Alternate dates

by wherehasmyhairgone 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  wherehasmyhairgone

  I am wondering as the WTS is so keen on making 'times and half a time' apply to this and that scripture, I am wondering if anyone else has had the energy need to use 'biblical supposed prophecy times that are completely different, like 607 dogma, can it be made different to arrive at a point in history that could be claimed similar calamities.

  I am not sure how clear i am making myself.

  Has anyone used dating within the bible to arrive at dates about the end of the world or Armageddon before the 20th century. and references would be great.

  Steve
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  garybuss

  This is numerology. All numerologists use numbers. Witnesses are odd if not unique in that they combine numerology with the hypothesis of the types and the anti-types. The other interesting thing about the Witnesses is that they only apply numerology and the type-anti-type formula to the Jewish and Greek Bibles but not to other antique books or to antique literature from other cultures such as Egyptian or Chinese.
  

  nu-mer-ol-o-gy (numerology) noun
  The study of the occult meanings of numbers and their supposed influence on human life.

  
  
  Another interesting point about the Witnesses is that they only use literature as their starting point but exclude all other arts and all other elements on the planet. They've managed to take religion to a new low and they are digging.
  
  
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  greendawn

  The point is that their interpretations are arbitrary and more like an occultic demonic art rather than serious scholarship. Whatever dates they get through these process are bound to be meaningless and to be used to somehow further their interests eg to entice and exploit unaware victims. The JWs proved very good at this.
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  Leolaia

  Just read the 19th century Adventist literature (as well as the millenarians before them). They've all interpreted the numbers in a myriad of ways to come up with many other intelligible dates. Check out the date 1799 for the beginning of the time of the end that Russell and the Adventists before him used. They believed that this date corresponded with an actual visible fulfillment (pertaining to the French Revolution and Napoleon). They made other dates correspond to events like the Fall of Constantinople, various historical earthquakes, the building of the Islamic mosque on the Temple Mount, etc. etc.
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  Dagney

  Blame it on PBS...it was the beginning of the end for me.

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/

  Many, many "viable" predictions for the end throughout the centuries...all with very "convincing" numerical calculations.
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  wherehasmyhairgone

  They've all interpreted the numbers in a myriad of ways to come up with many other intelligible dates. Check out the date 1799 for the beginning of the time of the end that Russell and the Adventists before him used

  Thats some great information , thanks. It certainly gives me a starting point.

  regards

  steve
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  jwfacts

  I have done a comparison of the Revelation and Daniel prophecies at http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/revelation.htm

  It is not exactly what you are asking, but it does show how the WTS mix and matches methods when trying to work out prophecy. That is why the Daniel 1260 days, etc etc had applications in the 1800s under Russell and the 1900s now.

  There is also information at http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/1914.htm that shows Miller used the seven times to "prove" that the Gentile times ended in 1873.
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  voltaire

  A friend and I used to do this a lot when we were young. We would start with a date and then add/subtract Biblical numbers to find the date of the end. We were just having fun. !914 + 40 years the Jews spent in the wilderness, + 33 years for Jesus' lifespan +12 apostles + 8 cities of refuge=2007. There you have, the end's coming this year for sure. Sad thing is,the WTS calculations aren't much more sophisticated than a couple of teenagers joking around.