Do they NEED to abondon 1914?
After all 1914 has been safely locked into the JW faith and need not be altered due to 'overlapping'!
Why would abandoning 1914 mean they are not chosen by God?
by InterestedOne 57 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Mad Sweeney
Here's a tie-in question for everyone:
We have established that it would be difficult to change the doctrine but that it could be done and that doing so would have negligible effect numbers-wise on the organization. That said, does anyone high enough in the Bethel hierarchy have the intellectual chops and audacity to both craft a new and improved doctrine as well as push it through the channels needed to get it approved?
I'm thinking probably not. Even the younger GB 2.0 is old enough to try and ride out the "overlap generation" for the rest of their lives. I'm thinking they'll leave serious new light to GB 3.
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reds
They always refer to the light getting brighter, Proverbs 4:18,however, it's contrasting rightousness and wickedness. It is not referrring to advanced knowledge or understanding. It is another example of scripture taken out of context to further their own agenda.
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jookbeard
that's the easiest way for them to dump the 1914 doctrine and their "get out of jail card" but they cant have it both ways and get out of it that easily.This cult enforces a complete shunning and cutting off of members who vocally oppose this and other doctrine what about all those people who have been forced out and suffer the dreadful consequences of this policy and are they still to enforce this stupid rule of accepting all doctrine blindly and without question? Also the WTS has an obsession with date setting , making false/failed prophetic speculation throughout their history that has not yielded one single truth, the abandoning of 1914 will be another failed prophecy on the scrap heap and will reinforce the passage of Duet 18,which identifies them as a false prophet. Their constant double standards and hypocrisy is breathtaking the pages of the WT constantly highlight the flaws and unscriptural practices of the Churches of Christendom yet the WTS promotes far worse in their version of worship and acceptance to God.
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DesirousOfChange
TD WROTE: It's the product of two different JW beliefs. First, their belief that Christ invisibly returned in 1914 and second, their interpretation of Matthew 24:45-47. Jehovah's Witnesses believe this passage is more than just a parable; they believe it to be prophetic. In other words, they believe that Jesus foretold that Christians would be on their own during all the centuries prior to his return and that once Jesus did return, he would inspect all Christian groups and organizations and appoint the "Slave" who had been faithful over "All his belongngs." in fulfillment of the "Prophecy."
This "inspection" and subsequent appointment as the "Faithful and wise servant" is their primary claim to spiritual authority. They believe that this occurred in 1919 and that they as an organization were the only ones found faithful.
It would be hard to list exactly how many secondary JW interpretations start with these two premises, but there are a lot of them. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that they as an organization were actively involved with and in many cases actually the target of a number prophecies and prophetic parallels that were realized early during the 20th century.
Without 1914, all of this would come crashing down. So doctrinally, it is very important.
MARY WROTE: However, the party line cannot be challenged: without 1914, there's no appointment and thus they lose all of their control over millions of lives. And that is something they want to avoid at all costs.
I think they could easily move the 1914 (based on 607) to 1934/1935 (based on 586/587). The toughest explanation would be the 70 years prophecy. But 1935 would fit JW history well as this could be 3 1/2 years following adopting the name, etc etc. and then turmoil in Europe leading up to WWII which was certainly more catastropic/prophetic than WWI. Although all that sets in place another date, and any date is surely a bad idea anymore. But if "this generation" can be explained away with "these [overlapping & endless] generation(s)", then anything is possible. You cannot fool all the people all of the time but you can fool 7.5 million every time there is "new light".
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InterestedOne
DesirousOfChange - I was thinking about that too. I know the first world war works with 1914, but maybe "world events" around 1934 could also be considered "right on schedule" if they started counting at 587. That's why I was wondering if there was something I was missing in JW doctrine that absolutely requires the specific date of 1914 - and if it moved, somehow it would doctrinally mess up their claim to be God's only instrument. I wasn't sure what the logical relationship was between the specific date and their claim of authority & why the date couldn't just shift with no problem. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like the problem is that it would take a lot of work to get the PR right (i.e. attempt to save their "credibility") and do the re-tooling in the literature.
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AnnOMaly
It would take a major prophetic overhaul IMO. They'd have to throw out or radically re-interpret long-standing prophetic connections to certain key events in early Bible Student/WTS history. That alone would raise serious questions about how this organisation has been spirit-directed for all these decades if it kept on teaching something so fundamentally flawed on so many levels.
On the other hand, one huge benefit would be that the Revelation Climax book would be consigned to same dusty old shelf full of quirky, obselete publications and take its place next to the 1917 Finished Mystery book.
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garyneal
I recall Raymond Franz speaking of the GB considering moving the date from 1914 to 1957 to coincide with Sputnik.
Makes you wonder what kind of 'event' the dubs will try to connect end time prophesy to when they do decide to move the date?
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DesirousOfChange
Average JW couldn't begin to explain the 1914/1919/bowls & trumpet blasts/etc prophetic application to anyone. Most don't remember 1975, let alone 1914, meaning of conventions in the 1920s, etc. All that would go the way of the Great Pyramid Witness.
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drewcoul
I love these topics!!!!!
It really gets me thinking and realizing that I wasn't the only one who just "went along" with what the WTS said. Most of us were really believers. I know I was.
I got out the ol' "Revelation- It's Grand Climax at Hand" book. (apparently the grand climax being at hand was in 1988, so 23 years ago....I can't believe it's been that long) I still see my notes and underlines.......But I digress.....
All throughout the book, it points to 1914 as being the beginning of Jesus' rule in heaven. It even claims that the prophecies in Revelation were fulfilled with various WTS conventions, resolutions, and publications. THere are so many, I cannot even begin to list them. You'll find on page 173, a list of 7 "Trumpetlike Judgement Proclamations" that were all fulfilled from 1922-1928. These are conventions that were held in the US, Canada, and the UK.
All of these, in fact the entire "Climax" book and an innumerable amount of articles, publications, and talks start with the premise of 1914 being the year Jesus was enthroned as King, and the "End of the Gentile Times."
So, it would not only hurt their credibility to change the 1914 date, it would make nearly all of their publications regarding prophesy completely meaningless. The only thing that would stand up is their general outlook on "Christian living" which all Christians agree with.
They have held on to the idea of 1914 for over 120 years (according to their own literature) They are in too deep to change it now.