1925 merely an expressed opinion. I need verification.

by Fatfreek 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Fatfreek

  It's important to verify the complete 1926 Watch Tower quotation that follows:

  “Answer: Certainly they have not returned. No one has seen them, and it would be foolish to make such an announcement. It was stated in the ‘Millions’ book that we might reasonably expect them to return shortly after 1925, but this was merely an expressed opinion;besides it is still shortly after 1925. There is no good reason why we should expect the ancient worthies to return until the church is complete and the work of the church on earth is done.” WT 1926, p. 196.

  The highlighting above is mine to make clear that there may be a problem with the way the 1980 Yearbook transcribed it -- after reconstructing it.

  “Answer: Certainly they have not returned. No one has seen them, and it would be foolish to make such an announcement. It was stated in the ‘Millions’ book that we might reasonably expect them to return shortly after 1925, but this was merely an expressed opinion.”

  See the difference in construction? The 1980 YB replaced the original semi-colon character with a period.

  I think it's fair to say that WT writers in 1980 were well aware of the ellipsis (...) construction which signifies where portions of a quote have been omitted. By replacement of a ";" with a "." they knew the reader could be led to believe that nothing in the sentence followed. A period completes the sentence.

  What actually followed? Well, that sarcastic Rutherford retort to that reporter concluded with, "... besides it is still shortly after 1925." He was clearly still trying to leave the door open, implying that he may have been only slightly off with his prediction.

  There you have it. We have a need for verification, best if from a scan of that Watch Tower page. If not, several other sources.

  Len Miller
• 

  littlerockguy

  http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/Page720.htm

  This is from jwfacts website. In the talk/book he uses the phrase "therefore we can confidently expect.... and "we must face the possible and indisputable conclusion....

  sounds like only mere an opinion; an opinion that followers must at the time believe and teach to be a spreader of truth.

  LRG
• 

  Leolaia

  
• 

  Leolaia

  *** w20 4/15 p. 127 New York Hippodrome Meeting ***

  The year 1914 stands out today emblazoned on the escutcheon of history as a date that can no longer be questioned by any one. And just so sure as we are here this afternoon you will see that another date will stand out just as prominently. And what date is that? I am not a prophet, but I reach this conclusion from a careful examination of the prophecies, and my only purpose in calling it to your attention today is that in this hour of stress, in this hour of suffering, in this hour of turmoil on the earth the people might turn their minds with hope to a day in the near future in which all the ills of humankind shall begin to be treated with divine remedy -- and that date if you please is nineteen hundred twenty-five.

  *** w22 9/1 p. 262 European Tour -- Part V ***

  The physical facts show beyond question of a doubt that 1914 ended the Gentile times; and as the Lord foretold, the old order is being destroyed by war, famine, pestilence, and revolution.

  The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures because it is fixed by the law God gave to Israel. Viewing the present situation in Europe, one wonders how it will be possible to hold back the explosion much longer; and that even before 1925 the great crisis will be reached and probably passed.

  *** w23 4/1 p. 106 Question and Answer ***

  Question: Did the order go forth eight months ago to the Pilgrims to cease talking about 1925? Have we more reason, or as much, to believe the kingdom will be established in 1925 than Noah had to believe that there would be a flood?

  Answer: It is surprising how reports get abroad. There was never at any time any intimation to the Pilgrim brethren that they should cease talking about 1925. Anyone who has made the statement that such an instruction was sent out has made it without any authority or cause.

  Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures, marking the end of the typical jubilees. Just exactly what will happen at that time no one can tell to a certainty; but we expect such a climax in the affairs of the world that the people will begin to realize the presence of the Lord and his kingdom power.

  "Merely an expressed opinion"????
• 

  Atlantis

  (Credit goes to Fatfreek) 1980 Yearbook-p.62 See the difference in construction? The 1980 YB replaced the original semi-colon character with a period.
• 

  Leolaia

  Here is a telling quote from 1924 on whether the date is "conjectural":

  *** g24 2/13 A Concluding Chapter of Interrogations ***

  "You have referred to 1925 as a date plainly indicated in the Bible as one of scarcely less importance than 1914. In fact, you have announced that in 1925 the second resurrection will commence, and the ancient worthies reappear in the flesh. In a February, 1923, issue of THE WATCH TOWER you recommend Bible Students not to lose faith if the promised events fail to materialize as per schedule, reminding them that God will not change His plans. Assuredly He will not! But would not your mistake concerning this important feature of them argue that your knowledge of God's plans is largely conjectural? You advance evidence in proof of God's plans being thus and so, evidence which you claim to find in the Bible; then you warn your members not to lose faith (faith in the doctrine propounded by yourselves) if God's plans fail to harmonize with your preconceptions of them. But your principal claim to credibility depends in the accuracy, exactness and harmony of your set of prophecies and parallels based thereon. If the sequel is to show repeatedly that these prophecies are not fulfilled on your schedule, and that the parallels based thereon are not parallels, how are rational people to continue their faith in yourselves as the early representatives of celestial purposes?"

  We cannot be blamed for presenting from the Scriptures such evidence as they afford which leads us to believe that a certain event will take place at a given time. Sometimes the Lord has let His people look for the right thing at the wrong time, and more frequently they have looked for the wrong thing at the right time. But all the enemies of the cause of present truth in the earth are fervently hoping that the Bible Students will not be so successful in 1925 in looking for the right thing at the right time as they were in 1914. If they are, however, it will be the other fellow that will have to do the explaining, and not we.

  Notice also this:

  ***g24 5/7 p. 490 The Weather and its Freaks ***

  The prophecies seem to show that there will be due in the late fall of 1925 another explosion of something which will fill the earth with small particles of something -- we know not what. This time it may be a symbolic explosion, antityping the blowing off of the lid of the Teapot Dome, which has filled the upper atmosphere with great hunks of reputations and left the stains of oil everywhere.
• 

  AlphaOmega

  There are also masses of 1925 quotes here to sift through :

  http://www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk/1925.html
• 

  Fatfreek

  Ah, Leolaia, to the rescue. The entire page scan of that 1926 Watch Tower. Solid evidence of that quotation and its context in full.

  And JWFacts, that scan of the Yearbook in question. Thanks to the both of you and all for your contributions.
  
  I suspected the 1980 Yearbook of editorial dishonesty but had nothing to lay my hands on. Those two scans closed the loop.

  Len Miller
• 

  Fadeout

  "We have no doubt whatever in regard to the chronology relating to the dates of 1874,1914, 1918, and 1925. The Lord has placed the stamp of his seal upon 1914 and 1918 beyond any possibility of erasure . . . using this same measuring line... it is an easy matter to locate 1925, probably the fall, for the beginning of the antitypical jubilee. There can be no more question about 1925 than there was about 1914."

  "Thus it was in 1844, in 1874, in 1878 as well as in 1914 and 1918. Looking back we can now easily see that those dates were clearly indicated in Scripture and doubtless intended by the Lord to encourage his people, as they did, as well as to be a means of testing and sifting when all that some expected did not come to pass. That all that some expect to see in 1925 may not transpire that year will not alter the date one whir more than in the other eases." -May 15, 1922 WT
• 

  VoidEater

  I guess it's my own dang fault that I've been sifted... ;-)