"The Watchtower has consistently presented evidence to honesthearted students of Bible prophecy that Jesus' presence in heavenly kingdom power began in 1914." ( Watchtower, 15. Jan. 1993, p. 5)
Or not.
having trouble w/ images.
please delete & i'll repost.. .
2009 - "since 1925, jehovah's witnesses have recognized that world war i and the events that followed amount to sure evidence that christ's presence in heavenly kingdom power began in 1914" (w.09, 3/15, p.16).
"The Watchtower has consistently presented evidence to honesthearted students of Bible prophecy that Jesus' presence in heavenly kingdom power began in 1914." ( Watchtower, 15. Jan. 1993, p. 5)
Or not.
having trouble w/ images.
please delete & i'll repost.. .
2009 - "since 1925, jehovah's witnesses have recognized that world war i and the events that followed amount to sure evidence that christ's presence in heavenly kingdom power began in 1914" (w.09, 3/15, p.16).
The Society's teaching was still in flux.
In 1922, the WTS dumped 1878 as the year for Christ's enthronement. In his famous talk "Advertise, Advertise, Advertise" (as recorded in the 01. November 1922 Watch Tower), Rutherford stated that "Since 1914 the King of Glory has taken his power and reigns." (p.337) However, "Brother" Sullivan stated: "[I]n 1914 he took unto himself his great power and now [at least by 1922] reigns." (p. 337) This did not (neccessarily) mean that he had been reigning since 1914, because Rutherford had explained earlier in his talk: "We believe, therefore, that the day of preparation ended in 1914; and that in 1918, or thereabouts, the Lord came to his temple." (p. 334) "The context shows that the throne here mentioned could not be the Millennial throne of Christ, but that it does refer to the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, his position of authority as the representative of Jehovah after taking unto himself his great power to reign when he comes to the temple." (p.335) It appears there was a difference between taking the power (1914) and beginning to reign (1918).
Likewise, on page 326 the 01. November 1926 Watch Tower states: "In 1918 Jehovah God placed upon his throne his beloved and anointed King, in fulfillment of prophecy. (Psalm 2:6-8)"
have anyone ever heard of jehovahs witnesses who are not associated with the wts?.
i slightly remember a small group here in germany who called themselves "the new jehovahs witnesses".
they basicly did the same (preaching from door to door, and gathered now and again), but obviously did`nt agree with some of the wts-teachings.. another thing i observed over the years, is the fact that ex-jws who wanted to come back to the congregation, started off by attending the meetings, and then later on (after being accepted again), done the field-service.. but, i have never noticed ex-jws doing it vice versa.
have anyone ever heard of jehovahs witnesses who are NOT associated with the wts?
this thread was inspired by my listening to the band mastodon lately.
i just find their drummer brann dailor amazing.
other drummers who have impressed me in the past have been jimmy chamberlin of smashing pumpkins and dave grohl of nirvana.
Barrie James Wilson. (R.I.P.) He was the best.
"Mitch" Mitchell. (also, R.I.P.) Distant second.
*** lv chap.
5 pp.
50-53 how to keep separate from the world ***.
Sad Michael writes: Was not the first century GB a group of spirit annointed older men who wrote letters to instruct and direct as well as correct and counsel with a view to the building up of the clean congregation in order to further the spread (preaching of) the good news ? 1 cor 5:9
I would dispute that. The "Christian Greek Scriptures" demonstrate that the early Christians were guided by the Head of the Congregation, the Lord Christ Jesus, not some "Governing Body." But even if we were to assume from Acts chapter 15 that some manner of governing body existed in the first century, we would note that it would have been composed of “the Apostles and older men.” (vs. 6) And the authority of the Apostles was unique: we cannot clothe anyone today with their authority. Even the Reasoning book (p.37) notes: “ Apostolic Succession --Definition: The doctrine that the 12 apostles have successors to whom authority has been passed by divine appointment.... Not a Bible teaching.” (Italics in original)
my wife and i sent my 22 yr.old pioneer witness daughter and her husband a anniversary card and $ 40.00 and flowers the end of april.
my daughter wrote mrs. flipper and me each our own individual letters thanking us initially for the gifts - and then went into detail as to why she has not spoken to me for over a year and shunned me.. keep in mind as i paraphrase some of the highlights to these letters that the only negative thing i have said about the organization to my daughter in 3 years was to show her the ap news release about the child abuse settlements by the wt society .
i'll quote parts of the letter to mrs. flipper first :.
Mr. Flipper, old boy. It's a dreadful thing to see the mind-control at work. At least your daughter still expresses love for you. We'll be praying that she sees the light and that you find some peace.
"Sad Michael" writes:
I pray your daughter and any others who are faced with the choice of being loyal to Jehovah or anything or anyone will (continue to) choose Jehovah.
I agree whole-heartedly. Too bad Mr. Flipper's daughter has chosen to remain loyal to a false-prophet publishing company, instead of Jehovah, or her own father.
My wife agreed wth it then and does not agree with it now. What has changed?
Perhaps she decided to take the Watch Tower Society's advice to investigate one's religion and upon doing so came to the conclusion that it would please her heavenly Father most if she were to leave the God-dishonouring Watchtower cult. (Just a guess.)
i wondered if anyone has any information here as to the numbers of jw's in 1935.. i am assuming that the numbers were closing in on 144,000 so rutherford had to come up with this new idea of a great crowd, would i be correct in this assumption?.
paul.
The Watch Tower Society taught until 1935 that the "Great Crowd" was a second class of Christians with a heavenly hope.
The 144 000 were the Bride-class, the Great Multitude (Crowd) an attendant class ('Brides-maids').
The increasing numbers of Bible Students affiliated with the Watch Tower Society did not force the change in doctrine. The teaching allowed for large numbers of heaven-bound Christians. The Watch Tower Society taught the following in the 1917 publication The Finished Mystery on page 103:
FM103
Was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands
.— The number of theGreat Company will apparently exceed one
hundred millions. Num. 4:46-48 and Ex. 28:1
indicate but one priest to each 2,860 Levites,
which would make the number of the Great
Company approximate 411,840,000.— T118,
119; Dan. 7:10. 5:12
Currently, belief that more than 144 000 will receive a heavenly reward will result in Disfellowshipping. (w 01. April 1986 QfR)
iv) believe that jesus christ is mediator for "the faithful and discreet slave".
today, that "slave" is represented by the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.
5. elders.
Excellent post! Thanks, kindly!
*** lv chap.
4 pp.
what role does jehovah assign to the husband and father in the family, and how may a man fulfill that role?.
others have decided to remain childless and consider the possibility of bearing children in Jehovah’s righteous new world. Is this shortsighted? Are they missing out on life? Are they to be pitied?
Yes. YES. YES!
However, when a woman fills a role normally assigned to a baptized male, she wears a head covering. (1 Corinthians 11:3-10)
Actually, the Scripture states: when she "prays or prophesies..."
Never would we want to have the attitude of Diotrephes, who had no respect for those taking the lead in his day. (3 John 9, 10)
Diotrephes was "taking the lead" in his local congregation. The Apostle writes that Diotrephes "likes to have first place among them," not that he simply wanted to have first place among them... (The Governing Body is the "anti-typical Diotrephes.")
romans 10:9,10.
"...if you confess with your mouth jesus as lord, and believe in your heart that god raised jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.".
in my ten years as a jw, there was absolutely no emphases to the importance of this scripture.
As HB stated: "Any member of the "crowd" could now point out that the commission to preach publicly was given only to the annointed.
And why not? Maybe someday one of the "Other Sheep" will read Isaiah 61:1 ("The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones.")