Those who study the Watchtower organization know that it constantly updates its doctrines, replacing “old light” with “new light.” The Watchtower uses a misinterpretation of Proverbs 4:18 to support the idea that it constantly receives new information from God, which supplants previously held interpretations.[1] The Watchtower never admits an error, it just introduces new understanding, even if it represents a reversal of the previous position. Today I will discuss what I believe are the root causes of this constantly changing understanding of the Bible.
The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses claims to be God’s sole channel of communication to humanity. They seem to believe they must answer every question, and they can never be wrong. We’ve never seen the words “we don’t know” in a Watchtower publication. Clearly, this attitude is a recipe for trouble. The lack of a clear, consistent method of interpreting scripture compounds these problems.
We never heard these terms as Witnesses for a simple reason, the Watchtower does not want individual witnesses drawing their own interpretations, and will not train them to do so. My wife once asked an elder how we knew the Watchtower’s view on a particular scripture was correct. He said (paraphrased) “Don’t be concerned about figuring it out for yourself. We have wise men at Bethel who have discernment from Jehovah to interpret scripture so we could just accept it.” In other words, don’t ask questions.
So the Watchtower always knows what the Bible means, except when it doesn’t. This is where the doctrine of “new light,” or progressive revelation enters the picture. According to the Watchtower, Jehovah corrects information by providing new understanding to the Governing Body. It cites Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more to the perfect day,” to support this teaching. However, mainstream Bible scholars agree that this verse refers to individual growth, not a cover story for institutional error.[4]
There are two reasons the Watchtower needs the doctrine of “new light.” The first is simply sloppy writing and editing. As a well-known example, the Watchtower has flip-flopped numerous times on the resurrection of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sometimes they will be resurrected, sometimes not. This seems to depend on the point the organization wants to make. Because the Watchtower follows no consistent rules of hermeneutics, it can make the relevant verses say whatever they need them to say. Furthermore, the author either doesn’t see a need to check his work against previous statements, or just doesn’t bother.
Secondly, when “old light” is clearly wrong discovering “new light” becomes imperative. This is apparent when viewing the Society’s history of false predictions about the future.
For example, the Watchtower had to redefine the word generation several times. When I became a Witness in the early Seventies, I learned that Armageddon would occur within the lifespan of the generation alive in 1914. I understood that this meant people old enough to understand world events in that year. Later, as those people died out, this became people merely alive in 1914. In 1995 it became people living in a historical period, in 2008 Witnesses learned the “generation” included all the anointed, dating all the way back to Jesus’ time.
The April 15th, 2010 Watchtower introduced the “overlapping generation” concept:
“What does this explanation mean to us? Although we cannot measure the exact length of “this generation,”we do well to keep in mind several things about the word generation: It usually refers to people of varying ages whose lives overlap during a particular time period; it is not excessively long; and it has an end. (Ex. 1:6) How, then, are we to understand Jesus’ words about “this generation”? He evidently meant that the lives of the anointed who were on hand when the sign began to become evident in 1914 would overlap with the lives of other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation.” (Emphasis added)
Note that this last explanation starts with its own definition of “generation” and offers no evidence to back up its statement about what Jesus “evidently meant.” The writer engages in no hermeneutics at all, there is no presentation of any reason to believe this interpretation. The writer simply asserts what he wants the verse to mean.[5]
This leads us to a third Greek word, eisegesis. Where exegesis means to extract the meaning of a text, eisegesis means imposing one’s own biases and preconceived ideas on a text.[6] This is common in Watchtower writings. The above quotation regarding the overlapping generation is a good example. Instead of letting Jesus words speak for themselves, the author must find a way to fit them into the idea that the generation started in 1914.
My early Bible study with Witnesses (I joined as an adult) frequently consisted of learning how to explain a scripture that, on plain reading, refuted Watchtower doctrine. The internet provides many examples.[7]
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s stated purpose is “religious, educational, and charitable, in particular, to preach and teach the gospel of God’s Kingdom under Christ Jesus.”[8] When the Watchtower continually changes its teachings, is its work “educational?” Unless and until the Watchtower incorporates the principles of good textual analysis, Jehovah’s Witnesses must constantly learn new teachings on old subjects, the old burned out bulb will always need replacement.
[1] http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/light-gets-brighter.php
[2] http://www.theopedia.com/interpretation-of-the-bible
[3] http://www.theopedia.com/exegesis
[4] http://biblehub.com/commentaries/proverbs/4-18.ht
[5] http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/generation.php
[6] http://www.theopedia.com/eisegesis
[7] For example: http://mmoutreachinc.com/jehovahs_witnesses/jw_twisting.html
[8] https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/watchtower-society/
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