Sorry if this is long, and I know I posted it on another board on here, but I think it applies to both. :)
I happened to be at my mother’s house last night, and decided to look up the whole explanation of the 1914 doctrine. I have seen from others on here and also the internet the covers from some of the 1984 Watchtowers that talk about “1914, a Focal Point of Bible Prophecy?”, “1914, the Generation That Will Not Pass Away,” etc. so I decided to go back and revisit these WT’s and a few of their articles. It seems there were about 4 WT’s right in a row dealing with the 1914 date, the prophetic message, and also what it meant to all of us directly and immediately.
One thing to note is that I barely remember these articles as I was not quite 5 years old. The only cover I remember distinctly is the one with the 1914 under a magnifying glass. I spent a good hour browsing these 3-4 Watchtowers, and was really struck by several things.
First, there is an undeniable tone of immediate apocalyptic destruction evident in almost every article dealing with the 1914 date. They clearly see themselves as a present day Noah, screaming from the top of the hills that the sky is falling and that they are the only salvation, period. They, and they alone project the name of God, albeit incorrectly translated. (Yehwah, anyone?) The articles clearly point to 1914 being a marked date, and they even claim the Bible Student’s were right in some sense, but did not mention that 1914 was supposed to be the start of Armageddon. How convenient. I guess it’s not false prophecy if you put a positive spin on it and forget to mention what exactly it was that they once believed? Also, several of the articles clearly state that this generation that SAW 1914 are getting very up in age, and that surely the end must be right around the corner. I mean, the writing in these few WatchTowers is pure cultic gold! It’s easy for one to see that they were still riding on the 1975 high. It makes me wonder now, looking back on things as an adult with information that my parents didn’t have, if the Society wasn’t even thinking that 1985 was to be the year, possibly concluding that they were 10 years off somehow. This is only a theory though. But there is now little wonder to me why my parents were so upset to have to place me in grade school in the autumn of 1984. I now understand that they never expected to even have to!
The articles mentioned 607 a few times, but there was no refuting evidence presented to back up their date against all of the other evidence supporting 587. None. Zero. Therefore, if you are an ignorant 3rd world peasant or barely educated in history, you’ll eat up whatever they put forth as absolute truth without a blink of an eye. They also state that Christ’s return was an invisible one, which really stuck out to me, because doesn’t it say in the Bible that his return would be visible, for all of the inhabited earth to see? The articles also backed up their beliefs by corresponding them to Daniel’s prophecies, interpretations of dreams, etc. They use loaded wording such as, “Clearly Daniel’s words are meant for us today”, and that “Daniel’s prophecies have a two-fold meaning, one of which applies to our time.” Really? How does one prove that, and also how does one prove that you speak for Daniel? These parts become very confusing for me.
Let’s also look at some other articles in these same WT’s. There are several articles dealing with how you are spending your time (Guilt trip you into isolationism & more field service, anyone?), how to plan for the future wisely by investing in spiritual interests first (Screw getting old in this system of things, right?), and there was several articles of experiences from aged die hard JW’s of old. Two such articles that REALLY got me howling were about a Catholic Priest turned JW (Gee, I wonder why; easier concealment of pedophilia perhaps?), and also one of an older Bethelite who had persevered for many years, even recounting how he struggled through a nervous break-down after his first 9 years of Bethel service, just to suck it up and stick with it! There was of course no explanation as to why he would have a nervous break-down in such a “spiritual paradise” as Brooklyn Bethel! One can only imagine from the stories we hear from ex-Bethelites on here though.
There were of course other articles about field service, children and study time, etc. It’s interesting to note though, how balancing your spiritual needs with your physical needs doesn’t come in to play though. Just do more, study more, and look forward to Armageddon. I found reviewing these old WatchTowers to be truly depressing, as they were all so negative.
I found it absolutely amazing that such “absolute truth” could be spouted with absolute certainty, and then only a decade later be dismissed in one short WatchTower article that no one even seemed to take notice of. This really goes to show me the depths of hypnosis and zombie like state these people – me – were once in. The irony of the fact that these articles came out in the year 1984, the same year as the movie, has not escaped me. It also hasn’t escaped me that most of the younger generation JW’s don’t even know how close to Armaggedon we all thought we were just 23 years ago, when I was only a child. They have no clue how 1914 was drilled into us a defining mark of impending prophecy.
If I only have to keep one bound volume from my family’s library, it’s going to be this one. No one can ever claim that we “read more into it”, or “made it more than what it really was”, or “The Society never put significance to the end based on 1914 date.” I’ll quickly be able to dismiss that. Think those lines from JW’s aren’t coming? Just wait. 1914 is nearly out of memory due to the older ones dying. Even for those in their 20’s like me, the 1914 date was so confusing as a small child we never fully understood it anyway.
What a trip my brief review of these magazines were….no wonder my parents were so die-hard and paranoid at the time. I highly recommend this trip down memory lane if you’re looking to put that sick knot feeling into your stomach; you know the one – the one that defines a moment when you realize how truly duped you and your family were into believing just about anything.
Thanks for listening,
Wing Commander