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Doctrine changes · Claim record

In August 1965 The Watchtower said 'apparently individuals who used to live in that land will be resurrected', reasoning that only the cities, not the people, were everlastingly destroyed.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-sodom-1965-resurrectionConcerns 1 August 1965Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 1 August 1965 Verified

In August 1965 The Watchtower said 'apparently individuals who used to live in that land will be resurrected', reasoning that only the cities, not the people, were everlastingly destroyed. The Watchtower, 1 August 1965

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers — does Jude 7 bar the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah from a resurrection?”

1 August 1965 · p.479 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“So apparently individuals who used to live in that land will be resurrected.—Rev. 20:12, 13. … apparently it was not the people but the cities themselves that were everlastingly destroyed.”

Reasoning from Matthew 11:23-24 that inhabitants must be present on Judgment Day.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on wol.jw.org; wording and page confirmed.

Corroborated by. src-w-1988-0601-qfr-sodom

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-w-1965-0801-qfr-sodom

Claim page

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