Proverbs 4:18
Proverbs 4:1818The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
This is the Watchtower's master defence for doctrinal reversals: "the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light that grows brighter and brighter." JWs cite it whenever a previous teaching is changed — 1874 → 1914, the 1925 patriarchs, 1975 Armageddon, the literal then overlapping "generation," forbidden then allowed alternative service and organ transplants. The "new light" doctrine claims Jehovah is progressively brightening understanding through the faithful and discreet slave.
Genuine progressive revelation adds detail; it does not reverse prior claims made in God's name. A light that grows brighter does not turn off and back on. Lloyd Barry of the Governing Body described past teachings as "the present truth for that period" — Raymond Franz's reply is devastating: if what was "truth" yesterday is error today, the word "truth" has no meaning. describes the moral life of the righteous, not a licence for prophetic reversal. Read alongside ("I, Jehovah, do not change") and (God "cannot lie"), the verse cannot underwrite teachings that flatly contradict earlier teachings.