Scholar,
You said:
It is only apostates and our critics who make much of our 'date setting' and the failure of some of our prophetic speculations. They fail to give us credit for those dates that have proven to be reliable and accurate such as 607, 537BCE, 1914 and 1975 CE. Chronology has always been a subject of intense interest for earnest Bible Students as it is the bedrock for the fulfillment of prophecy and the framework for the presentation of history, in the pursuit of such noble objectives it is reasonable to expect a margin of error but over time adjustments are truly appropriate and necessary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlHbz5G4UTM
Perhaps you should take a few minutes and refresh your "watchtower history" and the accuracy of the dates sited. Youtube has a excellent clip on the history of the organization. (see the above clip) I am sure you will find it most interesting.
You cannot be serious when you speak of dates proven reliable such as 607, 537, 1914 & 1975 can you?!? I will get to 607 in a minute, but lets just take a look at what the self proclaimed "faithful slave" was claiming and not only that but was claiming he was being directed by Christ Jesus himself. It is nothing to be proud of, rather it is a shameful reminder of the past failed predictions.
They taught that 1799 was the time of the end, that 1874 was Christ's invisible return, and that 1914 was the end of the world! They were NOT predicting a war!! You can easily read about these teachings over and over again if you were to read any of the Studies of the Scriptures, as this was authored by Russell and according to him no one could understand the Bible without these books! And according to him reading the Bible alone could lead only to spiritual darkness. Infact, in the Divine Plan of the Ages book he taught that the Pyramid of Geza was God's Stone Witness, and that the measurements of the inside of the pyramid confirmed that 1914 was to be the end of the world. Most Jehovahs Witnesses have no idea this was taught. Guess what happened next...1914 came and went. Yes, war started in 1914, but war was not what was being predicted, it was the end of the world that was being predicted. And of course, the end did not come. So then the faithful slave pushed back the dates some more..
The date was pushed forward to 1915to be the end of the world, then 1918 was to be the end of the world ..surely Armegedon was just around the corner. I hardly see marginal error! Be honest they were guessing then, and they were guessing in 1975, and continue to guess! Not one date the organization has prophesied about has ever come true! Not ONE! Infact, I challenge you to tell us all one date they predicted that was actually accurate.
I will address 607 in another post.
L.L.