Transcript of "Answers to Questions About the Last Days" Now Available

by cabasilas 19 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  cabasilas

  What I remember was when '75 came around the Society started saying that there might be a difference between the end of 6,000 years of God's "rest day" and 6,000 years since Adam's creation. So, there could be a few weeks or months difference from when Adam was created and when God's "rest day" began right after the creation of Eve. So, many of us kept in eager expectation of the Great Tribulation starting even as '75 passed because we still believed the 6,000 years of God's "rest day" was almost over. Where did we get this info? From the Watchtower Society itself!

  From the May 1, 1975 Watchtower, p. 285:

  Another speaker, F. W. Franz, the Society’s vice-president, forcefully impressed on the audience the urgency of the Christian preaching work. He stressed that, according to dependable Bible chronology, 6,000 years of human history will end this coming September according to the lunar calendar. This coincides with a time when “the human species [is] about to starve itself to death,” as well as its being faced with poisoning by pollution and destruction by nuclear weapons. Franz added: “There’s no basis for believing that mankind, faced with what it now faces, can exist for the seventh thousand-year period” under the present system of things.
  
  Does this mean that we know exactly when God will destroy this old system and establish a new one? Franz showed that we do not, for we do not know how short was the time interval between Adam’s creation and the creation of Eve, at which point God’s rest day of seven thousand years began. (Heb. 4:3, 4) But, he pointed out, “we should not think that this year of 1975 is of no significance to us,” for the Bible proves that Jehovah is “the greatest chronologist” and “we have the anchor date, 1914, marking the end of the Gentile Times.” So, he continued, “we are filled with anticipation for the near future, for our generation.”—Matt. 24:34.

  (Makes me wonder how long Adam was in the garden alone before Eve was created?)

  The point is, it was the Watchtower Society who started the excitement about 1975, starting in 1966 with the release of the book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God. They fanned the flames of excitement many times during that era. Especially as we neared 1975 there were a few attempts to suggest caution (perhaps some at the top realized there could be a real problem is nothing happened in 1975), but this was not a case of a few JWs getting this idea on their own. It all came from the Watchtower Society!
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  villabolo

  Cabasilas; they were talking out of both sides of their mouth back then. The difference between both 6,000 year time periods was known as the "Adam and Eve Gap". "( Makes me wonder how long Adam was in the garden alone before Eve was created?)"

  In theory they have to calculate the age of Eve when she had her firstborn plus 9 months in order to synchronize these two 6,000 year periods. The whole thing was so complicated that there is no way the rank and file would have made it up.

  What I remember clearly though from Fred Franz himself, at a special talk, was that the Adam and Eve Gap would not last decades. This means that any intelligent witness would be led to believe that it may stretch out to the early 1980's.
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  cabasilas

  I remember hearing about that "gap" from about 1975 to 1977 or so. I remember that many started leaving the JWs starting about 1976, however, with some disillusionment over the whole affair.

  I don't remember hearing much about the "gap" after about 1977 or so. I left the JWs in 1980.
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  Atlantis

  Aunt Bee & Cabasilas

  Thank you so much for providing this for us! We appreciate all of your hard work and contributions.

  N.
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  cabasilas

  You're welcome! And thanks for the recent files you are sharing with us here too!
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  TheOldHippie

  "Weeks or months - but definitely NOT years."
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  AuntBee

  Thanks for the thanks! Being at the conventon was quite an experience.
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  Justitia Themis

  Thanks Aunt Bee for all your hard work.
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  BluesBrother

  The reasoning behind the answer to "Why have they entertained hopes on wrong dates" (paraphrased) question , is totally fallacious ..

  They use Acts 1 : 6 as an example of the first century Christians also getting it wrong - it says,

  Acts 1.6

  ” 6 When, now, they had assembled, they went asking him: “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7 He said to them: “It does not belong to YOU to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction"

  So, the twelve were asking a simple question, direct to Jesus. He answered and then ascended to Heaven.. That is totally different to a Governing body actually teaching such falsehoods and expecting us to still follow them. At the time of this scripture they were not the authority, Jesus was still here and he spoke accurately

  It is a miss application of that scripture . I did not get any further into the talk ....
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  cabasilas

  Good point, Bluesbrother.

  There seems to be a reluctance of the Watchtower Society to acknowledge that predicting events for certain years could result in being labelled a false prophet. Of course, the Witnesses are descended historically from the Second Adventist movement which was started by William Miller, who had predicted Christ's return in 1843/1844. He most certainly was a false prophet. I came across an interesting book written by someone back in Miller's day that forcefully showed that and it might be interesting for some to read here:

  http://www.archive.org/details/MillerOverthrownByACosmopolite

  It's entitled: "Miller Overthrown, Or the False Prophet Confounded." Miller was the first in a series of false prophets in the Adventist/Jehovah's Witness theological line.