WOL Showing Older Publications

[leoperales]

5 hours ago, Old said:

"Had to be removed" is probably a poor choice of words. It was removed under the direction of the FS.

The chief writer of the book, Ray Franz, was asked to leave Bethel and was disfellowshipped shortly thereafter. He became apostate. Later the book itself was not received well by those that knew the background story and it was not referenced by many publications as a source of information on the book of James. Outside of studying it after it's release I have never felt a need to consult it again. Just assume it is outdated but feel free to read it if you so desire. It may contain a lot of good information but the FS has decided we don't need it in our library.

Thank you for the clarification Jerry. 

[James the Less]

An indication of some of the doctrinal issues with the James book can be found in this Questions From Readers article from 1981:

 

Questions From Readers

● The Commentary on the Letter of James, on page 47, states: “Besides being the God of Christians, Jehovah is also their Father, for he has begotten them by means of his spirit to be his sons.” And the question on page 57 relating to this reads: “How is God also the Father to Christians?” Does this mean that all dedicated and baptized Christians have been begotten by God’s holy spirit to be his sons?

No, this is not the thought that should be gathered from this, as though we now had a change of understanding in this matter. Such a change would nullify the Scriptural teaching as to two separate destinies for those gaining salvation, a heavenly one and an earthly one. Rather, the Commentary takes it for granted that the student reading James 1:1 and the comments made on the expression in that verse “to the twelve tribes” (see pages 12 and 13) would appreciate that the restrictive number of those making up spiritual Israel are begotten by means of God’s spirit to be his sons.—Gal. 6:16; Rev. 14:1.

 

To avoid ambiguity, the Commentary could have inserted the word “anointed” in this sentence on the bottom of page 47. Thus it could have read: “Besides being the God of anointed Christians, Jehovah is also their Father, for he has begotten them by means of his spirit to be his sons.” Then the question on page 57 on this portion could have read: “How is God also the Father of anointed Christians?”

 

Christendom, with its beliefs that man has an immortal soul, that at death all go to either heaven or hell (or, purgatory) and that someday the earth will be destroyed by fire, does not allow for an earthly destiny for any of God’s faithful servants. But those who have a clear understanding of Jehovah’s purposes regarding the earth and man are convinced that someday there will be an earthwide paradise peopled by faithful human servants of God.

 

In this regard it might also be observed that Jehovah God, while being the Father in a unique way to spirit-begotten, anointed Christians (Rom. 8:14-17; 1 John 3:2), is also spoken of in the Scriptures as the Father of those whose destiny will be earthly. Thus Isaiah 63:16 reads: “For you are our Father; although Abraham himself may not have known us and Israel himself may not recognize us, you, O Jehovah, are our Father.” Therefore all the “great crowd” of “other sheep” may rightly pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.”—Matt. 6:9; John 10:16;Rev. 7:9.

 

 

 

The article explains the book “takes it for granted” that readers would understand what was meant. However, Raymond Franz and others in Bethel at the time had begun forming private “study groups,” and one of the conclusions they reached through their private interpretation of the Scriptures was that all Christians have a heavenly hope. Since Raymond Franz was the principal author of the James book, could his wayward thinking have perhaps influenced this statement in the book, rather than a lack of clarity in writing? If so, could the same be said of other statements made in the book? You can begin to see why the James book received very limited use congregationally. In fact, it was only translated in a very limited number of languages in comparison to our other publications.

 

That is not to discount all the information in the book. There was some great Scriptural information in it. It was, after all, still a publication provided by “the faithful and discreet slave.” Given both the age and the background of the book, though, and that it was published in a somewhat turbulent time in our modern-day history (though not often spoken about), the brothers probably decided it was best to remove it.

[On the huh]

When reading any of the older publications, it is always best to check if any newer or updated information is available on the subject or scripture.

[carlos]

I don't think the problem with that book is that it contains any apostate thinking. After all, the book was approved and published by the whole Governing Body. And for many years it has been included in the Watchtower Library. The brothers wouldn't have included it if its content were harmful.

 

I guess the amount of outdated info in it overweighs its useful points. If you search for James in the Publications Index there are a lot of more recent publications that deal with most of its verses. Besides, there was always certain reluctance to use that book since Raymond had claimed it was his work. That insolent man was looking for glory and recognition, but we only give glory to Jehovah.

Edited May 2, 2018 by carlos

[On the huh]

Now the WOL is on par with the Watchtower Library DVD, I was wondering how many will switch to using that instead, and ditch the DVD version.  Both have pros and cons.  I like the "Similar Material" feature of the WOL.  Also with the search, it lists the publication, and underneath the paragraph with the keyword you searched for is displayed.  I like to change the sort to show the newest material first.

[Qapla]

I will not switch unless we no longer receive updates to the Watchtower Library - for a very simple reason.

 

To use the WOL i have to be "online"

 

To use the WL - I can do that any time, anywhere with my PC or WIndows based Tablet

 

 

[leoperales]

7 hours ago, Jonathan77 said:

Now the WOL is on par with the Watchtower Library DVD, I was wondering how many will switch to using that instead, and ditch the DVD version.  Both have pros and cons.  I like the "Similar Material" feature of the WOL.  Also with the search, it lists the publication, and underneath the paragraph with the keyword you searched for is displayed.  I like to change the sort to show the newest material first.

I have already made the switch. It’s a hassle to pull out my laptop and log in and wait for everything to start up to finally open Watchtower Library. I almost always have 4G LTE data or WiFi, so it’s easy for me to do the switch without batting an eye. I access WOL on either my iPhone or iPad. 

Edited May 6, 2018 by leoperales

[Qapla]

My PC is always on so it is quite simple to just click on the WL icon

[Old]

6 minutes ago, Qapla said:

My PC is always on so it is quite simple to just click on the WL icon

Same here. Since my word processor is on my PC, copy and pasting the information is simplified. I haven't found a decent word processor for my Ipad. Printers are always on standby connected via wifi

[carlos]

I agree with the two points mentioned in favor of Watchtower Library on DVD: no need to be online and easy copy and paste to your favorite word processor.

 

Another factor that makes me prefer the DVD version is that search results are much more clearly organized, or at least that's my impression. Maybe it's just that I'm more used to it.

[Shawnster]

The online search feature is cumbersome to filter 

[jwhess]

My research use of the Watchtower Society's material goes back to the DOS days with "Q-verse" and "Folios" diskette based tools.  So I am content with the current DVD and updates.  However, for those of the brotherhood who are not MS-PC based followers, I can see that this improvement to the WOL is going to be a great asset to them, especially.

[Thesauron]

One major upside to the WOL is how seamlessly the study Bible works, and you’ve got the scripture index added to it. It is just not as handy in the Watchtower Library—On DVD.

[MCTDonna]

For me the great advance studying with the Watchtower Library—On DVD is the option copy with caption. I have a database of personal research in the evernoteapp so when I look up older notes on a verse I know the source of the research. 

[Thesauron]

One major upside to the WOL is how seamlessly the study Bible works, and you’ve got the scripture index added to it. It is just not as handy in the Watchtower Library—On DVD.

I also like how the WOL works well together with the JWL. It is so easy to open up the JWL article you are studying in the WOL. And if you use more than one language, which quite a few of us do, you do not need separate installations.

[TRUTH04]

These was not so previously, but am excited about this news.

 

Go check it out now.

 

Sent from my TECNO DP7CPRO using Tapatalk

 

 

[On the huh]

With WOL, you can take advantage of tabbed browsing, and open multiple publications in one window.  With the WTLib DVD you can still do it, but need to open multiple instances of the program.  Watchtower Library could really do with a tabbed browser feature.

Also I really like the overall layout and appearance of WOL over WTLib.  I find it much more readable for me, which in turn helps me to concentrate when studying.

[Brandon]

I wonder if there's any reason not to release the offline WT Library (currently on DVD) application online now since everything it offers is on our public website anyway.  It's essentially just a 'data dump' of WOL now.

 

They could rename it Watchtower Offline Library. 😉

Edited May 7, 2018 by Brandon

[walkr2]

On 4/25/2018 at 12:53 PM, richterbelmont10 said:

All publications from 1970 onward are now available in Watchtower Online Library!!! This includes the Index, various books from 1970 onward (including Daniel's Prophecy and Revelation Climax thank you very much), all Awake issues from 1970 onward, and all Watchtowers from 1950 onward!!! Also, when reading the Bible online, these publications can be seen the Publication Index in the margin of a scripture. (Example Mark 3:29)

I've been waiting for this for so long! I don't need to rely on my Watchtower Library on PC so much anymore. YAHOO!! 

I love this because I had/collected bound volumes back to 1950! However, when I moved I had no room for them, so I donated them. It made me sad. 

[Qapla]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

They could rename it Watchtower Offline Library

 

 I like that

 

[dove]

I get so confused between the JW.ORG Official site, WOL, JWLibrary, the Study Bible, some online, some offline. I understand online and offline, but Why do we need so many sites and is there really that much difference between them all?  Officially confused...😔

[nanceebgd46]

Thanks Dove for your above comment....I totally agree....I am SOoooooooooo confused with

all the information we have received in 2017/208...I don't know if I am coming or going.😩

 

[Myew]

It's really all the same, sisters. Since we have such a large database of publications and so many different people using them, it's a matter of preferences or hardware devices used to interact with them. You can read, watch or download anything current on www.JW.org to pretty much any device, but many witnesses find it easier to just use the study database on wol.jw.org or view media on tv.jw.org directly rather than www.JW.org, as the www address is primarily designed for the public. I pretty much only use www.JW.org for news and the lovely Bible Questions Answered section, which is succint with up to date references. WT Library was originally designed for Windows based PC if I remember correctly because that was what was simply the only mainstream digital option at the time. In recent years, mobile devices have become the mainstream, but the old software isn't necessarily compatible with the wide range of modern mobile operating systems, so they had to create JW Library for them.

The Study Bible notes are all media based, so they can only be accessed by a digital medium. Due to how it's more or less interactive, it's not really practical to design it to be downloaded as a PDF or single file, unless you perhaps put all the notes at the end? of a chapter... so you can only download the Study Bible via JW Library, or use it online at www.JW.org/wol.JW.org. It's just preference and whatever is most practical for you.

 

I'm reminded of... (Leviticus 26:10) While you are still eating the old produce of the preceding year, you will need to clear out the old to make way for the new.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Myew

[trottigy]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

I wonder if there's any reason not to release the offline WT Library (currently on DVD) application online now since everything it offers is on our public website anyway.  It's essentially just a 'data dump' of WOL now.

 

They could rename it Watchtower Offline Library. 😉

This makes me glad I still use eQuipd.

 

It's been an easy way to have all the pubs offline on a tablet and easy today switch between multiple languages.

[dove]

I had that years ago and it stopped being available. Is it back again? Isn't that the one produced by a brother?