If WW1 had not occurred, would JW's exist today?

amused

Just pondering....what are your thoughts?

iiz2cool

They would still exist. Only the lies would be different.

Walter

I don't believe in hypotheticals, ww1 was always going to happen, therefore it did, and as a result its effects have reverberated across time ever since...one of the many millions of effects would be that in the process it gave the WT org what they feel is a solid basis for their doctrines.

blondie

Actually WW1 did happen but it did not lead to what Russell had predicted a complete breakdown in governments and social and religious systems and the beginning of God's kingdom rule over the earth. They expected to go to heaven and begin rulling at that time. That is why the date was adjusted to 1915.

Footnote

Proclaimers Book sect. 6 chap. 28 p. 632 Testing and Sifting From Within

Extending the parallels further, it was stated that the desolation of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. (37 years after Jesus was hailed as king by his disciples when he rode into Jerusalem) might point to 1915 (37 years after 1878) for a culmination of anarchistic upheaval that they thought God would permit as a means for bringing existing institutions of the world to their end. This date appeared in reprints of Studies in the Scriptures. (See Volume II, pages 99-101, 171, 221, 232, 246-7; compare reprint of 1914 with earlier printings, such as the 1902 printing of Millennial Dawn.) It seemed to them that this fitted well with what had been published regarding the year 1914 as marking the end of the Gentile Times.

Narkissos

For what such a hypothesis is worth... I guess this coincidence was essential to the survival and development of the WT, even though it was definitely not what Russell expected.

Which makes me think of a similar (unanswerable, yet thought-provoking) question: if Christianity had not become the official religion of the Roman Empire, would it -- and even Judaism -- exist today?

Mary

I figure they'd still exist.......after all, seeing as Jesus "returned invisibly", they could have still promoted this hogwash without WWI, although it was a huge bonus for them that it happened when it did.

Amazing1914

Yes, they would exist. They would have had a different set of explanations for the timing of events. Likely, they would have used WWII instead as their time of Satan being kicked out of heaven, etc, etc. They would have been much the same as they are today.

Jim W.

Satanus

Yes, they would. As pointed out, what happened wasn't what russel predicted. Wt history was rewritten to make it look like ww1 was what russel predicted. Also, when rutherford took over, the majority of bible students left. Yet, it still succeeded. This shows that ww1 had little to do w it. Further, the example the second adventists of 1844 fame, from whom the wt sprang, who had nothing as dramatic as a world war, succeeded even though they are based on totally false dates/prophecies.

As w starting any other business, success depends on tenacity, hard work, and ruthlessness. Both russel and rutherford had those qualities.

So, you wanna start your own religion? The fields are ripe for the harvest.

S