How to change some significance of 1914.

by sloppyjoe2 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • sloppyjoe2
    sloppyjoe2

    I first do not think they will change anything about 1914 for at least 20 or more years but one day it will have to happen. Since 1914 is their meal ticket and they have it in print prior to the year happening, they will never abandon the year altogether. They have too much tied into 1914-1919 as well as have held onto it for too long. So here is my theory on what they do to change it. I use Matthew 24 for my theory.

    Matthew 24:3. While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things? 4 In answer Jesus said to them: “Look out that nobody misleads you, 5 for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for these things must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.

    I put in bold the three things that matter. What I think they will do is leave 1914 as the year Jesus was enthroned and his presence began as well as satan being cast to the earth. The problem they have is how long can the "last days" be before people stop taking it seriously. So that's really the only aspect they need to change. Since verse 3 uses the word and between presence and conclusion of the system they can nulight everyone with these being two separate events. Since verse 6 specifically says the end is not yet and verse 8 calls those prior events just a beginning of pangs of distress they can say in 1914 pangs of distress started but the last days did not.

    At this point they could do a number of things, either pick a recent event and say that that is the beginning of the last days, or pick a future description of Matthew 24 that has not occurred yet and say that that event is the actual start of the last days. They could say how many of these events are taking place so we know the last days are close as well as saying that since the term "days" are used, that it would be a very short period of time. Hence they fix the 1914 problem, 607 still doesn't have to be changed, and they keep the end being imminent in the forefront. Any criticisms to my theory?

  • DesirousOfChange
    DesirousOfChange

    Ever since our ancestors died, everything continues as it did from the beginning of creation. (2 Pet 3:4)

    As the older JWs die, the younger ones won't remember 1914 or any of those other false prophesies.

    Doc

  • Ding
    Ding

    -- You will never grow old in this system of things.

    -- You should put off getting married and having children in view of the imminent tribulation (John and Eunice in Rutherford's book Children).

    -- There's no point getting a worldly education.

    -- There's no point planning for a career you'll never have.

    -- The best way to spend the short time remaining is pioneering.

    Despite the fact that the WT has been telling JWs things like this for MORE THAN 100 YEARS, millions of JWs still believe it. Many of them don't know the history. Many of them do know it but bury their heads in the sand.

  • the comet
    the comet
    Overall it's a pretty decent idea. I mean you could bury that in paragraph 8 of some random watchtower study, and If I was an average jw, I'd probably wouldn't even notice.
  • wizzstick
    wizzstick

    Nice idea.

    What I think they will do is leave 1914 as the year Jesus was enthroned and his presence began as well as satan being cast to the earth.

    One problem is that they tie in Christ beginning his heavenly rule in 1914 after casting out of Satan and his Demon hordes. Which in turns kicks of the Last Days.

    So if he's ruling since 1914 what happened to Satan and his gang? They still up there? Or out of heaven but mooching around as the Last Days hasn't started yet?

    JW theology is like jenga blocks. You can pull so many bits out but it will all fall down at some point.

  • steve2
    steve2

    Your premise is valid.

    The passing of time changes everything.

    Russell pin-pointed 1799 as the start of the end times - a year that stayed in prophetic prominence until the mid-1920s when Rutherford flexed his interpetive bent and 1914 booted 1799 off the stage altogether.

    Who'd have thunk?

  • kaik
    kaik
    Depending on what sources I have seen, the 1799 was not replaced until 1926 or 1928. So they claimed the end of times for 125 years. 1799 is still valid on the book in Harp of God in 1921 where on page 229 is published that "1799, marks, according to Prophet's own words, the beginning of the 'time of the end'".
  • steve2
    steve2

    Dates fuel convictions, time uncovers fictions.

  • sloppyjoe2
    sloppyjoe2
    @wizzstick..I'm really just trying to come up with an idea, I have no real idea what they will do. I posted that they would still say satan was cast down in 1914 but now call it the beginning of pangs of distress. The last days would be a future event. Sure it would be a total about face on what they have taught for nearly a century, but I'm sure they'd come up with some believable reason. Heck they didn't even use scriptural support for the overlapping generations or the FDS only being the governing body, so really their possibilities are endless.
  • Ding
    Ding

    You would think they had solved their problems when they started claiming to know about invisible happenings that couldn't be verified or falsified.

    Then came the teaching that the heavenly class closed in 1935... which they had to abandon.

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