Why are JWs' reluctant to admit that their organization have had false prophecies?

They are documented in their own literature





Why they say, what prophecies, we have not made any prophecies?!Why are JWs' reluctant to admit that their organization have had false prophecies?
I suspect the reason they are now distancing themselves from previous claims to have had divine revelation is because they've been getting their dates wrong for so long it is now a source of embarrasment. Here is evidence that they believed they were getting divine revelation:





Watchtower 1 February 1938: 'The Lord revealed to his people the meaning of the parable of the sheep and the goats... All this information came not from or by man, but by the Lord God.'





Then, in Awake! 8 October 1968 they said 'True, there have been those in times past who predicted an 'end to the world,' even announcing a specific date... (wonder who they were?) Yet nothing happened. The 'end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing? Missing from such people were God's truths and the evidence that he was guiding and using them.'; How embarrassing! Especially when you look at a partial list of false predictions coming from their Governing Body:





Beginning of the end in 1799, then changed to 1914


Christ's invisible second presence in 1874, then changed to 1914


Armageddon to end in 1914


Armageddon to begin in 1925


1914 begins the last generation before Armageddon


People old enough to understand events of 1914 will be alive when Armageddon comes


1914 generation to end in 1975


1914 generation to end in 1989


1914 generation to end in 1994





Watchtower 1 November 1995 - 'Eager to see the end of this evil system, Jehovah's people have at times speculated about the time when the 'great tribulation' would break out, even tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914... Therefore, in the final fulfilment of Jesus' prophecy today, 'this generation' apparently refers to the peoples of earth who see the sign of Christ's presence but fail to mend their ways...';





Jehovah's Witnesses are now at pains to distance themselves from previous predictions that have failed. Awake! 22 March 1993 - 'Jehovah's Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus' second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorret. Because of this, some have called them false prophets. Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions 'in the name of Jehovah'. Never did they say, 'These are the words of Jehovah'.' Really?





Watchtower 1 April 1972 contained an article entitled 'They shall know that a Prophet was among them' - ascribing themselves to be Jehovah's modern-day prophet (page 197).





Awake! 22 October 1995 said on page 4 that it was ';the Creator's promise'; that the new world would come ';before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away'; and also called this prediction ';Jehovah's prophetic word.';





Why are they reluctant to admit they have made false prophecies? Pride - they are in a state of denial and they put their trust the word of fallible men instead of accepting that God has declared that no man knows the day or the hour.Why are JWs' reluctant to admit that their organization have had false prophecies?
The same reason they continue to block me on a regular basis. They have been trained to resist anything and anyone who disagrees with their belief that they alone are the chosen vessel through which God works for the salvation of mankind. They believe that any criticism against the organization, no matter the source or the evidence, must have satanic origins and must be regarded as such.
They are brainwashed into believing that their organization is a direct voice from God, questioning their predictions will be like questioning Jehovah himself, that is what they are led to believe, and that is a big NO NO. It's all a part of the watchtower society's control over their people, they are told about ';new light'; and the society makes excuses and they go for it, because they believe that words from the governing body are from Jehovah himself. I don't like to call them a cult, but the watchtower society fits the description perfectly. They spend hours educating their people to be able to mould their answers when questioned about their mistakes, they deny their false prophecies and use word games to avoid looking stupid. They're very good at it, you would be too if you spent 5 hours a week learning the tricks of the trade!
No cult will ever admit they are wrong and all they want is to deceive as many people as possible. They are not a Christian group and reject Jesus Christ and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. This group's followers will try to work for their salvation and even then they not sure if they saved and they reject the Body of Jesus Christ and they still practice satanic rituals. So how can they admit ever been wrong.
Because, amazingly they are not allowed to even look at their own Watchtower material of the past. Does this mean that the old light puplications are now apostate? I wonder if the new light of tomorrow will make the awake and watchtower of today apostate? Hmmmmmmmm
They can not disfellowship the leadership so they have to deny this about an obvious false prophet.





If a member said what they have said and got nailed on it they would have gotten rid of them.
It's embarrassing !





I was blessed today and it was very strange !





I am in a House with a very nice family in Beaverton Oregon !





EDIT: Moses, thousands of people are seeing this question !





EDIT: The JWs that have talked to me would rather that you not know who they are on yahoo answers.


I am sure there are many others who feel the same way.





Yes, thousands are seeing the Questions.





EDIT: Prove it ?


Ha !


I dont answer to you, I answer to Jesus !


: )
If they admit THAT, they'd have to rethink their association with such an organization. And if they really look at scripture, Matthew 7:15 hits way too close to home for them.
Same reason they took down my answer last week.... control.


JW is all about rules and regulations and none of the grace of God.





They will remove this answer as well.


I am surprised this question/answers have stayed up this long.
It's the infamous Watchtower ';ostrich head in the sand'; tactic. the list is out there...even on the site below.
They whip out the ole 'new light' excuse any time ...even within their own minds if they begin to question...'; the light gets brighter and brighter'; ....it's all they got.
Because that would be admitting that they are wrong now, also.
They would also have to admit of being a false prophet!
Because that's just the first layer of the heretical onion.
Because that would be detrimental to the money they make off of their followers. Would you want to have to get a real job???
first of all I myself am a JW. second of all I personally do admit we had made some false prophecies back then. i'm sure you are talking about when we profetice (sorry can't spell0 that the end of the world was going to come in the 1914 and then again in the 70's. (want to talk pm or email me at confirm_your_pass@yahoo.com






No one makes prophecies. They are fullfiled.





I know what you mean though..





In any event.. Jesus told his people to Keep on the Watch. JW's havent been the only people interested in Bible prophecies and year predictions. Many others have pointed to certain years... After the great apostasy God would be looking for a busy people actually interested in the out workings of bible prophecy. This cannot be said of mainstream churches. Some so called church leaders dont even want to think about 'the end'. In part that's because the end would spell the end of thier business. No more fleecing the flock.





Bottom line is... Someone's going to live through Armageddon.





Servants of God have never been perfect as recorded throughout the bible but this never meant they were not exemplary...





Here is some info directly from our literature which 'admits' somethings...





Reasoning from the Scriptures:





Why have there been changes over the years in the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses?





The Bible shows that Jehovah enables his servants to understand his purpose in a progressive manner. (Prov. 4:18; John 16:12) Thus, the prophets who were divinely inspired to write portions of the Bible did not understand the meaning of everything that they wrote. (Dan. 12:8, 9; 1 Pet. 1:10-12) The apostles of Jesus Christ realized that there was much they did not understand in their time. (Acts 1:6, 7; 1 Cor. 13:9-12) The Bible shows that there would be a great increase in knowledge of the truth during “the time of the end.” (Dan. 12:4) Increased knowledge often requires adjustments in one’s thinking. Jehovah’s Witnesses are willing humbly to make such adjustments.





This is taken from JW's Proclaimers of god's kingdom book... ch10 page 121:





Did they believe that they had all the answers, the full light of truth? To that question Brother Russell pointedly answered: “Certainly not; nor will we have until the ‘perfect day.’” (Prov. 4:18, KJ) Frequently they referred to their Scriptural beliefs as “present truth”—not with any idea that truth itself changes but rather with the thought that their understanding of it was progressive.