October 1914 what happend? Please tell me.

XQsThaiPoes

Okay how did Russel declare the gentile times over 2/3 days earlier than prophecied? Considering that WWI started Augest 1st and nothing happend in october 4/5 except war as usual what event let them know october 1914 was the the month the gentile times ended?

There was no earthly event that show the prediction came true. Russell said it was over early. WW1 can't be used because it was already going on. So how do we know Jesus came into power in october? I mean this "understanding" (it is not called a prophecy anymore) means what exactly?

The watchtower seems to be saying "we say that it happend, means it happend".

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w90 10/15 p. 19 Be Thankful?Jehovah?s Messianic Kingdom Rules ***

3 On Friday morning, October 2, 1914, Russell announced to the headquarters staff of the Watch Tower Society in Brooklyn, New York: "The Gentile times have ended; their kings have had their day." This was greeted with enthusiastic applause by the family at Bethel, "the house of God."

16 But how did Jehovah?s Witnesses come to understand the length of the seven times? The Bible reveals that "a time and times and half a time," or three and a half times, equals 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:6, 14) Therefore, double that number, or seven times, would amount to 2,520 days. On the basis of the prophetic guide of "a day for a year," the seven times would equal 2,520 years. (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6) By this calculation, the Gentile Times, which started in October 607 B.C.E., ended 2,520 years later in October 1914.

17

In October 1914, Jehovah God set his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the throne in the heavenly Kingdom. At last, the Revelation vision of the Christian apostle John started to become a reality, and the announcement could be made: "The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord [Jehovah] and of his Christ, and he [Jehovah] will rule as king forever and ever." (Revelation 1:10; 4:1; 11:15) What glorious news this is and what reason for the greatest happiness on the part of all joint heirs and subjects of that Kingdom!?Revelation 11:17.

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dp chap. 6 pp. 96-97 Unraveling the Mystery of the Great Tree ***

28

Since the "seven times" are prophetic, we must apply to the 2,520 days the Scriptural rule: "A day for a year." This rule is set out in a prophecy regarding the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. (Ezekiel 4:6, 7; compare Numbers 14:34.) The "seven times" of earth?s domination by Gentile powers without interference by God?s Kingdom therefore spanned 2,520 years. They began with the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem in the seventh lunar month (Tishri 15) of 607 B.C.E. (2 Kings 25:8, 9, 25, 26) From that point to 1 B.C.E. is 606 years. The remaining 1,914 years stretch from then to 1914 C.E. Thus, the "seven times," or 2,520 years, ended by Tishri 15, or October 4/5, 1914 C.E.

TD

XQ,

Russell envisioned the latter part of the "Time of the end" (1799 - 1914) as a clash between capital and labor that would result in the disintigration of human society and a descent into chaos. No human government would survive. Christ was to appear in 1914, the saints would be raptured and the Golden Age would be ushered in, essentially saving mankind from itself.

When October of 1914 rolled around, this obviously didn't happen. There was no visible confirmation whatsoever.

Since then, the idea that WWI was predicted as part of the expiration of the Gentile times has been incorporated into Witness teaching, but this is simply a piece of historical revisionism. The nations that participated in WWI were supposed to have already collapsed by October of 1914.

Also as you point out, the war actually started prior to October of that year.

GermanXJW

I remember a QfR in a Watchtower (40s-60s) that is not on the German CD-ROM that dealt with this.

The reply was somehow that Satan was aware that the Gentile Times would end and that he wanted to confuse mankind by starting a World War.

Ridiculous...

peacefulpete

German JW..I always thought it was funny that Satan needed to distract the world from seeing an invisible event noone was looking for.

blondie

If you notice, the WTS runs its religious calendar from the first part of October to the next October. That is why the annual meeting is in the first week of October. If you notice it runs from October 1, 607 BCE to October 1, 1914 CE in the WTS count of time.

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it-1 p. 463 Chronology ***

Hence the count of the 70 years of desolation must have begun about October 1, 607 B.C.E., ending in 537 B.C.E.

gumby

German JW..I always thought it was funny that Satan needed to distract the world from seeing an invisible event noone was looking for.

LOL Pete! I always thought it was also funny concerning the scripture they used in relation to it..." The nations became wrathful". Wrathful my arse.......the nations didn't have a clue about Jesus taking his supposed reign in 1914. The nations leaders would have laughed in the face of anyone who would have told them such an idea. Gumby

DFWnonJW

I always thought it was funny that Satan needed to distract the world from seeing an invisible event noone was looking for.

Ahem,

yes, well....the very fact that Satan created a distraction is all the proof needed for those that were looking for what was not to be seen except with the "eyes of understanding" which could never be clearly discerned without further enlightenment not due until long after the fact...or something. Simple really.

AlanF

Carl Sagan made an astute comment on how the Watchtower Society dealt with 1914:

Doctrines that make no predictions are less compelling than those which make correct predictions; they are in turn more successful than doctrines that make false predictions.

But not always. One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and -- while the events of that year were certainly of some importance -- the world does not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, "Oh, did we say ?1914'? So sorry, we meant ?2014.' A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvenienced in any way." But they did not. They could have said, "Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth." But they did not. Instead, they did something much more ingenious. They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry. [Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain, Ballantine Books, New York, 1982, p. 332]

AlanF

slippy

%decided not to comment%

October 1914 what happend? Please tell me.

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