This may be a dumb question, but when did Jw start teaching that they were divinely appointed in 1919?
1919 question
by l3gi0n 1 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Justin
The initial date for the divine appointment was considered to be 1918. That is when Christ Jesus supposedly came to the spiritual temple and judged his anointed followers.
In his booklet published in 1941, Theocracy, Judge Rutherford stated that the significance of 1918 was realized in 1922. A copy of this booklet is found at http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/booklets/theocracy.html. Read pages 23-24.
It was only later, during the Knorr-Franz era, that the emphasis was shifted to 1919. I believe this occurred when the "Babylon the Great is Fallen" book was published in 1963. I was still studying at the time, and before that it seems that the emphasis was on 1918.
Whereas 1918 is still considered to be the temple judgment, that year saw the imprisonment of Rutherford and his release, whereas 1919 saw the restoration at the first Cedar Point, Ohio convention.