Posts by FatFreek 2005

18

Watchtower’s 53 Date Failures -- Prophetic Declarations Quietly Abandoned

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of my recent essay.

ask most jws today and they'll tell you that, yes, watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.. lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of watchtower history.. len miller.

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FatFreek 2005

Apology up front.

The internal hyperlinks to the bookmarks don't work. It's not your fault -- it's mine.

See all those dates in that table on page 3? Well, they are all hyperlinked to the appropriate bookmark later in the doc, supposedly to take you directly to the information on that specific date. Don't work.

Then, to take you back to the top, that text between tables, "Back to Top" -- those, too, are supposed to be hyperlinks that quickly take you back to that date table. Doesn't work either.

Any of you tech gurus out there who use LibreOffice Writer or Open Office Writer, and who may have some tips to make this work, please yell back, preferably to the topic that I will open on the technical section -- so we don't clutter this thread.

Len

18

Watchtower’s 53 Date Failures -- Prophetic Declarations Quietly Abandoned

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of my recent essay.

ask most jws today and they'll tell you that, yes, watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.. lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of watchtower history.. len miller.

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FatFreek 2005

I hear what you say, Desirous, and I've heard that before. Can you source that?

There are more than 1,500 citations and quotations from the older "Zion's Watch Tower" within its modern literature since 1950. Watchtower has no qualms about using the early literature when it reinforces what it wishes to present to its readers.

Since Watchtower uses them, what's good for goose is good for the gander.

I therefore have no problem using them.

Len

18

Watchtower’s 53 Date Failures -- Prophetic Declarations Quietly Abandoned

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of my recent essay.

ask most jws today and they'll tell you that, yes, watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.. lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of watchtower history.. len miller.

.

FatFreek 2005

Oooops, again. That was the wrong link.

This one should be correct. Thanks for your patience.

Len

18

Watchtower’s 53 Date Failures -- Prophetic Declarations Quietly Abandoned

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of my recent essay.

ask most jws today and they'll tell you that, yes, watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.. lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of watchtower history.. len miller.

.

FatFreek 2005

ooops! I fogot the link. Here it is.

Len

18

Watchtower’s 53 Date Failures -- Prophetic Declarations Quietly Abandoned

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of my recent essay.

ask most jws today and they'll tell you that, yes, watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.. lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of watchtower history.. len miller.

.

FatFreek 2005

Below is a paste of the front of my recent essay. Ask most JWs today and they'll tell you that, yes, Watchtower has made a few mistakes -- that there are a couple date failures -- 1925 -- and maybe another one they can't even remember.

Lest they forget, the following should jog their collective memories as to how egregious Watchtower has been in their obsession with date predictions (Oh, but we don't make predictions, they may tell you) over the 138 years of Watchtower history.

Len Miller

17

The 26 Prophetic Failures of Watchtower’s Most Heralded Date, 1914

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of this, my recent, essay.

most jws, and lurkers here, have never really thought of the scope of watchtower's 1914 prophecy.

to them, 1914 was a simple one and done -- a mistake was made and it's been corrected.

FatFreek 2005

Smiddy, that makes the effort all worthwhile. Thanks.

We are now 102 years north of THE BIG DATE and there's no telling what method the Watchtower will take to spin their way out. However, the Overlapping Generation teaching proves they'll go to any length.

17

The 26 Prophetic Failures of Watchtower’s Most Heralded Date, 1914

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of this, my recent, essay.

most jws, and lurkers here, have never really thought of the scope of watchtower's 1914 prophecy.

to them, 1914 was a simple one and done -- a mistake was made and it's been corrected.

FatFreek 2005

Dreamerdude: I wonder if Russell was so completely deluded that it hastened his death when his prophecy did not come true.

I wonder that as well. Numerologist that he became, he and others thought they had it all figured with Daniel, Revelation, etc. You could tell by his writing, as 1914 approached, how he had become upset when challenged by certain letters from readers.

Steve2: I recall reading in a Watchtower from the late 1960s about the disappointment then older Witnesses experienced, growing old in this system of things, having expected the end well before then.

On a similar vein, the 1975 yearbook did it for me. There they were beginning to blame the flock for the 1975 fiasco, recollecting the 1925 event fifty years earlier.

Here is where WT published some past recollection -- an obvious inaccuracy -- by one of its devoted members.

" . . . So, as Anna MacDonald recalls: '1925 was a sad year for many brothers. Some of them were stumbled; their hopes were dashed ... Instead of its being considered a 'probability', they read into it that it was a 'certainty', and some prepared for their own loved ones with expectancy of their resurrection." 1975 Yearbook, p. 146.

They couldn’t have solicited a better testimony. Here, the blurred reminiscence of some innocent elderly person would serve their purpose far better than taking a few steps into their vast Bethel library to write down an exact -- yet most important -- honest reference.

Len

17

The 26 Prophetic Failures of Watchtower’s Most Heralded Date, 1914

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of this, my recent, essay.

most jws, and lurkers here, have never really thought of the scope of watchtower's 1914 prophecy.

to them, 1914 was a simple one and done -- a mistake was made and it's been corrected.

FatFreek 2005

Thanks, Perry -- and thanks for your perspective.

And BruisedAndBleeding12 for the compliment. PDF format, for me, is easiest to WYSIWYG especially with cross refs, bookmarks, endnotes, tables, embedding graphics, etc. It's all free using Libre Writer.

I know, being retired I've got too much time on my hands.

Thanks Chook for thinking outside the box.

Len

17

The 26 Prophetic Failures of Watchtower’s Most Heralded Date, 1914

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of this, my recent, essay.

most jws, and lurkers here, have never really thought of the scope of watchtower's 1914 prophecy.

to them, 1914 was a simple one and done -- a mistake was made and it's been corrected.

FatFreek 2005

Well noted, Finkelstein.

It is my belief that as Russell began his religious studies and got exposed to the adventism of those days -- looking over the computations of Miller and his ilk, he got hooked that maybe those guys had it all figured out. He saw Miller's failed mid 1840s two dates, spotted (he thought) some flaws in Miller's ciphers and finally decided to go out on his own. Yes, he met Barbour, yada, yada. But Russell had some cash on hand, was eloquent, and charismatic -- all the tools needed to crank out some written dogma. The world at the time was ripe.

I suspect he even believed the whole thing -- till 1914 came and went.

By that time the movement was like a huge ocean liner, hard to stop or turn around. By that time there were too many of Russell's cronies, Rutherford included, who had swallowed the Koolaid and were happy just going along for the ride. Everybody at headquarters patting each other on the back. Russell drinking in the adoration -- yes, he was human. And don't forget, money from all over the world was coming in.

The rest is history.

Len

17

The 26 Prophetic Failures of Watchtower’s Most Heralded Date, 1914

by FatFreek 2005 in

below is a paste of the front of this, my recent, essay.

most jws, and lurkers here, have never really thought of the scope of watchtower's 1914 prophecy.

to them, 1914 was a simple one and done -- a mistake was made and it's been corrected.

FatFreek 2005

Below is a paste of the front of this, my recent, essay. Most JWs, and lurkers here, have never really thought of the scope of Watchtower's 1914 prophecy. To them, 1914 was a simple one and done -- a mistake was made and it's been corrected. Most aren't aware of all the conditions, 26 of them by my count, that were stipulated by Watchtower publications prior to that cornerstone date.

The early Watchtower (well, Zion's Watch Tower, etc.) publications, as you will see, went through a progression of adjustments to many of these predicted conditions. It was also enlightening to me to see, as 1914 neared, the hedging of uncertainty creep in to their writings.

Len