Just because a date isn't mentioned as often, it doesn't mean it's being abandoned.
On the fading of 1914 ............
by TheOldHippie 38 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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AlanB
Well of course we are all more sensitive to the ever shifting doctrines, now that we are out and have done our research our eyes are opened to the changes.
The R&F on the other hand may never notice, the endless meetings where you mentally switch off, the odd watered down reference to 1914 keeps the older JW's happy and the newwer ones never know the difference. Its only in hindsight do you realise what has happenned. Like the changing of the words on the barn door in Orwells 1984, no its always said that, you are mistaken.
Well I am not mistaken, I sat through book studies of the 'Babylon' book as a child, I remember the chronology and the fact that the entire doctrine was hinged upon it. I remember the early 80's when it was more than hinted at that 1984 was significant. I remember reading books that told how Rutherfords organisation was cleansed and found favour after the 3 1/2 years in prison following 1914. I remember the explainations of Porousia and christs presence. I could recite how 607 + 7 times + Year 0 = 1914 . I leanrned how the 6000 years added up to 1975 and then saw it downplayed. I remember the subtle change of the Generation to those that were alive in 1914.
I suspect very few will even notice.
No one noticed when they changed the banner on the Awake, no one noticed the references to the UN in the 80's. They accept the new light on blood fractions.
Its like the old story of how to boil a frog. Change the temperature slowly and they dont notice.
A few references here and there then comes the new light that appears to be only a gradual change. No Brothers we have always taught that.
Eventually the whole thing will be so hollow there will be nothing left.
A
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blondie
The thing to be noted, I think, is not whether 1914 is mentioned less or that 607 is mentioned but when was the last time these 2 dates were mentioned and correlated together?
Was it here?
Daniel's Prophecy (1999) 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.
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Neo
Blondie,
when was the last time these 2 dates were mentioned and correlated together?
You've probably forgotten, but there was a study article this year that did exactly that: it correlated 607 and 1914.
Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-21-04 WT Study
Watchtower Study for 3-21-2004
I guess this is some evidence that some WT writers want to emphasize 1914 knowing that lack of mention to it will increase doubt in inquiring R&F minds. At the same time, others would like to diminish its as much as possible, as evident in the growing scarcity of references to the date in recent years.
Neo
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GermanXJW
Neo, it is cruel to refer to Blondie's very own thread. ;-)
But there are not many that could do something like that to Blondie.
German-of-the-Blondie-admiring-class-XJW -
Neo
Hey, GermanXJW, I'm a Blondie fan too!! She does a terrific job!
This was just a little piece of information she possibly didn't notice. Even she can forget minor stuff like that. It's nothing compared to the amount of research she has provided us. Thank you, Blondie!!!
Neo
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Pole
Neo's analysis is interesting if we consider raw frequencies a telling statistic, which in a way it is. He used a simple quantitative approach. I'd like to use some qualitative stats.
Actually I do some research in computational linguistics. I am working on a variation of an algorithm which groups related concepts automatically for a given set of texts. I've recently applied it to WTS literature just for the thrill of it. (obsession).
It allows me to roughly test how a given concept is related to others in a set of texts and thus it defines the connotative meaning of the concept through its context. The interpretation is that in different doctrines words gain meaning when they cooccur with other words. Thus you can see how the use of certain word is biased by doctrinal change.
Anyway some results for 1914 are given below. I have tested how the word/concept of 1914 was used in relation to other words/concepts in the WT magazine in 1970, 1984 and 2003-2004. There are three tables below which illustrate this.
The first column contains a general label for the group of words which tend to cooccur with 1914. The second one shows all the words belonging to this group. The last column shows how closely related these words are to the concept of 1914.
Here we go:
Watchtower 1970
Stem
Words
Relation
c.e
c.e
0,28263
gentil
gentiles, gentile
0,22976
sinc
since
0,207
end
end, ending, ends, ended
0,13555
period
period, periodically, periods,
0,12756
1918
1918
0,12638
messian
messianic
0,10814
time
timing, time, times, timely
0,09309
year
year, years
0,08937
event
events, eventful, event
0,07675
antityp
antitype, antitypical, antitypically
0,07438
appoint
appointing, appointment,
0,06903
propheci
prophecies, prophecy
0,06811
jerusalem
jerusalem
0,06186
war
war, warring, wars
0,06087
Ok, so we have some "old-school" lingo here (end of "gentile times" seems to crop up). The year 1914 seems to have some antitypical, prophetic meaning. It has to do with Jerusalem (second fullfilment perhaps). It marks the end of the gentile times and the beginning of the period of the messianic kingdom which has ruled since then. This is confirmed by events such as wars.
Watchtower 1984
Stem
Words
Relation
gener
generations, generation
0,16332
sinc
since
0,14111
1880
1880
0,13835
year
year, years
0,13677
gentil
gentiles, gentile
0,12973
rule
rule, ruling, rules, ruled
0,12364
mark
marking, mark, marked, marks
0,11713
event
events, eventful, event
0,10859
date
dated, dating, date, dates
0,10764
end
end, ending, ends, ended
0,10039
began
began
0,09704
point
pointed, point, points, pointing
0,09524
chronologi
chronology
0,09431
heavenli
heavenly
0,09249
As you can see in the 1980s, the big change in the ranking is the number one among the concepts related to 1914 - generation. Plus, the WTS boasts a lot about the fact that they had attached much importance to that date as early as 1880.
Watchtower October 2003 - 2004
Stem
Words
Relation
enthron
enthronement, enthroned
0.23794
sinc
since
0.12409
establish
establish, established, establishment
0.10145
appoint
appoint, appointment
0.08755
heaven
heavens, heaven
0.08386
world
world
0.07201
condit
conditional, condition, conditions
0.07187
kingdom
kingdom, kingdoms
0.06861
end
end, ending, ends, ended
0.06842
king
king, kings
0.06538
fulfil
fulfillments, fulfiller, fulfilled, fulfills, fulfill
0.0629
jesu
jesus
0.06158
slave
slaves, slave, slaved, slaving
0.05686
anoint
anoints, anointing, anointed
0.05657
christ
christ
0.0512
Hello, whatever happened to the number one from the middle 1980s? The concept of generation gets completely disassociated form the concept of 1914. Otherwise, same old crap: enthronement of Jesus as king, and the establishment of his heavenly kindom. Perhaps more emphasis is placed on the deteriorating conditions of the world rather than to the concept of gentile times from the 1970.
My conclusions:
The common features for the 1970s, 198s and 2000s (?) interpretations of the year 1914 are:
a) The enthronement of Christ and his happy rule ever since.
b) The fulfillment of follow-up prophecies
The distinctive features for the three:
a) In the 1970s more emphasis was placed on the ancient chronology (antitypes/gentile times).
b) In the 1980s the WT stresses the relationship between 1914 and the generation.
c) When 1914 is mentioned n 2003-2004 WTs, few if any details of the ancient chronology are mentioned. Also the relationship between 1914 and the generation was cancelled.
Statistical figures, but they seem to correlate with what most of us know don't they?
Pole
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Honesty
Governing Body says:
If we tell you this bible is Green, IT IS GREEN even though it looks Black because we are God's voice to mankind but we don't prophesy but we recieve information from Jehovah but we never said that but we have seen some publishers eager for the end of this system think we said the end would come in 1874, 1914, 1925, 1975 but they were just speculating because we really did not say that. Now, who is dispensing nutritional spiritual food at the proper time in these "Last Days' other than the Faithful Discreet Slave Class of spirit anointed members of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. The facts provide the answer to that question that ONLY Jehovah's Witnesses know when the end of this system is going to take place and, friends, you can take that to the bank while you are donating your life savings to further the Kingdom Message that we have been proclaiming to the nations before the end will come so dig deep in those pockets and be happy that you may/may not be spared God's wrath at Armageddon. The Bible is Green.
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one
Around the time Freddy Franz died a lot of thing started to take speed, such as redefinition of "generation" and associating with the UN despite the fact it is a "beast". All that demostrate a systematic, planned, change in doctrines and teachings.for obvious reasons.