In my early years as a Christian, I was exposed to many teaching on the end times whereby the proponent of that teaching had very sound reasons for why we were in the last days. There was Hal Lindsey with The Late Great Planet Earth, Salem Kirban with 20 Reasons Why The Earth May Not Last Another 20 Years and Barry Smith ( http://www.barrysmith.org.nz/) with Warning. I believed all this stuff for some time but it soon became apparent that all their "biblically derived" end dates were both wrong (they came and went) and contradictory.
A good book I read on the subject was 99 Reasons Why Noone Knows When Christ Will Return by B.J. Oropeza. Here is an extract from page 19:
When my doorbell rang, I opened the door to meet two women who said they were from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. One of the first questions they asked was whether I believed we were living in the last days. I told them yes (even though I knew my interpretation of "last days" contradicted theirs). Our conversation then gravitated toward 1914, when, according to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Second Coming took place. Christ returned that year, but no one could see him because his returm was invisible.I asked the elder of the two women, "what objectively happened in 1914 that should make everyone believe Jesus Christ returned?"
She failed to give me a direct answer. She only affirmed that we are living in the last days according to Scripture and that therefore Jesus Christ had returned in 1914.
The Bible never gives a date for the return of Christ. The Jehovah's Witnesses could offer no biblical proof text even from their own distorted New World Translation - there is no text that says, "Jesus will return in A.D.1914." In general, date-setters must go beyond any plain reading of Scripture in the attempt to unearth some hidden date for the Lord's return.
As I said, I come from a religious background where people vehemently cling to particular dates for the end, but there are plenty of them and you can always pick and choose between who you'll listen to or ignore. Therefore I find the power of the "607 BC" thing very interesting. It seems to be a major sticking point for many Dubs in a way I just can't identify with. Just how heavily is this date hammered and how important is it really? It would seem to me that neither 697BC or 1914AD would be as important in Dub chronology as 1919AD (when the Judge was supposedly found to be the only true friend God had on Earth) - can anyone explain this and how it all works in Dubdom? (fairly simply if possible )?
Q: How do you know a Dub loyal to "Jehovah's Organisation" is lying?
A: Their lips are moving.