More Old Rubbish

by transhuman68 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  transhuman68

  This text is from the WTB&TS publication “God’s Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached”- 1973, pages 206-207.

  THE CORRECTING OF A MISUNDERSTANDING

  48 It is true that the editor and publisher of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Corpses Presence calculated that the "presence" or parousia of the heavenly Bridegroom began in the year 1874 C.E. Also, that the date of the first man's creation by Jehovah God was in the year 4128 B.C.E., which meant that six thousand years of man’s existence on the earth ended in the year 1872 C.E., as calculated by Russell and his associates. This reckoning began to be announced on the front page of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence beginning with the issue of July 1, 1906, and this practice continued down through the issue of September 15, 1928. For instance, on the first of such mentioned issues appeared the date of issue: "July 1, A.D. 1906- A.M., 6034"; whereas the dating of the last mentioned issue was: "Anno Mundi 6056- September 15, 1928." The Anno Mundi or "Year of the World" date was calculated to be the year 4128 before our Common Era.
  49 Two years, however, were allowed for the innocence of the perfect man and woman in the Garden of Eden before sin entered, and hence the year of sin's entrance was calculated as 4126 B.C.E. This resulted in their calculating six thousand years of sin as ending in 1874 C.E., in which year also, in the autumn, the seventh millennium began, for the instigator of sin, Satan the Devil, to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit and for Christ to start reigning for the foretold thousand years. This meant that the year of the start of Christ's reign was also the year of his return and the beginning of his invisible presence or parousia.

  The book goes on to explain how 100 years had been 'misplaced' somehow, and the end of 6,000 years of man's existence would actually be in the 1970's.

  I remember 'studying' this book every Tuesday night for a LONG hour, and I thought then what a lot of bunglers the WTS were. I never got baptized...
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  still thinking

  @transhuman68

  Good on you!! I was heading that way myself. Until I did the unspeakable and started reading "apostate" literature.

  I wanted to thorougly check out the religion I was going to commit myself to. I figured they would be ok with that since they encourage you to check out every other religion to prove it is wrong. To my surprise no one was happy about it. I still have bible studies in my home (but I use this expression loosly) because as much as I want to just keep discussing the bible and avoid confrontation with them. They keep dragging the conversation back to the organisation. And how gods kingdom couldn't be preached without them.

  I really do personally like these ladies and I have said enough to them about what I have discovered. They dont want to know so I'm fine with that and am happy to drop the subject and just study the bible, but they keep bringing it up. Obviously in the hope that I will be convinced by their arguments.

  I have just made it clear this week that there is nothing they could say to me that would change my mind about the organisation. As I said to them. I can't unlearn what I have learnt about it. UN NGO, Mexico, Malawi....and as you have mentioned, dates that just don't add up... the list goes on.

  Thank God I looked before making any commitments. I have read in horror the stories of people that have been disfellowshiped and how they have been treated.

  I think we had a lucky escape.
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  DagothUr

  These old publications are damn funny.
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  Listener

  ......"This resulted in their calculating six thousand years of sin as ending in 1874 C.E., in which year also, in the autumn, the seventh millennium began, for the instigator of sin, Satan the Devil, to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit and for Christ to start reigning for the foretold thousand years. This meant that the year of the start of Christ's reign was also the year of his return and the beginning of his invisible presence or parousia."

  This would seem to indicate that they were saying that the Jesus' reign of 1,000 years would begin at the start of his presence. This presence occurred in 1914 according to them.

  It is really hard to get any certainty on whether they believe his 1,000 year reign begins at the end of armageddon or from 1914 but it would seem they changed that above beief to say that his millenial rule doesn't start until the end of Armageddon even though he has been ruling since 1914.
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  transhuman68

  The book has 412 pages, and goes into a lot of detail; but of course the more detail, the more wrong it all gets.
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  TotallyADD

  Amen to that transhuman68. I remember when we studied that book it was very confusing to me. But being a born in any only in my late teens I thought they know better than me. The only thing I never to day can figure out is how do they know God created Adam and Eve in 4128 BCE. Please don't give me the Gen. account of counting backwards. That makes on sense also. I think it was all made up. Oh that's it they made it up. Ah, I forgot it's a cult. They can say anything and get away with it. Totally ADD
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  Ding

  Still Thinking,

  The reason they keep dragging the conversation back to the organization is that that's what their religion is really all about -- in their minds, that IS Jehovah's kingdom.
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  The Oracle

  The old publications are very funny indeed.

  I wish there was a way for all JWs to read some of these old publications so that the exodus could really kick it up a notch....oh wait....

  the internet is here and the exodus is in full swing! Yippee!

  The Oracle

  PS: do something worthwhile today and email a friend / or former friend who is still stuck inside the cult - a link to a mind opening website - or cut and paste a quality excerpt to plant a seed of truth.
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  Ding

  Thanks for the info, and kudos to those of you who actually investigated WTS history rather than just accepting what they said!

  Amazing that the WTS admits that Russell was off over 100 years and thought Jesus was invisibly present when he wasn't.

  And JWs just accept it as new light.

  I wonder if these would be good questions for getting a JW thinking:

  1. "Please explain to me how the WTS knows the exact year of Adam's creation. How did they arrive at it?"

  2. "Please explain to me what led Brother Russell to mistakenly believe for 40 years that Jesus was invisibly present and how the WTS discovered that he was wrong."