u/CarefulExaminer

1. On the one hand Geoffrey Jackson stated that they were removing the prohibitions on components because "since the Scriptures do not comment on the various products that may be derived from blood, the Governing Body recognizes that, in harmony with 1 Corinthians 4:6, it is not authorized to 'go beyond the things that are written.'" https://www.jw.borg/finder?srcid=jwlshare&wtlocale=E&prefer=lang&docid=501100139&par=9 (Remove b from borg)

... which implies that those prohibitions were in error, unauthorized and went beyond what is written.

2. Then Jody Jedele comes along and says in his Morning Worship talk that Jehovah reveals new light at a time when his people are able to “absorb, understand and follow through on it", which seems to imply that if the prohibition on blood components had been lifted one year, ten years, thirty years or fifty years earlier, Jehovah’s people would have been unable to understand or accept it. Yes Christians really would have been incapable of understanding the simple principle: “The Bible does not specifically prohibit this, so it is a matter of individual Christian conscience.”

See post about this here https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/s/oSGDdXjg1p

3. And now Jeff Winder gives an illustration implying that Jehovah was the one who imposed those prohibitions because he did not have confidence in his people, although his Word the Bible never prohibited them! If this is not pure gaslighting and blaming Jehovah, I don't know what it is!

https://reddit.com/link/1wxekdj/video/aew00p3h2gth1/player

The Watchtower has recently moved the decisive fulfillment of several judgment passages from the present into the future.

The marking for survival in Ezekiel 9, the gathering of the chosen ones in Matthew 24:31, and the separation of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 are now understood as future events associated with the great tribulation. Previously, all of these were said to be taking place by means of the preaching work since 1919.

The reasoning for the change is that humans cannot read hearts. We can preach, warn and observe conduct, but we cannot determine with certainty who Christ will ultimately approve. The final judgment therefore belongs to Christ and his angels.

But if that principle is correct, shouldn't it also apply to the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13? If humans cannot determine who is ultimately a sheep and who is a goat, why can they determine who is ultimately wheat and who is a weed?

The current teaching continues to place the separation of the wheat and weeds in the period beginning in 1914/1919, with the harvest already underway. Yet Jesus' own explanation seems to point in a different direction:

• The weeds are collected and bound first, before the wheat is gathered into the storehouse, but Watchtower reverses the sequence. (Vs 30: "Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest season, I will tell the reapers: First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up; then gather the wheat into my storehouse.")
• The servants are explicitly told not to try to pull the weeds early, “for fear that while collecting the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them.”
• The angels (not humans) are the ones sent to do the separating and the harvesting.

This lines up with the reasoning now applied to the other prophecies: humans cannot read hearts and therefore cannot reliably label people as wheat or weeds (or sheep or goats). It is the angels who perform the separation - just as they are the ones who gather in Matthew 24.

The only reason the wheat-and-weeds separation is left in 1919 appears to be that moving it to the future would undermine the claim that Watch Tower is the only true Christian organization.

They teach that "God has always used an organization" (w83 2/15 p. 12-13) to guide his people and that a centralized organization is necessary for acceptable worship. When you push further and ask which organization was God's organization in, say, 1755, they acknowledge there was no such centralized organization from the death of the apostles until their supposed appointment in 1919 because the wheat and the weeds had not been separated, yet they still say true Christian worshippers existed during those centuries, without an organization.

If the separation of wheat and weeds is still future, it would imply that what was required to worship God acceptably in, say, the 15th century (no need for centralized organization) is still what is required today.

So the hermeunitical questions below are begging for answers:

If humans cannot read hearts, and therefore cannot perform the final separation of sheep and goats, why can they perform the equivalent separation of wheat and weeds?

If the angels are responsible for the harvest in Matthew 13, why is that harvest said to have begun in 1919?

If the servants are expressly told to leave the wheat and weeds together until the harvest, what warrants an interpretation in which an earthly organization has already identified and gathered the wheat?

And if the harvest is future, what becomes of the claim that Matthew 13 identifies a unique organization as God's organization from 1919 onward?

It's been about 5 months since the removal of the prohibition on autologous transfusions. And yet the prohibition is still on the signed DPA forms of many Witnesses.

Just curious whether they still encourage the publishers to fill out the form. Especially for pregnant mothers, do they still have the arrangement to meet them and encourage them to fill out the card as soon as possible?

And are publishers interested at all about the prohibition still sitting on their cards? What's the situation in your congregations, PIMOs?

Example 1: This week's meeting:

The Treasures part spends 10 minutes explaining why we should never put our trust in men.

Then the Digging part spent time explaining why we should put our trust in some men. And somehow most do not notice the contradiction.

https://preview.redd.it/8px7t3g79adh1.png?width=1017&format=png&auto=webp&s=9be2f5a3b5b2fb5e27b883fed7275d20d55337c2

https://preview.redd.it/zwlrtkva9adh1.png?width=955&format=png&auto=webp&s=c8f4c0bb9eb59885da24a755f1774bcb849e1fff

The argument goes like this:

1. You should trust Jehovah's earthly representatives as you would God himself. Why?
2. Because Jehovah trusts them. How do we know?
3. Because if he didn't trust them he wouldn't have appointed them. Therefore we should also put our trust in them.

Imagine King Saul applying the same logic: God trusts me that's why he appointed me so you should too and cooperate with me as I persecute David!

Or imagine Aaron applying similar reasoning: See God personally appointed me so trust me: Bow down to this golden calf!

Example 2: The June 2026 Broadcasting/Gilead Graduation:

They interviewed a woman who could not stand her previous religion because they asked for obedience without reason. She left because they insisted on obeying the leaders even if it didn't make sense.

https://reddit.com/link/1uwpzbl/video/68o73ve6badh1/player

And yet in the same month there were morning worship programs, Watchtower articles, and subsequently the July broadcasting asking for the same thing: Obey the GB whether you understand or not, whether you agree or not, whether it makes sense or not!

Example 3: Various articles condemning absolute obedience to religious leaders and strongly encouraging testing everything taught by these teachers BEFORE accepting what they teach as true.

If someone posted just the words of these excerpts on their status without any reference to the articles, you can be sure people might suspect him of apostasy. And yet this is the standard they set for all others except themselves!

Very strong words indeed, discouraging placing trust in uninspired, imperfect men - the exact same expressions the GB use to describe themselves.

.

Don't accept if you're not convinced, if you don't agree, if you're not sure. Make sure BEFORE accepting as true. Don't accept as true BEFORE making sure.

.

\"What if those imperfect men are wrong!\"

...because he is not afforded the same level of trust and respect afforded the King's message; He claims his mission is to convey the King's message, and not his own, yet he is unhappy because the people readily accept the King's message but find it difficult to fully trust what he, the mere messenger, has to say as they do the King's written message. See for yourself the messenger's complaint below:

https://preview.redd.it/gxupjwczk19h1.png?width=706&format=png&auto=webp&s=1535681ffe100c2758e8fa4b1d16845ab5439c01

One would have thought that they'd be excited to find people who found it easier to trust and accept what's in the Bible, if their mission indeed is to teach people the Bible... but no. If you say your real mission is to teach people the Bible, God's Word, and you've found people who are eager to trust the Bible, just go ahead and teach them the Bible!

Clearly they have deviated so far from their own stated mission namely, provide spiritual food, which they explicitly define as "instruction from God's Word".

Per this criterion, if the instruction is not God's Word, it's not spiritual food.

They have also clearly ignored the warning they gave themselves decades ago

Why don't the Witnesses realize that teaching commands of men as doctrines would invalidate their own worship?

Since when were they mandated to give binding instructions about Covid, vaccines, natural disasters, etc beyond the general instructions in the Bible?

After alluding to several seemingly impractical or suicidal instructions Moses gave to the Israelites in Egypt, the speaker demands that a similar level of obedience be given to Watchtower leaders, in effect 'seating themselves in the seat of Moses' just like the Pharisees of Jesus' day! (Mat 23:2) (See video in comments section)

https://preview.redd.it/73it5y39xp8h1.jpg?width=678&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a86d685baa33d2949569bee59392230119493ed

Except:

1. From the Biblical account, Moses' instructions were inspired; The GB admits they're not.
2. Being inspired, Moses never gave wrong or false directions which he had to retract or change after later recognising the error. When Aaron did give wrong direction to worship the golden calf, God expected his people to disobey. the GB on the other had have given several wrong and harmful directions that did not originate from God. E.g. Prohibiting alternative service, organ transplants, auto-transfusion, toasting, beards, among others
3. Moses backed up his instructions with several supernatural display or miracles which explains why the Israelites obeyed; The GB has none, just "trust us bro".
4. The speaker claims "we have repeatedly received wise directions from Jehovah's organization." Question: Were previous directions about alternative service, organ transplants, auto-transfusion, toasting, beards wise directions? Were they even "theocratic", ie from God? If so why have they abandoned them?

"The prophets prophesy lies, And the priests dominate by their own authority. And my own people love it that way. But what will you do when the end comes?” Jer 5:31

"The prophets... And Priests" - those taking the lead, the GB.

"prophesy lies" - 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, 'this generation', and now 'overlapping generation'; Several abandoned teachings that were presented as revealed truths.

"dominate by their own authority" - 'Obey us even if we don't make sense or we teach you the wrong thing. If you disagree with us, we'll expel as you as an apostate and have your friends and family shun you.'

"And my own people love it that way." - The rank and file have loved it that way. They dare not challenge these leaders. To them it's the leaders who will bear the responsibility. They can plead, "Our Leaders taught us so." However...

**"...**what will you do when the end comes?"

Even assuming that they are God's organization as they claim, this single verse shatters their claim that those in God's organization must give absolute obedience to those taking the lead, even if they give wrong or harmful direction. Israel was admittedly God's organization, but the verse suggests that the people should have challenged or resisted those rogue leaders, rather than 'loving it that way'.

There are several examples of people in the Bible who were commended for disobeying wrong direction from appointed men in God's organization. E.g. Uriah disobeying David's order to go to his wife, Jonathan refusing to cooperate with his Father in persecuting David, Naboth refusing to sell his garden to King Ahab, etc.

There are also many examples of those who blindly followed wrong instructions those taking the lead to their own peril. E.g. Israelites obeying Aaron in bowing down to the golden calf (Exodus 32), Israelites who cooperated with and supported David's illegal census (2 Samuel 24), the man of God who listened to misguided direction from the old prophet in 1 Kings 13, among others.

The real question both the leadership and most members have not attempted to tackle directly is this:

Obedience to human authority, parents, elders, husbands are all said to be relative and never absolute. Where they contradict the scriptures one "must obey God as ruler rather than men."
Does the same rule apply to the GB? Should what they say be tested against the scriptures before accepting as truth, and be rejected if they fail the test?

CAPTION in the meeting workbook 👇🏻

If you were spiritually ill, would you trust a Doctor who has a track record of failed diagnosis, failed prescriptions and predictions, tells you he may still err, but then he will never apologise for any tragic mistakes he makes, and yet tells you to trust him absolutely nonetheless, warns you to avoid fact-checking any info he gives you?

... only to end up in a religion that teaches exactly the same thing, but with harsher sanctions if you disagree with the Leaders!

https://reddit.com/link/1tw1n68/video/q1anpcytp45h1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1tw1n68/video/9op03k7wp45h1/player

Her current religion teaches that if you don't understand something the leaders say, if you can't find the reasons, always assume they're right and that you are the problem, not them.

https://reddit.com/link/1tw1n68/video/em05k53kq45h1/player

Naver mind that a teaching might actually be false, harm you physically or emotionally and then be abandoned by the leaders later, but you are always the problem, not them. And they'll never apologise for any harm caused by the erroneous teaching.

One of the most important teachings of the Watchtower organization is also potentially the most indefensible of all their teachings. It is the idea that they as true Christians went into spiritual captivity in the 2nd century CE and were freed from captivity to Babylon the Great in 1919 and that their leaders were appointed as God's only channel of communication for all mankind!

I honestly think the current explanation of the 1919 doctrine is one of the hardest teachings to defend.

At least the previous understanding until 2016, while arbitrary, tried to connect the teaching to actual events in that year:

• Rutherford and others being imprisoned = “spiritual captivity”
• Their release in 1919 = release from captivity

You could at least follow the logic, even if you disagreed with it.

But the newer explanation says the captivity actually began with the great apostasy in the 2nd century. If that’s the case, then the release from captivity can no longer reasonably be tied to Rutherford being released from prison in 1919.

That creates a big broblem:

In what meaningful sense were the Bible Students still “in captivity to Babylon the Great” in 1913 (in Russell's era), but somehow no longer in captivity by 1920 (in Rutherford's era)?

They attempt to link it to the impetus given the preaching work in 1919, but as attested to in their own publications, the Bible students were actively preaching during the Russell era.

Rutherford actually slowed down for a while after Russell died, then ramped up in 1919 with the big "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" campaign and the prediction that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful men of old would return in 1925.

Both groups used the cross, celebrated Christmas, observed birthdays, pyramidology etc. until the late 20s and even early 30s. So what exactly changed in 1919 that suddenly marked a divine "freeing" from captivity?

This is what happens when an organization is more interested in protecting a timeline than teaching truth. Change my mind. I’m genuinely curious who can defend this mess with a straight face.

PREVIOUS TEACHING:

Previous understanding: Rutherford and Co inprisoned = spiritual captivity to Babylon; Released from prison = Freed from spiritual captivity.

CURRENT TEACHING:

https://preview.redd.it/68an10dacz0h1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6e8c08d4944eab1ab19fed636f1c499832defed

ATTEMPTS AT DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE: https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102017933 (Remove b from borg)

\"Clearly\" indeed!

If Rutherford's impetus to the preaching work is the proof then Russell and Co were not still in captivity as he also gave impetus to the preaching:

https://preview.redd.it/mzgpe0tqfz0h1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7e28090cd5ad79cf675bdd6f2d1d042ce0b9287

https://preview.redd.it/vajr0vcsfz0h1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=2045e203cfe482c237b2b1824835816546093e87

Bible students preached zealously during Russell's era

The organization promoted the value and emotional importance of those pre-2021 monthly JW Broadcasting content, only for much of it to quietly disappear from the website and the JW Library app.

They called it:

• “Jehovah’s gift”
• “an answer to our prayers”
• something that “completely changed” lives
• something lonely and discouraged Witnesses could turn to whenever they needed comfort
• content “available on demand”

So apparently:

• Jehovah’s “gift” had an expiration date.
• The “answer to prayers” was temporary.
• The “available on demand” encouragement is no longer actually available on demand.

https://preview.redd.it/kzz74nszmb0h1.png?width=860&format=png&auto=webp&s=f335d4b145bbccbe27a425aec17b2d06a9016e78

https://preview.redd.it/bv1ctok2nb0h1.png?width=837&format=png&auto=webp&s=4490120ecbef56b9929b4220333aaf5c984c3ed5

The organization often warns members against relying on outside material because spiritual guidance must come through official channels. Yet now the organization itself has erased years of its own “spiritual food” after insisting how essential it was.

If these broadcasts truly represented timeless spiritual instruction and Jehovah’s thinking, why erase so much of it?

And if older broadcasts now contain material embarrassing, outdated, inconvenient, or inconsistent with current messaging, what does that say about the claim that this content came from Jehovah’s direction in the first place?

I came across something that perfectly illustrates the double messaging used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in their recruitment process - a classic bait and switch.

On their public website, they advertise their free home Bible study with reassuring language like:

“No, you are not obligated in any way” to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
“Millions enjoy our Bible study program without becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
“What you decide to do with that knowledge is up to you.”
https://www.jw.borg/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/no-obligation-study/ (Remove b from borg)

Sounds fair enough, right? Almost like it’s just a neutral Bible education program with no strings attached.

https://preview.redd.it/bcf0l4che60h1.png?width=1518&format=png&auto=webp&s=46b72affb2286d5eb1d5b6d955181bc40e1bc76c

But their internal training material tells a very different story:

This will be the study point for the first student assignments in the June Workbook.

Classic Bait and Switch. Why promise something you don't intend to keep?

If the real objective of the Bible study program is conversion into the organization, why not just say that plainly upfront instead of presenting it as an open-ended, no-pressure Bible discussion arrangement?

Not sure about why they have deleted the insert of 11/06 km in particular ( see u/larchington's detailed post ), although simililar information is found in many other publications, both past and present: magazines, God's Love book, Enjoy Life Book (current study publication). Why would they prioritize editing an archived publication over current ones? And still nothing on the DPA after 2 months of the update!

Is it not blatantly unethical to edit an archived publication in this way - without any notes, warning or explanation? How different from their own reference to Bible Writers who were honest about their own failings and recorded them!

Has there ever been such an extensive edit of a Watch Tower publication decades after being published? I know there have been minor edits in some bound volumes and pages were taken out of the Finished Mystery book after a year or so, but not 2 decades!

The only possible reason that comes to mind for removing that entire insert but holding on with any current updates to publication is if they want to roll out additional updates on the blod policy first, like potentially changing their stance on blood components vs fractions, and making all components a matter of consience too! Afterall per their own logic, if the Bible does not comment on storing one's blood, it also does not comment on components and fractions either. What are your thoughts?

Where did the Bible draw these lines?