I had an interesting chat with a JW on Yahoo Messenger yesterday. Of course, he was using "theocratic war strategy," at least at first, and pretended not to be a JW, but someone who was asking a lot of questions about them. He opened the conversation by asking if I wanted to discuss 'the meaning of life'. I asked whether he wanted to talk about the Monty Python movie, but he assured me that he was talking about the purpose of life. (Too bad, the mood I was in yesterday, Monty Python would have been a better topic.)
Anyway, it didn't take me long to smoke him out as a JW (though he never admitted it), and we had a lot of the usual conversations, about the organization, false prophecies, the UN, pedophiles, Chitty and Greenlees, a bit of biblical banter about the deity of Christ and immortality of the soul. But during the conversation, he also expounded a theory that I thought was equally interesting and ridiculous, asserting (only as a possibility, he repeatedly assured me - though he did say that he found the argument "reasonable") that 2005 might be a good date for Armageddon.
Here's the essence of it: we don't know how long Adam lived prior to the creation of Eve (I assume that most of you are familiar with the Watchtower's position that Armageddon is only being delayed after 1975 by the interval of time between the creation of Adam and that of Eve). But since there is a parallel between Adam and Jesus, and since Jesus started to prepare his "wife" (i.e., the 144,000, starting with the apostles) at the age of 30, there is a possibility that Adam also received his wife at the age of 30. Since 1975 marked 6000 years from the creation of Adam, 2005 would mark 6000 years from the creation of Eve, and thus from the end of the sixth creative "day".
Additionally, he said, the events of 9/11/01 could be compared to the events of 66 CE when Roman armies, which later withdrew, surrounded Jerusalem. A parallel in time from 66 CE to the actual destruction of Jerusalem would be 3 1/2 years, which, extended from 9/11/01, would again bring us into 2005.
Here's the capper: "This generation" of Matthew 24:34 was 71 years in length (from the birth of Jesus in 2 BC to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE - no year zero, remember). Since a much greater work would be required in this later time, it is reasonable that a longer period would be required for the final work - say, 20 years more. That would give us 91 years, which, added to 1914, would again bring us again to 2005. Yes, I did ask why it should be 20 extra years, and not 30 or 50 or 100 years. His response was that by then, no one would be left from the 1914 generation (apparently he hasn't read the 1995 Watchtower).
So there you have it! The latest JW date for Armageddon! With no fewer than three lines of "evidence" (*cough*) leading to the same date! I don't know how widespread among the JW's this thinking is, but I can see how they would grasp at this sort of thing, given their desperation for any sort of vindication of their faith. This fellow claimed to be a very scientific and analytical person - I told him that he should take another look at the scientific method, since if he found the above argument "reasonable", his rational thinking skills needed some extensive work.
Anyway, I thought you guys might enjoy hearing about this.