Pickled

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Posts by Pickled

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  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

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  Pickled

  The previous posts are only a portion of the clear messages and prophecies concerning what was to take place in 1975.
  
  For those of you who were Witnesses during that time, who considered yourselves faithful servants of Jehovah, who believed these words to be directly from that "Channel of Communication"...that "Faithful and Discrete Slave"....that "Mouthpiece of God"....."The Annointed".....members of the 144,000.....The only ones qualified to interpret scriptures....those brothers of Jesus Christ providing "Proper Food at the Proper Time" since 1919....Those brothers who are equal to the Apostles.....
  
  If you were faithful and believed them....
  
  Here is what they wrote to YOU in response....................................................
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
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• 

  Pickled

  Watchtower, January 1, 1975, Will You Live to See Christ’s “Coming”?
  
  In view of all these facts, along with Jesus’ prophetic words,
  
  millions of people now living will see the “day” of Christ’s coming to mete out justice upon this system of things, religious, political, commercial and social.
  
  But to survive that execution of judgment is another matter.
  
  Said Jesus: “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken along and the other be abandoned; two women will be grinding at the hand mill: one will be taken along and the other be abandoned.” (Matt. 24:40, 41) Weeks earlier Jesus had made a similar statement, prompting the disciples’ question, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Where the body is, there also the eagles will be gathered together.” (Luke 17:37) The ones “taken along” are spiritually sharp-sighted, like eagles, who gather to the one whom they discern to be the Messiah, for the spiritual feast that Jehovah provides within his place of safety. They will gather together with God’s congregations on earth, under his true Messiah.
  
  Those “abandoned” will be those who do not keep spiritually awake and who consequently get swallowed up in a selfish way of life, as did the people in Noah’s day.
  
  Such are “abandoned” to destruction along with the world system of things in which they are involved.
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
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• 

  Pickled

  Watchtower, October 15, 1974, Page 635, Growing in Appreciation for the “Divine Purpose”
  
  "The publications of Jehovah’s witnesses have shown that, according to Bible chronology, it appears that 6,000 years of man’s existence will be completed in the mid-1970’s.
  
  But these publications have never said that the world’s end would come then.
  
  Nevertheless, there has been considerable individual speculation on the matter.
  
  So the assembly presentation “Why We Have Not Been Told ‘That Day and Hour’” was very timely. It emphasized that we do not know the exact time when God will bring the end.
  
  All we know is that the end will come within the generation that sees fulfilled on it the sign that Jesus Christ said would then be in evidence. (See Matthew chapters 24, 25.)
  All indications are that the fulfillment of this sign began in 1914. So we can be confident that the end is near; we do not have the slightest doubt that God will bring it about, the speaker stressed. But we have to wait and see exactly when, in the meantime keeping busy in God’s service."
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
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• 

  Pickled

  “The Nations Shall Know That I am Jehovah – How?”, (1971), Chapter 12, Page 216
  
  JEHOVAH’S “SWORD” AGAINST “ALL THOSE OF FLESH”
  
  9 Shortly, within our twentieth century, the “battle in the day of Jehovah” will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom.
  
  The ancient “soil of Israel” pictures the realm in which Christendom has operated. It pictures the standing and relationship that Christendom has claimed to occupy with God by means of his “new covenant” of which Jesus Christ is the mediator. Now is no time for anyone in Christendom to rely on any righteousness on the basis of his own merits and to boast of his own self-righteousness. Jehovah’s “sword” of warfare will cut off from this position that Christendom’s clergy claim for her all religionists who depend upon her having an acceptable standing with God.
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pickled

  Watchtower, May 1, 1970, Page 273
  
  A CRITICAL TIME
  5 Everyone would like to know how much longer the present system will continue and when God’s purpose will be accomplished on earth in the same full way as in heaven. Jesus answered that “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth . . . and then the end will come.” Here in the Greek Bible text he used the word telos or “end” to distinguish what he meant from the syn•téleia or “conclusion” of the system of things, the harvest period, in which we now live. (Compare Matthew 24:3, 6, Diaglott.) How close we may exactly be to the end of the present divisive system of things cannot be predicted, as Jesus reported that even he did not know the day or the hour at the time of his earthly ministry. (Matt. 24:36) However, Bible chronology which indicates that Adam was created in the fall of the year 4026 B.C.E. would bring us down to the year 1975 C.E. as the date marking 6,000 years of human history with yet 1,000 years to come for Christ’s Kingdom rule. So whatever the date for the end of this system, it is clear that the time left is reduced, with only approximately six years left until the end of 6,000 years of human history. (1 Cor. 7:29) This corroborates the understanding of Jesus’ words that the generation alive in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I would not pass away until the end comes. Only a short time, then, remains for persons who love righteousness to show God that they want to be in his “ark” of protection and live to see the blessings of the new system of things.—Matt. 24:34-42.
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pickled

  Watchtower, October 15, 1969, Page 623
  
  41 The Lord Jesus Christ, the prospective Prince of Peace, pointed forward to a greater Sabbath Day. Pointing forward to this, he said on a certain weekly sabbath day when he came under criticism: “Lord of the sabbath is what the Son of man is.” (Matt. 12:1-8) He was referring to his peaceful reign of a thousand years. Jehovah God measures human affairs according to a thousand-year-length rule. He inspired the prophet Moses to write, in Psalm 90:4: “A thousand years are in your eyes but as yesterday when it is past.” He also inspired the Christian apostle Peter to write: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pet. 3:8, AV) In prophetic vision the apostle John saw Satan the Devil and his demons bound and abyssed for a thousand years, during which thousand years Jesus Christ reigned with his victorious disciples over all mankind. (Rev. 5:9, 10; 20:1-7) So, according to God’s viewpoint of time, that thousand years of his Son Jesus Christ would correspond with merely “one day.”
  
  42 In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be “Lord even of the sabbath day,” his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums. (Matt. 12:8, AV) Thus it would be a sabbatic reign. Since early in the existence of mankind Satan the Devil has been on the loose, making the human family to toil in hard bondage, causing the earth to be filled with violence before the global flood of Noah’s day and inducing the same old earth to be filled with even greater violence today. Soon now six millenniums of his wicked exploiting of mankind as his slaves will end, within the lifetime of the generation that has witnessed world events since the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 till now, according to the prophetic words of Jesus in Matthew 24:34. Would not, then, the end of six millenniums of mankind’s laborious enslavement under Satan the Devil be the fitting time for Jehovah God to usher in a Sabbath millennium for all his human creatures? Yes, indeed! And his King Jesus Christ will be Lord of that Sabbath.
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pickled

  Our Kingdom Ministry, March 1968, Page 4
  
  "Making some special effort to do more than the usual helps us live up to our dedication. In view of the short period of time left, we want to do this as often as circumstances permit. Just think, brothers, there are only about ninety months left before 6,000 years of man's existence on earth is completed… Do you remember what we learned at the assemblies last summer? The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out, and there are no resurrection hopes for those who are destroyed then. So, now more than ever, it is vital not to ignore that spirit of wanting to do more."
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pickled

  Watchtower, January 1, 1967, Page 28
  
  Have You Read Your Copy?
  “READ my copy of what?” you ask. Why, your copy of Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God! It has been four to six months since most of you in the United States, Canada and Great Britain received your copies. If you have not already read it, do so now.
  
  Why? Well, if you do not, you are missing out on a spiritual treasure. That Bible-study aid contains a wealth of Scriptural information designed to aid you as one of Jehovah’s witnesses both in facing the problems of life and in instructing others. True, in due time it will be a textbook for congregational studies, but do not wait until then to gain this precious information. Get an overall, bird’s-eye view of it, as it were, right away by reading it from cover to cover.
  
  Of course, this book is not only for Jehovah’s witnesses. Are you studying the Bible with one of Jehovah’s witnesses? Then you will want to read it through on the side, so to speak; it will hasten your progress in learning God’s will. Really, reading this book is strongly recommended for all before they dedicate themselves and get baptized.
  
  A WEALTH OF INFORMATION
  This new Bible-study aid contains a wealth of information. Typical is the chapter “Heaven’s Way of Ruling the ‘Congregation of God.’” To mention but one point: By reading it carefully you will appreciate that in the Christian congregation epískopos [overseer] and diákonos [ministerial servant] are mutually exclusive terms, whereas presbýteros [older man] can apply to either an epískopos or a diákonos.
  
  In particular have many expressions of appreciation been heard and received for the chapter “The Lord’s Evening Meal—A Liberation Supper.” For, in addition to treating the subject doctrinally in all its aspects, it makes clearer than it has ever been made before just who should partake of the Memorial emblems and how one can judge with certainty for himself.
  
  In other chapters the book makes clear just what Jesus Christ meant by saying that Christians “are no part of the world,” also what is meant by Paul’s saying that Christians ‘present their bodies to God,’ and how these principles should affect choice of employment and your attitude toward political activities in your community as well as conflicts between nations.—John 17:16; Rom. 12:1.
  Among the many fine points on which new light is shed in this new Bible-study aid is the proper application of 1 Peter 3:21, which reads, in part: “That which corresponds to this is also now saving you, namely, baptism.” What is the baptism to which this refers? What is the salvation? Is it being saved at Armageddon?
  
  Then, again, why is it not correct to say that Jesus’ baptism symbolized his dedication to do his Father’s will? And did Jesus’ going down into the water and coming out of it picture his death and resurrection? If not, why not? Read the book and find out.
  But, without a doubt, nothing has created more interest in this textbook than the first chapter with its chart and fine information regarding the 7,000 years of God’s rest day. The observation that 1975 may well mark the beginning of mankind’s great Jubilee has intrigued many.
  
  The question, however, remains: How can you find time to read this fine Bible-study aid? It may be said to be largely a matter of appreciation and organization. Some managed to read the book through on their vacations this past summer. For others the problem may be solved simply by buying out time from watching television for reading the Life Everlasting book. (Eph. 5:15, 16) Or it may be that you can make better use of certain time in your busy schedule. For instance, do you travel to and from work each day by bus, subway or train, or several times a week to and from congregational meetings? Then why not take a pocket-sized edition of Life Everlasting with you and read it?
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pickled

  Watchtower, October 15, 1966, Page 631
  
  THE YEAR 1975
  At the Baltimore assembly Brother Franz in his closing remarks made some interesting comments regarding the year 1975. He began casually by saying, “Just before I got on the platform a young man came to me and said, ‘Say, what does this 1975 mean? Does it mean this, that or any other thing?’” In part, Brother Franz went on to say: ‘You have noticed the chart [on pages 31-35 in the book Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God]. It shows that 6,000 years of human experience will end in 1975, about nine years from now. What does that mean? Does it mean that God’s rest day began 4026 B.C.E.? It could have. The Life Everlasting book does not say it did not. The book merely presents the chronology. You can accept it or reject it. If that is the case, what does that mean to us? [He went into some length showing the feasibility of the 4026 B.C.E. date as being the beginning of God’s rest day.]
  
  ‘What about the year 1975? What is it going to mean, dear friends?’ asked Brother Franz. ‘Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could. Does it mean that the attack of Gog of Magog is going to be made on Jehovah’s witnesses to wipe them out, then Gog himself will be put out of action? It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And don’t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975. But the big point of it all is this, dear friends: Time is short. Time is running out, no question about that.
  
  ‘When we were approaching the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, there was no sign that the Gentile Times were going to end. Conditions on earth gave us no hint of what was to come, even as late as June of that year. Then suddenly there was a murder. World War I broke out. You know the rest. Famines, earthquakes and pestilences followed, as Jesus foretold would happen.
  
  ‘But what do we have today as we approach 1975? Conditions have not been peaceful. We’ve been having world wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences and we have these conditions still as we approach 1975. Do these things mean something? These things mean that we’re in the “time of the end.” And the end has to come sometime. Jesus said: “As these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.” (Luke 21:28) So we know that as we come to 1975 our deliverance is that much nearer.’
  
  “Let us make the most of the time and get in all the good hard work to Jehovah while the opportunity affords,” he urged.
• 
  75

  Why Guess About Dates At All?

  by Pickled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this on another thread and realized that it was really off topic, so i made it a separate topic because i would really like to read your thoughts about this... .

  does anyone know if any reasons are given by the wtbts about why they feel it is such an important part of their teachings to keep guessing about dates and the years things are going to happen?

  it seems that it adds nothing to whatever they believe about the bible, and it has only served to create such confusion among their members over the years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pickled

  Kingdom Ministry, May 1974, Pages 3-4
  
  How Are You Using Your Life?
  
  IS IT not apparent that most of mankind are living their lives for themselves? They are using their lives as they see fit, without concern for others. But what about us? The apostle Paul wrote to fellow servants of Jehovah, saying: “None of us, in fact, lives with regard to himself only, and no one dies with regard to himself only; for both if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. Therefore both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah.”—Rom. 14:7, 8.
  
  This is something for all of us to give serious thought to: It would be entirely inappropriate for us, while professing to be Jehovah’s people, to try to live our lives with regard to ourselves only. As the apostle Paul wrote: “You do not belong to yourselves, for you were bought with a price. By all means, glorify God.”—1 Cor. 6:19, 20.
  
  Are we not thankful that Jehovah God has purchased us and that we now belong to Him? He has bought us with the life of his own dear Son so that eternal death does not have to be our lot, but we have before us the opportunity to enjoy everlasting life. (John 3:16, 36) How are you affected by this loving provision of God? Does it not cause you to want to show Jehovah your deep appreciation? The apostle Peter noted that if we have the proper mental disposition we will be moved to “live the remainder of [our] time in the flesh, no more for the desires of men, but for God’s will.”—1 Pet. 4:2.
  Is that what you are doing? Are you living no longer simply to satisfy personal ambitions or desires, but to do God’s will? Are there ways in which you could share more fully in doing the will of God?
  
  God’s Will for Us
  Jehovah makes clear in his Word that his will for us today includes accomplishing a great work of Kingdom-preaching before the end of this system comes. (Matt. 24:14) Jesus Christ did a similar work. He said: “Also to other cities I must declare the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this I was sent forth.”—Luke 4:43.
  
  Jesus did not hold back, but was whole-souled in his service to God. When we read the historical accounts of his ministry in the Gospels, how impressed we are with his energy and zeal in doing the Kingdom-preaching! Jesus knew that he had only a short time, and he did not spare himself in finishing his assignment. Should we not today be imitating his example, especially since we have such a short time left now in which to complete the Kingdom-preaching?
  
  Yes, the end of this system is so very near! Is that not reason to increase our activity? In this regard we can learn something from a runner who puts on a final burst of speed near the finish of a race. Look at Jesus, who apparently stepped up his activity during his final days on earth. In fact, over 27 percent of the material in the Gospels is devoted to just the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry!—Matt. 21:1–27:50; Mark 11:1–15:37; Luke 19:29–23:46; John 11:55–19:30.
  
  By carefully and prayerfully examining our own circumstances, we also may find that we can spend more time and energy in preaching during this final period before the present system ends. Many of our brothers and sisters are doing just that. This is evident from the rapidly increasing number of pioneers.
  
  Yes, since the summer of 1973 there have been new peaks in pioneers every month. Now there are 20,394 regular and special pioneers in the United States, an all-time peak. That is 5,190 more than there were in February 1973! A 34-percent increase! Does that not warm our hearts? Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world’s end.—1 John 2:17.
  
  Circumstances such as poor health or responsibilities in connection with your family may limit what you can do in the field ministry. And yet, the pioneer ranks include many who have health limitations, as well as some persons with families. But these brothers and sisters are able to regulate their lives so that they can care for their responsibilities and still put in the 1,200 hours a year, an average of 100 hours a month in the field ministry, required of pioneers.
  
  Therefore, do not be too quick to dismiss the possibility that you, too, may be able to pioneer. Give it careful and prayerful consideration. Perhaps an analysis will reveal that your life is encumbered with needless weights that can be put off so that you can pioneer. Particularly may this be the case if you are single, or are married but have no children.—Heb. 12:1.
  
  So, then, ask yourself: How am I using my life? Can I make adjustments that will enable me to pioneer? If I can, will failure to do so indicate to Jehovah that I am living to satisfy personal desires, rather than to do His will? Every one of us wants to be able to say, as did the apostle Paul, “Indeed, the life that I now live in flesh I live by the faith that is toward the Son of God, who loved me and handed himself over for me. I do not shove aside the undeserved kindness of God.” Gal. 2:20, 21.
  
  Real blessings await those who can adjust their affairs to pioneer. First, there is a certain added contentment in sharing full time in the preaching work that God purposes all his servants now to do. Pioneering enlarges your opportunity to “save” yet scattered prospective members of the “great crowd.” (1 Tim. 4:16; Rev. 7:9, 14) Also, there may open up to you the privilege of being sent as a special pioneer into territory that is not often worked. And for those pioneering, there is the possibility of the opportunity of training at Gilead School and then going on to foreign missionary service.
  
  So do not delay in giving serious consideration to this matter of how you are using your life. See if you can arrange your affairs to pioneer. Why not discuss the matter with persons already pioneering or with elders in your congregation?
  
  As you probably are aware, to qualify as a regular pioneer you should have been baptized for at least six months, and have participated in the field service each month for the past six months. Also, it is vital that you have a reputation for fine Christian conduct.