Development of Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine


The doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses have developed since publication of The Watchtower magazine began in 1879. Early doctrines were based on interpretations of the Bible by Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society founder Charles Taze Russell, then added to, altered or discarded by his successors, Joseph Rutherford and Nathan Knorr. Since 1976, doctrinal changes have been made at closed meetings of the group's Governing Body, whose decisions are described as "God's progressive revelations" to the faithful and discreet slave. These teachings are disseminated through The Watchtower, and at conventions and congregation meetings. Most members of the denomination outside the Governing Body play no role in the development of doctrines and are expected to adhere to all those decided at the Warwick, NY headquarters. Jehovah's Witnesses are taught to welcome doctrinal changes, regarding such "adjustments" as "new light" or "new understanding" from God and proving that they are on the "path of the righteous".

Method of doctrinal development

Some core beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses have remained unchanged throughout the group's history. Certain doctrines, particularly relating to biblical chronology, were based on what Russell called a "venerable tradition" that he conceded was not directly confirmed by facts or scripture, but "based on faith". Watch Tower publications claim that doctrinal changes and refinements result from a process of progressive revelation, in which God gradually reveals his will and purpose. Watch Tower literature has suggested such enlightenment results from the application of reason and study, the guidance of holy spirit, and direction from Jesus Christ and angels. Rutherford spoke of spiritual "lightning flashes in the temple"; the Society claims its doctrine of the "great crowd" and "other sheep" were "revealed" to "God’s earthly servants" in 1935, and Witness literature has also described sudden changes in doctrines as "flashes of light" given by God through his holy spirit. A 1930 publication claimed God used "invisible deputies" and "invisible angels" to pass his "messages" to The Watchtower, although The Watchtower told Witnesses it was not necessary for them to understand how this took place. A 1973 policy change to disfellowship tobacco users was explained as a decision that "Jehovah has brought to the attention of his 'holy' people".
Watch Tower publications often cite Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established" when explaining the need to change doctrines. The organization's earlier literature has included claims that its predictions about dates such as 1925 were "indisputable", "absolutely and unqualifiedly correct" and bearing "the stamp of approval of Almighty God", but the Governing Body which was established later says its teachings are neither infallibile nor divinely inspired.
Robert Crompton, author of a book on Watch Tower eschatology, has noted that it is difficult to trace the development of doctrines because explicit changes are often not identified in Jehovah's Witness literature, leaving readers to assume which details have been superseded. Edmund C. Gruss, a critic of the group, found that a 1943 Watch Tower Society publication that established a new creation chronology, changing the date of Adam's creation by 100 years, made no mention of the old time reckoning, which had previously been said to be "correct beyond a doubt".

Watch Tower Society founding doctrines

From the first issue of Zion's Watch Tower in July 1879, Russell began publicising a number of doctrines, many of them drawn from Adventist teachings, including the atonement, resurrection, the soul, the invisible parousia of Christ and God's "plan of the ages". Russell taught that mankind was to be redeemed not from torment but from the death penalty that had been imposed on Adam and subsequently passed on to all his descendants. He wrote that Christ's "ransom for all" mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:5 would be applied to all humankind rather than just the righteously inclined. Christ's death provided the ransom payment to free humans from death. He believed an elect few would be resurrected to serve as a heavenly priesthood and all humans who had died would be resurrected to earth, which would be restored to Edenic perfection.

Millennialist teachings

The dominant and central theme of Russell's teachings concerned the timing, nature and purpose of Christ's second coming. His beliefs on the timing of Christ's Advent and God's overarching plan for humans had gained their first exposure in Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World, a book he paid Millerite Adventist Nelson H. Barbour to write in 1877. Russell and Barbour parted company in 1879 and from 1886 Russell began writing his own books that further developed his Millennialist beliefs.
Russell's doctrines on the Millennium followed a tradition of interpretation of Scripture that had begun in the 1st century, when Jewish rabbis sought to identify the due time for the appearance of the Messiah by interpreting the prophecy of the 70 weeks of years of Daniel 9:24-27. Their approach to prophetic interpretation was based on the Day-year principle, drawn from Ezekiel 4 and Numbers 14, in which one day in prophecy represents one year in fulfillment. Such teachings were revived and popularised in the early 19th century by American Adventist preacher William Miller.
Russell also incorporated Miller's teaching of types and antitypes, in which an actual historical situation prefigures a corresponding situation, as well as a modified version of John Nelson Darby's teachings on dispensationalism. Russell modified Darby's teachings to create his own doctrine of parallel dispensations, in which the timing of certain events in the Jewish age are a prophetic indication of corresponding events at the close of the Gospel age. He believed the internal harmony of his "plan of the ages" proved its validity beyond reasonable doubt, noting that a change of just one year would destroy the parallelisms, and found further confirmation in internal measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which he viewed as a divinely built supporting witness to the Bible.
The main points of his doctrines on Bible chronology were:

Doctrines unchanged since 1879

Former Governing Body member Raymond Franz and Sociology lecturer Andrew Holden have pointed out that doctrines—including those relating to sexual behaviour in marriage and the "superior authorities" of Romans 13:4—have sometimes been altered, only to revert to those held decades earlier. Holden, author of a major ethnographic study on Jehovah's Witnesses, commented: "It could be that many Witnesses have not yet been in the organisation long enough to realise that 'new lights' have a habit of growing dimmer, while old ones are switched back on!" In his study of the Witnesses and their history, Tony Wills has suggested that when third president Nathan H. Knorr altered major doctrines established by his predecessor, J. F. Rutherford, he was returning the Witnesses to many of Russell's teachings. He asked: "How can the Society harmonize this circular development with the claimed progressive development?"
In testimony at a 1954 court case in Scotland, senior Watch Tower Society figures admitted that although doctrines were subject to change if they were later regarded as erroneous, all Witnesses were required to accept current teachings or risk expulsion. Under cross-examination, Fred Franz, then vice president of the Watch Tower Society, conceded a Witness could be disfellowshipped and shunned for "causing trouble" over a belief they held that was contrary to Society teaching but subsequently embraced by the group. Society lawyer Hayden G. Covington told the court that although the Society had for decades published a "false prophecy... a false statement" about the date of Christ's Second Coming, members had been required to accept it and any who had rejected it would have been expelled. He explained: "You must understand we must have unity, we cannot have disunity with a lot of people going every way."