by bytheirworks 18 Replies latest jw friends
Did JW's predict the world would end in 1984?
The September 21, 1984 issue of Chrisitanity Today on pages 66-67, ran an article entitled: "Do Jehovah's Witnesses still hold to their 1984 Doomsday deadline?"
That's as far as my search has gotten me and it isn't on Chrisitanity Today's web-site.
Can anyone find this article for me?
Never heard of 1984 being the end of the world among JW's.
Did the date tie in with the 1914 or 1874 thingy at some point?
1984 was never one of the BIG ONEs. It was certainly hinted at via the Generations teaching, as in, 70 years being a "generation" from 1914 (there's a whole lot more to all this). But that same teaching had been used to keep the end imminent in the minds of JWs for decades.
Because 80 years was the furthest limit that the "old light" Generations teaching could be stretched, it officially ran out of runway on 1/1/1995, and so in that same year (July) they changed the teaching, and in typical watchtower fashion all but completely denied that they had ever taught it the previous way.
I believe that the Generations teaching has undergone further revisions since. I don't know what the current teaching is.
*** w68 12/1 p. 715 Putting First the Preaching of the Good News ***
By foretelling that this good news of the established kingdom must first be preached, Jesus indicated urgency. And so Jehovah’s witnesses must be urgent about preaching the good news, for the remaining time is reduced. Satan is working hard, for he knows that he has but a short period of time left. (Rev. 12:12) How much more so should Jesus’ true followers be working extra hard, since they too know that the time left for preaching this good news of the Kingdom is getting ever shorter! It is not reasonable to expect that present favorable conditions for preaching the good news will continue indefinitely. Besides, did not Jesus say that this generation will not pass away until all things are fulfilled? A generation, according to Psalm 90:10, is from seventy to eighty years. The generation that witnessed the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 does not have many more years left.—Luke 21:24, 32-36.
*** w92 5/1 p. 3 1914—The Year That Shocked the World ***
Today, a small percentage of mankind can still recall the dramatic events of 1914. Will that elderly generation pass away before God saves the earth from ruin? Not according to Bible prophecy. “When you see all these things,” Jesus promised, “know that he is near at the doors. Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.”—Matthew 24:33, 34.
and in 1995 it changed................
*** w95 11/1 p. 17 par. 6 A Time to Keep Awake ***
Eager to see the end of this evil system, Jehovah’s people have at times speculated about the time when the “great tribulation” would break out, even tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914. However, we “bring a heart of wisdom in,” not by speculating about how many years or days make up a generation, but by thinking about how we “count our days” in bringing joyful praise to Jehovah. (Psalm 90:12) Rather than provide a rule for measuring time, the term “generation” as used by Jesus refers principally to contemporary people of a certain historical period, with their identifying characteristics.
and there have been more adjustments, you might refer to this website
marked
Here's a plain-text (non-page-image) version of the article. You can request a pdf version of the article from your Public Library.
Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Still Hold To Their 1984 Doomsday Deadline?
Twenty years ago most Jehovah’s Witnesses believed the world would end by 1984. To be exact, they expected the end to come by October 2.
With that day just around the corner, members of the cult should be preparing for doomsday. But they aren’t, according to Gary Botting, coauthor with his wife, Heather, of The Orwellian World Of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Univ. of Toronto Press). The Botting’s new book challenges the cult’s views of the end of time.
The Witnesses’ Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society teaches that Jesus assumed his throne in heaven in 1914. It is a key point in Witness doctrine that at least some of those alive at that time will live to see the destruction of all the nations and most of their inhabitants. Formerly it was taught that a generation was limited to 70 years. It is debatable whether most Witnesses still hold to the 1984 deadline.
“The [Watch Tower] society may not talk about it much. Not everyone may believe it. But it’s still in the back of people’s minds,” says Gary Botting, a Jehovah’s Witness since childhood. “People who might have dropped out are hedging their bets. They say to themselves, ‘What if Jehovah’s Witnesses were right all along?’”
Walter Glass, registrar of the Witnesses’ Tower Bible School of the Gilead, says they do not preach that the world will end un 1984 since there is no requirement that a generation be limited to 70 years. However, he says the society holds to the view that the world will end before the generation alive in 1914 perishes.
Botting says an earlier end-time deadline set by the Witnesses passed without incident in 1975. In the 1960s the society hinted that the world would end in 1975 – ostensibly because they believed it to be the 6,000th year after Creation. But while the cult’s public pronouncements are more cautious today, Botting says the 1984 deadline remains a powerful device in holding members in line. In recent years, large numbers of formerly inactive Witnesses have become active. Membership rolls swelled in the past year by 6.8 percent, the biggest increase since 1975.
In their book, the Bottings liken the organization and its 18-member governing board to the despotic superstate portrayed by George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty Four. They argue that Jehovah’s Witnesses are citizens of a world where independent thought is not allowed and where unity must be expressed at all costs.
Botting says the Witnesses’ leadership keeps members in check by instilling fear in them. Dissidents can be excommunicated, cutting them off socially from friends in the group.
Watch Tower officials discount the author’s criticisms. Glass cites Paul’s instructions to believers that they should “admonish” those who don’t follow his teachings. “If that is being authoritarian, then we are authoritarian,” Glass says. “There’s room for free thought, but not in the organization. Dissent would be contrary to God’s way.”
The Bottings say the Witnesses’ top leaders still hold to the 1984 end-time theory, and that it is only a matter of time before their credibility will be destroyed.
– Religious News Service
from Christianity Today, September 21, 1984, page 66
I remember it being , not an official teaching , but one used by some elders to keep the expectancy of the big " A" foremost in the minds of their flock.
" It could happen I`m not saying it will , but it could happen "
smiddy
I REMEMBER 1984 or was it 1986 was big with the JW because of the UN proclaimed a "Year of Peace and Security" they hinted and hinted at the conventions,discussions in field service and back of Kingdom Hall chit chat that it would be "appropriate" for the great trib to start that year.
Not making this up it prompted,'encouraged' scared me into emptying out my savings account and sending a check to the Society.
Anybody else remember this?
I want to mention that I have had the pleasure of meeting Gary Botting for diner a few years back. He's a gem of a guy and leaves nothing but good impressions in all aspects. For Gary the matter of 1984 was especially important because the issue was pressed on him when he was still a teen-ager in school by a teacher he respected who one day asked the class, "Who can name the religion that expects the world to end by 1984?" The teacher then answered his own question; "Jehovah's Witnesses!" At that time Gary himself (being just a youngster, after all) did not realize how the WT stressed 1984. The experience motivated Gary to learn more about WT falsehoods. Of course all of this - Gary's youthful experience AND his interview in Christianity Today - took place BEFORE the deadline of October 2, 1984.
Those who say they don't recall this were either not involved in the religion before 1984 or were not paying attention to all the crumbs scattered on Jehovah's great feast-table.
As for the 1986 "Peace and security" hubub, that was simply a knee-jerk reaction to the use of the phrase by newspapers of the time.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 -- " Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. "
Some translations use the word "safety" instead of "security" like the Witnesses' own New World Translation does, so it was simple coincidence that got the JWs all wound-up over 1986. If I might quote Monty Python, "then, suddenly, nothing happened!"
