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Doctrine changes · Claim record

In The Watchtower of 15 October 1995 the organisation moved the judging of the sheep and the goats out of the present and into the future, after the great tribulation begins.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-chg-sheep-goats-1995-futureConcerns 15 October 1995Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 October 1995 Verified

In The Watchtower of 15 October 1995 the organisation moved the judging of the sheep and the goats out of the present and into the future, after the great tribulation begins. The Watchtower, 15 October 1995The Watchtower, 15 October 1995

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation calls this “an adjusted understanding of its timing and what it illustrates” and “this fresh understanding”, and says it “reinforces the importance of our preaching work”.

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “How Will You Stand Before the Judgment Seat?”

15 October 1995 · p.19 · par. 4 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“We have long felt that the parable depicted Jesus’ sitting down as King in 1914 and since then making judgments—everlasting life for people proving to be like sheep, permanent death for the goats. But a reconsideration of the parable points to an adjusted understanding of its timing and what it illustrates.”

The organisation states its own previous teaching and announces the change in the same paragraph.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Document opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; the wording was read in full and the page number taken from the library's own page markers.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-d-w-1995-1015-sheep-goats-adjusted

Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “What Future for the Sheep and the Goats?”

15 October 1995 · p.27 · par. 21 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“But the time when Jesus will pronounce final judgment on the sheep and the goats depicted in the parable is yet ahead.”

The companion article places the separating of sheep and goats after the start of the great tribulation rather than in the present, and calls this “this fresh understanding”.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Document opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; the wording was read in full and the page number taken from the library's own page markers.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-d-w-1995-1015-sheep-goats-future

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-doctrine-chg-sheep-goats-1995-future/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.