by truth_b_known 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
"1914 has been a key date for Jehovah's Witnesses. It is supposed to mark when Jesus was enthroned over God's kingdom, all invisibly of course, and begin the "Last Days" of the generation that would not pass away."
And 1914 is established only through eisegesis (interpretive abuse) involving unbridled speculation.
I am surprised at the ignorance among current JWs themselves over the 1914 doctrine. They refer you to their literature and show poor comprehension about the basis of the 1914 doctrine.
At least past JWs ably demonstrated their ability to perform interpretive hop-scotching all over a series of tricky verses to force conclusions about 1914.
This is what happens when religiously biased men set it upon themselves to interpret and declare as truth conclusions about numbers, symbols and sundry utterances found in copies of copies of copies of translations of ancient books.
The Watchtower Corporation built itself up on fear mongering charlatanism.
In essence the WTS men were deceiving lying crooks that were able to keep themselves wrapping in an image of sanctity and truthfulness, most people could see through this, particularly real bible scholars but unfortunately some could not.
You might say the WTS created its own sales and distribution agents and called them the Jehovah's Witnesses.
No wonder the leaders of the WTS hung onto 1914 for so long .... it worked
I recently pointed out on this forum that the 2017 memorial invitation made notice of the Biblical moon calender, but in their literature the Gregorian calender is used for 1914, their core doctrine that Is hidden for the pagan religions of mystic Babylon.Talking about inconsistancy!
Right Snowbird, not to forget Revelation 11 for confirmation:
1. I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3. And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
42 (12 + 12 + 12 + 6) months = 1,260 days (3 1/2 360 day years)
MAJOR TIME PROPHECY
According to the Watchtower chronology of world events, 1914 is the turning point in human history. In fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. 2:44), Jesus ascended His heavenly throne in 1914 and established His kingdom. This kingdom, now visibly overseen by (who else) the Watchtower Society is soon destined to destroy all other kingdoms at Armegedon. The Watchtower teaches that the time or period of the end began in 1914 when Satan was cast to the earth signalling that the "times of the gentiles", or the time of gentile dominion was over or fulfilled. Although there is not a shred of sound Biblical or historical evidence to substantiate any of these conclusions, the issue that merits close analysis is the conclusion that Christ somehow returned or became "present" in 1914 and established His kingdom.
The evidence Witnesses employ to "prove" that Christ's "coming", or as they would have it, "presence" occurred in 1914 is almost exclusively interpolated from prophetic utterances found in Matthew 24 where Jesus responded to the disciples request for the "SIGN" that would signal both His coming and the end of the age. Mt.24:1-3 For Witnesses, the most critical, or at least most quoted segment of Jesus' response to the disciples' request is found in verses 6 and 7, which read:
And ye shall hear of WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS:
see that ye be not troubled: for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (6)
FOR NATION SHALL RISE AGAINST NATION, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be FAMINES and
PESTILENCES, and EARTHQUAKES in divers places. (7)
Witnesses erroneously associate these verses with the SIGN of Christ's avowed return based on the following assumptions and presuppositions:
a. The catastrophes mentioned by Christ in Mat.24 do not
signal the closeness of his coming but the fact that he
has already arrived.
b. The word "parousia" should be translated as "presence" rather
than "coming", as in the KJV. This suggests that when the
disciples asked for the "sign" of his coming, they were
really asking "What sign will prove to us you are already
invisibly present - "What is the sign of your "presence"?
c. The sign (singular) that Jesus gave to prove his invisible
presence included earthquakes famines disease etc. In other
words, the SIGN represents a "composite" or many faceted
confirmation.
d. The unique worsening in world conditions as measured by the
increase in the catastrophic signs of Mat 24 in this century
clearly demonstrate that Jesus became invisibly present in
1914.
Dear friends,
who was the first in that "lastdays"-rallye? Who at first interpreted the numbers/days from Daniel or Revelation as proof that "bible prophesy" is "fullfilling today"? Were it rabbinic kabbalists, christian darkmiddleage cults - albigensisans, waldensians e.g. or lutherian protestants or a catolic monch, who was bored and awaited the divine judgement day? Who copied whose ideas? Who came up with that notion: one day = one year interpretation, that this could reach into our time? I ve read it already in another thread or a book, dont remember though. How influenced Miller 1843 in the latest history? Perhaps it was in " The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology and Christ's Return by Carl Olof Jonson ?
d. The unique worsening in world conditions as measured by the
increase in the catastrophic signs of Mat 24 in this century
clearly demonstrate that Jesus became invisibly present in
1914.
Yes that's what the WTS has been propagating since 1914 with the out break of WW1, in its long standing endeavor and agenda to attract attention to the organization's literature.
The reality is the human population had increased dramatically since biblical times and there has been a continuation of all those signs which were even present when those prophetic words were written.
Another fact is that humanity has improved upon many of those particular woeful signs over the centuries.
who was the first in that "lastdays"-rallye?
I think William Miller was the beginning source of the " Christ Has Returned " preaching which through his endeavors emotively stirred up this theological idea , particularly on the East coast of the United States.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia| William Miller | |
|---|---|
 William Miller | |
| Born | February 15, 1782 Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
| Died | December 20, 1849(1849-12-20) (aged 67) Hampton, New York |
| Occupation | Author Teacher Minister/Preacher Military officer Farmer |
| Spouse(s) | Lucy Smith |
| Children | 5 |
William Miller (February 15, 1782 – December 20, 1849) was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-19th century North American religious movement known as the Millerites. After his prophecies of the Second Coming did not occur as expected in the 1840s, new heirs of his message emerged, including the Advent Christians (1860) and the Seventh-day Adventists (1863). Later movements found inspiration in Miller's emphasis on Bible prophecy; the Bahá'í Faith holds that his predictions of 1844 events were accurate.
Miller was born on February 15, 1782, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His parents were Captin Miller, a veteran of the American Revolution, and Paulina, the daughter of Elnathan Pelps. When he was four years old, his family moved to rural Low Hampton, New York. Miller was educated at home by his mother until the age of nine, when he attended the newly established East Poultney District School. Miller is not known to have undertaken any type of formal study after the age of eighteen, though he continued to read widely and voraciously.[citation needed] As a youth, he had access to the private libraries of Judge James Witherell and Congressman Matthew Lyon in nearby Fair Haven, Vermont, as well as that of Alexander Cruikshanks of Whitehall, New York.[1] In 1803, Miller married Lucy Smith and moved to her nearby hometown of Poultney, where he took up farming. While in Poultney, Miller was elected to a number of civil offices, starting with the office of Constable. In 1809 he was elected to the office of Deputy Sheriff and at an unknown date was elected Justice of the Peace. Miller served in the Vermont militia and was commissioned a lieutenant on July 21, 1810. He was reasonably well off,owning a house, land, and at least two horses.
Shortly after his move to Poultney, Miller rejected his Baptist heritage and became a Deist. In his biography Miller records his conversion: "I became acquainted with the principal men in that village [Poultney, Vermont], who were professedly Deists; but they were good citizens, and of a moral and serious deportment. They put into my hands the works of Voltaire, [David] Hume, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, and other deistical writers."[2]
Millers original "1843 is the end" chart
http://www.bible.ca/pre-miller-1843-ellen-white.gif
Millers "Kingdom of God in 1843" was certainly the closest relative of 1914
Miller converted from Deism in 1816. Excited, he began to "search the Scriptures" for the truth. After two years he was convinced he understood them—especially Daniel 8:14: "Unto 2,300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The cleansing of the sanctuary, Miller believed, could only mean the purging of the earth by fire—in short, the end of the world.
By interpreting these prophetic days as years and beginning from the date of the prophecy (placed by James Ussher at 457 B.C.), Miller concluded that the end of the 2,300 "days" would fall in 1843: "I was thus brought to the solemn conclusion that in about 25 years from that time all the affairs of our present state would be wound up
How bishop Ushher came to 4004 BCE as age of the world:
https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/the-world-born-in-4004-bc/
