How does the watchtower come up with it's dates? (607, 1878, 1914, 1975 etc)

by Sharpie 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Sharpie

  Hey folks sharpie here.
  
  Can you help me out to find out how the Watchtower gets to the date 607 and is it used in the 1914 doctrine? Information about 1975 and other key years in the watchtower's history will be neat to have to, such as the date Judge came up with involving the return of Abraham, David, and others.
  
  One thing I'd like to start out with is the ORIGINAL way to get to 1914, from the Studies in the Scriptures series, Book 3 THY KINGDOM COME Page 153:
  
  The fall, plagues, and destruction foretold to come upon the mystic Babylon, were foreshadowed in the great trouble and national destruction which came upon fleshly Israel, and which ended with the complete overthrow of that nation in A.D. 70. And the period of falling also corresponds for from the time our Lord said, "Your house is left unto you desolate" AD 33 to AD 70 was 36 1/2 years. And so from AD 1878 to the end of AD 1914 is 26 1/2 years. And with the end of AD 1914 what God calls Babylon and what men call Christendom, will have passed away as already shown from prophecy.

  -sharpie
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  bohm

  have you checked out: http://www.jwfacts.com/?

  The book "Apocalypse Delayed" contain the early history in some detail, as far as i recall it also explain their chronology.
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  AnnOMaly

  The jwfacts site is good.

  Also you could get THIS BOOK which will tell you all you need to know right from the beginning of the doctrine's history, and much more.

  Or you could visit Alan Feuerbacher's site but you might find it overwhelming.

  Very simply, it comes down to the premise that Jerusalem was completely desolate and uninhabited for 70 years. Starting from the then generally agreed date for Babylon's fall, 536 BCE, Russell counted back 70 years and came to 606 BCE as the time Jerusalem was destroyed.

  It was also generally agreed that c. 606 BCE was the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's reign but Russell didn't accept that and thought other chronologists had made a mistake because of their misunderstanding of what the Bible said about the complete desolation and depopulation of the land lasting 70 years. E.g. see the ZWT 1896, May 15 article: ERRONEOUS CHRONOLOGY AND FALSE CONCLUSIONS.

  Later, of course, the 606 BCE date was modified to 607 BCE.

  There are the bare bones of it.
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  watson

  They pull them out of a dark, warm, moist place.
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  Ding

  It begins with speculation that the apocalypse is imminent and that you are living at the climax of history.

  It's not hard, then, to start coming up with "types" in the Bible (Jubilee years, sabbath rests, etc.) and adding and subtracting numbers, linking them to various historical events.

  Soon you come up with a date in the near future and you announce it.

  When the end doesn't come, you conclude that something major DID happen, only it happened invisibly or in heaven rather than on earth.

  You start looking for another date for the apocalypse (by adding a 40 year "harvest" period or whatever) and the process starts over.

  As the WTS record shows, there's no end to the number of plausible sounding dates you can come up with this way.

  Lately, I've toyed with the idea of starting a contest on JWN in which I would pick an arbitrary year for Armageddon in the near future (such as 2029) and see who could come up with the most plausible Bible number - historical event connections to "prove" that prophecy points to that particular year.

  Besides providing a few laughs, it could serve a serious purpose -- illustrating that the "spirit directed faithful and discreet slave" organization's "insights" are no more biblical than something we could "prove" the way Rutherford "proved" 1925 or Fred Franz "proved" 1975.
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  Alwayshere

  (1918) MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE. PAGE 89.

  "WE CAN EXPECT 1925 WILL MARK THE RETURN OF ABRA.,

  ISSAC, JACOB AND THE FAITHFUL MEN OF OLD."

  The same thing is in "The way to Paradise" (1924) page 226.

  October 8,1966 "The year 1975 will witness the "Battle of Armageddon."
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  villabolo

  I suggest you acquire an inexpensive set of Studies in the Scriptures by Charles Russell, the last of the great chronological ju-ju priests. The book, The Time is at Hand , will give you insight into the mentality of the chronologist and the influence it held over the JWs long after Charlie's dates were falsified.

  Psychologically speaking, it is a form of magic(al thinking). The ego, in it's perceived impotence against the Cosmos tries to selfishly bring Jesus into its mortal time frame so that it can enjoy the Paradise that was promised it.

  Such an ego, both impotent and grandiose at the same time cannot see the contradictions in its form of thinking. I'm not referring to Chronological contradictions and other slips of logic but to the very arrogance of acting as if its "God" were a puppet that could be called to come dancing down from heaven on its chronological puppet strings.

  It is support, in my opinion, for neuropsychiatrist Michael Persinger's hypothesis that "God" is just a projection of the brain. In other words, "God" is a mental puppet we manipulate to our ego's desire. I recommend his book The Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs.

  Keep in mind that all the JW dates were either Charles Russell's directly, 1874,1914; recycled from his, 1925 (Related to 1874 'Jubilee cycles'); or 1975 which was refurbished from a 'corrected' 6,000 year chronology that originally ended in, you guessed it, 1874. All the WTS has done since the days of Russell is simplification of his ideas.

  I believe it is unlikely that there will be any great resurgence in JW chronological voodoo since they discourage any form of imaginative or independent thinking. No one in the WTS is likely to have the psychotic flair for dates and numbers that Russell had nor the balls to radically change anything.

  I highly recommend The Gentile Times Reconsidered by Carl Jonsson.

  Villabolo
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  Terry

  What is more interesting is how small a role disconfirmation plays in the mind of believers.
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  Band on the Run

  I was so afraid of the numbers and pyramids. Ray Franz recounted one numbering fiasco in the early years with Russell. The main point had to do with the fulfillment of some prophecy when Russell's manuscript was delivered from Pittsburgh to NYC for publication. The event did not occur. So a prominent brother rechecked all the computations. He found that a train schedule had an incorrect mileage on its timetable. There was a spur in the track that delayed the train. He spoke to the work crews about this segment of track. Growing up in the NY area, it is hilarious that Pittsburgh would be a significant site for earth history. Furthermore, a choo-choo train going into Secaucus, NY sounded even funnier.

  Besides the actual computation, I am interested in what in the contemporary culture prompted these men to believe the numbers had significance. Masonry is one element. I'm interested in anthropology. When you read Victorian certainty about finds in the Middle East or the racist beliefs of many excellent scientists concerning the measurements of Jews and African-Americans, it puts things in a different perspective. Of course, the rest of society moved on to other views.
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  thetrueone

  The WTS dates such as 607 and the long list are deliberately contrived exploitations to validate themselves as true preachers of the word.

  After close analyst of these dates the revealing aspect is the WTS is about pretentiously untruthful one might expect from deceivingly

  corrupt conniving book publishers. The short of it is, its a business masquerading as a religion ( the one and only true religion )

  but hey aren't they all.

  By the way Sharpie using the search engine for this forum is useful in locating different subjects.