Jehovah's Witnesses Changing Chronology
by blondie 8 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
-
TD
Thanks Blondie
Once again, Chryssides demonstrates that he is only marginally familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses
-
minimus
The poor JWs. They're just a bit misdirected. That's all.
-
Ding
The worst part about the WTS' chronology history isn't that their speculation has proved wrong (although their repeated errors does show their fallibility).
The worst part is the arrogance and exclusivity it has created.
The problem is that they were so sure of the 1874 invisible parousia that they looked down on all the people of "Christendom" who didn't acknowledge their deep kingdom understanding.
They came to believe that only they understood the Scriptures.
They got proud.
They got arrogant.
They developed an us v. them mentality.
So what if they changed the dates dozens of times?
Hey, they are the only ones TRYING, right?
So what if they're not perfect?
What really matter is that no one else understands the invisible parousia.
No one else acknowledges the coming of Jehovah's kingdom.
This just proves that the "faithful and discreet slave organization" is the only true religion on the earth.
What an amazing progression, all started by C.T. Russell getting fascinated by Adventist end times speculation in the 1840s...
-
wobble
Chryssides strikes me as a semi-apologist for the Dubs, and he repeats the favourite bit of rubbish on chronology that JW's love to spout, that they only stick to "Bible Chronology".
There is no such thing as Bible Chronology, yes it mentions certain lengths of time between two or more events, but when these things occurred is established by secular historians. (Whom the WT choose to ignore if it doesn't fit their wacky prophetic time-scale, i.e 587 BCE for the destruction of Jerusalem.)
-
snowbird
I wonder if Chryssides is on someone's payroll?
Syl
-
Cadellin
Although the Watch Tower organisation is regarded as God’s exclusive, true and faithful organisation on earth, it is nonetheless governed by fallible people, who do not claim special supernatural revelations, but seek to understand God’s word, as it is found in the Bible.
I thought he was fairly credible until his "Conclusion," where, among other things, he says the above. Perhaps someone should send him the July 15, 2010 "insider edition" of the WT, where it says, on p. 23: "When the time comes to clarify a spiritual matter in our day, holy spirit helps responsible representatives of the "faithful and discreet slave" at world headquarters to discern deep truths that were not previously understood."
I wonder if George could explain the different b/w "not claiming special supernatural revelations" and the WT quote?
-
undercover
Chryssides demonstrates that he is only marginally familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses
He has a book out about the history of JWs that's pretty factual and I'd have to say, fairly written. His research on the history covers a lot of what we finally learned upon our exits, in other words, a lot of stuff that most dubs have no clue of.
I kinda like the book because it isn't critical. It's more of a "just the fact's ma'am" account. Which if you're ever dealing with a JW, an objective third party observation may be better than that of a critical ex-member, no matter how factual that ex-member is. We're critical because we suffered. We'll always be more critical than someone who has never suffered at their hands.
And that's why Mr. Chryssides will never know as much about JWs as he might think he does. He may know the dates and history better than their own adherents but he's never suffered under the tight rules and counsel from the leadership. He'll never understand that if he himself had been a JW, he would never have been able to pursue his higher education and to actually produce the books about his research of religions. He has the fortunate position of being able to be outside and peer inside and study them. But he sees facts and figures. He does not see attitudes and actions.
Anyone who writes about JWs but was never one, will never be able to capture the entire essence of the religion.