Has the Watchtower changed its mind or did I miss something?

by Gill 27 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Gill

  In all my years as a JW, my understanding had been of WTBTS belief, was that the 144 000 were resurrected in a 'twinkling of an eye' and never actually experienced death.

  Did I understand wrongly or has the WAtchtower changed its mind......again?

  January 1st Watchtower, page 27

  'Now Under Way?'

  When does the first resurrection occur? There is strong evidence that it is now under way. For example, compare two chapters of Revelation. First, look at Revelation chapter 12. There we read that the newlyentrhoned Jesus Christ, along with his holy angels, wages war against satan and his demons. As this journa has often shown, that battle began in 1914. Notice, though, that none of Christ's anointed followers are said to be with Jesus in that heavenly war. Now look at chapter 17 of Revelation. We read there that after the destruction of 'Babylon the Great.' the Lamb will conquer the nations. Then it adds: 'Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him will do so.' Rev 17;5, 14 'Called and chosen and faithful' ones must already have been ressurected if they are to be with Jesus for the final defeat of Satan's world. Reasonably then, anointed ones who die before Armageddon are resurected sometime between 1914 and Armageddon.'

  When did this become Watchtower belief, or did I miss something in all those years?

  I stand ready to be corrected!

  Inform me please!
• 

  Gill

  Paragraph 11 is weird:

  'What, then, can we decuce from the fact that one of the 24 elders identifies the great crowd to john? It seems that resurrected ones of the 24 elders group may bne involved in communicating of divine truths today. Why is that important? Because the correct identity of the great crowd was revealed to God's anointed servants on earth in 1935. If oneo f the 24 elders was used to convey that important truth, he would have had to be resurrected to heaven by 1935 at the latest. That would indicate that the first resurrection began sometime between 1914 and 1935. '

  Still NO explanation anywhere of how they get to the 1935 date!
• 

  Zico

  You've missed nothing Gill! This is new light, as of 2007. The more interesting new light, is found later on, in Paragraph 12 I think? It says they don't know whether or not any anointed will still be around when Armageddon comes, which is a change to the original teaching that there would be some anointed around for the beginning of the New World. The light gets ever brighter! Praise Jah!
• 

  blondie

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/124039/2193110/post.ashx#2193110

  You might enjoy the comments made on this thread by AnnOMaly.

  Blondie
• 

  garybuss

  The resurrection of the dead anointed couldn't happen until Joe Rutherford took control of the Watch Tower Society's assets . . . for obvious reasons.

  Starting the Resurrection in 1914 causes problems.
  
  
  Edited to add:
  
  There's too much being written about 1935 lately. Me thinks reliable Bible chronology jumped ahead 21 years . . . or m o r e.
  
  1935 to 1975 is 40 years. They can make that all tie together pretty easy. They love to make huge failures into a pivotal date such as they did with 1874 and 1914. Here's their chance to roll both the failures of 1935 and 1975 into a forwarded pivotal date and start all the countdowns once again.
  
  We shall see.
  
  
• 

  carla

  Can anybody explain this? Is it a flip flop? For the non jw population. Do jw's have this issue yet? just what is the belief of the 144,000 now? Is it really new light or not until they have an actual meeting about it?
• 

  Gill

  Thanks Zico!

  Blondie - I've just read that thread. Looks like those pesky 24 elders have been delivery the wrong message to the FDS seances!

  Gary - I suspect you may well be proved right. Watch them wriggle!!

  Paragraph 19:

  What it means for Us

  'God's word does not disclose a precise date for the first resurrection, but id does reveal that it occurs over a period of time, during Christ's presence. The first to be resurrected are anointed Christians who died before Christ's presence began. As Christ's presence progresses, anointed Christians who faithfully finish their earthly course are changed 'in the twinkling of an eye' into powerful spirit creatures. Will all the anointed receive their heavenly reward before the war of Armageddon? We do not know. We do know however that in god's due time, all the 144 000 will be found standing on the heavenly Mount Zion.

  We also know that the majority of the 144 000 are already united with Christ. Only a relatively few remain on earth. What a powerful indication that the time for the exectution of God's judgment is rapidly approaching......'

  It must be a real pain in the ass to the FDS that the annointed figures are NOT going down.

  I think lovelylils thread deserves a mention as she says she's heard of 'annointed ones' being told to stop being anointed!!

  Otherwise, I suspect the figures are going to have to be tweaked in order to fit in with the new light.
• 

  garybuss

  Why would the Society tweak something that doesn't matter? . . . unless it matters. The invisible kingdom in 1914 is safe. It's a conceptual matter of faith, unprovable, unrefutable. Same with the 1918 resurrection date. No chance of that meeting up with any proof either way.
  
  The whole anointed thing is SAFE! It's all a picture in a frame. It's the core concept. It's all opinion, subjective, invisible, conceptual claims for people of blind faith to believe in. The believers will believe. They don't need any tweaking or big revisions. They actually don't like big changes.
  
  Why mess with it? Is it evidence of a new faction gaining power? Somebody get's promoted, so their pet new doctrine sees the light of day in print? Is this one step down a new road and then they will wait 5 years to see if there's any fall out over it before they make the next installment?
  
  Sidebar:
  By they way, the blood part on the service meeting this week is powerful. Did anybody else get the idea they might be trying to promote "personal conscience decision" as a concept relating to blood medical treatment? They're 1mm from making the whole blood treatment issue a personal decision same as blood fractions, in my opinion. I been wrong so many times, I'm probably wrong this time and it might reverse or it might take 10 years for the other shoe to drop. I doubt it.
  
  
• 

  Clam

  Gary - That's how I read it too. Add the conscience part to the fact that all transfusions are fractioned anyway, then it's full steam ahead to blood transfusions. I wonder if sometime in the distant future they'll be saying in the Awake that blood donation is a christian thing to do?
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Interesting thoughts Garybuss.

  They may have some new younger (under 60) blood on the way up. It does sound like the January 2007 WT is trying to capture the spirit of the Freddy Franz days. Most JW's will not notice these doctrinal pushes. The deep study JW's will catch it. Of course, you wonderful independent thinker here noticed.

  I stand by the thought that "THIS GENERATION" was handled so badly, waiting until the absolute last-minute then totally changing it, that they are trying to avoid that with other doctrine. As Gary says, "and then they will wait 5 years to see if there's any fall out over it before they make the next installment." This allows them to avoid last-minute changes that everyone thinking people question.

  The thing that gets me about these thoughts is: If they are planning ahead to avoid problems in the future, then they KNOW their doctrine is a load of crap.