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About Brenton Hepburn
Expertise
I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I can answer questions on the reliability of the NWT, the so called mind control problems, so called prophecies, and general practices and history of Jehovah’s Witnesses.....
>>>>WARNING<<<<<<
....Please be aware that there are at least ... 3 .... people here who ARE NOT practicing JWs and, (at other times there have been as many as 5.) These ones will, at times, appear to have an agenda against JWs., and will often give answers that are not correct in regard to JW teachings and practices. If you are after a answer from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, please read some of the answers that the various experts have published before choosing someone. If you want to ask them a question that is fine, but if you want a balancing view after asking one of the NON JWs, ask a JW the same question

Experience
I have been a publisher since 1964. When I first went on the internet I found a lot of negative information dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses covering prophecy, mind control and what many said was a very bad translation of the Bible known as the NWT. It shook my faith. After may hours researching these topics I could see why some felt that way, but, I was also able to explain why there were these misleading views. I can now set matters straight for anyone that has negative information about Jehovah’s Witness to show them that such information is at best misleading and at worst dangerous lies.

Education/Credentials
I have been a student of the Bible for many years, am trying to teach myself Biblical Greek. Was a public tax accountant for many yrars untill SEP 2009 when I gave it up.

You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Christianity - Restorationism > Jehovah`s Witness > prophecy

Jehovah`s Witness - prophecy

Expert: Brenton Hepburn - 10/16/2009

Question
Hi. can you tell me why God would use one organization to tell mankind what to do with his life, then a number of years later his organization desides that tesching was wrong,i am thinking of the party card issue, where one country was allowed to bribe the police to have their card stamped, and yet in another country JWs had to remain loyal and could not get out of army training, many were put to death, or imprisioned. i relly dont understand dont you think that God would not give the people he is useing wrong infomation, all i know is that we were told that God was useing the f,and,d,s. so why do they change their teaching on a lot of subjects, and of course dates for the end of this system.i lookforward to your answer. thank you. jan uk

Answer
Hello Jan

Thank you for your questions and sorry for the delay. Over the last 2 - 3 weeks I have had to put my blind mother into a nursing home and organise many legal papers and get her unit ready for sale to pay for the nursing home, so, unfortunately my time has been limited and I have had to look up some information on this to get it clear in my mind.

The two countries that I assume you are referring to are, Malawi and Mexico. From the information I have been able to find both these countries and situations may sound similar but are fundamentally different.

The instructions Jesus gave to his followers were to be no part of the world (John 15:19) In the “Lords Prayer” Jesus taught his followers to pray for “Gods Kingdom” to be established (Matthew 6:10) and continuing in his sermon he told his followers to be seeking first the kingdom (Matthew 6:33) Before he died he told Pilot that his Kingdom was no part of this world other wise he would have let his followers defend him (John 18:33-36)

The party card that was required by law in Malawi was to show that one had made allegiance with the government of that time. The only governmental rule that we recognize as being all-important is Gods Government under the ruler ship of his son Jesus. That being said we are obliged to acknowledge the governments of the country where we live. Jesus said that we were to pay to Caesar’s (governments) what was theirs, but, we also had to render due to God.
(Mark 12:17). We recognize the responsibility that they must not only “pay back” money in the form of taxes to the secular government but also fulfill the superior obligations they have toward God.

When Peter had been arrested for preaching he said “‘We must obey God as ruler rather than men.’ (Acts 5:28, 29) When there has been a direct conflict between the commands of human rulers and the requirements of God, true Christians have imitated the example of the apostles by putting obedience to God first.

The principle then in the case of Malawi is that we have to stay by Gods Kingdom and so we can not make allegiance with a government by agreeing to carry a card that shows our allegiance is to that country.

It does not matter what country JWs are in we will not salute the national flag or sing a national anthem, but we will and are required to show due respect for them (Mark 12:17)
Romans 13:1 tells us that the governmental authorities have been allowed there by God for our benefit, They provide services such as health care etc

The case of Mexico is different. No direct Biblical laws were involved. The information I was able to find suggests that the cards that the young men had to have was to say that they had completed certain training for the military. They were not in an army at all.

This is some information I found on a site that argues that there was a saying there is a double standard in policies between the two countries.

Quote

In Mexico, men who underwent military training for one year were eligible to obtain a Military Service Card . Persons who held the card were obligated to report for military duty in the event of war or other activation by the national government in the first reserve. (Here in Australia we calls these the reserves.). Although it was not absolutely necessary to undergo the training and obtain the military service card, THE CARD WAS SOMETIMES required by employers and necessary to obtain a passport. (There was actually a special waiver to obtain a passport without having the cartilla that could be applied for.) [CAPITALS USED FOR EMPHASIS BY ME]

End quote

The only reason for a young man to have his card stamped was to obtain certain jobs. So JWs did not have to have a card in Mexico, it was not law, where as in Malawi they had to and it was law.

The WTBTS said to the JWs in Mexico it was entirely up to their conscience if they paid a monetary price to get the card stamped. It seemed this was the general practice in Mexico at that time for any young male. Did you notice that the men…. “who held the card were obligated to report for military duty in the event of war or other activation by the national government in the first reserve.”….

However if they were called upon to actually join the army the individual JW would have to carry the consequences. Either stand firm and not join the army, or, compromise and join the army. A photocopied letter from the WTS on the subject posted at another site says ...“If they would get into any difficulties over their course of actions they would have to shoulder such difficulties themselves, and we could not offer them any assistance.”... Where as in Malaw1 the WTBTS did all that the law would allow them to do to help the JWs there

In reality the Mexico military card was not a real problem. It only applicable SOMETIMES for certain jobs and in some instances to get a passport (but not always)

It would appear to me as if there are some anti JW proponents that have looked at some details and have exaggerated the Mexico case for their own ends.

I hope I have been able to give some balancing remarks toward this problem, so that you can have a better understanding from both sides of the argument.

If you would like some information on.. “dates for the end of this system”… see my old web site regarding this subject

http://users.picknowl.com.au/~hepburn/prophecy.htm

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