Who can Jehovah's Witnesses hold accountable for Watchtower publications?

Question

I recently bought a book called "The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah." It was published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, but no personal name or author is found in the book.

My question is, who do Jehovah's Witnesses today hold accountable when something untrue is found printed in its pages? (For example, on page 216 it says that "within our twentieth century, the battle in the day of Jehovah will begin." Since the 20th century ended seven years ago, Jehovah's Witnesses now know the author of the book was wrong.)

It's the first edition of the book, published in 1971.

E.P. : The question is, who can JWs hold accountable if there is no "author?" If you don't have an answer, fine. Just say that.

grandpa:

I will ask you the same question. Please list for me each time the Watchtower correctly predicted when an end-times event was to take place. 1874, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, 2000.... all dates that were dead wrong.

Answer 1

The answer is nobody. Simply put, the witnesses don't have any opportunity to think let alone recourse of any kind.

The Watchtower in 1989 made the statement that the "preaching work" would end in "our twentieth century". In the "bound volume" (a compilation of all the articles for the year) the statement was missing. They just changed it to hide what they said and if you didn't have the actual magazine that you studied that fine Sunday morning, then you can't prove it.

Good thing I got mine, and I have showed the article alongside the bound volume to some JW's of which I AM STILL ONE (fake till it's time to go) and they were shocked. Bet they don't sleep well after that.

Answer 2

We do not expect perfection from imperfect people. There is nothing hidden. At the book study Tuesday night, we just went over how Russell and Rutherford thought that 1914 that the end would come and that they were wrong. But they were right about 1914 being an important year and that Jesus began ruling as king and Satan was thrown out of heaven...."Woe to the earth, because the Devil has come down to you having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time." Rev. 12: 12 & 13. What happen in 1914, the first World War.

I was raised in the truth and was baptized in '79. All I remember about 1975 was that it would have been 6000 years since Adam was created. I don't remember anything about the end coming....some may have thought maybe something could happen, but that was their own thoughts. It did show who was only serving Jehovah for a date.

I don't know anything about 2000????

I found it interesting in Wikipeda under Jehovah's Witnesses there is a quote "We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises...We do not even aver that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophecy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt respect to them." "Yet Seven Years More" article from Zions Watch Tower 1908

So no one has claimed to be infallible, such as the Pope.

How many of the faithful men of old were perfect and didn't make mistakes. Men chosen by God for a purpose. Moses, David, Peter, Paul..many made very serious mistakes, but they were still used by God.
We know we are living in the last days and it will not gone on forever. We each need to live our lifes as if it could come tomorrow.

Answer 3

The main reason no author is listed is because long ago, it was recognized that people could start following the authors as leaders if the names were known. To avoid "following men instead of the Christ" the writing committee asked not to be identified. That has proven to be true.

As for your "errors", good men always never seem to see enough evil. We always assume things can not get much worse than they are. We are often proved wrong by how depraved men can get. So they put it in the literature. Big deal. No one knows exactly when it will come. Jesus himself said he would not know until his Father told him. He did give us sign that would signal it being near. Those are happening on a scale no one would have thought possible a few years ago. He warned us to live as if it was coming as a thief in the night. We might not know the moment, but we know it will hit soon.

Answer 4

If there is a error in any publication technically it is the entire organization that is accountable since the head of the organization decides what to publish then the printing department duplicates or makes copies of the article in it's literature and then it gets distributed through it's publishers.

Answer 5

It's the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses who are responsible for the false prophecies of the religion....not the members. However, the Governing Body answers to no one. It's more likely that the Pope would be criticized by the Catholic cardinals than for a JW to utter a true and honest criticism of their GB. Such a 'rebellious' person would be squashed for speaking honestly.

Notice that in spite of a clearly stated false prophecy published by the GB, one poster asks the question "Does this mean the Bible is wrong?" This is an example of the power the WT holds over their members.....the Bible didn't say that Armageddon would begin in the 20th century....the Watchtower GB said it.. But a JW can't separate the WT from the Bible, they think it's the same thing.

I see that this poster hasn't provided any examples of when the WT was 'right' about a prophesied event.

Answer 6

Great question. After doing some research of my own, I learned this is one of the “tricks” of the Watchtower. By omitting the authors, it makes it impossible to verify the credibility of the contributor. They also leave out their sources, which makes it hard to verify the information presented. It gives them the “freedom” to quote and MISquote anything and anyone they like without consequence. The only way to refute it then, is you have to do your own homework and KNOW the material in order to see through the deception.

Yes, they’ve made numerous, laughable, and proven erroneous predictions. Why most JWs do not call them out for it and leave the WatchTower is almost beyond me. The only explanation I can come up with is that their belief in the Watch Tower Society being God’s true organization is so ingrained that they will excuse any error the Watch Tower makes, even when the errors PROVE their falsity.

Answer 7

In the answer given by No. 6, Amos 3:7 was quoted to infer that Jehovah reveals his confidences to his servants, who, as we all know, are Jehovah's Witnesses, through the Governing Body, who call themselves the "faithful and discrete slave" whose job it is to dispense spiritual food to the "other sheep".

Clearly, in 1971 (which wasn't very long ago) Jehovah revealed to the Governing Body that the battle of Armageddon would happen within the twentieth century. This could not possibly have been "wishful thinking" or "a failure of imagination" or simply a "well intentioned mistake." Why not? Because that would mean it was HUMAN thinking, and not Jehovah's revealed truth to his prophet. That would mean that EVERYTHING ever said by the Watch Tower Society in its literature was FALLIBLE and made up by a bunch of blokes who DID NOT HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. And we couldn't possibly concede that, could we? Unthinkable!

So, according to the preceding answer, we will have to blame Jehovah God himself for misleading and misinforming his prophet. Which is rather worrying, if you stop and think about it.

Answer 8

Clearly you are not understanding the meaning of the battle in question. The first part of the battle took place in 1914 in the spiritual realm. It is in that year that the ousting of Satan & his demons from heaven by Michael (Revelation 12) took place. That is only part of the battle and yes it DID begin in 1914. When Satan was ousted it was declared "woe to the earth and to the sea for the Devil has come down to you having a great deal of anger". That rage on the part of Satan is why we see the world in such turmoil today.

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WhyRUAfraid: There IS no scripture that points to the year. But a reading of bible prophecies, including those found in Matthew 24 & 25, and comparing those with comments by historians who say the year 1914 was a turning point in mankinds history I think you should be able to get the picture.

There are also other bible chronologies involved wfich require too much time and space to be included here. If you're sincerely interested, go to www.watchtower.org. It's as simple as that.

Answer 9

thats why you shouldn't read that kind of non sense. and just stick to the actual bible. knowing jesus is the most important thing you can ever do. don't worry about what the watchtower or any other cult has to predict or write about.

Answer 10

The Watchtower folks never reveal the author of their 'stories'. Sounds as if they are afraid to do so. These people have a very long history of false prophecies. Funny how, when the prophecy turns out to be incorrect, they always have an 'explanation' for it. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive". These people are 'deceived first class'. What a shame they do not open their eyes and see the inconsistencies and lies.