1914 - "A Turning Point In History"?

by Bobcat 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  OnTheWayOut

  The Renaissance is a huge turning point in the history of the world. Europe came out of the Dark Ages. It was a glorious period for art, mathematics, exploration, and philosophy. The invention of the printing press was then.

  If you want a war point that was the turning point of history, then the French revolution was more so than WWI.

  Personally, I think the conquering of the "new world" was the war that was the biggest turning point as far as war goes. Entire civilizations were wiped out by plagues and European disease, others were changed beyond recognition, and lost forever and man showed his true colors back then as far as forced immigration and migration went.

  Leaving behind my Euro-centric "white people" feelings:

  Of course, the absolute biggest turning point in history was the changing from hunter-gatherers to an agricultural and big-city civilization. Or maybe when man harnessed fire for the first time or even when he invented gods.
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  OnTheWayOut

  We could also go back and say the most important event that was a turning point in history was when the dinosaurs were wiped out and mammals came of age.

  Or whatever the spark was that set the primordial soup to multiplying with life.

  Before that, there was the thing that caused the earth to lose a huge chunk of itself and formed the large moon. Man-o-man would things be different had that large moon never formed.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Don't make me go to the big bang.

  But a bunch of treaties signed and some archduke assasination- NAH!

  The Spanish Flu afterward was more of an influence than the war itself.
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  Julia Orwell

  I believe it was, but not because of anything biblical. It was the beginning of the era of mechanized warfare and the beginning of the end of European imperial dominance. It was an abrupt about turn of established order in Europe. It was definitely a European historic turn point. Yet, it is not the only turning point in modern history as jws would say. 9/11 was one too, and there have been many in the centuries past like 1517, when Martin Luther sparked the reformation. It's just with jws prophecy, well they got one close to half right. If you throw enough rocks into a crowd, eventually you'll hit someone.
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  Badfish

  Not only would it explain away the old "generation" teaching and buy time, but guess what?! Add 100 years to 1934 and you get 2034. 2034 is 120 years from Jesus' 1914 "inauguration" in heaven, which ties in nicely with the 120 years of Noah!

  2034 is also pretty close to 2000 years after the death/resurrection of Jesus if he was 33 and a half when he died.

  The GB has all kinds of numbers to work with if they want to make shit up about Bible prophecy.
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  kaik

  As European born, WWI was nothing really turning point of history of entire human race and was never taught as in college either. It only ended what is called long century established by Congress of Vienna in 1815 that kept in check European powers from waging devastating war. Napoleonic Wars, Seven Years War, or 30 Years War were as much defining the European history as WWI. Napoleonic War ended 18th century Enlightenment, and 30 Years War is defining the end of the Renaissance. For millions of muslims, Chinese, or Latin Americans, all these conflicts were indirect. Less than 100 civilian American casualties were in WWI. Conquest of Asia by Genghis had far more reaching impact on WWI, as it involved as far as Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary in the west, Islamic powers of Egypt, Levant, and Baghdad in the south, and China, Burma, Vietnam, and Java in the Orient.

  WWI did not not happened suddenly. The war in Europe was raging in the Balkans for several years before it spread out into major European power, Austria-Hungary. Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, and Ottomans were in war with each other for some time. BTW, Russell believed that Austria-Hungary is one of the ten horn. 1914 is nonsense, pulled by the Borg from ar.e twenty years after the fact. Until the Great Depression, the end of the time started in 1799.

  And when it comes to 1st century AD, millions of Roman, Persians, and Chinese Han Empire went on their daily routine without any indication that their powerful empires were replaced by a man living in fringe, underdeveloped, primitive province in the Middle East. I have to give bonus to point to Larry, because it makes much more sense than the 1914 nonsense fabricated by WT.
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  kaik

  BTW Paul had never met with Jesus in person. What he had seen and wrote could be just his invetion of a vidi imagination. Additionally, for millions of Jews in the 1st century and any point between then and today, Jesus is not a messiah and quite many do not believe that he ever existed.
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  wizzstick

  ablebodiedman,

  Tunguska = Satan falling to the Earth?

  Oh come on - that's nuttier that the Witnesses. It was likely a meteor as the most recent study (done after your video) suggests:

  http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/07/01/meteoroid-not-comet-explains-the-1908-tunguska-fireball/#.UvmsqLTSUmM

  Come on - you can't believe that!
• 

  kaik

  Onthewayout, you are correct that Christians especially from the Northern America continues to think along the ancient Eurocentric views and current ethnocentric, American one. For 1.3 billions of Chinese and 1.1 billion of Indians, this view is completely invalid. WWI also did not devastate as much Europe as did WWII. My grandfarther fought in 1918 in Italy around the river Isorno and my great-grandfather was an officer of Austrian Army in Eastern front defending Lviv in 1917. WWI was a trench war that devastated only areas aftected by direct warfare: Belgium, northern France, Venetia, Poland and Ukraine, and Serbia. Large cities deep in the territory with exception of Paris did not witnessed warfare. Berlin, Vienna, Prague, St. Petersburg, Budapest, Milan, Munich, Hamburg, or Rome did not experienced any war devastation. Revolutions after 1918 were violent, but with exception of Budapest, they were not even battleground.

  From top ten battles of the humanity, WWI does not stands out much. Sometimes Miracle of Marne is considered among them but was is as changing as the battles of Marathon, Carnae, Châlons, Hasting, Ayn Jalut, Lepzig?
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  Bobcat

  Thanks to all responders for some fascinating historical perspectives brought out vis-a-vis WWI and whether, and to what degree it was a "turning point in history" in comparison with other events.

  This was an unexpected bonus from a thread simply intended to counter the February 2014 public WT cover article, and its contention that the Bible points to 1914 as "a turning point in history." My use of Acts 17:30, 31 was for the purpose of showing that the NT disagrees with this contention and points to another event as the defining "turning point" in man's relationship with God. From the perspective of Acts 17:30 and 31, 1914 is nothing more than a continuation of the time period during which God "is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent." I wanted the many silent readers of the forum to consider that.

  I also find it extremely ironic that the WT, which claims itself to be the 'sole channel of enlightenment' between God and man, would miss such a basic Christian concept.

  Kepler:

  Thanks for this quote regarding history: "Little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind." I always enjoy your comments and perspectives.

  I agree with the notion that WWI was little more than the logical result of all the events that happened prior to it. True, new weapons were introduced. But they all derived from inventions that preceded them. New tactics may have been used. But those tactics came as a result of lessons learned from previous warfare. And, of course, some things were different afterwards, as it is with all wars and events. One side has won; the other has lost. And so things have changed. And yet, bigger things continue on the course they were already on, irrespective of these human events.

  "Someone in the Congregation got up to explain how the world was getting much worse all the time, reading a list of statistics."

  This is another WT concept that I (via my personal study, often incited from discussions here) have broken away from. Like you said, the WT needs the world to get continuously worse in modern times in order to validate the idea that 1914 introduced the "last days." (And, to be sure, some things have arguably gotten worse: e.g. the enviroment.) I understand Matthew 24:12 to refer to the period between the Olivet Discourse (c. 33 A.D.) and Jerusalem's destruction in 70 A.D. (With no intended secondary fulfillment. See here and/or here.) And the civil problems in Jewish society leading up to the Jewish-Roman war is attested some by Josephus.

  In contrast to the WT, NT writers point to Christ's sacrifice and return to heaven as introducing the "last days," a final period of human history before Christ returns and restores all things. (See here for a reference quote and here for a verse-by-verse tally. And here is the official WT view from a public talk outline.)

  (I'm digesting my morning jo here, so my brain is only starting to get into gear.)

  Take Care