You can download this issue of the Watchtower HERE
The most noteworthy quotations are found on p. 15,
19 The fact that the God of love counted Abraham as righteous should be heartening for true Christians today. Jehovah did not declare him righteous in the sense that he does those whom he anoints with spirit to be “joint heirs with Christ.” The limited number of that group are “called to be holy ones” and are accepted as “God’s sons.” (Rom. 1:7; 8:14, 17, 33) In contrast, Abraham came to be “Jehovah’s friend”—and that before the ransom sacrifice was offered. (Jas. 2: 23; Isa. 41:8) What, then, about true Christians who hope to live in the restored earthly Paradise?
20 These have not received “the free gift of righteousness” with heavenly life in view “through the release by the ransom paid by Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24; 5:15, 17) Nevertheless, they exercise deep faith in God and his provisions, and they manifest their faith by good works. One such work is that of “preaching the kingdom of God . . . and teaching the things concerning the Lord Je- sus Christ.” (Acts 28:31) Thus, Jehovah can view these as righteous in the sense that he did Abraham. The gift such ones receive —friendship with God—differs from “the free gift” the anointed receive. Yet, it certainly is a gift that they accept with deep gratitude.
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Also very interesting on page 13. Here 'the faithful and discreet slave class' have discreetly (if hardly faithfully) altered what they wrote in the 1988 edition of 'Insight On The Scriptures.' You can see exactly why Brooklyn have divided the Study Watchtower from the public one. It was only through reading this study article on the Internet that I turned to the relevant page in Insight (Vol 2page 736) and discovered that JWs once believed this: 'Jesus as a perfect man... had a race or offspring unborn in his loins, and when he died innocently as a perfect human sacrifice this potential human race died with him. He had willingly abstained from producing a family of his own by natural procreation.'
The previous paragraph declares that a 'deliberate murderer' cannot be 'ransomed' by the sacrifice of Jesus - and this includes Adam! 'Under the Law the deliberate murderer could not be ransomed. Adam, by his willful course, brought death on all mankind, hence was a murderer... Thus, the sacrificed life of Jesus is not acceptable to God as a ransom for the sinner Adam.' (Sounds to me that this includes Paul, who was involved in the deaths of the early Christians before his own conversion).
But the June article 'God Recommends His Love To Us' says this: 'It is true that Jesus, as a perfect man, could have been the source of billions of perfect descendants. Hence, it was understood that a combination of Jesus's life plus that of all his potential perfect descendants formed a sacrifice equivalent to that of Adam and his imperfect descendants. However, the Bible does not say that any potential offspring of Jesus formed part of the ransom.' A footnote announces: 'For example, that view involving descendants, or progeny, was included in 'Insight on the Scriptures', Volume 2, page 736, paragraphs 4 and 5.'
Notice how emphatic Brooklyn are: 'The Bible does not say that...'
Notice also the usual weasel words that accompany even the slightest change in doctrine or 'fresh light.' They don't like to admit their previous doctrine was wrong. When they say 'It was understood that...' they really mean 'We taught that...' And this teaching wasn't an edict from Brooklyn, it was merely something that was 'included in' 'Insight', as if Insight was a kind of academic seminar with different opinions being debated - rather than an authoritative doctrinal document from Brooklyn of some 2500 pages.
I'm pretty convinced that the next thing will be an article about why Jesus's sacrifice CAN 'ransom' deliberate murderers. As indeed it can. With or without the say so of the Governing Body.
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