Jehovah's Witnesses, what do you think of this article?

Former Jehovah's Witness here. That article fails to do justice to the myriad false predictions made by men who govern that organization. See the article in the link below.

Jehovah's Witnesses simply dismiss previous "mistakes" as human error and reckon that because they have admitted to these mistakes, that proves they are not false prophets. Here is what they said in the 1 November 1972 Watchtower article 'Be Big Enough to Admit a Mistake':

"Refusing to admit that one has made a mistake is like claiming infallibility... (then follows an attack on the Roman Catholic Church and claims of papal infallibility) In striking contrast to the position taken by the popes is that taken by the Christian witnesses of Jehovah. They readily admit to having made mistakes as to doctrine and worship... Does this admission of making mistakes stamp them as false prophets? Not at all, for false prophets do not admit to making mistakes."

If the Witnesses can’t be accused of being false prophets because they admitted to having made mistakes, then Harold Camping must likewise not be a false prophet since he also admitted to having made mistakes about his predictions regarding 2011.

So regardless of how many times they get it wrong, they simply say they have received "increased light" from Jehovah, and "the light gets ever brighter" the closer we get to Armageddon. That basically gives their Governing Body permission to change anything they want.

Greetings,

I’d guess that most Jehovah's Witnesses would think this article was reasonably fair.

I completely agree with Scott Shares the Truth.

This demonstrates the difference between a "false prophet" and simply misunderstanding when *Bible prophecies* were to be fulfilled. Incorrect interpretations are patently not "prophesying" and therefore cannot legitimately be called a false prophecy. The logic that says "they were wrong so that makes them false prophets" would make the Apostles "false prophets" since they repeatedly misunderstood end time prophecies and had to correct themselves.

First, a false prophecy would not be just an interpretation of the time when a Bible prophecy would find fulfillment. It would have to be a completely new prophecy or revelation directly from God.

Second, a false prophet would not present his teaching as something which was fallible or subject to change. "Speaking in God's Name" would demand a claim of infallibility. Such a prophet would never deny receiving direct communication from God or say things like: "I think this will happen..."

Even more important, a "false prophet" would NEVER teach that God had discontinued to speak directly with humans or that miraculous foreknowledge had ceased. He would NEVER deny having the ability to foretell the future.

Clearly, these facts show that Witnesses could NEVER be accused of being false prophets! Their very doctrine has ALWAYS been that the gifts of inspired prophesying ceased after the Apostles died. They have repeatedly stated in their literature that they do not foretell the future and they are not infallible.

The Witnesses do NOT come up with their own new prophecies. As they examine closely the Bible, they interpret what they see. But the JW's have NEVER claimed to give prophecies or to be inspired. Therefore, since Jehovah's Witnesses NEVER engaged in prophesying they cannot be "false prophets."

On the other hand we can refer to several well known evangelical preachers (usually when they need more money, or to claim God has forgiven them for moral sins).

For one example, Oral Roberts claimed to be told by a 900 foot Jesus that he was going to be used to find a cure for cancer and people should send him 8 million dollars or God was going to kill him. (His cancer medical center was only open for a few years.)

This is a clear example of one who meets the requirements of a "false prophet," since he was not just interpreting Scriptural prophecies but he claimed a direct communication from God which proved untrue (De.13:1).

On the other hand, we have hundreds of examples of where Catholic and Protestant preachers predicted times and even dates for Christ's return:

The "Father of Protestantism" Martin Luther taught Christ would return by 1564.

Irish Bishop James Ussher's prediction was for 1996.

Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel predicted the Rapture in 1981.

The most famous one was actually a Baptist....William Miller who predicted 1843.

The fact is that virtually EVERY religion was influenced by the "Advent Movement" of the 19th century, and made similar predictions.

Now does this mean that these Catholic and Protestants were false prophets? We would have to say yes– IF we equally applied the reasoning of those who accuse JW's. However, a more reasonable conclusion would be that they were just honestly mistaken. Most of these individuals did not claim a direct and new communication from God, but only were trying to interpret the chronology found in the Bible.

Jesus didn't say you would identify the true religion because they never misunderstood prophesy. He said that you would discern who were true Christians and who were false prophets "by their fruits," or the results of their Biblical teaching (Mt.7:16,20-23; 2Tim3:5; Gal.5:19-23).

False religion is a false prophet not because it incorrectly interprets the Bible prophecies, but because their interpretations are totally and willfully contrary to what the Scriptures teach.

Yours,

BAR-ANERGES

Nothing really ie nothing new or shocking, because that is just typical of those who are against us!

Of course, our society have made errors; they are human and imperfect. After all, the first century christians, were closer to perfection and still got it wrong! Why just reading Matthew, I read how they had little faith and got things wrong and they had the holy spirit.

Just having the spirit, does not make a person perfect, for that would mean the holy spirit takes away free will and yet, we know that is just not possible, since Jehovah gave us this with all His goodness, which means that despite the holy spirit working, one can still go in a different direction, due to not fully appreciating the holy spirit is with them!

I think that's nothing new. The Jehovah's Witnesses made statements based on misunderstanding of scripture. There's no question about that. There's nothing most of us didn't already know. Wikipedia accurately did not call any of these predictions "false prophecy". I commend them for that accuracy.

One thing that does stand out is the amount of "mainstream religions" in which Wikipedia DOES mention the word "prophecy" when discussing their false predictions. Thank you for pointing that out! Very interesting!

What does that mean to you?

What it really is :

Adventism has its roots in the teachings of a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller. He first predicted the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur ....

How i see the article-

Jesus blah, JEws , jews want mountains Drink mountain jew