The Claim: >JWs believe that God cannot lie, and anything from God is by definition >truth. This is the reason the Bible is considered infallible, by JWs. >However, the writings of the WTBTS are NOT considered infallible, and >hence, it is NOT "directly from God." At best it is indirect through >the study of scripture and guidance from God's spirit. The Quotes: With regard to statements published in the November 1, 1914 _Watch Tower_, concerning the events that had been predicted for 1914, the 1930 book _Light I_ said on page 195: The Lord foreknew and foretold what was to come to pass, and... he doubtless caused his angels to direct the preparation of exactly what was published. According to Fred W. Franz (vice-president of the Watchtower Society from 1949 to 1977, president from 1977 to his death in 1992), under oath in the Olin Moyle case (New York Supreme Court, Kings County Clerk's Index No. 15845, 1940, p. 795), Jehovah is the editor of _The Watchtower_. Franz gave his testimony in May, 1943, which is here reproduced: Q. Who subsequently became the Editor of the magazine, the main editor of the "Watch Tower" magazine? A. In 1931, October 15th, as I recall, the "Watch Tower" discontinued publishing the names of any editorial committee on the second page. The Court. He asked you who became the editor. The Witness. And it said -- The Court. Who became the editor? Q. Who became the editor when this was discontinued? A. Jehovah God. ------ "This Society was authorized by the Lord to bring forth things new and old for the household of faith and do the work for which the Lord had organized it. Therefore it is fully qualified and duly authorized to issue a "call to action" to all who claim to be on the Lord's side to busy themselves in doing the work of the Lord.... In Genesis 1:26 Jehovah issued a "call to action" to his Son, the Logos, and such other agencies _as were required_ for the creation of man, in these words: "And God said, Let US make man in our image, after our likeness." This is all there was to it. Jehovah expressed his will. That expressed will became "organization instructions" to the Logos.... Every organization requires specific instructions for all those who serve in it. In the past the Lord issued his "organization instructions" to his servants through his central agency or channel. Each one joyfully accepted his part therein and faithfully carried it out..... These expressions of God's will by his King and through his established agency constitute his law or rule of action for the "faithful and wise servant" and for their goodwill companions today who will dwell upon the earth for ever in the New World. The Lord ~~~~~~~~ breaks down our organization instructions further and ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ makes them more practicable by further instructing us through his "faithful and wise servant". He says, ~~~~~~~ `Let us assign the field, the world, to special pioneers, regular pioneers and companies of Jehovah's witnesses in an orderly way, sufficient for everyone to thoroughly witness therein, and let us place upon each one the responsibility of caring for the New World interest in these respective assignments.' He says ~~~~~~~ the requirements for special pioneers shall be 175 hours and 50 back-calls per month, which should develop into a reasonble number of studies; and for regular pioneers 150 hours and as many back-calls and studies as can be properly developed during that time. And for company publishers he says, `Let us make a ~~~~~~~ quota of 60 hours and 12 back-calls and at least one study a week for each publisher.' These directions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ come to us from the Lord through his established ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ agency directing what is required of us; and, for those who really love the Lord and are guided by his counsel, that is a reasonable service requirement. This expression of the Lord's will should be the end of all controversy. It is for your good that these requirements are made; for thereby you are enabled to prove your integrity and magnify the Lord's name. These directions from the Lord come to us as individuals and as collective units called "companies". Almost everyone who is consecrated to the Lord recognizes that a company requires organization in order to function properly, but not all of these same brethren appreciate the fact that they as individuals require just as complete an organization to carry out their individual responsibilities as the company does. To illustrate: All realize that every company should have a definite assignment of territory in which to witness, but not all appreciate that each individual in that company should have his or her own personal assignment of territory in which to witness. It is just as foolish for a publisher to conclude that he can serve the Lord properly without a personal assignment as it would be for a company to decide that it could function acceptably to the Lord without a territory assignment. A company is required to have an assignment and to systematically work in it from house to house, make back-calls, conduct book studies, and generally aid the people of good-will. They are to carry on all the forms of magazine work in that assignment. They logically hold their own city and such adjacent territory as they can properly handle. It would be the height of foolishness for them to leave their own city and go to a city twenty miles away held by someone else and try to systematically witness in it. Every intelligent person will admit that that would be not only foolishness but rank unfaithfulness to the Lord. The same principle applies to the publisher who refuses to accept the responsibility for a personal assignment of territory and have that assignment as close as possible to his home. The farther away from his home that assignment is, the less time he will have to devote to it and the more difficult it will be to give proper attention to the interest in the territory. Consequently, it is a measure of unfaithfulness to the Lord to thus waste time and energy that belongs to him. The time has come when each one must bear his own burden fully before the Lord. With the provisions that the Lord has now made in supplying us with new books, question booklets which contain complete instructions for properly carrying on a study, etc., there is absolutely no excuse for anyone, man or woman, to claim to be unable to accept an individual territory assignment and assume full responsibility for it. Those who really love the Lord and are fighters for the New World will not try to excuse themselves on that or any other ground, but will hear the Word of the Lord when he says, Let _us_ do thus and so, and always keep in mind the _us_ includes the Lord, who will be with you in every undertaking. -- Matthew 18:20. The Lord through his "faithful and wise servant" ~~~~~~~~ now states to us, "_Let us cover our territory four ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ times in six months_." That becomes our organization instructions and has the same binding force on us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ that his statement to the Logos had when he said, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Let us make man in our image." It is our duty to accept this additional instruction and obey it. But someone will say, "The conditions are different. In the case of the Logos, he could accomplish what Jehovah commanded him to do; but when it comes to covering our territory four times in six months, that is out of all reason. We have never covered it more than once or, at the most, twice in six months. It just can't be done." We have all heard that argument before. And if it were true it would look bad indeed, and would imply that the Lord was asking us to do something that is impossible for us to accomplish. The children of Israel walked around Jericho _seven_ times the _last_ day." _Watchtower_ July 1, 1943, p204-6, "Righteous Requirements" -------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/apl/jw: jwlie1.txt .