Posts by Disillusioned JW

9

When Did the Watchtower Introduce the "Generation of 1914" Teaching?

by Ding in

i'm looking for help to track down the development of the "generation" doctrine, starting with when the wt first specifically tied the end to the generation of 1914.. russell taught that 1914 would be the end of this system of things.

when that failed, rutherford started touting 1925.. no need to talk about generations then; it was just specific dates.. when did they first tie the end in to a "generation of 1914" time frame?.

i also know that they changed the meaning of generation several times.. first, a person had to have been at least 15 in order to have seen the events of 1914 with understanding of what was happening.. i think they lowered that to 10 and then finally it was anyone who was alive in 1914.. of course, now the generation overlaps.. does anyone know someone where all these wt teachings are set out chronologically (preferably with citations to the literature)?.

Disillusioned JW

The page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_doctrine might be of some interest to you .

76

Scriptures That Don’t Fit WT Theology

by Sea Breeze in

here’s a couple good ones: a. jesus said, “come to me and i will give you rest”.. why did jesus command us to go to him and not jehovah?.

why does the bible say that the name of jesus is above every name?

.

Disillusioned JW

Thanks Wonderment for your stating your interpretations; they clarify matters.

86

Is most of the promotion of creationism, not just that by the WT, charlatanism?

by Disillusioned JW in

is most of the promotion of creationism, not just that by the wt, charlatanism?.

https://www.fullmoon.nu/sources.bak/chapter%2010/part%202/gish%20exposed.html [which has an article called "creationism: bad science or immoral pseudoscience?

- (an expose of creationist dr. duane gish)"] says the following.. 'a look at the "scientific" creationist movement and a close examination of the tactics of a well-known and influential creationist will reveal that the creation "science" movement gains much of its strength through the use of distortion and scientifically unethical tactics.. .... with the facts explained and the lawsuits won, scientists declared victory and returned to their labs and offices.

Disillusioned JW

jhine, what would it take, if anything, for you to give up belief in a personal God and in all alleged spirit beings, and to become a scientific naturalist?

99

If not the WT/JW relgion where else are 'we' to go? Why not atheistic/scientific philosophical naturalism?

by Disillusioned JW in

sometimes jws wonder if the wt/jw is not the truth, 'then where else are we to go?

' i say 'why not atheistic/scientific philosophical naturalism and why not a secular philosophy which teaches a way of life?

' what do you folks say?.

Disillusioned JW

Atheists and naturalists what are the best ways we can convince people there is no personal God? What are the best ways we can convince people of scientific naturalism? What are the best ways we can defeat Christianity and all of other organized religions which teach that supernatural beings exist? Is there there a better to achieve such than by debating with theists online?

Would it be more effective if led our lives in harmony with scientific knowledge and sensible philosophy to such an extent that atheists became more demonstrably more successful in life than theists? If we were to achieve such, would such attract a great many theists to investigating atheism and naturalism to see why atheists and naturalists are (in the hypothetical future) so successful in life? Would that make such theists more willing to accept the reasoning of atheists and naturalists? What do you think?

76

Scriptures That Don’t Fit WT Theology

by Sea Breeze in

here’s a couple good ones: a. jesus said, “come to me and i will give you rest”.. why did jesus command us to go to him and not jehovah?.

why does the bible say that the name of jesus is above every name?

.

Disillusioned JW

Well we don't know Jesus said “Come to Me and I will give you rest”. We only know that a book of the Bible says that Jesus said that. But if Jesus did say “Come to Me and I will give you rest”, I don't know why he didn't tell his followers to go to YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah God for rest instead. Yes the NT says that God sent Jesus as a means of salvation, but the OT says that YHWH Elohim is salvation and that there is no savior besides him (besides YHWH Elohim).

The modern-day non-Christian Jews (the Jews of Judaism) believe they don't need a mediator between them and YHWH God. Furthermore, they pray directly to God (without saying 'in Jesus' name). Furthermore, even the Lord's prayer (also called the "our father" prayer", which the gospels says Jesus said is the way his disciples should pray, makes no mention of Jesus. Granted according to the gospels Jesus mentioned that prayer prior to his death and thus prior to his alleged resurrection, but nonetheless that prayer does not say to pray in the name of Jesus and it does not say to pray to Jesus. It is a very non-Christian Jewish type of prayer.

Even more puzzling to me is the statement in the Greek NT Bible that the name of Jesus is above every name, and thus claimed to be above the name of YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah. Christianity started out as a Jewish religion and the Bible of the pre-Christian Jewish religion (the OT Bible) declares that YHWH is the highest and has no equal and that no God existed before YHWH. It also says "YHWH our God is one YHWH". It is largely because of those teachings that the Jews of Judaism reject the idea that Jesus is God and why they reject the Trinity doctrine.

773

Breaking News: Anthony Morris III no longer serving on the Governing Body

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

this has been announced on the jw's official website, in the "jw news" section.

this is not a joke.

anthony moron da turd is out as a gluttonous body member!

Disillusioned JW

The idea of 'to never disfellowship a brother or sister in “a position” ' reminds me of the USA Constitution saying that a sitting US President must not be convicted of major crimes while the person is still President, and that instead if necessary the process of impeachment in the House and the conviction on the impeachment charges in Senate must used to first remove the President from office, before the president is tried in real court.

5

Did the Fugazi 1975 Prophecy Really Happen?

by Sea Breeze in

i was 12 years old in 1975. how old were you then?

all jw's were counting the years till armageddon.

towing the line was the only thing that would get you through it.

Disillusioned JW

In the years 1970-1975 I certainly was not counting down the years till Armageddon. I was focused in dong well in my grade school courses and in doing my hobbies. In 1974-1975 I knew that the WT was not saying that Armageddon would definitely happen in the year 1975 or even by that year. I also knew that the Bible does not say the hour it will happen, nor the day, nor the year, nor the decade, nor the century.

To me at no time in my life did the New World under Christ, nor Armageddon, nor the Great Tribulation appear to be within two years. I never perceived any evidence that it was ever that close. As a result, up through the year 1975 I gave nearly no thought to the timing of Armageddon except when reading WT literature about it (and I primarily read the literature because the WT said I must or should). When I was in 1975 and thus a young child in grade school, the JW religion (in regards to praying to Jehovah God, studying the Bible and other WT literature, and attending the kingdom hall meetings and going out in field service) was pure drudgery to me. I wanted to do what was fun and/or interesting to me, and worship (other than practicing good morals) was neither to me.

Regarding disco music I greatly like the sound of the popular disco music I heard on the radio and on the TV called "Solid Gold" and I still love those disco songs, including numerous ones by Donna Summer. In the early 1980s I was thus offended by WT literature saying all disco music is bad (and thus even the hits in the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack) and must be avoided and that JWs should never go to disco clubs discotheques). I continue to love those hit disco songs and after I moved out of my mom's house I purchased record albums, cassette tape albums, and much more recently a few CD albums of those great songs.

9

When Did the Watchtower Introduce the "Generation of 1914" Teaching?

by Ding in

i'm looking for help to track down the development of the "generation" doctrine, starting with when the wt first specifically tied the end to the generation of 1914.. russell taught that 1914 would be the end of this system of things.

when that failed, rutherford started touting 1925.. no need to talk about generations then; it was just specific dates.. when did they first tie the end in to a "generation of 1914" time frame?.

i also know that they changed the meaning of generation several times.. first, a person had to have been at least 15 in order to have seen the events of 1914 with understanding of what was happening.. i think they lowered that to 10 and then finally it was anyone who was alive in 1914.. of course, now the generation overlaps.. does anyone know someone where all these wt teachings are set out chronologically (preferably with citations to the literature)?.

Disillusioned JW

I notice that a number of posts make the claim that Russell plagiarized the works of others, but it should be kept in mind that under law if the copyrights on the works have expired then those works are in the public domain, and there is thus no legal requirement for any attribution to be made to those earlier works when using their ideas and words or even when using their entire content. In the time that Russell lived copyrights had a far shorter duration than modern works now have.

362

Just read that Carl Olof Jonsson died yesterday

by slimboyfat in

for newbies, who was carl olof jonsson?

he was a jw in sweden who was challenged by a householder in the 1960s, who pointed out to him that secular history books don’t agree with watchtower that jerusalem was destroyed in 607 bce, but instead place the event 20 years later.

the reason the date is important is because it is the starting date for jw chronology which leads to 1914 as the end of the gentile times, and the beginning of the last days, as jws understand it.

Disillusioned JW

Vanderhoven7, you made a number of good points in a post on page 5 of this topic thread. However, I disagree with your statement that William Miller was "... the founder of the Seventh Day Adventists ...". He did not found the Seventh-day Adventist religion, though he did start the "... mid-19th-century North American religious movement known as Millerism. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Miller_(preacher) ). That movement was one which believed that the second advent of Christ was imminent (and thus it was a second adventist movement). But Miller was a baptist preacher (and for a period of time before starting the movement he was a deist) and to my knowledge he never joined the Seventh Day Adventist church. I think he also observed the Christian Sabbath on Sundays instead of Saturdays.

What became the Seventh-day Adventist church was influenced by Miller's ideas and it adopted some of his ideas, but that church was not founded by Miller. Likewise Russell's Bible Students movement adopted some of Miller's ideas, but the Bible Students (and the Jehovah's Witnesses) was not founded by Miller. The above mentioned Wikipedia page has a chart called "Reaction of Millerites to the Great Disappointment". It mentions the reactions that various Millerites had to Miller's message and some of the religions which formed as a result of such reactions. Since Seventh-day Adventist church is one of those religions, what you said is nearly correct.

53

1975 on the back burner

by Fisherman in

“1975” still marks 6000 years from the creation of adam in wt calendar.

according to “all scriptures inspired” book, there is a gap between the creation of adam and the creation of eve and her marriage to adam.

it was at that point in time when eve was created that marked the end of the 6th creative day and the beginning of god’s rest, the 7th day as recorded in genesis.

Disillusioned JW

Fisherman I think that TD's comment about Seth was to point out an apparent error made by woza, who said that "According to the Genesis account Adam was 130 when they had their first child ...". Genesis does not say the first child was was when Adam was 130 but rather that Adam was 130 when Adam's child named Seth was born. Genesis 4:1-2 says that Cain was the first child and that later Adam and Eve had the child named Abel. Genesis 4:25-26 says that Seth was born after Cain and Abel had been born.

But It is interesting that the "book of Adam's history" mentioned in Genesis chapter 5 does not mention Adam having an child before he had Seth. As a result, perhaps that account in chapter 5 (the account which I think is considered by scholars to be part of the account given by priests) disagrees with the account in chapter 4 (which scholars say is part of the Yahwehist account) of Cain being the first child of Adam and of Abel being their next son.