Because we were duped! We were tricked!
Why would anyone think the 7 times of Daniel 4 should have two fulfillments?
by jwfacts 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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jwfacts
Since you didn't quote the Scripture Lars, here it is:
Ezekiel 4:. 5 And I myself must give to you the years of their error to the number of three hundred and ninety days, and you must carry the error of the house of Israel. 6 And you must complete them.
“And you must lie upon your right side in the second case, and you must carry the error of the house of Judah forty days. A day for a year, a day for a year, is what I have given you. 7
Jehovah specifically gives Ezekial an assignment, and you state this automatically applies to every Bible prophecy from before and after Ezekiel. That is baseless, wishful thinking.
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Apognophos
Jeffro: I am aware of those date ranges the Society has written about, and still think that 1919 is not dependent on 1914 (not if they don't want it to be). The period of Dec. 1914 - May 1918 "floats" between 1914 and 1919 as a disconnected period of time. Neither the start date or end date is based on 1914. That's right, even "1914" is not based on 1914! Why do I say that? As I mentioned here with citations, Dec. 1914 marked the announcement of the 1915 yeartext "Are ye able to drink of My cup?" and May 1918, as we know, was the release of Rutherford from prison. Yet, the start of Jesus' reign has always been held by the JWs (even when they thought it was the end of the Gentile times) to be Oct. 1914.
More importantly, that time period has no direct bearing on 1919, which was marked by the Cedar Point convention. Yes, you're correct that the Society constructed a timeline where Jesus' presence leads to the 3.5 years leads to the 3.5 days leads to the appointing of the F&DS. But it's a timeline of independent points that can be moved around without needing an "anchor point" in Oct. 1914. This means the WT can state that, upon reflection, 'we do not know the day or hour of Christ's return, but it had happened by 1919' (or whenever), and then point out that various signs of his presence such as world wars "prove" that it took place in the early 20th century. They can then continue to rely on concrete dates such as May 1918 and Cedar Point 1919 as significant points in the history of God's servants without the need for a questionably-derived 1914 date.
At least, this was the line of thought that I arrived at after I searched the literature for any direct connection between 1914 and 1919 and came up empty. If you can show me where this connection is made in WT literature, I will admit my error and correct my earlier posts.
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jwfacts
The period of Dec. 1914 - May 1918 "floats" between 1914 and 1919 as a disconnected period of time. ... the 3.5 years leads to the 3.5 days
Yes, the 1919 concept is supposed to be related to the end of the Gentile times and Jesus taking rulership in 1914, but how they derive 1919 makes no sense, as discussed at http://jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/242447/1/The-1919-Date
1919 is supposed to be related to the 42 months (3.5 years) and 3.5 days of Revelation 11. Yet for 1919 to work, the Watchtower has to turn the 42 months into 44 months, and the 3.5 days into 9 months.
This means the WT can state that, upon reflection, 'we do not know the day or hour of Christ's return, but it had happened by 1919' (or whenever),
I don't think they even need to state Christ has returned. All they need to state is that whenever, which for now is 1919, God chose Rutherford as his representative on earth. And in another 50 years they can say that Russell, Ruthford, Knorr etc were all part of the "light getting brighter", but all the scandal of blood, child abuse, the UN shows they were still being refined and in 20xx he chose GB 3.0 as his cleansed representatives.
Every other religion starts at some random point, and is able to justify why suddenly they became God's chosen path, without need of any logical reason.