Things to avoid. Circulate to all elders. Please let us have feedback so that we can maintain a full database.
Well don't get involved in anything about past Chronology. Its way too difficult. Here's a selection of stuff to avoid.
1) The beginning of the "last days" were in 1799, 1874, 1915, 1914
2) The end of the "last days" were in 1914, 1925, 1975
3) The time for Jesus's parousia: 1874, 1914, 1925
4) The Watchtower stated as "indisputable fact" that "beyond a doubt
... Jesus did appear in 1874" and began to rule as King in 1878.
5) That Jerusalem was destroyed in 606 BCE (later changed to 607 BCE)
6) The time for Armageddon to begin: 1874, 1914, 1920, 1925 (all
specified explicitly in writing) and 1975 (also in writing)
7) The time for Abraham, King David etc. to be resurrected and live
on the earth: 1925
8) The end of the 6,000 years was 1874 (later changed to 1975)
9) Jesus returned invisibly in 1874 (Changed in 1929, which means
that we were "selected as God's organization" (1919)
at a time when we did not even know when Jesus had arrived but thats insight for ya.)
Try not to mention the background to the 'donation' arrangement. In countries with different tax laws, typically, less developed and poor we can still charge! Where we don't charge we should be able to get the R+F to pay us extra contributions so we still do alright. The background was that we (and various Churches) filed a "Friend of the Court" brief on behalf of Jimmy Swaggart when the State of California imposed a 6% sales tax on his "Ministries". When Swaggart lost the case, the Society could no longer "sell" literature without paying sales tax. Within one month of Swaggart's loss, We changed to the "donation" policy, which completely solved the tax situation.
This saved us a lot of money!
Mentioning that the brothers in Mexico have suffered under the regime them provokes sympathy ….so don't give all the information out like…….
Brothers in Mexico had been oppressed by the government, so that they could not sing or pray at meetings. We have not told the R+F that we had registered as a "cultural" organization because religious organizations were not allowed to own property in Mexico. As a "cultural" organization, the brothers were obliged to downplay the religious aspect. The restrictions upon their actions derived primarily from our decision rather than government action but what the heck…..it sells.
Avoid examination of old Presidents like CTR, he believed some garbage like… (Watchtower, June 15, 1922).
"When Uranus and Jupiter meet in the humane sign of Aquarius in 1914, the long promised era will have made a fair start in the work of setting man free to work out his own salvation, and will insure the ultimate realization of dreams and ideals of all poets and sages in history."
That might make some think that astrology and pyramidology had a part in the determination of the year 1914.The 1914 stuff is bad enough without pyramids and star signs getting into it all.
We don't think too many noticed the change in format in the Awake after October 15, 1995. To remind you it said……
"Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away."
Well it could be construed that we were explicitly stating that it is Jehovah who is making the promise. (CompareDeuteronomy 18:21) but we want keep away from that stuff.
Also there are many weird quotes to be found on the CD-ROM. Sometimes we make them and sometimes we quote others but its best to get the R+F off researching it all. Example……
*** w61 9/15 564 Using Life in Harmony with the Will of God ***
"Moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes-these often follow in the wake of blood transfusion,"
Sheesh who's idea was that CD-ROM anyway?
ISP
Edited by - ISP on 26 February 2001 2:59:45