Fictitious self notarization of an assumed identy
When was the significance of the year 1919 first stated?
by jwfacts 25 Replies latest watchtower bible
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moggy lover
I have analysed the five sources that we have gathered so far and they seem to fall into two separate categories:
A. These represent quotes that only tell us that the year 1919 was assumed to have some improbable significance.
1. Mar 1 Wt 1925.
This seems to be the earliest mention of the year 1919 in Watchtower theology. Having reference to the release from detention of the then Directors of the Watchtower Corporation, this release is superimposed with prophetic significance. However there is no suggestion that Jehovah had actually reached out and, after testing these jokers along with the rest of "Christendom", "anointed" them as his favourites
2. April 15 Wt 1926.
This is the second reference to 1919 in Wt literature we have been able to locate, yet no application is made to being either tested or chosen for the great evengelizing work that the Wt now assumes took place in that year. Instead we are given yet another prophetic symbolism. This is of the Elijah-Elisha operation mentioned in the OT. CTR had stated that his generation was to be the last generation in human history. Now JFR hastily jumped in and justified a delay in the end by suggesting that there were to be TWO last generations.
CTR led a group who evidently represented the OT prophet Elijah, and he, JFR representing Elisha, was the lead the next generation into the promised land.
But still no concept of a testing and choosing by Jehovah who was supposedly at his temple doing this work.
3. Yearbook 1927. Here we have a third reference to 1919 but it only confirms the Elijah-Elisha illusion conjured up the previous year.
B. This class of quotes actually answers the question presented by JWfacts.
1. July 15 1930 page 214.
Here is the earliest notation that 1919 was not just a year of prophetic antitypes, but was a time of divine selection for the work of evangelism. For the first time we are informed that Jehovah came to his "temple" for the purpose of choosing his personal and collective representative here on earth. Having examined "Christendom" and rejecting them because of their sustaining and perpetuating "pagan" beliefs, he rejected them and instead settled on the WTBTS. This is despite the fact that there was no meaningful difference in "pagan" convictions held by the Wt leadership.
2. Aug 1 and 15 Wt 1930 paragraphs 45, 46. This reiterates what was stated a month earlier.
So, to answer the question posed in this thread:
The date is July 15, 1930, in the Wt magazine.
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Phizzy
So, nowhere in WT literature is the doctrine that Jesus Christ chose a bunch of convicted criminals in 1919 to be his FDS, explained and proved from Scripture.
Not anywhere in all the intervening years ? not now, when they claim it is only the GB that are the FDS ?
Come on guys, thisa is HUGE ! even the Scientologists offer some explanantion for their bat-shit crazy ideas , the WT NOTHING ? on their FOUNDATION DOCTRINE ?
If this (unexplained, unproven) doctrine fails, the whole House of Cards falls !
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jwfacts
Thank you everyone for the quotes , and the summary Moggy Lover.
I do not think the quotes prove what I had been trying to, that Rutherford was trying to phase Russell out of the picture. I seems moreso that he was trying to create support for his own legitimacy, particularly with the Elijah/Elisha parallel. He also needed to give credence to why 1914 failed and why he was changing so much doctrine, and so saying they were not chosen until 1919 helps there. Not that it really cleared things up, since most of his changes came after 1919. Furthermore, 1919 helps differentiate himself from the breakaway Bible Student groups, but that too is conjecture, as the quotes don't explain the underlying intention.
It seems that the change in the Faithful and Discreet Slave teaching by the current Governing Body in 2012, that the Slave was not chosen until 1919, more directly cuts ties with Russell, than Rutherford had tried to do.
Phizzy, you make a good point that the doctrine is unproven and unexplained. If you see the heading "How is 1919 Derived?" at Faithful and Discreet Slave, it shows the reasoning that the Watchtower uses to arrive at 1919. However, it is a contradictory and illogical process, and rarely mentioned, and so you are correct to say that the doctrine is a failure that undermines the whole house of cards.
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bats in the belfry
They say there was a waiting period between Elijah's and Elisha's work (time of transition) and transpose it onto the years 1918-19 ("We understand it was in 1918 that the Elijah work ceased, and that in 1919 the Elisha work began" - 1925 The Watch Tower, February 1, page 38).
From the 1927 Yearbook, page 21:
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bats in the belfry
What the heck!? They believe to be anointed - 'either you are with us or against us'.
Just to say you are commissioned ain't necessarily so! Years later they find out god even hasn't entrusted all his belongings to them as of 2013.
