Dear Mom & Dad,
Here’s the stuff that I said I would send concerning the 587/607BCE issue, as well as some other stuff that you requested dad.
The archeological/astronomical stuff is probably going to come across as VERY boring, but it is truly a help in settling the 587/607BCE issue. One thing that sticks out to me about these same cuneiform tablets and texts that disprove the 607BCE destruction date…it’s that they are even used by the Watchtower when it comes to things such as establishing the authenticity of the book of Daniel, or the existence of certain Babylonian kings. Yet, they won't accept the chronology on the same tablets, because it devastates the 607BCE teaching. That, in itself, is a huge double standard. They're saying that as long as the historical and archeological evidence doesn't conflict with established Watchtower teaching, then they'll use it if it helps to make their point. But that's a completely different area to discuss later. It turns out that they do support the chronology indirectly, without counting on the average Witness to make the connection that the chronology doesn’t support a 607BCE destruction date.
That official chronology that I’m talking about is shown on the attached file. Check out the chart and how it shows an established list of kings. The Watchtower, in a round-about way, even confirms a 587BCE destruction date through their agreement with this list of kings, which is called the Ptolemaic Kings list. Counting backward from the Watchtower’s agreed date of 539BCE as the last year of Babylonian rule as a world power, using that agreed Biblical king list, and the fact that Jerusalem fell in the 18th year reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the ONLY conclusion that can be reached is that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587BCE. The chart (attached file) illustrates this.
Again, even further in WT literature it is pointed to, but still not fully accepted when related to a 607BCE destruction date. Again, I guess they don’t count on the average Witness to see the contradiction. Here is the one reference, taken from the Watchtower Library:
*** kc 186-9 Appendix to Chapter 14 *** Historians hold that Babylon fell to Cyrus' army in October 539 B.C.E. Nabonidus was then king, but his son Belshazzar was co-ruler of Babylon. Some scholars have worked out a list of the Neo-Babylonian kings and the length of their reigns, from the last year of Nabonidus back to Nebuchadnezzar's father Nabopolassar. According to that Neo-Babylonian chronology, Crown-prince Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C.E. (Jeremiah 46:1, 2) After Nabopolassar died Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon to assume the throne. His first regnal year began the following spring (604 B.C.E.).
Ok, we know the Bible says that the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in his 18th regnal year (19th when accession year is included), according to Jeremiah 52:5, 12, 13, 29. But there are no dates in the Bible and we need secular history to work out where everything happened in time. Even the society will admit to this. When they need confirmation on something that requires the input of historians like Herodotus and Josephus, they use it, as long as it doesn't devastate their current doctrine. So we've got the Ptolemaic Kings list, confirmed by the Scriptures and secular history, pointing to a 587BCE destruction date.
Ok, lets move on to further credible, documented sources that show 587BCE as the correct date:
We have the Royal Canon that agrees with the Bible, both proving that 539 BCE was the first year of Cyrus. The Canon was in use centuries before Ptolemy and historians state that it is based on Babylonian, not Seleucid (post-Babylonian) sources, due to certain expressions and characteristics in it.
Here's more:
The Uruk King List was uncovered in 1959. It shows the ruling periods of the Babylonian Kings from Kandalanu to Nabonidus. These also agree with the Royal Cannon and the historian Borossus.
We also have more cuneiform documents from the Neo-Babylonian period than any other pre Christian era. Literally tens of thousands have been found and are preserved everywhere from the Smithsonian to Babylonian Antiquities organizations. The lengths of the kings' rule can be established through these and these agree with the Royal Cannon and Borossus.
Archeological and Historical finds:
Nabonidus Harran Stele (NABON H 1, B): a contemporary stele, or pillar with an inscription, was discovered in 1956. It mentions the reigns of the Neo-Babylonian kings Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, Neriglissar. The figures given for these three agree with those from Ptolemy's Canon.
There is also a lot more cuneiform evidence to show the Kings' ruling years than just the above. These all back up the Royal Canon. They were all written in the Neo-Babylonian era. In fact, one cuneiform called the Nabon #24 tablet (they number them after they are cataloged and stored). It's also known as the Adad-guppi inscription, named after Adad-guppi, the mother of Nabonidus. She lived to be 104. And on the inscription is an account of her life and the kings that she had lived under. It then lists the kings and their reigns. All the reigns are in complete accordance with this king list. One distinct feature about this one is that it is actually date from the Neo Babylonian period itself and is not a copy.
Another one is VAT 4956: This is a cuneiform tablet that provides astronomical information datable to 568BCE. It says that the observations were from Nebuchadnezzar's 37th year. This would correspond to the chronology that places his 18th year in 587/586BCE. This is one of the main tablets that historians use to establish Babylonian history. It has 30 astronomical observances that are so accurately described that modern astronomers have no trouble dating it to 568BCE, which the tablet in two places states is Nebuchadnezzar’s 37th year. The observances are of the moon and the five then known planets. Modern astronomers point out that such combinations of astronomical positions would not be duplicated again in thousands of years. There is no way that the observances can have been made 20 years earlier, in order to support a 607BCE destruction date.
There is also BM 32312, which can be dated to 651BCE due to the observances on it. This tablet talks of a battle between Assyria and Babylon, where Babylon is heavily defeated. This agrees with another tablet, BM 86379, also known as the Akitu Chronicle. It talks about the battle in Shamash-shuma-ukin's 16th year which interestingly states that the Babylonian King was defeated. Shamash-shuma-ukin's 20-year reign is dated to 667/66-648/47 BCE. This is in good agreement with this king list. To change Nebuchadnezzar's 18th year from 587BCE to 607BCE would also change Shamash-shuma-ukin's 16th year from 652 to 672 BCE which BM 32312 does not allow.
The next few are kinda deep, and get into astronomy a bit more. But then again, much of what current science uses for astronomy is based on the old Babylonian history that is contained in these tablets and texts. It is of benefit to us, though, because a study of these confirm dates and help us with things like the 587/607 issue. Anyway, there's the Saturn Tablet (BM 76738 and BM 76813), which gives observances for 14 successive years of the planet Saturn corresponding to the first fourteen years of king Kandalanu, so we can date this exactly. The British Museum, which the Watchtower quotes MANY times, explains that a complete cycle of Saturn's phenomena in relation to the stars takes 59 years. But when that cycle has to be fitted to the lunar calendar of 29 or 30 days then identical cycles recur at intervals of rather more than 17 centuries. So there is no difficulty in determining the date of the present text. And that shows that the absolute chronology of Kandalanus' reign because the pattern of positions described in the text is fixed to specific dates in the Babylonian lunar calendar, that are not repeated again in more than 17 centuries.
We also have the Saros Cycle Texts (LBAT 1417 - 1421). They record the lunar eclipses in the Babylonian area at the time. The texts were compiled during the Seleucid era (312-64 BCE). The evidence is that the eclipse records were extracted from astronomical diaries by Babylonian astronomers who had access to a large number of diaries from earlier centuries.
LBAT 1417 records four lunar eclipses at 18 year, 11 day intervals from 686 to 632BCE. It is part of a series of unearthed tablets: LBAT 1415 and LBAT 1416. The first entry records an eclipse from Sennacherib's third year which the tablet links to a lunar eclipse that took place on April 22 668BCE. The next entry states an eclipse to the second month in Shamash-shuma-ukin's first year as king. This equates to April/May in 668BCE. Babylonian astronomers had worked out that this would be an eclipse that would not be observable to Babylon. Modern eclipse catalogues show that such an eclipse took place on May 2, 668BCE. The length and time of the eclipse are in full agreement with the text. Now if we were trying to make 607BCE fit, we would have to add 20 years to Shamash-shuma-ukin's reign, which would make his first year of rule in 688BCE. However, no unobservable eclipses occurred in that year. So it turns out to be an impossible alternative.
The next entry in the text is dated to Shamash-shuma-ukin's 18th year, 650/649BCE. This eclipse too was a computed one, which would begin before sunset. According to modern calculations this eclipse took place on May 13, 650BCE. Again, if we place this eclipse 20 years earlier (in order to make 607BCE work), no eclipses took place in April or May that year.
The next and last entry is dated to the 16th year of Kandalanu (632BCE) and to the fifth month, which would correspond to May or June. This partial eclipse also took place the time it should have on May 23, 632BCE . If we add 20 years to make Kandalanus 16th year 652BCE, we do find an eclipse taking place on July 2nd that year, but it was a full eclipse and not partial as stated. So from that series of tablets, we have another confirmation of the kings list that I've provided, and they don't allow for 20 years to be inserted, in order to make a 607BCE destruction date fit.
LBAT 1419 is another that records an uninterrupted series of Lunar eclipses at 18 year intervals from 609/08 to 447/46BCE. The two following entries are clearly dated to the 14th and 32nd year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. His 14th and 32nd years are dated to 591/90 and 573/72BCE, respectively. The two eclipses recorded both took place in August or September. Both eclipses were calculated in advance and the Babylonians knew that none of them would be observable in Babylon because they both occurred in the daytime. According to modern calculations both eclipses took place as predicted and fit exactly with the chronology established for Nebuchadnezzar. However if we were to look for the two eclipses twenty years earlier to support the 607BCE teaching, no eclipses occurred in that year, so it doesn't work.
Tablets LBAT 1420 and LBAT 1421 go into further detail about detailed eclipses with dates, and both confirm the kings list.
If you have a hard time understanding what all of the astronomy tablets have to do with this issue, think about it like this: You know when older people talk about something that happened a long time ago? For instance, "Your grandmother and I got married back in 1945, the first year that President Truman was in office." In the same way, these tablets and texts link events with dates and the subsequent kings that were ruling at that time. I hope that make sense.
As far as other cuneiform tablets from the Babylonian era, there are literally thousands that have been found that record simple business transactions, stating the year of the Babylonian king when the transaction occurred. Tablets of this sort have been found for all the years of reign for the known Neo-Babylonian kings in the accepted chronology of the period, and are all in agreement with this same kings list. There are tablets and texts for every year of the Babylonian kings, and some of them exact to the day and month! 2,500 tablets were found in 1875/76 that tells about a Babylonish business house, and is so detailed that we can work out who was head of the business and what kings they reigned under. These are also in full agreement with this same kings list.
There are also texts that interlock the various kings, therefore not allowing for an unknown king. There are also tablets detailing the careers of scribes, temple administrators, slaves, businessmen and others that may be followed for decades. But never do these careers cross the established chronological borders into some unknown 20-year period. The insertion of 20 years would not only distort the understanding of the careers, activities and family relations of the individuals but would also give them abnormal life spans.
Ok, now I want to give the Watchtower the benefit of the doubt. Let's just suppose that the thousands of tablets and texts, the same ones that the Watchtower will quote if it serves their purpose, are all in error. Let's suppose that there is a 20-year error in the chronology. Then every compiler of the tablets and text would would have to have made the same mistake independently of each other. Plus, there is no way that every one of them wouldn't have known what king was ruling at the time of their writing. What about the existing Egyptian chronology that also agrees with the kings list? They would have to be off by exactly 20 years as well. What about the tens of thousands of dated economic, administrative and legal documents that have been excavated from the Neo-Babylonian period which cover every year of the kings, except the twenty years that we need to prove 607BCE? Did they all make the same mistake? No Witness could honestly agree that this is the case.
So, among the tens of thousands of discovered materials from that time period, we are unable to find one shred of support for the 607BCE date. And it isn't a case of us not being able to truth the historical evidence that we've been provided, because it is through this same evidence that we arrive at established dates like 539BCE. That date is fully supported by the Watchtower, yet, it is established solely through historical documents. And of the two, 587BCE has even more support than 539 BCE. So, for us to retain one date and reject the other is inconsistent.
In the book "The Bible and the Ancient Near East", written by Professor Edward F. Campbell, Jr., a book that the Watchtower has quoted many times throughout the years, it says the Neo-Babylonian era is "one of the best- known periods of the ancient world, and we can be very sure that the dates are correct to within a year or so and many of the dates are accurate to the day and month."
Ok, that's pretty much all of the historical archeological evidence that I've got. Also, keep in mind that Compton's Encyclopedia, Encarta Encyclopedia, Reference Desk, The Columbia Encyclopedia, and World Book Encyclopedia all agree that the destruction of Jerusalem was in 587BCE. The Watchtower quotes all of these sources, and uses the ones I've mentioned above, as long as their quoting it helps support an idea that they are trying to get across. When it comes to the evidence that these same sources contain DISPROVING 607BCE as the destruction date, the Watchtower ignores it. Do you see how hypocritical that is?
Look at it this way: there was a WT article from 1969 called "A Look at Mormonism" that I used to keep a copy of in my service bag, because it had some excellent points to use when talking to Mormons in the ministry. And one of the main thoughts of the article was that the Mormons believe the Bible to be the Word of God as long as it doesn't contradict the Book of Mormon. It pointed out that by making that their policy, the Book of Mormom became the "measuring rod of truth", and not the Bible, as it should be. But it's that same selective method that is happening with all of the evidence that points to 587BCE as the destruction date. In effect, the Watchtower is saying, "Yes, we'll use and quote historical and archeological sources as long as it agrees with our current teachings."
So at this point, there is SO much evidence that points to 587BCE, including the Watchtower's own agreement of the Ptolemaic Kings list, which doesn't support the 607BCE teaching. It is the date 607BCE that should actually be "on trial" here, with proof being shown of it being a valid date, since the ONLY place that we find that date is in Watchtower literature. And it would be different if the Watchtower had a clean record when it comes to prophecy and dates. But they have failed miserably, and a lot of that is largely kept hidden from individual Witnesses. But And it's not about honest men making mistakes. It's not about imperfection. In the 7/1/73 WT, it says, "Jehovah’s organization alone, in all the earth, is directed by God’s holy spirit or force. Only this organization functions for Jehovah’s purpose and to his praise. To it alone God’s Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book." And look at what their record shows when it comes to that:
Creation, page 319
"Applying the same rule then, of a day for a year, 1335 days after 539 A.D. brings us to 1874 A.D., at which time, according to biblical chronology, the Lord’s second presence was due."
“The time of the end” embraces the period from 1799 A.D to the time complete overthrow of Satan’s empire and the establishment of the kingdom of messiah. The time of the Lord’s second presence dates from 1874 and is during the latter part of the period known as “the time of the end."
Zion's WT 5/1/1881
"We would like to correct this misapprehension once for all, by stating that we do not expect Jesus to come this year, nor any other year, for we believe that all time prophecies (bearing upon Jesus' coming) ended at and before the fall of 1874."
The Time Is At Hand, page 240
"1874 is when Christ the Bridegroom and Reaper actually came."
Thy Kingdom Come, page 342 (This is where Russel measured the Great Pyramid of Giza, what he called a 'silent prophet')
"So, then, if we measure backward down the "First Ascending Passage" to its junction with the "Entrance Passage," we shall have a fixed date to mark upon the downward passage. This measure is 1542 inches, and indicates the year B.C. 1542, as the date at that point. Then measuring down the "Entrance Passage" from that point, to find the distance to the entrance of the "Pit," representing the great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3416 inches, symbolizing 3416 years from the above date, B.C. 1542. This calculation shows AD. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1874 years AD. equals 3416 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the chronological beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation -- no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this "Witness" fully corroborates the Bible testimony on this subject."
Thy Kingdom Come, page 342 *REPRINTED TO MAKE DATE CHANGES*
"So, then, if we measure backward down the "First Ascending Passage" to its junction with the "Entrance Passage," we shall have a fixed date to mark upon the downward passage. This measure is 1542 inches, and indicates the year B.C. 1542, as the date at that point. Then measuring down the "Entrance Passage" from that point, to find the distance to the entrance of the "Pit," representing the great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3457 inches, symbolizing 3457 years from the above date, B.C. 1542. This calculation shows AD. 1915 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1915 years AD. equals 3457 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation -- no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this "Witness" fully corroborates the' Bible testimony on this subject."
WT 1/1/24, page 5
"Surely there is not the slightest room for doubt in the mind of a truly consecrated child of God that the Lord Jesus is present and has been since 1874."
WT 1/15/1892, page 1355
"The date of the close of that ‘battle’ is definitely marked in Scripture as October, 1914. It is already in progress, its beginning dating from October, 1874."
WT 7/15/1894, page 1677
"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."
The Finished Mystery, page 485
"Also, in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions, it shall be that any that escape shall come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of the downfall of ‘Christianity.'"
WT 5/1/18, page 6243
"That the harvest began in 1878, there is ample and convincing proof. The end of the harvest is due in the spring of 1918."
WT, 5/15/22
"It is an easy matter to locate 1925, probably in the fall, for the beginning of the anti typical jubilee. There can be no more question about 1925 than there was about 1914."
WT, 11/1/22
"We understand that the jubilee type began to count in 1575 B.C.; and the 3,500 year period embracing the type must end in 1925.. It follows, then, that the year 1925 will mark the beginning of the restoration of all things lost by Adam's disobedience."
Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 110
"April 1, 1925, at which time we may expect the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies."
WT, 4/1/23
“Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge.”
Salvation, page 311
"At San Diego, California, there is a small piece of land, on which, in the year 1929 there was built a house, which is called and known as Beth Sarim. The Hebrew words Beth Sarim mean 'House of the Princes'; and the purpose of acquiring that property and building the house was that there are those on earth today who fully believe in God and Christ Jesus and in His Kingdom, and who believe that the faithful men of old will soon be resurrected by the Lord, be back on earth, and take charge of the visible affairs of earth. The title to Beth Sarim is vested in the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in trust, to be used by the president of the Society and his assistants for the present, and thereafter to be forever at the disposal of the aforementioned princes on the earth .. It stands there as a testimony to Jehovah's name; and when the princes do return, and some of them occupy the property, such will be a confirmation of the faith and hope that induced the building of Beth Sarim."
Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 88
“Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection.. A simple calculation of these jubilees brings us to this important fact: Seventy jubilees of fifty years each would be a total of 3500 years. That period of time beginning 1575 years before A.D. 1 of necessity would end in the fall of 1925.”
(By the way, the actual deed to the house lists David, Noah, Abraham, Samuel, Samson, and others as actual inhabitants. When the media heard that Rutherford had a house built for soon-to-be-resurrected “ancient worthies”, many different newspapers interviewed him about it. One asked him, “How will you know when these resurrected ones arrive on earth, and how would he know what they look like?” Rutherford said he would know because they would seek him out personally and that they would have on the newest, classiest of clothes. He even said that he expected King David to arrive looking like the perfect physical specimen, wearing a tailored suit, cane, and a top hat.)
Interestingly, concerning the house in San Diego, Rutherford used it as his 2nd residence until he died there in 1942 with Hayden Covington and Fred Franz summoned to his bedside. It still stands today. You can even zoom in on it using Google earth or any other satellite/map program. It’s a mansion with a swimming pool overlooking a canyon. Rutherford even had olive trees imported by landscapers and planted on the property so that King David and others would feel at home. And during this time when Rutherford was using this mansion as his 2nd home, the majority of other Witnesses in the U.S. were living in poverty, trying to survive the Great Depression as best they can, despite some having put so much faith in Rutherford’s prophecy about 1925 that they didn’t plant crops, didn’t pursue careers, all because they had full confidence that the Watchtower, which claimed to be the only true channel used by God to communicate His will to the earth, was correct in their prediction of 1925 being the end of the system.
After all of this came to pass, late in Rutherford’s life, according to Governing Body member Karl Klein’s life story in the 10/1/84 Watchtower, he confessed in front of the Bethel family one morning, “I made an ass of myself.” What’s ironic is that Witnesses will just laugh that statement off as good ole’ Rutherford being himself. But this was the man’s response to the false prophecies about 1925 and the Beth-Sarim embarrassment, prophecies that all Witnesses were to accept, believe, and put full faith in, because it was coming from God’s “chosen channel” of spiritual food to the earth. Does that mean that Jehovah causes people to prophecy falsely just for fun? Since when does Jehovah get SO much stuff wrong in His revealing them to His people?
And this is one of the key points that I want to make in this letter about all this: even through today, the Watchtower claims that THIS period of time, the Rutherford era, tainted by one false prophecy after another, was the period of time that Jesus came down to the Earth, examined the “faithful slave” (which was only considered to be Rutherford at that time, just as Russell alone was considered to the “slave”), approved them, and appointed that “slave” over “all his domestics.” So, despite the fact that organization was teaching that the end would come in 1925, that the “last days” had begun in 1874, that King David and others would be resurrected in 1925 and live in a mansion in San Diego, that Jehovah’s throne was physically located in the Pleiades constellation, that the “leviathan” of Job 40 referred to a locomotive, and the list goes on and on….despite all these false teachings, Jesus STILL selected and approved the “faithful slave” as the only true channel of spiritual information to all the earth? Not to mention, at this time the cross was still being used by Witnesses, it was still printed on the cover of the Watchtower magazine, and Christmas was still being celebrated by Witnesses AND at the Watchtower headquarters. But according to the current teaching, this is the period that, upon inspection, Jesus found the Watchtower to be THE ONLY organization dispensing truth to the earth.
If that were the case, that would mean that today’s Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t the true religion. Because what is taught and believed today is a complete reversal of what was taught and believed at the time of “Christ’s inspection”. In fact, there have been so many flip-flops in teachings and doctrines, one could get lost in it because it is literally so much. Russell himself said, "A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth." But with the Watchtower, we are to believe that there is a such thing as “past truth”, which is their way of describing a Watchtower teaching that turned out to be false. Then they use the term “revealed truth”, which takes the place of what was “past truth”. Then, when they’re pretty sure that the “revealed truth” won’t come back to bite them, they call it “present truth”. By keeping that word truth so strongly attached to it, it almost hypnotizes the reader into thinking that whatever they see printed in the literature, no matter if it was false or if it turns out to be false, it is still categorized as absolute truth. That is a deception beyond anything that I could ever describe.
There are two places in the Bible that almost jump out and grab me at this point:
Deuteronomy 18:20-22: “However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: “How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?” When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.”
AND
Matthew 24:23-25: “If anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. Look! I have forewarned YOU.”
When I read these verses, I even take special note of the sentences “You must not get frightened at him” and “Look! I have forewarned you.” I think these verses read this way because a false prophet can be VERY convincing, even to the point of instilling fear in people by making them think that if they DON’T follow/believe what is being taught, then they will be destroyed at Armageddon. But we’re told “You must not get frightened at him”, because there is really nothing they can do to us. I take comfort in that.
And I know that the first inclination of a Witness is to dismiss all of what I’ve pointed out here as simply the mistakes of imperfect men. The Watchtower has constantly used this excuse when it comes to their failed predictions and teachings, even going to the point of saying that it is evidence of a great desire and enthusiasm to see God’s promises fulfilled. But their record shows that there is a lot more to it than that. It is one thing for a man to “make an ass” of himself because of wanting to see something happen. It is quite another thing, though, for him to urge others to share his views, to criticize them if they do not, even to question their faith or doubt their motives if they don’t see the matter the same way that he sees it. And beyond that, it is even more serious for an organization representing itself as God’s appointed spokesman to all mankind to do this, and to do it, not only for a few days or months, but for years, even decades, repeatedly, on a worldwide basis. The responsibility for the results in misleading people at that magnitude surely can’t be shrugged off with simply saying, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” NOBODY is perfect, but we do bear a responsibility for what we do. And that is especially so when our actions may dramatically affect something as important and personal as others’ relationship with God.
I ask myself: Why is it that SO many things, such as the overwhelming evidence of a 587BCE destruction date, have been kept hidden from Witnesses? Then I look at what that would mean for the Watchtower as an organization to lose that date. 1914 is THE center of a major portion of Witness teachings. To remove the date as having significance would mean a virtual collapse of all the doctrinal and authority structure that the organization is founded on. That is how crucial it is. Witnesses are always eager to get to the ROOT of a teaching. Like when a Witness explains whey they don’t celebrate Christmas or birthdays, they are quick to point out the “pagan roots” that the holidays come from, therefore making it wrong. So why don’t we apply that same standard to the Watchtower? What is the root of the 1914 teaching? It first appeared in “Herald of the Morning” by Nelson Barbour, a Seventh Day Adventist preacher. The “Herald of the Morning” was a Seventh Day Adventist magazine/newsletter that Russell was the assistant editor for while he was still a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church. When Russell left to form the International Bible Students, he took the 1914 teaching with him, as he and Barbour will still good friends. He even used some of Barbour’s writings in the early issues of Zion’s Watchtower. At that time, 1914 had NO LINK to 607BCE in Watchtower teachings. The teaching was that 1799 marked the beginning of the “last days”, and that 1914 would be the year of the end. It wasn’t until much later that, upon bringing Daniel’s “seven times” prophecy into it, the Watchtower found that they could take the 2,520 years that Daniel mentions and subtract it from 1914 to arrive at 607BCE. This was the only way they could add weight to the 1914 teaching, regardless of the fact that NO evidence indicated that 607BCE was the date of Jerusalem’s destruction. And it isn’t like they have this immaculate record when it comes to these things, but quite the opposite. Therefore, the Watchtower has LESS credibility than the secular, historical sources that they refer to diminutively when not in agreement with the 607BCE teaching.
I know my motive is questioned through all of this. But, I’m doing my Christian duty. Acts 17:11 commends the Beroeans for “carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so” that they were being told. In verse 3 of that chapter, Paul was said to prove the teachings “using references”. That is what Christians are required to do in their search for the truth. If I am to be criticized for that, then so be it. If you feel the need to follow an organizational policy rather than your heart and what you know about the principles of Christianity such as unconditional love and compassion, then that is your choice. But don’t attach a scriptural basis for doing so. My life is consumed in my service to my Creator…whether that be through prayer, Bible reading, studying, or helping others in need. I love Jehovah God and Jesus Christ very dearly and I every day I endeavor to NOT displease them. I give my wholehearted support to “the Way” of Christianity as the best, most rewarding way of life. I want no other lifestyle for myself. I accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God and as my guidebook to living. To me, the good news about Jesus, what he did for all mankind and what it will mean for all exercising faith in him is the most wonderful, exciting news there is. For any Christian, loyalty to Jehovah God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, the good news, and the way of Christianity must be given priority over everything else.
I hope this information reaches you with an open mind and an open heart.
With much love,
Jason