“Just move on” is what Watchtower ideally prefers former Witnesses to do after leaving the organization. So-called ‘apostates’ are urged to walk away and, above all, not scrutinize their former faith or say anything negative about it.
“They are not content just to leave the organization that they perhaps once loved,” laments the July 15, 2011 Watchtower (regarding apostates). “Their aim, Paul explained, is ‘to draw away the disciples after themselves.'”
It is with good reason that Watchtower stigmatizes and ridicules former Witnesses for revisiting their old beliefs in the light of logic and reason. Why? Because if a former Witness digs deep enough, it isn’t long before they uncover convincing evidence of deliberate lies and deception.
Step forward a former Witness named Juan, who was disfellowshipped as recently as February this year for questioning his faith. Juan had been promised by his JW father that contact would continue whatever happened. But sure enough, after the disfellowshipping was announced, Juan was told that contact with his father would henceforth be limited.
This is where Watchtower wanted Juan to “suck up” their abuse of him and stay quiet. But he had other ideas.
Juan remembered that his father had first been attracted to the organization after reading the “Creation” book (full title: Life—How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation?). He recalled from looking at information on JWfacts.com that there were numerous misquotes in this book. He decided to dig deeper and see if he could utilize his University library to uncover further evidence of Watchtower deception in the very book that had convinced his father to become a Witness.
What Juan found was astonishing.
Consider the following paragraph from pages 15 and 16 of the Creation book…
“Paleontologist Niles Eldredge, a prominent evolutionist, said: ‘The doubt that has infiltrated the previous, smugly confident certitude of evolutionary biology’s last twenty years has inflamed passions.’ He spoke of the ‘lack of total agreement even within the warring camps,’ and added, ‘things really are in an uproar these days . . . Sometimes it seems as though there are as many variations on each [evolutionary] theme as there are individual biologists.'” – Life—How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation?, pages 15 and 16.
The objective of the above paragraph is to convince the reader that doubt exists between evolutionists, and that this is sufficient reason to dismiss evolution as fact. The study question for the above paragraph thus asks, “What has been happening among those who promote evolution?”
But what does the quote actually say when read in full context? Take a look at the partial scan below (I have indicated with an “X” where the Watchtower ‘quote’ ends).
To examine a high-resolution scan showing how the above text appears in the 1982 Natural History magazine, please click here.
As you can see from reading the above, Watchtower’s use of Eldredge’s words completely and intentionally twisted and misrepresented their meaning in such a way as to lead the reader to precisely the conclusion Eldredge was warning against.
The deception and misrepresentation is so blatant it is almost comical.
Eldredge was praising the fact that there is “exuberant, creative doubt and controversy” between evolutionists and pointing to the fact that such free inquiry and loyalty to the scientific principle is entirely at odds with his experience of creationists (such as the writers of Watchtower publications) who dismiss any questioning of their conclusions.
Watchtower took Eldredge’s argument, snipped out the conclusion, and recast it as a perversion of itself – conforming neatly to Eldredge’s observation of intellectually dishonest proponents of creationism in the process.
It is yet to be known how Juan’s father will react to this damning evidence of Watchtower dishonesty. But thanks to his son’s persistence, many will benefit from this discovery regardless.
The 1971 book Your Youth—Getting the Best out of It posed this question: “When you think about it, isn’t it true that any apparent benefits from lying and cheating are short term at best?” (page 173) I would answer most definitely “yes!” Watchtower may have duped millions over many decades with its intentional misquotes, slandering apostates as liars all the while, but inevitably their own lies are now catching up with them.
Further reading…
Hello Watchtower, We can see you! How do you think you can possibly hide anything anymore? It’s called “the Internet”.
Do the right thing and admit the truth and correct all your mistakes. A lot would still support you and some of us may even come back if you go back to using the Bible to support truth, the way you started out years ago.
Time is running out for you.
Thank you Cedars for publishing this article. It disgusts me to think of all the lies the WT was/is publishing and I feel sick to think that my parents believed this and raised us to take everything that the GB says as fact. I am so glad to be out and I feel more and more confident that I did the right thing by leaving! I can only hope that many of my former friends will hear and read these articles and have their eyes opened.
T
The Watchtower Society is the modern day Pharisees. Their legacy is becoming a paper trail of lies and deceit that is being exposed more and more on the internet for all to see. Hopefully people will wake up and leave these white washed graves.
Imacountrygirl, do you think at any point in Watchtowers history they relied purely on the bible and not their own interpretation?
Take a look at Russell’s early books full of pyramidology. It’s absolute hogwash, as has all watchtower teachings down to this day.
I have recently discovered how they misuse Bart Ehrman, too.
In the Watchtower study edition of 1st Feb, 2014 you can find this quotation:
“It is not a Gospel written by Judas, or one that even claims to be. . . . It is not a Gospel written in Judas’s own time by someone who actually knew him . . . It is not a book, therefore, that will provide us with additional information about what actually happened in Jesus’ lifetime.” (http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=w13+2%2F1+pp.+13-15)
I made research on Bart Ehrman and have found that he REJECTS ALL THE GOSPELS, not only Juda’s.
They won’t call him apostate. In the same article, they refer to him as Best-selling authors, and prominent scholar of early Christianity and Gnosticism.
Here you are, “The Case Against the Resurrection (Bart D. Ehrman)” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHJE7cetkB4)
“The Case Against the Resurrection”, Bart Ehrman is rejecting WITH EVIDENCES all the gospel yet quoted by the WTS to to attack JUDA’S GOSPEL ONLY!!
The link at jwfacts in the article is well worth the read. What is so glaring to me is the fact that they say that ‘christendom’ lies to its members, when they themselves (the GB) sanction lies to the WTS members. The GB’s indications in recent articles show that their lies are being discovered and brought to light by education and information. The GB is resorting to even more fear and threats to those who look at ‘apostate’ sites like these. They are chastising anyone (even those who are not baptized) for asking the ‘wrong’ questions. They are altering their own publications from the past to prevent the members from finding the real errors and lies. Why? Because this is the day of BIG information and the internet, and that is a BIG threat to their power, money, and delusions of granduer! The GB cannot keep people dumb in this day and age! I have said before the GB and WT leaders don’t want sheep, they want mushrooms; kept in the dark and feed a load of crap only from them.
I guess the light is finally getting brighter…and it is showing us their lies.
Amazing article.
They also misquoted Einstein to suggest he believed in the Biblical God.
I have but disgust for the WTS.
The blatant lies and misquotes in the Creation book were one of the major factors that convinced me that JWs do not have the TRUTH. This was after I already started doubting and started my independent research. There’s an old-school “apostate” that goes by Alan F. (Feuerbacher, maybe? not sure) that catalogued pretty much every mistake from that book. If I remember correctly, the JWs lifted a lot of their information from young-earth creationist literature from the 60’s and repackaged it. In doing so they quoted a misquote from one of those books in many places perhaps without even looking at the original. So they themselves may not have been aware (at the time) how awful some of the quotes were.
I say this not to absolve them of their culpability here but to point out lazy and misleading they are. Regardless if it was an “honest” mistake at first they have never owned up to it and are still publishing the Creation book. I’d be floored if they ever used it in a “Bible” study, since they’d be better off if no one ever talked about it.
What they have done is rely more heavily on the Creator book – which briefly touches on evolution and their recent brochures, which, although also rife with misleading statements is much less blatant and guarded. I’m sure that literature was “original” and not cribbed from other religious nutjobs.
I already questioned some of the JW teachings, but when I discovered that they had misquoted Carl Sagan in the Creation book, that was the utter end of my belief.
It was obvious that whoever pulled the quote must have read to the end of the sentence and knew full well Sagan didn’t believe in creation. They had to know they were butchering the quote in order to serve their own purposes. I call that LYING.
And so I looked into more of the quotes – this was 20 years ago when not everything was as easy to google. ;) Just about every quote in the Creation book that comes from a “scientist” is either: Misquoted, from antiquity, or from a widely-discredited source. (read the bibliography – they quote the National Enquirer, a trashy tabloid newspaper in the US)
The WTBTS remind me off the Wizard of Oz, at the end of the film when Toto pulls back the curtain.
Don’t look at apostate web sites! Distrust the press!
Too late, WTBTS! Far, far too late.
The information is all there to be read on the internet. And you know what? There is not a damn thing you can do about it. Oh, it will take time, I’ll grant you that. But it’s coming! The time of your Revelation. The time of your Apocalypse.
What an excellent article. Thank you, Juan, for bringing this to our attention.
The WTBTS will be fundamentally changed in our lifetimes, folks. To quote the WTBTS rhetoric, it’s just around the corner!!!
Peace be with you
Excelsior!
Busted? I think not. The writers of these articles make mistakes. They’re human. And Jehovah allows it for one very simple reason: it weeds out the followers of men. If JWs stuck around because they’re expecting perfection, we would be very disappointed in an organization composed of imperfect humans. We look at the big picture. The sum of all the parts. Is it Jehovahs fault that Niles Eldredge quote may, or may not have, been communicated correctly? No, why would it be. Will someone have to answer to Jehovah for that? Probably. Should Jehovah have intervened miraculously to prevent that from happening? No. Because again, men, even spiritual men, are prone to make errors, sometimes serious ones. That shouldn’t, however, determine whether we want to have a relationship with Jehovah. We don’t worship the authors of these articles. Most of us don’t even know who they are. Who cares. We understand what the intent, the concept of the doctrines as a whole, is in the articles we read. If you really analyze Niles Eldredge quote, what he’s saying is “We can’t even agree amongst ourselves, which is actually a good thing.” Really? For who? He goes on to say that “creationists” point to this as a weak link in evolutionary thinking. JWs are not creationists. But he is right. The belief in evolution raises much more questions than it answers. So printing the entire quote did not help your cause.
P.S. This Juan character did not discover this supposed snafu, by the way. It was discovered during research done for a “Questions from our readers” segment. Maybe you should have actually talked to Juan, live, on the phone, instead of taking for granted that his correspondence was legitimate.
@Puh At least nobody in the scientific community demands that you unquestioningly listen to them.
I agree. Miaquotes and lying isn’t a way yo gain confidence in the writers. But with that said should that discourage current jws to stop believing in creation. No! Why should it?..I agree. With pluh eez “That shouldn’t, however, determine whether we want to have a relationship with Jehovah. We don’t worship the authors of these articles”…focusing on mistakes will filter the followers of men.
Creation book, p39: “At this point a reader may begin to understand Dawkins’ comment in the preface of his book: ‘This book should be read almost as though it were science fiction.’”
Source of the quote- ‘The Selfish Gene’ by Richard Dawkins, 1976.
What the author conveniently leaves out is what was written immediately after this statement, which is as follows: “It is designed to appeal to the imagination. But it is NOT science fiction: it is science. Cliche or not, “stranger than fiction” expresses exactly how I feel about the truth.”
The WT isn’t too concerned about the credentials of the people they quote. In the early chapters of the Creation book, there are 13 quotes from a book called ‘The neck of the giraffe’ by Francis Hitching. You would think that the WT liberally quotes him because he is an expert, a scholar, a scientist or similar.
He is in fact none of the above. He has no scientific credentials at all. He is though, known as a sensationalist TV script writer, paranormalist and believes that dowsing is genuine, among other things. He is said to be an ‘evolutionist’ in the Creation book. What they don’t say is that he is NOT a Darwinian evolutionist- there’s quite a difference.
He claimed to be a member of the Royal Archaeological Institute, which he wasn’t. He claimed to have notable people as supporters of this particular book including none other than Richard Dawkins, which they weren’t. When asked about this claim, Dawkins is quoted as saying, “I know nothing at all about Francis Hitching.If you are uncovering the fact that he is a charlatan, good for you. His book, The neck of the giraffe, is one of the silliest and most ignorant I have read in years.”
He has authored a number of other books. You can get an idea of what sort of person he is from the titles of these books- ‘Pendulum: the psi connection.’ ‘Dowsing: the psi connection.’ ‘Earth magic.’ ‘The mysterious world: an atlas of the unexplained’.
You are joking right? Whoever wrote that article new exactly what they were doing. It was no accident it was done to support their agenda. You seem to forget the society have done it many times before and they have been caught out before. Eminent schoolers who they have misquoted have made them retract what they wrote because they took it completely out of context.
Also who cares who found them out. The point is they have been found out yet again misquoting and leading people astray. They are not to be trusted in any way.
Sorry my above comment was meant to be a reply to Pur Leez
@Puh leez If it were one mistake, perhaps I could overlook it, but it’s not. Whenever the Watchtower writes an article or publication on evolution, not only do they constantly misquote, but they demonstrate by their faulty reasoning that they don’t have the slightest clue of what evolution actually is. And they haven’t learned from their mistakes either. The 2010 brochure The Origin of Life: Five Questions Worth Asking is just as bad as the Creation or Evolution book. I went through it myself. Almost every quote in the brochure was completely taken out of context. They couldn’t even define evolution correctly!
“Do you think that at any point in Watchtowers (sic) history they relied purely on the Bible and not their own interpretation?”
Isn’t the problem with the Bible that it is so open to interpretation? No one can have a definitive interpretation as so much of it is so vague or obscure.
“JWs are not creationists”
Sorry Pur Leez, but despite what jw.org tells you your religion most definitely is creationist. Unless of course the Watchtower has a different interpretation of the word creationist than the rest of the world. Oh wait, it does, I know that because I read it on jw.org…
Hey, I said it before and I will say it again. Every religion is full of flaws. The only solution is close down 100 per cent of them and start over. This time we can do it right. We can show where we stand by placing our feet on the line of volunteering to preach truth to the world. I for one beieve that God allows falsehood and mistakes in religion. When I went to a theological seminary, we were told no religion has “absolute truth.” So the light of knowledge keeps getting brighter as the days move on. So there are mistakes in religion. Big deal. Name of the game is laugh at them and go forth and show them how to do it right. If we cannot do that, of what value are we? We would be just a bunch of complainers who can’t cut it. We failed before and now we stand on the sidelines and throw stones at the few who are least giving it a try. I do not condemn these people. I just say, “Hey, here is the correct answer. Let’s join hands and get the job done right.” If the rest of the bozos botch it up, they’ll soon fall by the wayside. I want to minister. That ministry means correcting mistakes. Throwing stones at those who suffer from “botchulism” is not the answer either. That only justifies our spiritual laziness of not doing something about it. We got answers? Well, good. Get up and do the job right. And do it for free. No money. Work part time and preach truth to the world.
@Puh Leeze – nice try at apologetics, but misquoting men is forgiveable; misquoting Jehovah’s own words–damnable.
The point of this article is highlighting how one dissenter found solace in the plagiarism and twisted quotes lifted from scientific community. But, let’s extrapolate [higher learning..], if the Watchtower’s crack scribes (for we who observe the history of Second Advent believers and groups note the Watchtower hasn’t served-up [get it? served?] any new food, just leftovers) are adept at lifting quotes out of context from secular lit, we can bet they’re master magicians (simony, even) at lifting biblical verses out of context and twisting it to suit the mission.
(See how the food comment ties in? and, that is how you make a profound Watchtower Study comment…one stone, lots of birds falling..)
@country gal – hope you’re not holding your breath for the Watchtower to change little Smurfette…?
In reply to puh Leez
Consider it from a scriptural point of view for a moment. If the bible says that God allows a delusional influence into the congregation so as to test the individuals love of what is truth then surely we need to make sure what we are being taught is truthful?
Granted mistakes happen. Did you learn of this mistake by a retraction by the Watchtower Society?
@The Heretic – vicious! But, this article also highlights the approach to theological and scriptural exegesis (interpretation of sacred text) the Watchtower uses. Context does not matter; the concept must be proven regardless of the means. The concept / interpretation as “given” at the moment is supreme and proofing relies on the smallest phrase or hint of words to double underline the concept as proven. In this odd “Oz,” underlying Hebrew/Greek terms are only applicable when it supports the concept, but ignored when it crushes the concept and supports the opposers and rivals.
Part of this approach also subscribes to the notion that biblical verses are encoded–hence the need for a “faithful slave” to interpret scripture, finding occult (hidden) meanings/revelations by using incantations of other verses to reveal “truth” (knowledge) hidden in parables and by context. The more knowledge of the One God that is conjured out of these verses, the higher the salvation probability; the higher the degree of closeness to the One God. Note, it is not knowing the One God and the Son–an intimacy, but knowing OF the One God and of the Son to gain Eternal Life–a distant descriptive.
Likewise, with the Creation narrative, by conjuring up “truth” from non sequitor quotes the magus seem to believe this will vanish the opposing viewpoints with sleight of hand. For the concept that Creation ended nearly (at one point it was exactly) 6,000 years ago is a vital card in propping the house of cards on which sits a pyramid of end-date predictions.
Eh?
You mean bullshit
“And Jehovah allows it for one very simple reason: it weeds out the followers of men.”
Yet, these same men would toss you out if you failed to obey their statements and stood oppsingly on “conscientious objection”.
Kool Aid, anyone? anyone? to wash down that pill?
Obedience = Death. ™(c)(2014)
@ Puh Leez and other apologists:
Are we seriously to believe that these publications are “spiritual food” sent to the FDS to feed us from god himself — yet allow for errors? If these books really are “god’s word” and “god’s word is truth,” then why would there EVER be an error? Every publication from the beginning of the organization onward must be pristine in its information in order for the Watchtower’s claims of divine inspiration to hold up. Yet, time and time again, mistakes have been made, lies have been told, and false information has been shared.
When it comes down to it: Either god is a liar tricking us from the start; or, the Watchtower lies by pretending it’s god’s organization.
You cannot have it both ways.
And What do you think about the statistics of Page 2 of the Watchtower March 15, 2014. If you see the yearbook 2004 you can compare the data do not match. They are always lying in everything.
El Katire
http://atalayando.blogspot.com/2014/06/77-nos-enganan-de-frente-y-ni-cuenta.html
They claim not to be creationists by arguing against young-earth creationism. They ARE creationists. Old-earth creationists to be specific.
Apologists.
I can except mistakes. I can except apologies. What I do not except is when they are enforced. Just a thought about apologies could you show me one from the Society for their past mistakes please. Cheers.
I want to see just one apology just one in printed form. . One. Why? For the false teachings you’ve enforced on Christians. Otherwise your words have no meaning. One apology please like you do to your members so they don’t get disfellowedshipped for their mistakes.
Just one apology to save my life. You can’t let yourself be wronged to save a life?
Truth is & we all know. You ain’t got the guts to die for your brother.
Puh leeze – get real. I agree with what Jeni said – if it’s all god directed etc, then how are there any mistakes?? Apparently God can’t lie, doesn’t get things wrong, so why would his so called earthly representatives be giving out false info? Surely if they’re God’s chosen ones, he’d be giving them only the facts, for proof of their approval by him?
The one true religion is your OWN PERSONAL Relationship with GOD. JOHN 14:6
That being said why would we believe anything coming from a manmade organization only a little over 130 years old?
In the end it’s all left to interpretation and we all believe what we want to believe Right or Wrong.
What is the ultimate wrong is when you question lies your then put out in order to be silenced.
The real ‘truth’ is a hard pill to swallow when you have been brainwashed for so long!!
Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice to Deceive
Walter Scott
Puh leez
Mistakes are one thing deliberate misquotes and leaving out information is another, yes a deliberate attempt to pass of as truth using someone else to do their dirty work is despicable, and this is by far not the first time there a heaps of misquotes from the WTBTS and your GB, that is a practice not a mistake.
Why do you think the WT no longer prints the trinity brochure, has withdraw this from their cd rom, this brochure was a main tool for JW in their witnessing work for years! this brochure is full of misquotes and lies using other people for their agenda.
http://www.bible.ca/trinity/trinity-jw-anti-trinity-booklet-master-index-quotes.htm#author
If you don’t worship your authors, can you please explain why the $&@#* you get disfellowshipped when you disagree with them?
Please tell me the last time you highlighted a mistake an author made in a meeting comment. Just do that and then prove us all wrong.
Otherwise stop giving excuses and tell us why you can’t disagree openly with your authors. Admit you hold them in a position of reverence that could only be described as worship.
Puh Leez–that was NOT just done out of “imperfection” that was done DELIBERATELY. There are SCORES of examples in their own publications that prove this. It would be different if this was an isolated incident; no one is perfect–you’re absolutely right there. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Taking quotes out of texts and DELIBERATELY misquoting people is something that the WT does and has done many, many times. And there is no denying it. It’s one thing to accidentally spill a cup of tea; that’s an honest mistake. It’s another thing to knowingly and willfully do so time after time. Look at the big picture you say? You’re right and I encourage you to do just that….look at the big picture.
JWs are even misquoting Jehovah. An example, compare Jeremiah 5:8 in their old and new (2013) BIBLE:
(Jeremiah 5:8) . . .Horses seized with sexual heat, having [strong] testicles, they have become. They neigh each one to the wife of his companion.
(Jeremiah 5:8) . . .They are like eager, lustful horses, Each neighing after another man’s wife.
They have now removed strong testicles from INSPIRED words of God. The idea of string testicles completely destroyed.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=Jeremiah+5%3A8