And their whole authority is based on 1919.
How amazing are the invisible events the the WT is privy to.
The year 1914
by Kool Jo 37 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Apognophos
Won't happen any time soon. The would need to change several details in their current eschatology to separate 1919 from 1914, and even then their claims that we are in the 'last days' would become even more tenuous than they already are. They desperately cling to 1914 because something significant happened in that year. Sure, it was the wrong thing in the wrong month, but it was something.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying I think they will drop 1914, but they could. 1914 lost most of its significance in 1995 when the WT said, "Well, you know, a generation is basically a historical period", and then in 2010 with the overlapping "new light". 1914 no longer helps define an endpoint for this system using math like "1914+80=1994", therefore it's lost its original purpose in motivating the Bible Students/Witnesses.
I agree, though, that the lucky fact that WWI happened that year is one good reason for them to keep it.
It is not merely a 'myth on this forum' that 1919 is derived from 1914. The Watch Tower Society applies the periods of 42 months and 1,260 days (both 3½ years) at Revelation 11:2-3 to their preaching work during World War I from December 1914 to May 1918.
I'm not so sure they really still stand by this chronology, but I'm familiar with it. However, December 1914 is not October 1914. To quote an old post of mine, December 1914 is when "the Society warned that there might be persecution and announced the 1915 yeartext to be "Are ye able to drink of My cup?". Yes, that's the basis for the start date: counting backwards to the announcement of a yeartext. This reasoning is given in the WT of Aug. 1, 1994 in the Questions from Readers."
I then concluded by saying "even if 1914 is removed as a significant year from WT chronology, Witnesses will still have essentially the same belief -- that WWI marked the rough beginning of the signs of Jesus' presence, and Satan's confinement to Earth, a time of woe for mankind."
I think that the Society may never openly write that 1914 is no longer part of the doctrine, but they may simply emphasize the increase in wars and earthquakes and so on since the early 20th century (whether this increase is factual or not). This will be in line with the Society's "historical period" definition of "generation", which I expect to see repeated in a future publication, and will allow them to sidestep the awkwardness of a hundred years having passed since 1914. If we're just living in a historical period, then there's no math that can be done such as "80 years for a generation" to prove that the end should have come by now.
Of course, this will cause an eventual mellowing of urgency, but we've already seen that happen, and so 1914 now increasingly stands for something embarrassing. Sure, Witnesses can claim to Bible Students that "We predicted 1914", but showing how they arrived at 1914 is so laborious that I truly do not believe this is often used in the preaching and teaching work as a basis for the religion being "the truth".
The alternative to ditching 1914 and allowing the religion's urgency to completely dissolve is, as others have suggested, for the Society to get bold and stupid and pick a new end date like 2034 to motivate/scare people. I don't really know which is more likely. It's hard to predict what the GB may be talking about behind closed doors, or what sort of strong personality might dominate the religion again in the future.
That all being said, the Society's bigger problem might become the end of the U.S. as a world power.
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Apognophos
Oops, I capitalized "Bible Students" in my last post, how odd. Obviously I meant "Bible students" of JWs, not the IBSA, who are the ones that made the actual prediction in the first place.
Well, Jeffro, your suggestion in that thread is certainly possible. In a way I hope it happens, because if they water everything down as having a spiritual or invisible fulfillment, they should lose a lot of their urgency, and I would expect them to become less dogmatic and close-minded too.
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mouthy
Thanks for that.(video) I attended the court case ,& was shocked at the way they can lie
But then I remember when I was a JW we were taught "We didnt have to tell the truth
to those who dont deserve it" That is all in the world..... -
Apognophos
But then I remember when I was a JW we were taught "We didnt have to tell the truth to those who dont deserve it"
Yes, mouthy, I was taught that too by my Witness parents. I once tried to locate the scripture where it says that, but couldn't find it.
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TD
Haven't JW's always played the Adventist word game with Jesus return? Haven't they always taught that he 'comes' in different senses? (i.e. Coming for inspection is separate and distinct from coming for judgement?)
If that's the case, there's really no reason for the significance of 1914 to change much in JW theology.