Where We Are in the Stream of Time (page 2)

rocketman

She kind of gave new meaning to the expression: "The pages of history".

You should have asked to see her bible, then pointed out that from Adam to Noah was 1700 years - It took around 6 pages. From Noah to Jesus was 2300 years - it took about 1000 pages. So, how can you use the number of Bible pages to estimate our position in the stream of time?

I suspect that either she imagined this little tidbit herself, or more likely, she took someone's illustration a little too literally.

Preston

She shows me the thinness of the pages between her fingers, and finished in triumph:
?THAT?S how we know that the End is so close!?

You know...just because James Joyce's "Ulysses" takes place in the course of a single day, doesn't make it a short book!

Leolaia

w97 6/1 p. 13 A Secret Christians Dare Not Keep! ***
In fact, some 4,000 years elapsed from the giving of the first Kingdom promise in Eden to the appearance of the King-Designate in 29 C.E. Another 1,885 years elapsed before the Kingdom was established in the heavens in 1914. Thus the "sacred secret" was progressively revealed over a period of almost 6,000 years.

Wow, what a sly way of maintaining the "6,000 years of man's existence" argument. The passage clearly invites the reader to add 4,000 + 1,885 years and compare it with the 6,000 years mentioned; man's existence would then run 5,885 years to 1914, and since then it has been 90 years, so right now we would be 5,975 years from Eden with only 25 years to go! Although there is no mention of Armageddon, the last stage of the process would certainly be establishment of the kingdom on earth: (1) Kingdom promise given, (2) appearance of King-designate, (3) establishment of Kingdom in the heavens, (4) establishment of Kingdom on the earth. This last part is unsaid, but follows from the logic of the argument, and the explicit mention of 6,000 years invites the reader to make the connection between the implied event (4) and the timing of the 6,000 years. Since the reign is supposed to be 1,000 years, the imaginative reader would find 7 milleniums to be attractive considering the sacred number "7" as a number of completion. There is no prediction here, no prophecy of the end, the text only addresses the revealing of the "Kingdom promise". But it is written in a way that could easily be taken (mistakenly?) as pointing to 2029 as a possible date of the establishment of the Kingdom on earth.

The funny thing is that the Society cheats a little on the chronology, since almost 30 years have now passed since the 6,000 years came to an end in the official chronology. The timing is based on the "giving of the first Kingdom promise in Eden," and not on the date Adam or Eve were themselves created. How long did they live in Eden? The Bible does not say. What it does say is that Adam was 130 years old when he fathered Seth (Genesis 4:3), and this was after Cain and Abel (3:25), and the "giving of the Kingdom promise" referred to here is their interpretation of the "seed" mentioned in Genesis 3:15 (which goes against the plain meaning of the text) at the time when Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, so in theory, the Society could limit themselves to 6,000 years of mankind's existence outside of "Eden," outside of God's Paradise Earth. Saying that the promise was given "about 4,000 years" before 29 CE means that roughly 3970 BC was when the promise was given and this was 56 years after Adam's creation in 4026 BC (according to the Society's chronology), which fits within the range of possibilities. It would be interesting if the Society decides in the future to make more of this and turn this into a more definite "time prophecy".

Elsewhere

If she believes in a "stream of time" then that means that she also believes in predestination.... a series of events that will inevitably result in a given outcome.

I wonder if she even realizes that using that kind of terminology conflicts with the teachings of the WTS?

frankiespeakin

Leo,

It would be interesting if the Society decides in the future to make more of this and turn this into a more definite "time prophecy".

It seems like they are testing the water,,to see if it might fly some day. Very sneaky,,I would bet that the GB diliberated extensively about the correct wording of that 97wt statement. Good catch,, I think it may come up later,, or the WT may just can the whole idea, but I'm more inclind to think they won't because they can't.

RunningMan

since almost 30 years have now passed

The society can do away with a mere 30 year discrepancy without even breaking a sweat. In the past, they used a "tarrying time", which was the length of Jesus life until his baptism. This is how they got the 1874 date for Christ's invisible presence (by adding a tarrying time to William Miller's failed 1844 date). I guess the logic is that, if the son of God can piss around for 30 years before getting down to work, then his kingdom can similarly piss around for 30 years.

There is also the length of time that Adam was alone in Eden, before he realized that he couldn't mate with the animals, and God decided to create Eve. That uncertainly builds in a bit of a buffer, maybe even 30 years worth.

Elsewhere

?And now, today, after six thousand years, we are living in the Book of Revelation, the last Bible book.? She has flipped through almost the entire book and now only has a very few pages between her thumb and finger. ?Can you see how short the time is remaining? This is where we are now!? She shows me the thinness of the pages between her fingers, and finished in triumph:
?THAT?S how we know that the End is so close!?

I wonder if she realizes that the book of revelations was not the last book written... it just happens to have been placed as the last book in the bible.

TD

She has flipped through almost the entire book and now only has a very few pages between her thumb and finger. ?Can you see how short the time is remaining? This is where we are now!?

That's priceless!

I think the "Stream of Time" phrase probably comes from the chapter "Measuring Events In The Stream Of Time" in the Witness publication, All Scripture is Inspired of God and Beneficial

This book has been around forever and most Witnesses are familiar with it.

95stormfront

yeah...I had a bunch of elders in my ouse 10 years ago spouting that where we are in the 'stream of time" crap to me when I'd decided tog o back to school.

should've kicked them both to the curb then

Where We Are in the Stream of Time

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