The 144,000

by johnathanseagull 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Buster

  Navigator,

  When your wife got the calling in 1972, did she have a sense that she had been Annointed at that time? Or had she been Annointed for a while, but just 'found out' in 1972?

  Either way, I wonder if she ever got any heavenly communication as to whom she was replacing, or what that person did to get the mark erased from the forehead.

  One more question: I'm guessing that you didn't have the heavenly calling, so did the fact that she was going to be called up 'any day now' affect your relationship?

  - Buster
• 

  Buster

  Tashawa,

  That is an interesting point. If true, it has a corrolary or two. If an Annointed gets df'd, I presume that that person could no longer be considered of the heavenly hopeful. Of course we all know the number is sealed. So a replacement would need to be identified immedaitely - I remember that logic from the 70s. Or is than a little 'exception buffer' - a number being reserved for repentant Annointed?

  So, if the Annointed is reinstated, AND they again are heavenly-bound, who gets booted back to earth?

  Of course its a silly discussion - the kind that Kenpodragon (in an earlier thread) noted that JWs consider a deep topic.
• 

  blondie

  Actually, Brother wrote that the door closed in 1881. I have to find the quote but it is amazing out it reopened after 1914.

  WT. 1/1/1881 Article headed" How long O Lord" The translation of the saints and the closing of the door to the high calling by 1881.

  "the awakening of the sleeping saints in the Spring of 1878. ... The awakening of the sleeping saints, A. D. 1878, was just half way (three and one-half years each way) between the beginning of the Times of Restitution in 1874 and the close of the High Calling in 1881." - 1917 book The Finished Mystery p. 64

  Edited by - Blondie on 30 October 2002 13:57:20
• 

  NeonMadman

  For those keeping score at home: that's 80% of the Annointed, that were already elderly, sinned badly enough to be dropped from the heavenly hopefull and had to be replaced

  What sort of sin do you suppose it is that all these 80 and 90 year old anointed ones are running around getting involved in? Fornication? Bestiality? Drugs? Lives of crime? What exactly are all these geezers doing that gets them judged unfaithful?

  Hmmm...now that I think of it...maybe it's pedophilia...
• 

  joelbear

  as i recall, the 144,000 were simply made up of the 1st 144,000 who became "true" christians.

  well you had the apostles 12

  the upper room guys and gals 120

  the 3000 Peter baptized in one day

  the dozens of congregations that Paul visited and wrote to or about.

  The height of 20th Century annointed claims was in the late 30s when something like 40,000 said they were of the annointed. Its been 70 years since these people made this claim. 8500 of the 40,000 still alive 70 years later?
• 

  Independent

  My mother claims to be annointed since 2000..., or was it 1999.., don't know - she told her family after the fact.
• 

  Buster

  Hey, Independant !

  Fire up a new topic and tell us a little about yourself.

  This is a pretty interesting crew, welcome aboard.

  - Buster
• 

  RunningMan

  Actually, I've never understood why the Society insists that the number 144,000 is a literal n umber. Every other number in revelation is symbolic - 3, 7, 10, 12, 24.

  If there was ever a symbolic number, it is 144,000. After all, think about it. It is 12x12x10x10x10, or 12 squared x 10 cubed. It is the most obviously symbolic of all the numbers of revelation, yet they insist that this one number is literal.
• 

  Buster

  Running,

  Especially in its context!! Every other reference in the 144k texts is understood to be symbolic. Nope, they don't all nee to be men. Nope, they don't all need to be virgins. Nope, they don't have some obvious mark on their foreheads. And they don't all have some special song that only they know (to the best of my knowledge at, least).

  But ain't they so sure that the 144k is an exact and literal number.

  I'll agree with your earlier post, though I hadn't heard of their backing away from the interpretation in recent publications. One thing I'm certain of, these are the guys that claimed, with a collective straight face, that they never predicted Armageddon in 1975. I'm actually looking forward to the rationalization (new light) where they explain that they were right before, but now they are even more right. It might be fun to have a thread where we predict their new logic and how they skirt earlier versions.
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  heathen

  The way I see it is that the 144K mentioned in revelation are those that restore true christianity after the appointed times of the nations have concluded which the society believe to be 1914.It has nothing to do with the first century christians or anyone else prior to 1914.Exactly when the final one is sealed is not mentioned.I think it is fruitless for them to argue having any knowledge as to a cut off date.