New Light

Proverbs 4.18:

But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.

Watchtower 2011 May 15 Page 27:

““The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established,” states Proverbs 4:18. Yes, Jesus’ leadership is progressive, not stagnant. Another way to cooperate with Christ’s “brothers” is to have a positive attitude toward any refinements in our understanding of Scriptural truths as published by “the faithful and discreet slave.””

Analysis

Do the changes you have seen throughout this document align with the idea of "new light" in Proverbs 4.18?

Would you consider the old “apostate” teachings of the church to be teachings that were simply “refined”?

They clearly state that new light must not be a change but rather a refinement:

Zion’s Watch Tower 1881, R188 Page 3:

If we were following a man undoubtedly it would be different with us; undoubtedly one human idea would contradict another and that which was light one or two or six years ago would be regarded as darkness now: But with God there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and so it is with truth; any knowledge or light coming from God must be like its author. A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth. "New light" never extinguishes older "light," but adds to it.

In 1976 when organ donations were made illegal, would a parent of a child who died see the new teaching in 1980 making them legal as simply a “refining” of the spiritual light of the church, or would they see it as a significant change that would have allowed their child to live had it been introduced earlier?

Analysis