If the WT dumped 1914 tommorow ...?

by faithfulslavedriver 70 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  thetrueone

  Since the calculable dating process the WTS. used to arrive at this year (1914) has no solid scriptural basis, like all of the other previous

  calculable dates ( Prophecies) the organization has come up with, irregardless of what year ancient Jerusalem was destroyed.

  Pin pointing out ANY dates/year is going beyond what is written and unscriptural in accordance with the bible.

  Lets face it though putting dates on the front cover of magazines does alot toward drawing up public attention and that

  is what the GB or past writers are intensionally trying to do, if the "Truth" be told.
• 

  steve2

  Welcome from lurker to thread starter! Good topic.

  What makes you think they haven't already started to put 1914 out to pasture? A boldly direct statement about the world ending before the 1914 generation passes away once graced the inside cover of Awake! magazine. It did so for decades before it was stopped about 20 years ago. No one said a peep.No explanation was given. No one among the sleepy masses noticed, except a few eagle-eyed persons.

  It's an old trick; it's called changing horses while the lights are out and not saying a word about the change once the light's back on.

  Also, who among us who were witnesses in the lead-up to 1975 can ever forget the way 1914 was heavily hammered from both the literature and the platform. Nowadays, the witnesses are circumspect about this once boldly declared doctrine. An interesting task awaiting someone who has way more time than me would be to count the actual number of times 1914 appears in the Watchtower magazine per total number of words across the decades. I'd hypothesize that the absolute count of "1914s" per total number of words is ever decreasing as 1914 recedes into its necessary historical distance. Sure, they still talk about 1914, and write about it, but no where near as frequently or intensely.

  Another poster mentioned the 7th-Day Adventists, that older, more blandly-sophisticated cousin of the witnesses. Okay they still adhere to the Millerite nonsense around 1844, but they do not go on about it they way they once did. Miller joins the sleeping masses who predicted by date the end centuries before him

  here's a reliable rule of thumb: No major doctrine is ever killed off on the spot. Like trusty but ageing work horses, they are retired gracefully, put out to pasture and when they finally die, the rank and file stifle their yawns by saying, "1914? What was that ever about?" and turn their dulled minds to another steaming espresso at McCafe.
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  OldGenerationDude

  Hi FSD (and everyone else)! I'm new here too, but been out of the Watchtower loop since 1990 (when I left of my own accord). I've stumbled across this site and have spent several days catching up on what has happened since I disassociated myself--and picking my jaw up off the floor due to reading about a religion that is nothing like what I left! The Governing Body sure has the "cojones" to change what they have since I made my bow! I would have been disfellowshipped if I had suggested any of their current "new light" (especially on the anointed and "generation").

  But I am sure they can get away with dumping 1914. They can get away with anything they want.

  You see, at least when I was in it, the JW religion seemed to be nothing more than a club for people with what is known as "ambiguity intolerance." This type of "AI" (definitely not to be confused with "artificial intelligence") is the need to compartmentalize everything in life to get a feeling of control--because it feels like you got a handle on things when you can use your "label maker" to mark everything in life as either "good" or "evil."

  Of course not everyone in the JW club has AI (which is why most of us are here). But the club supports and rewards this personality trait and reassures everyone with it that their intolerance for ambiguity is healthy, the only type of "mind" or "thinking" to have--and this gives something precious back to the person with AI: the ability to mark one's self as belonging in the "good" compartment.

  So as long as the GB rewards/empowers others in this way (and others look to the GB as having the authority to tell them: "You're okay."), then the GB can say whatever it wants. It's not about doctrine, because if it was then the religion would have been unchanged since the beginning. But what doctrine did this religion have at the start that it has not discarded at one time or another? Other religions call this heresy, but the JW's call this very same behavior "enlightenment." If you or me or any other poor sap in the Kingdom Hall comes up with a "new teaching" it's called "apostasy," but when the GB teaches "heresy" it's directly from the mouth of God!

  There is no doctrine essential to the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's not about a group striving to find the truth about anything. It's about a group that likes to be told they have the truth and deriving one's identity from that belief. The reason people stay is that can't live in the world the rest of us do, a world with ambiguity--even the religions of the world have "mysteries," but anathema should the Watchtower have such!

  Believe me, if 1914 gets in the way from them believing they have and are the true religion (which is all they really care about), you get bet your booty that they will toss it out without so much as a "thank you" or "good-bye"!

  Remember when we used to believe in that silly 1914 stuff? Thank Jehovah we have been enlightened with present Kingdom truth and don't believe in such rubbish! It's because we chose the right religion to belong to that we have been granted such knowledge--aren't we great?
• 

  thetrueone

  Good points OldGenerationDude

  Believe me, if 1914 gets in the way from them believing they have and are the true religion (which is all they really care about), you get bet your booty that they will toss it out without so much as a "thank you" or "good-bye"!

  Totally agree with that.

  Being that JWs are so much mentally controlled and this is been mentioned before, they will appreciatively take in this change of light

  from their spiritual connection at the HQ of the Watchtower Corporation.

  Isn't that part of the reason the WTS. instructs its followers to watch out for dissenters and for people thinking out of the box ?
• 

  Quandry

  Welcome, new ones!!

  I don't think for the majority of the truly indoctrinated anything will burst their bubble. Some individuals are seeing the real picture, such as all of us here on this forum,and the number is growing. However, if a person has spent years shunning loved ones, or feels they've been saved through a bloodless surgery, etc., they just can't let go of feeling the WTS is true. Maybe they couldn't face the alternative.
• 

  00DAD

  Hell, they could announce tomorrow that Jehovah is NOT God's name and that they're changing the name of the religion and most of the "Faithful" would still hang with 'em!

  It's a cult, get it! It's a cult.
• 

  blond-moment

  In the late 70s, one Watchtower Jesus was the mediator for all, the next Watchtower He was the mediator for only the 144K. There was a great purge, but many stuck around. 1975 came and went, and many shrugged their shoulders and stuck around. I think if 1914 were dropped, many would stay. Sad to say many are completely brainwashed, some just don't care, and some know they are false, but too afraid to leave. The WT would bleed, but probably not hemorrage to death, unfortunately.
• 

  factfinder

  Welcome faithfulslavedriver!

  Its a good question but as other's have said-

  the easy thing to do would be just stop mentioning 1914 and let it fade.

  But they won't do that.

  Even so- I agree the vast majority of witnesses will continue following the gb/slave. You must keep up with Jehovah's Celestial Chariot and accept the new light.

  Makes no difference what changes the gb make-most will stay anyway.
• 

  factfinder

  Welcome Old GenerationDude!

  I left in 2005 and I am amazed at how much has changed just since then!
• 

  TD

  Anyways, do you think that if WT decided to face the fact that 607-1914 is an indefensible pile of crap that has been artificially kept steaming for way too long, would it really kick off a mass exodus or anything?

  Absolutely not.

  Here is a good case in point:

  Because the Great Crowd are those who actually survive the Great Tribulation, the most the JW's could say about anyone today is that they are a prospective member of that group.

  But you don't have any prospect of surviving an event that you will never live to see. Therefore you absolutely, positively have to be within one human lifespan of the Great Tribulation before the Great Crowd can be identified. JW literature has been absolutely crystal clear on that point:

  "God’s infallible Word depicts this group as ‘coming out of the great tribulation,’ being survivors of it, living right on into God’s New Order without ever having to die. (Revelation 7:9, 10, 14; John 11:26) The early members of this group are now in their 60’s or 70’s or older. Jehovah did not allow the ingathering of this group to begin too soon. The "great crowd," including many of the earliest members thereof, will survive into the "new earth."" (Survival Into a New Earth p 185)

  Nothing has changed vis a vis the Great Crowd teaching since then, so the problem here is obvious. It is still tied to the pre-1995 understanding of a generation. 1935 was 77 years ago and the people who stood up and were told that they were the Great Multitude were adults at the time. They were every bit as old as the 1914 generation. And now they are pretty much gone.

  Therefore, the JW eschatological system is broken pretty badly right now.

  Does the average JW grasp this? No.

  Does the average JW grasp this even after its been explained? No.

  Does the average JW understand that other teachings were tied to the pre-1995 generation concept at all? No.

  Does the average JW grasp the implications of a salvationless class of Christians? No.

  Does the average JW understand that this would be a complete repudiation of Christianity? No.

  If a JW is perfectly willing to accept the fact that the non-anointed who remained faithful in the concentration camps simply grew old and died and now await a resurrection along side everyone else, then how could abandoning 1914 possibly bother them?

  You have to be able to think before you can be bothered by change.