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Doctrine changes · Claim record

In February 1978 The Watchtower withdrew that rule, stating that the earlier comments had equated such practices with gross sexual immorality, that members had on that basis been subject to disfellowshipping, and that in the absence of clear Scriptural instruction these were matters for the couple themselves and not for elders to control or to expel anyone over.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-marital-1978-rule-withdrawnConcerns 15 February 1978Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 February 1978 Verified

In February 1978 The Watchtower withdrew that rule, stating that the earlier comments had equated such practices with gross sexual immorality, that members had on that basis been subject to disfellowshipping, and that in the absence of clear Scriptural instruction these were matters for the couple themselves and not for elders to control or to expel anyone over. The Watchtower, 15 February 1978Watch Tower Publications Index 1930-1985, 1986

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The article says the change ‘expresses a keen sense of responsibility to let the Scriptures rule and to refrain from taking a dogmatic stand where the evidence does not seem to provide sufficient basis’.

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers”

15 February 1978 · pp.30-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“In the past some comments have appeared in this magazine in connection with certain unusual sex practices, such as oral sex, within marriage and these were equated with gross sexual immorality. On this basis the conclusion was reached that those engaging in such sex practices were subject to disfellowshiping if unrepentant. The view was taken that it was within the authority of congregational elders to investigate and act in a judicial capacity regarding such practices in the conjugal relationship. A careful further weighing of this matter, however, convinces us that, in view of the absence of clear Scriptural instruction, these are matters for which the married couple themselves must bear the responsibility before God and that these marital intimacies do not come within the province of the congregational elders to attempt to control nor to take disfellowshiping action with such matters as the sole basis.”

The answer opens by saying that ‘the Bible does not give any specific rules or limitations as regards the manner in which husband and wife engage in sexual relations’, withdraws the rule and the judicial procedure built on it, and says elders should act as shepherds rather than ‘police’ a couple’s marital life.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Document opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full. The passage begins before the page 31 marker and continues across it; the article runs pp. 30-32. The quotation is continuous, with no words omitted.

Corroborated by. src-chg-p-idx-beliefs-clarified-1930-1985

Notes. One of the plainest acknowledgments of error in the corpus: the magazine states what it had taught, that members were expelled on that basis, and that the basis was absent.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-w-1978-0215-qfr-marital-withdrawn

Primary JW publication Verified

Watch Tower Publications Index 1930-1985, “Beliefs Clarified (List by Year)”

1986 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“1935, flag salute: yb75 168-169 … 1936, Jesus did not die on cross: yb75 148-149; ch 27; g36 11/4 72 … 1973, tobacco and other harmful addictives: w73 338-343 … 1978, fornication (porneia) as grounds for divorce: w78 2/15 31-32”

The organisation’s own index lists, year by year, the beliefs it regards as having been clarified, with references to the publications that announced each one. The list is printed as year headings with subject entries beneath them, so an entry may appear either on the same line as its year or on a line of its own: ‘pagan origin of Christmas’ sits under the 1928 heading and ‘unnatural sex within marriage’ under the 1978 heading, each on its own line. The entries quoted here are whole lines, in the order in which they appear.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Index entry opened on the Watchtower Online Library and re-opened for audit on 19 September 2026, and the whole list read. The quotation is a selection of complete printed lines from a longer list, marked by ellipses; no wording within a line has been altered and no year heading has been joined to an entry printed on a different line.

Notes. The companion list for 1986 onwards is already in the ledger as src-idx-beliefs-clarified. The 1930-1985 list carries four separate entries on ‘fornication (porneia) as grounds for divorce’, under the years 1972, 1974, 1978 and 1983.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-idx-beliefs-clarified-1930-1985

Claim page

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