Bizzare fixation with dates.
by blueviceroy 4 Replies latest watchtower bible
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blueviceroy
Sorry about the premature epostulation
Why do proponents of a religion become fixated on a date ?
What meaning can one obtain from information that is beyond an individuals experience?
How does an uncertain belief like unprovable dates bring a satisfying and fullfilling answer?
If you have an answer founded on ideals outside your own experience , you will still have questions , if you buy someone elses answer , it will be ill fitting and you will still have questions.
Starting at the point where we all have a common experience and completely understanding what is real about this existence, is a really good starting point in a life that is worth living .
Running after the belief your neighbor sold you and doing your best to put it on and own it , meh , that sucks ass!
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Gopher
There have been date prophecies in every generation since the printing press was invented.
Strange but true -- every date fixed would be with the expected lifetime of the prophet.
That gives the prophecy more urgency.
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Carl_Hernz
It’s also likely due to the origins of the Watchtower. Russell was heavily influenced by the Adventism of William Miller who was obsessed with dating things in the Bible, convinced that precise calculations of important events could be found in the Scriptures.
Miller’s background was that of someone who lived during the Second Great Awakening, a time when a Protestant movement saw itself in radical separation from Catholicism, Orthodox, and more traditional Protestant denominations. These religionists not only expected God’s Kingdom to come through historical developments, they also saw America as playing a large part in the world’s conversion to the “true faith.” Add to this was a belief in the “Great Apostasy,” a time when these people believed true Christianity was lost and hidden.
Because of belief in this Great Apostasy (which, incidentally is not historical and takes a belief in historical conspiracy—the belief that Catholics, Orthodox and some Protestants purposefully changed historical and church records), individuals arouse who claimed they had the key to the “Restoration” of the true faith. Many felt this restoration included special insight or knowledge of the Bible (not unlike Gnosticism) that included, among other things, the ability to foretell events like the Second Coming of Christ.
For Russell, therefore, the fixation with dates was actually a given since he placed his belief in the tenets of Adventism. In his mind it was fact that the traditional religions were wrong and that the Restoration could only include this “special insight” into Bible prophecies. He never challenged these things in his own mind, and so this fixation with dates was transferred as a basic tenet of the Witnesses.
The Witnesses have never challenged whether or not knowledge of dates is even essential, let alone if a restoration of religion was necessary or if a great apostasy ever really took place. These are foundational “givens” in their theology that don’t get examined or even touched (most forms of belief, including non-religious, generally have these earmarks of “givens” at their foundation—it’s generally normal).
People today do not know religious history except what they hear from a filtered source. That is all fine if the source is trustworthy, but we often forget to test the source.
You kind of answered your own question, Blueviceroy, using the words “meaning,” “fulfilling,” and “satisfying” in your post. Religious thought that developed from the “givens” of the Second Great Awakening ask a circular and bizarre question to begin with: “How can a religion not be meaningful, fulfilling, and satisfying without uncovering the hidden dates found in the Bible?” For this ideology, this fixation with dates in inseparable from “true” faith. There is not one without the other.
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blueviceroy
Thank you carl ,that was a well written post, You sound like a historian.