longer to be worshipped; it was
a fundamental teaching that was (or currently is) wrong, Failed date prophecies, Pyramids were prophetic of
1914, Superior authorities were Goverments - God - Governments,
Numerous changes to the
meaning of the generation.
These were not clarifications - these were wrong teachings.
How many wrong teachings did
God allow to become part of the Bible canon? Now compare that with how many wrong teachings
are contained within the
Watchtower over less then 150 years. Ongoing reversal of doctrine can only indicate God is
not involved in these new flashes of light that later turn out to be falsehoods. Yet the Watchtower
leadership claim these changes are from Jehovah, not to be
questioned.

“How do you react when
Jehovah, the Source of spiritual enlightenment, sheds light on
“the deep things of God” found in the Bible? (1 Cor. 2:10-13)
Re: Watchtower Justification For- The Light Is Getting Brighter by Yooguyz: 6:56pm On Jul 31, 2014
We have an excellent example in the
apostle Peter’s reaction when Jesus told His listeners the words
of today’s text. Taking those words literally, many disciples
said: “This speech is shocking; who can listen to it?” They “went
off to the things behind.” But Peter said: “Lord, whom shall we
go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.” (John 6:60, 66,
68) Peter relied on God for spiritual enlightenment. When
spiritual light on some matter gets brighter, do you try to understand the underlying Scriptural reasons for the
adjustment? (Prov. 4:18)”
Examining the Scriptures Daily 2013 p.17

“Of course, such development of
understanding, involving
“tacking” as it were, has often served as a test of loyalty for those associated with the
“faithful and discreet slave.” However, progress is being made continually toward fuller appreciation of the “good news”
and all that it means. It has been the experience of those who stay
close to God’s organization that
questions and things hard to understand are always cleared up with the passing of time. And
as the light shines forth ever more clearly, how heartwarming and satisfying the way proves to be!” Watchtower 1981 Dec 1 p.31

When is it truth?

This concept is applicable to any Christian religion similar to the Witnesses, such as Christadelphians and Church of God. Both of these have a
doctrinal structure almost
identical to Jehovah's Witnesses. It has equal application to Seventh-day Adventists, who
started concurrently with the Witnesses from the same basic teachings of Miller. Seventh-day
Adventists preach and grow at the same rate. A person raised in
any of these religions is equally convinced that the "light getting
brighter" will clarify things wrong with their religion. The Church of God uses the same "new light" reasoning, as shown in an experience of a member at
ex-sda.com (May 2 2006):

"Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong still
took what seemed to me a less than candid approach. He called
our Divorce & Remarriage
change "new light," "new truth" which God has (finally) shown us.
In other words, he subtly blamed our doctrinal error on God."

So do Mormons. In an experience of a Mormon that converted to
being a Jehovah's Witness, it is ironic that one of his reasons
was:

"I dug deeper into the teachings of my faith and also consulted with responsible Mormon Church leaders. I was told that the answers to my questions involved mysteries that one day
would be solved as the light became brighter." Watchtower
2013 Feb 1 p.9

The following article about the Catholic Church is equally applicable to the Watchtower
Society.

""Tell me," he asked, "how can I have confidence in anything?
How can I believe in the Bible, in God, or have faith? Just ten years
ago we Catholics had the
absolute truth, we put all our faith in this. Now the pope and our priests are telling us this is
not the way to believe any more, but we are to believe 'new things.' How do I know the 'new
things' will be the truth in five years?"" Awake! 1970 Apr 22 p.8

Ironically, the root of "New Light" is apostasy. A person - be it the
Governing Body, someone from the writing department or a
question from readers - shows disagreement with Watchtower truth and presents an alternate
point of view. Regularly, the alternate point of view is not accepted, and the advocate may
even become labelled an
apostate. Yet at other times, what starts out as an apostate idea
becomes doctrine, and is termed new light. The resultant conclusion can only be that the
previous teaching was false, or potentially the new teaching is
false, but either way the
Watchtower was, or is, teaching apostasy.
Re: Watchtower Justification For- The Light Is Getting Brighter by biopat(m): 10:51pm On Jul 31, 2014
I just dey observe!
Re: Watchtower Justification For- The Light Is Getting Brighter by Yooguyz: 11:09am On Aug 03, 2014
Why So Long?

One must also wonder, if
Jehovah wants his organisation to be clean in comparison to all
others, why he waited so long to reveal important truths. The Watchtower holds itself and its
spiritual light in high esteem.

“Jehovah is the source of
spiritual light. While the world remains in dense darkness the true God continues to shed light
on his people. Increasing light from Jehovah continues to illuminate the path of his people.
It refines them organizationally,
doctrinally, and morally."
Watchtower 2006 Feb 15
Walking in the Path of Increasing Light

This article is revealing, more so in what it does not contain. For
instance, whilst it claims the teaching on Superior Authorities was correctly revealed in 1962, it
fails to mention that it was going back to a doctrine that was
originally correct, and had been incorrectly changed by Rutherford in 1929.
Whilst the article attributes the 1945 ruling against blood
transfusions on use of blood in World War II, it does not adequately address the length of
time to arrive at this ruling. Since the modern technique of blood
transfusions was mastered in 1916, why wait until 1945 to
forbid blood transfusions? If any use of blood is wrong, why wait
until 1927 to direct his people not to eat it, almost 50 years after the Watchtower started
being printed. Smoking became a
disfellowshipping offence in 1973. Yet smoking has always been harmful to health.

"Societies were formed to discourage smoking" from the early 1900's

1 and scientists proved the connection to lung cancer in the 1930's.

2 Further, smoking was
introduced as wrong because it was related to spiritism,

3 in which case it was wrong from the birth of the religion and
would not be something God should wait 100 years to provide
enlightenment on.

Most importantly, if only the Governing Body form the Faithful and Discrete Slave, why wait until
2012 to reveal this truth? Prior to 2012, it was stated that Jehovah
had dispensed truth through the Slave class since Jesus time,
which was comprised of the entire group of 144,000. Since then, it was only the Governing
Body after the year 1919. Surely Jehovah could have correctly
revealed his source of truth and light as soon as it was manifest in 1919.

What the Bible Says

The Bible explains that the meaning of some truths were to be understood later. This did not allow for Jehovah directing his people with falsehood.

John 16:13 "However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the
truth, he will guide YOU into all the truth, for he will not speak of
his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he
will declare to YOU the things coming."

At John 16:13, Jesus was
referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus
did not refer to partial or
incorrect truth; the Spirit would reveal truth, including "things
coming". the Watchtower
Society has had a 100% failure rate in predicting things "coming".

Daniel 12:4, 10 "And as for you, O Daniel, make secret the words
and seal up the book, until the time of [the] end. Many will rove
about, and the [true] knowledge will become abundant... Many will
cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined.
And the wicked ones will
certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand."

Though Daniel did not
understand what he wrote, he did not make false interpretations. The Society's interpretation of Daniel has changed constantly with
explanations that were applied to the 1800's now applied to the
1900's. Despite this, the
Organization insists that God only enlightens them to interpret these Scriptures accurately.
Rather than indicate that
doctrine would get brighter or change, the Bible warns against
anyone that promotes false doctrine.

1 John 4:1 "Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired
expressions to see whether they
originate with God, because many false prophets have gone
forth into the world."

Galatians 1:8, 9 "But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel
contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any
man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed."
Re: Watchtower Justification For- The Light Is Getting Brighter by Yooguyz: 12:08pm On Aug 05, 2014
Watchtower Justification for Doctrinal Error

Proverbs 4:18 is the primary justification for why much of early Watchtower doctrine has changed and continues to change. There are additional lines of reasoning that are invoked, but each is equally insipid.

Apostles Made Mistakes

The Watchtower justifies errors through comparison with the Apostles and the mistakes that they made. For example, the following screenshot is from the Watchtower 2013 Jan 1 p.8



"Like the apostles of Jesus Christ, they have at times had some wrong expectations." Reasoning from the Scriptures p.136
In a similar vein, I regularly receive emails from Witnesses that God used Moses, Abraham, David and other kings, priests and prophets to lead his people, even though they were sinners.

This is a strawman argument, as it addresses an issue quite different to the one at hand. This is not a question of individual early Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses or members of the Governing Body being perfect or holding to a perfect understanding of doctrine. The issue is whether the Governing Body operates under guidance of Holy Spirit as a collective group, after prayer. Does Jehovah direct what appears in the Watchtower journals? Obviously not, since so much has been wrong.

Rather than suggesting that Apostles made mistakes, consider "What percentage of the Apostles writings in the Bible are wrong?" Zero percent. "What percentage of Watchtower statements has been wrong?" The difference being, the Apostles were directed by God, the Governing Body is not.

Since the Watchtower Governing Body is unlike the Apostles and not directed by God when arriving at doctrine, they should not be followed blindly, without question.

God is testing us

Another justification has been used several times after Watchtower prophecies went unfulfilled. The Watch Tower 1916 February 1 said about the incorrect understanding of 1914:

"We inferred from this that the Church's 'change' would take place on or before that date. But God did not tell us that it would be so. He permitted us to draw that inference; and we believe that it has proven to be a necessary test upon God's dear saints everywhere."
What sort of group would accuse God of allowing them to promote falsehood as a test of his followers? If false teachings are a test from God, how do we differentiate between one Church and the other?

Eager

Additional Watchtower justification for incorrect interpretations is to attribute them to eagerness. People that criticise this righteous eagerness are negatively trying to divert people from the importance of the times.

"It is easy for the established churches of Christendom and other people to criticize Jehovah's Witnesses because their publications have, at times, stated that certain things could take place on certain dates. Have they not, rather, encouraged spiritual sluggishness by considering expectation of "the end" to be "meaningless" or "an insignificant myth"? Have apostates promoted Christian alertness? Have they not, rather, induced spiritual sleepiness?" Watchtower 1984 Dec 1 p.18

"Jehovah's Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus' second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect." Awake! 1993 Mar 22 p.4

"In modern times such eagerness, commendable in itself, has led to attempts at setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth." Watchtower 1980 Mar 15 p.17
In application to itself the Watchtower insinuates that alertness is more important to truthfulness. In application to other religions sincerity is not enough, teaching untruths makes their followers unacceptable to God.

"For us to be acceptable to God, our sincere beliefs must be based on accurate information. Jehovah's Witnesses in your community will be happy to assist you in examining what is involved in serving God with sincerity and truth." Watchtower 2003 Feb 1 p.32 Sincerity-Desirable, but Is It Enough?
To be eager does not justify being totally wrong. Many religions are eager, without relying on false predictions to motivate their members. The Seventh-day Adventists use statements such as "See you later, God Willing" to show they recognise God may intervene at any stage. This is a healthy recognition of God's timetable without encouraging serving to a date. Making mistakes in God's name has not promoted long term eagerness; it has resulted in followers losing their faith in the Organization.

Does Jehovah's direction include falsehoods

The Watchtower Society did not originate the concept of excusing failed predictions as "new light". Barbour had used this concept to justify why the end did not arrive as predicted in 1874. Religions claiming to have all the answers consistently prove to be wrong. The Watchtower reliance on the "new light" doctrine is no more than an excuse to justify inaccuracies. "New light" is an unhealthy concept that promotes blind, unquestioning devotion to an earthly Organization.

Deuteronomy 18:20 - 22 provides a foolproof way to determine if words spoken have come from God:

"However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: "How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?" when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it."
Watchtower changes include numerous false dates, significant doctrine and the promotion of pagan symbols and teachings. Rules on shunning, medical advice and education have been adversely life changing, even life threatening. Falsehood does not originate from Jehovah. Doctrinal meandering cannot be justified as new light; rather it is proof that God does not direct the Watchtower Society.

Truth, in matter of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived - Oscar Wilde

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