CAN IT BE DELAYED UNTIL 1914?

by under_believer 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  under_believer

  From the July 15, 1894 Watch Tower:
  

  CAN IT BE DELAYED UNTIL 1914?
  
  Seventeen years ago people said, concerning the time features presented in MILLENNIAL DAWN, They seem reasonable in many respects, but surely no such radical changes could occur between now and the close of 1914: if you had proved that they would come about in a century or two, it would seem much more probable.
  
  What changes have since occurred, and what velocity is gained daily?
  
  "The old is quickly passing and the new is coming in."
  
  Now, in view of recent labor troubles and threatened anarchy, our readers are writing to know if there may not be a mistake in the 1914 date. They say that they do not see how present conditions can hold out so long under the strain.
  
  We see no reason for changing the figures--nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble. We see no reason for changing from our opinion expressed in the view presented in the WATCH TOWER of January 15, '92. We advise that it be read again.

  Note the sense of urgency displayed in this quote, the strength of the conviction, the utter certainty.

  The Society and especially individual Witnesses seem to be speaking in these terms again. It is good to remember that they have made similar predicitons in the past. Remember the story of the little boy who cried "WOLF?" Well, even if God really was going to start Armageddon next week, do you think he'd blame people for not listening to an organization who is in the very character of that little shepherd boy?
• 

  Honesty

  The Society and especially individual Witnesses seem to be speaking in these terms again. It is good to remember that they have made similar predicitons in the past. Remember the story of the little boy who cried "WOLF?" Well, even if God really was going to start Armageddon next week, do you think he'd blame people for not listening to an organization who is in the very character of that little shepherd boy?

  That's a great question to ask JW's when they come to your door with their tract, "THE END OF FALSE RELIGION IS.....?"
• 

  moomanchu

  I wish they would shutup about the end stuff so God can bring the end.
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  jaguarbass

  Salesmen always need to create a sense of urgency.
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  Wasanelder Once

  You gotta sell the SIZZLE baby! (Cause there aint nothing else.)

  W.Once
• 

  greendawn

  I notice the naivity of those people and their exaggerated sense of urgency, because of labour troubles in America the end of the world has to be very near perhaps even before 1914. It's also a good point that an org that cried out wolf falsely so many times has lost all its credibility and can not be used for end related warnings and other activities. Even more they have no right to push on people anything related to invisible "events" because there is always the possibility that they are trying to cheat by using as a basis unverifiable events.