Heavenly Gates Closed in 1935 Re-opened in 2007 (page 7)

Fernando

DATA-DOG: "Elder Moe Lester".

Probably heaps more of those around than any of us imagine!

Rattigan350

This is a very misleading teaching by the original poster.

They never taught that in 1935 the door to heaven closed. They taught that the general selection stopped, but yet a smaller choosing was happening.

That is like in the first century a general selection started, then after that a smaller selection started, then in the late 1800s a general selection started, then in the 1920s the selection decreased.

All that happened in 1935 was that Rutherford gave a talk at a convention interpreting events that already happened, namely that there are many coming in that were not feeling the anointing. If something could be called a closing of the gates, it was prior to 1935, even back in 1921 or 1923 when they identified the sheep and jonadabs.

2007 was not an abandonment of the closing of the gates in 1935, because the gates of heaven were closed in 1935 so they could not abandon something that did not happen.

And you need to remember that the statistic is Partakers, not Anointed. People partake because they want to believe that they have been anointed. That does not make it so. I tell you that those 11,000 are not anointed by any means.

Calebs Airplane

Rattigan...

The OP is not misleading at all... The Watchtower did in fact teach that the heavenly calling had ceased in 1935, albeit they later started using words like "evidently" and "apparently" and it "seems" and "virtually" to give themselves an out (like they do with all of their strange doctrines)... here are just some examples...

"Apparently, by the years 1931-1935 all symbolic fish suitable for the kingdom of the heavens had been caught to complete the foreordained number of 144,000 joint heirs of Christ." -Watchtower November 15, 1967 page 694 paragraph 10

"Evidently, the gathering of these was virtually complete by 1935." -Watchtower January 1, 1988 page 11 paragraph 8

"It seems that by the year 1935, the general ingathering of the anointed was complete." -Watchtower January 15, 2000 page 16 paragraph 11

"Their identifying themselves with the great crowd of other sheep indicated that by 1935 the calling of the 144,000 anointed Christians was virtually complete." -Watchtower May 15, 2001 page 15

Splash

EIGHT DATES FOR WHEN THE ANOINTED WERE 'FINALLY SEALED'?

Russell originally set the date for the final sealing of the 144,000 as being 1878.

This was subsequently moved to 1881, 1910, 1914, then 1925.

Then in the Watchtower 1933 Nov 15 it was shown that the parable of Matthew 20:1-16 related to the 12 years from 1919 and hence the close of the sealing was changed to 1931.

In 1969 this was changed again to coincide with the introduction of the Great Crowd doctrine in 1935:

w69 12/15 p. 756 par. 9 “Make Disciples”—Till When?

"It is likewise evident that the vision of the “great crowd” (Rev. 7:9) was given to John the apostle after he had the vision of the 144,000 sealed spiritual Israelites. Hence this vision would apply now, specifically since 1935, when the sealing of the 144,000 spiritual Israelites appears coming to its close."

Exactly what 'evidence' is that? Apparently none, as admitted in 2007.

"Thus it appears that we cannot set a specific date for when the calling of Christians to the heavenly hope ends." Watchtower 2007 May 1 p.31

Note: There are a number of likely contributors to this latest admission. By the year 2005, 1935 was 70 years prior and an irrelevant embarrassment. Even the Governing Body contained few born prior to 1935. (Since 2012, all GB members were born after the 1935 'final sealing'). Furthermore, from around 1980 the number of memorial partakers was no longer declining but stable at around 8,500 people, later rising each year from year 2000 until there were over 12,500 partakers in 2012.

jwfacts

Ratigan - "I tell you that those 11,000 are not anointed by any means."

Who are you to judge? You are walking on shaky ground, since most if not all the current Governing Body claim to have been anointed after 1935, and are part of the 11,000.

Splash

Adding to jwfacts post, the way we are seeing the number of anointed/partakers grow again ties into scripture.

When Jesus used the illustration of workers in a vineyard (Mt 20), he said some came in the morning, some at the third hour, others at the sixth hour and more at the ninth hour. Jesus did not say all the workers arrived in the morning and slowly petered out through the course of the day.

These workers are the anointed. If the year 2000 corresponds to the ninth hour then you should expect the number of anointed to be increasing once again as Jesus invites these ones into his vineyard.

There is no scriptural basis to be saying that they should be in continual decline from the arbitrary date of 1935.

Splash.

Calebs Airplane

LogCon

m

DATA-DOG

WOW!! I love it when a good thread is brought back!! It's totes-amazeballs what a year will do for your thinking. Athough astute, my observations were based on following "God's word" instead of tradition. Now I see the folly of trying to explain the unexplainable.

IF you believe the Bible, you CANNOT BELIEVE the WTBTS. That's all there is to it.

DD

Heavenly Gates Closed in 1935 Re-opened in 2007

EIGHT DATES FOR WHEN THE ANOINTED WERE 'FINALLY SEALED'?

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