1925 - What the Society was really teaching.

by Ultimate Reality 16 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Homerovah the Almighty

  You have to give the old Judge a little leeway considering he was an alcoholic.

  Still Its ironically interesting that the WTS used the end time soon/ new world order prophecy for the length

  of time as they have , I guess they saw it as a tried and true formula in the proliferation of their literature that worked so well why stop.

  In all practical sense I don't think they could at any meaningful level, it would break down their self imposed image of being the one and only true

  voice of god. Image as we know is very important to religions like this, no matter how falsely constructed it is.
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  Ultimate Reality

  Ok. I have the images worked out. What the Society's angle is on bringing up 1925 I do not know. But here are the relevant scans from the "famous" Birth of the Nation article.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
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  insearchoftruth

  Thanks ultimate reality.......
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  bennyk

  The Society's teaching was still in flux.

  In 1922, the WTS dumped 1878 as the year for Christ's enthronement. In his famous talk "Advertise, Advertise, Advertise" (as recorded in the 01. November 1922 Watch Tower), Rutherford stated that "Since 1914 the King of Glory has taken his power and reigns." (p.337) However, "Brother" Sullivan stated: "[I]n 1914 he took unto himself his great power and now [at least by 1922] reigns." (p. 337) This did not (neccessarily) mean that he had been reigning since 1914, because Rutherford had explained earlier in his talk: "We believe, therefore, that the day of preparation ended in 1914; and that in 1918, or thereabouts, the Lord came to his temple." (p. 334) "The context shows that the throne here mentioned could not be the Millennial throne of Christ, but that it does refer to the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, his position of authority as the representative of Jehovah after taking unto himself his great power to reign when he comes to the temple." (p.335) It appears there was a difference between taking the power (1914) and beginning to reign (1918).

  Likewise, on page 326 the 01. November 1926 Watch Tower states: "In 1918 Jehovah God placed upon his throne his beloved and anointed King, in fulfillment of prophecy. (Psalm 2:6-8)"
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  TD

  What the Society's angle is on bringing up 1925 I do not know

  In line with what diamondiiz said, I think it makes a misleading statement technically true.

  This statement would be a blatant lie:

  "Since 1925, Jehovah's Witnesses have recognized that World War I and the events that followed amount to sure evidence that Christ's presence began in 1914"

  But this statment is technically true because of the qualifier:

  "Since 1925, Jehovah's Witnesses have recognized that World War I and the events that followed amount to sure evidence that Christ's presence in heavenly kingdom power began in 1914"

  It's not quite a claim that JW's in 1925 recognized that Christ's presence began in 1914 even though many JW's will probably understand it that way. It's a claim that since 1925 JW's have recognized that the invisibly present Christ attained "heavenly kingdom power" (Whatever that is..) in 1914.

  In the year 1920, the crowning of Jesus as king of God's kingdom was moved from 1878 to 1914 (cf. The Watch Tower July 1, 1920 p. 196) In the year 1922, the significance of 1914 was explained to mean that God'd kingdom had been invisibly set up in the heavens. (cf. The Watch Tower November 1, 1922 pp. 332-337) And in 1925, Revelation 12 was specifically applied to this event. --Christ took his power to reign, outsted Satan from heaven and God's heavenly kingdom was born in 1914 with Christ as king.
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  insearchoftruth

  The WT article prints quite well if saved in bmp format.....
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  bennyk

  "The Watchtower has consistently presented evidence to honesthearted students of Bible prophecy that Jesus' presence in heavenly kingdom power began in 1914." ( Watchtower, 15. Jan. 1993, p. 5)

  Or not.