I have a vivid recollection of going to people's doors as a teenager and telling them that Bible chronology indicates that 6000 years of human history is due to expire in the fall of 1975 and we can fully expect a radical change in the world at about that time. While I know that this was not the first Watchtower prediction which proved to be incorrect, what I would like to know is, has ANY Watchtower prediction of a future event come to pass?
Watchtower Predictions
by zgborn 13 Replies latest jw friends
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garybuss
That was based on the belief that a "creative" day was 7,000 years. That's old light.
The current belief is: We don't know how long a "creative" day was and we're not sure when Armageddon is coming but it must be soon now. In the mean time, you must act as though we are never wrong or we will shun you. -
Kero-kero
Mmmmm! did the Watchtower actually say 1975 would be the year Armageddon would happen? I have sen back issuse of the Watchtower from that year and a couple of years before I did not see anything about a set date. Yes they said that:
Bible chronology indicates that 6000 years of human history is due to expire in the fall of 1975
But I do not actually believe they said 1975 would be the date...I think a few brothers and sisters jumped the gun...so to speak.
The thing is, no one is really sure how long the creative period was. I believe the Hebrew word translated 'day' just means a 'period of time'...so 1 day could just as easily mean 1,000,000 years. Plus we must not forget that the last creative act was that of Eve being created from Adams rib. We do not know how long Adam was alone until Eve came into the existence.
According to Genesis 5:5 Adam died at the age of 930 years old. But we do not know how old Eve was when she died.
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james_woods
But then, nothing about the 1975 / 6000 years of mans existence / maybe 1000 year reign holds any water if you let go of the 7000 year creative days. If the days were, say 1.8 Billion years each (to make earth around 10.8 Billion years in 6 days + a little tiny bit of the 7th day)...then so what if recorded bible geneology adds up to around 6000 years?
The original thread question - did they ever predict anything that came to pass is a good one. As I see it, all their so-called prophecy comes in just a few phony flavors:
* Prophecy like the end of the world in 1914 - It didn't happen so they make up some invisible fulfillment and kind of latch on to the start of WW1 as a secondary fulfillment. Too bad they didn't prophecy WW1; that would have made them look quite good.
* Prophecy like the end of the world in 1925 - It didn't happen so they just suppressed the books that said so and started over with the great crowd and gathering work. I can't think of anything too big at all going down in 1925 - except maybe the Bugatti type 35B GrandPrix racer...but the great Rutherford's taste ran to the largest Cadillacs in which to flop his big fat behind.
* Prophecy like the 1000 years starting right around 1975 after the 6000 years came up - Nothing happened, so they blamed the rank & file for making it up on their own. Later, they quietly trashcan the whole concept of 6000 yrs + 1000 yrs = 7000 yrs creative day. Too bad they didn't predict the end of the Vietnam War for 1975 - that would have made them look at least a little good.
The only thing I know of that they actually foretold in advance and had it come to pass was one of their own assemblies.
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under_believer
Kero-kero, you said:
But I do not actually believe they said 1975 would be the date...I think a few brothers and sisters jumped the gun...so to speak.
This isn't true. They DID highly imply, in print, that 1975 would be the date. In a rare, though lefthanded, admission, the Society even acknowledges this in the Proclaimers book:
*** jv chap. 8 p. 104 Declaring the Good News Without Letup (1942-1975) ***
In the years following 1966, many of Jehovah’s Witnesses acted in harmony with the spirit of that counsel. However, other statements were published on this subject, and some were likely more definite than advisable. This was acknowledged in The Watchtower of March 15, 1980 (page 17). But Jehovah’s Witnesses were also cautioned to concentrate mainly on doing Jehovah’s will and not to be swept up by dates and expectations of an early salvation.
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Leolaia
But I do not actually believe they said 1975 would be the date...I think a few brothers and sisters jumped the gun...so to speak.
Judge for yourself:
"The Bible shows that when God began to shape the earth for human habitation, he worked for six 'days,' or time periods. From the indications in God's Word, each was apparently 7,000 years in length. Then Genesis 2:22 states, Jehovah 'proceeded to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had made.' This seventh day, God's rest day, has progressed nearly 6,000 years, and there is still the 1,000-year reign of Christ to go before its end. (Rev. 20:3, 7) This seventh 1,000-year period of human existence could well be likened to a great sabbath day, pictured by the sabbath day God commanded ancient Israel to keep after working for six days. (Ex. 20:8-10; 2 Pet. 3:8) After six thousand years of toil and bondage to sin, sickness, death and Satan, mankind is due to enjoy a rest and is in dire need of a rest. (Heb. 4:1-11) Hence, the fact that we are nearing the end of the first 6,000 years of man's existence is of great significance.
Does God's rest day parallel the time man has been on earth since his creation? Apparently so. From the most reliable investigations of Bible chronology, harmonizing with many accepted dates of secular history, we find that Adam was created in the autumn of the year 4026 B.C.E. Sometime in that year Eve could well have been created, directly after which God's rest day commenced. In what year, then, would the first 6,000 years of man's existence and also the first 6,000 years of God's rest day come to an end? The year 1975. This is worthy of notice, particularly in view of the fact that the 'last days' began in 1914, and that the physical facts of our day in fulfillment of prophecy mark this as the last generation of this wicked world. So we can expect the immediate future to be filled with thrilling events for those who rest their faith in God and his promises. It means that within relatively few years we will witness the fulfillment of the remaining prophecies that have to do with the 'time of the end' " (8 October 1966 Awake!, pp. 19-20).
"Since we have dedicated ourselves to Jehovah, we want to do his will to the fullest extent possible. Making some special effort to do more than the usual helps us live up to our dedication. In view of the short period of time left [i.e. until Armageddon], we want to do this as often as circumstances permit. Just think, brothers, there are only about ninety months left before 6,000 years of man's existence on earth is completed. Do you remember what we learned at the assemblies last summer? The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out, and there are no resurrection hopes for those who are destroyed then. So, now more than ever, it is vital not to ignore that spirit of wanting to do more" (March 1968 Kingdom Ministry, p. 4).
"More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums of mankind's life on earth would end in the mid-seventies. Thus the seventh millennium from man's creation by Jehovah God would begin within less than ten years... In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be "Lord even of the sabbath day," his thousand-year reign would have to be (i.e. not "might be") the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums" (The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years, 1969, pp. 25-26).
"Shortly, within our twentieth century, the 'battle in the day of Jehovah' will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom....As the 'battle in the day of Jehovah' against all false religion gets closer, the urgency increases for us to accept His way of gaining true righteousness" (The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah, 1971, pp. 216-217).
"The youth has a bright future. Many of us suffered from misery, sickness and death. You don't have to experience that any more. The new order is near. ... There will be a very special Service Meeting in the week of 8 September 1975. Invite everybody. And what will then happen? Well, we don't tell. You think, that if Jehovah makes such an appeal, that there's nothing unusual behind it? Yes? ...Well, sell your house, sell everything you own and say oh boy, how long can I carry on with my private means. That long? Get rid of things! Pioneer! Plan to shower people with magazines during these last months of this dying system of things! Everybody you meet!" (source: tape-recording, Divine Purpose District Assembly, Utrecht, Holland, Aug. 1974).
"Well now, as Jehovah's Witnesses, as runners, even though some of us have become a little weary, it almost seems as though Jehovah has provided meat in due season. Because he's held up before all of us, a new goal. A new year. Something to reach out for and it just seems it has given all of us so much more energy and power in this final burst of speed to the finish line. And that's the year 1975. There's been a lot of talk about the year, in fact even this week some individuals have been wondering, 'well, what does it mean? Do we dare talk about it? Is it something we can discuss among ourselves, even though we may not talk much about it in public? Do we really know what it means?' Well, we don't have to guess what the year 1975 means if we read the Watchtower. Because the Watchtower has been very explicit as to what the year 1975 means to us. If you wish to write down the page, 262, in the [May 1] 1967 issue of the Watchtower, we read: What does the year 1975 mean for humankind? The end of 6000 years of human existence, and possibly, the time when God executes the wicked and starts off a thousand-year reign under his son Jesus Christ. Unquote. What did it say? The end of 6000 years of human existence and that's all? NO, it gave us a little more to think about there.... This is meat, and it's come at the right time. And it's in its due season. And it's not wrong to think about it, and to look forward to it. As far as knowing for sure? Well, we know what we know for sure. We just read it. 'The end of six thousand years of human history, and possibly the execution of the wicked and the beginning of the thousand year reign.' And that should be exciting enough, and talk enough for us.... It's only eight years to '75. How little time there is left. How much to happen.... Well now, who will be there of use here tonight? Well the Society has made application of this scripture, pointing out, that those of us among Jehovah's Witnesses that are not regularly associating with his people, without good cause such as being flat on our back, will not be in the New Order. And we're the ones that are going to come around when the doors close and say 'I want in now. Sir, open to us!' And Jesus will have to say 'I'm sorry, I don't even recognize you.' Now wouldn't that be an awful thing? You see now why the Society implores us year in and year out, the same old thing: 'Brothers, get in the flock. Don't let any excuses get in our way. Nothing of any nature.' There's only one thing that's going to count when that time comes, and that's that we are inside. And we hope that all of us here tonight are going to listen to the Society's imploring. We're going to listen to their agonizing entreaty 'Brothers get in' because they know what's coming! And it's coming fast. And don't wait 'till 1975. The door is going to be shut before then.....As one brother put it, 'Stay alive to '75' " (Public Address by District Overseer Bro. Charles Sunutko in Spring 1967 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin [listen]).
The June 1969 Kingdom Ministry (p. 3) repeats the same thoughts as the Awake! article:
The Society itself admitted that there were "statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year [1975] was more of a probability than a mere possibility" (15 March 1980 Watchtower, pp. 17-18).
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Mary
what I would like to know is, has ANY Watchtower prediction of a future event come to pass?
The following Watchtower predictions have come to pass:
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fullofdoubtnow
The wt has made many predictions over the last 130 or so years, and they all have one thing in common:
THEY WERE ALL WRONG.
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greendawn
Yes they have an abysmal 100% failure rate when it comes to predicting events and even their 1914 prediction was in fact wrong because they were predicting armageddon would occur in that year.
Surprisingly that disgraceful record doesn't stop them from making new predictions and expecting people to take them seriously. -
Poztate
what I would like to know is, has ANY Watchtower prediction of a future event come to pass?
The following Watchtower predictions have come to pass:Mary...Part of your post was missing...or...... I get it.......
