lets check the record and see when, god's mouth peice on earth, with the proper spritual food AT THE PROPER TIME .said that the boat was LEAVING. russells spritual teachers said it was 1844 then 1845
This is a very interesting point. But since you are dealing with the reality fulfillment. Note that in the parable of the virgins, BOTH BEGAN TO NOD and their lamps began to die out. Therefore, this prophesied that JW would not have all the knowledge and would not have the correct understanding of all things just before the master arrives. So their getting some things generally right but specifically incorrect is PART OF IT.
So BOTH GROUPS are rather spiritually sleepy (in the dark) at one point. Thus being incorrect about certain Biblical things does not disqualify them as the group prophesied as the "temple organization" who would preach the good news.
Here's how their dates HALF-WORK:
They emphasized 1874 as the date for the second coming, based upon the 1335 days. That was incorrect, but their understanding that the 1335 days must fulfill the second coming was right. Furthermore, when this generation is compared to Noah's, there has to be a 120-year concept of preaching and that 120 years is correctly dated from 1874 to 1994. The last generation is correctly dated as 80 years from 1914 to 1994. So you see, though they really didn't understand completely (they were nodding) what the date meant, they still knew it was a significant date and made people generally aware of it and pointed to when the Messiah would arrive.
1914: Same with 1914. It's the wrong date for the "end of the gentile times" or the "second coming", but it's the correct date for beginning the "signs" that would last a generation within which time the Messiah would arrive: 1914-1994. That sign would begin with "nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom"; namely, a world war. So while 1914's meaning changed, it is still a critical date for letting us know that the Messiah would arrive within a generation of that time. So they made the date known and preached about the "time of the end" which was correct.
What one must realize is that the organization is imperfect and was prophesied from the very beginning to be corrupted with weeds. This is the organization prophesied in the parable about the "wheat and the weeds" where the master planted good seed and truth and then Satan came in and planted weeds even before the first blades came up. But what to do? If you tried to separate the wheat and weeds at this point (the wise and foolish virgins nodding), then you might pluck up some of the delicate wheat. So God decided to still use this organization, even though there were weeds (false prophecies, inaccurate views) among the wheat until the very end when Christ would come. Then, when he comes, he would separate the mature wheat (the wise virgins) from the false weeds.
So when you look at Jehovah's witnesses in the context of "god's organization" you must not just focus on the false prophecies, but what accurate knowledge they have far beyond the religions of Christendom.. For instance:
Understanding that Christ is an angel, the archangel Michael, for instance. That's major!
Understanding that the Trinity is a false pagan doctrine. That's major.
Understanding the "7 times" prophecy links the fall of Jerusalem with the second coming. That is an accurate understanding, though if you don't have the right dates you get bad timing. No problem.
They also understand the chronology of the "70 weeks" prophecy, where Christ appears after 483 years into the 490 years at his baptism. They have the correct date for this to start, 455BCE, but the wrong event.
So you see...wheat mixed with weeds.
But when the messiah arrives he will separate the true wheat from the weeds WITHIN this same organization. Some of the people in the organization, truly are weeds, but others God's wheat.
But...before you get ballistic. These few wheat, true sheep, that come out of this folk, a "little folk" will be brought to a larger fold of Christ's sheep being gathered elsewhere! So you don't have to be in this particular organization for God's blessing or approval, no more than God intends to just save Jews though they also have a special convenant to fulfill certain things.
Canon
