The WTS claim that the early Christians DID not anticipate the Lord's presence or parousia in their time. The Watchtower Dec 1 1984, page 11 states:
"Freethinkers and even some of Christindom's theologians claim that the early Christians believed that Christ's parousia or presence, was due to occur in their day".
"As to the early Christians' belief in the imminence of Christ's presence, a scholarly refernce work* states: "The case for assuming that Paul expected the parousia soon in 1 Thess. is far from water-tight. As early as 1 Thess. 5:10 Paul reckoned with the possibility that he might die. The possibility cannot be dismissed that in speaking of 'we' in 1 Thess. 4:15 and 17 Paul was indentifying himself with the last generation without necessary supposing that he himself belonged to it".
* The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol 2 pg 923
I have a few problems with these quotes.
1- The first quote is a clear example of "poisoning of the well" kind of argument.
2- The second quote ref material is quoted as "a scholarly reference work" this is because it supports the WTS argument in this case. In other cases this ref material would have been "Christendom's scholars" or such.
3- What about the numerous NT scriptures that clearly show the apostles and early Christians were in fact anticipating the end in their time.
4- Did not the society, when trying to defend its unfulfilled expectations point to the early christians expectations as a case in point? (I would appreciate some ref material on where the WTS made such referrals, as I am engaged in a discussion with an elder)