Dates are becoming more and more irrelevant to WT doctrine, the days of the heavy duty interpretations and conclusions are gone.
Finds in Jerusalem shore up biblical account of Babylonian conquest (586 BCE date)
by Hecce 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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neverendingjourney
Dates are becoming more and more irrelevant to WT doctrine, the days of the heavy duty interpretations and conclusions are gone.
The 607 date doesn't really matter in practice anymore. As you say, the days of complicated prophesy analysis are behind them. In its place is a lot of "just around the corner" sloganeering and overlapping-generations nonsense that nobody can explain with a straight face.
Pride, ignorance, and the fear of disfellowshipping is sufficient to keep most of the Witnesses in line.
They may let 1914 slide into the dustbin of history without formally dropping it, just like they did with the thousand-year creation days nonsense that led to the 1975 hoopla. They never formally renounced that view, either. They just stopped teaching it.
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Ray Frankz
Dates are becoming more and more irrelevant to WT doctrine, the days of the heavy duty interpretations and conclusions are gone.
All dates except the linked 607-1914-1919. 1919 was the 'assignment of the FaDS' because 1914 was the kingdom birth and it's because it is 2520 yars after 607. So, no 607, no kingdom birth, no FaDS, no submission to their authority.
I don't see they changing it ever. In my opinion they will keep giving fantastic nonsense explanations and new people will continue buying it. We can't say anything because one day we bought too.
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sir82
As 1914 continues to recede into history, it will be less and less relevant.
When I was growing up, there were still 10's or 100's of millions of people around who remembered 1914. You could talk to them, interact with them - they were still very much a part of society.
Today, anyone born in 1914 is 103 years of age. Anyone who remembers 1914 would likely be 110 or more.
Per Wikipedia, as of today, there are fewer than 100 persons alive who are age 111 or more. There can't be more than a few hundred people, earth-wide, who have any memory of 1914. And likely a significant number of them are not able to recount those memories in any meaningful way.
"The generation of 1914", no matter how you define it, is about dead. They aren't a part of society any more. They are gone, all but forgotten.
When you mention "1914" today, you might as well be talking about 1814 or 1714 or 1214. Ancient history, no one you personally know was there to see it. Irrelevant.
They'll never really "drop 1914" but they won't have to. It will just be "some date in the past when something happened" - like 1776 or 1620 or 1492.
Seventh Day Adventists still teach 1843 as "some date in the past when something happened" - and no one who is not a SDA gives a hoot.
JWs will follow suit - not dropping 1914, but mentioning it less and less until it is little more than a footnote.
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Hecce
Sir 82
With you 100% in your assessment, the WT is a bad memory organization. People that came in during the Knorr days didn't care for what happened under Rutherford or Russell. The past is forgotten, the same formula is being applied today.
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venus
It is a matter of time that WT society would make this significant change: "The generation of 1935 (585 years of BC + 1935 years into AD = 2520 years) will not pass away until all these things occur."
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eyeuse2badub
The only thing that is important for jw's to remember is that Armageddon is coming sooooooooon!
just saying!
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Hecce
The only thing that is important for jw's to remember is that Armageddon is coming sooooooooon!
just saying!Amen to that
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BluesBrother
It may not be so prominent these days but it is still there in the teachings that "Studies" are taught when they learn the JW faith.
What Does The Bible Teach Us (2015) p 90~91
The length of the “seven times”: The “seven times” lasted for 2,520 years. If we count 2,520 years from the year 607 B.C.E., we end up at the year 1914. That was when Jehovah made Jesus, the Messiah, King of God’s Kingdom in heaven.
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Hecce
BluesBrother
Agree with your comment. At the same time the dates importance has been diminished. Very few new converts can do the 7 times and 70 weeks calculations that were standard learning in years past.