607, Jerusalem completely subjected or destroyed? Which is it? New light?

by JoeGeneration 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • JoeGeneration
    JoeGeneration

    According to the Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses www.jw-media.org, “beginning in 607 B.C.E., Jerusalem was completely subjected to the rule of Gentile world powers." Does this indicate that WTS is getting away from insisting that Jerusalem
    was destroyed in 607, as we know it was not, but rather that it came under the thumb of Babylon and marked an end to true rule of a king in the line of David?
    Thus, 607 could mark the beginning of the Gentile Times, not because Jerusalem was destroyed but because it was completely subjected to the rule of Gentile world powers. Is this new light? This information can be found at:
    http://www.jw-media.org/region/europe/russia/english/moscow/wtpubs/e_w970701.htm Look under the subheading “ENTRUSTED WITH THE TRUTH” near the bottom of the page. I have much technical difficulty posting, formatting is never like I want it.

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    This is an old article, from 1997.

    Interesting point about the language. It would support your suggestion if they have printed anything since 1997 that weakened their long-held view on the matter.

  • twinflame
    twinflame

    This is exactly the argument my husband used with me when I told him about my 607 research. I must admit that history is my worst subject so if is very difficult for me to speak about things like this with any intelligence at all. I just stubbornly cling to what I found out about the date being incorrect because I discovered so many other lies.

  • stevenyc
    stevenyc

    Watchtower Dec 1, 2001

    http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2001/12/1/article_02.htm: Finally, in the year 607 B.C.E. , Jehovah allowed the Babylonians to destroy the kingdom of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and even the magnificent temple there.

    steve

  • scholar
    scholar

    JoeGeneration

    Celebrated WT scholars confirm that the answer to your question is that Jerusalem was both destroyed and came under subjugation to the World Power of Babylon. The Scriptures affirm that the the then seventy years of servitude, exile and desolation commenced at this event and the Gentile Times began to count ending in 1914.

    scholar JW

  • stevenyc
    stevenyc

    JoeGeneration

    Celebrated WT scholars confirm that the answer to your question is that Jerusalem was both destroyed and came under subjugation to the World Power of Babylon in 607. The rest of the planet confirms this as pure hogwash.

    steve

  • jula71
    jula71
    Celebrated WT scholars confirm that the answer to your question is that Jerusalem was both destroyed and came under subjugation to the World Power of Babylon.

    Yaaaa......Scholar's here! Ok, WT scholars, how about naming one, just one secular that would entertain that. Trouble is, it's hard to argue against archaeological and forensic that confirm 586 as being the correct date. Or perhaps Satan himself planted that evidence???

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    Interesting ... I believe that the 1997 article, on the website , is just sloppily written and they do not mean to change the viewpoint. Incidentally it does still say the same on the c/d rom.

    The new book "What does The Bible Really Teach?" released 2005 says, ( p216/217)

    "...in 607 BCE when Jerusalem when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians"" and "The 2520 years began in October 607 BCE when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians"

    Taken at face value the 1997 quote contradicts this since

    *

    it-2 p. 1227 Zedekiah ***

    .

    Following the death of his father Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin began ruling as king. It appears that at this time the Babylonian armies under King Nebuchadnezzar were besieging Jerusalem. After having reigned three months and ten days, Jehoiachin surrendered to the king of Babylon (617 B.C.E.).—2Ki 23:29–24:12; 2Ch 35:20–36:10.
    Early Years of Reign. Subsequently, Nebuchadnezzar placed Zedekiah on the throne at Jerusalem and had him take an oath in Jehovah’s name. This oath obligated Zedekiah to be a loyal vassal king.—2Ch 36:10, 11; Eze 17:12-14; compare 2Ch 36:13.
  • Honesty
    Honesty

    This is from another thread that deals with Jerusalem's destruction.

    What say you to this scholar?

    The Watchtower book Revelation - Its Great Climax is at Hand! (1988) quotes the old Barbour booklet on page 105:


    "'It was in B.C. 606, that God's kingdom ended, the diadem was removed, and all the earth given up to the Gentiles. 2520 years from B.C. 606, will end in A.D. 1914.' - The Three Worlds, published in 1877, page 83."


    A footnote informs us:


    "Providentially, those Bible Students had not realized that there is no zero year between "B.C." and "A.D." Later, when research made it necessary to adjust B.C. 606 to 607 BC, the zero year was also eliminated, so that the prediction held good at "A.D. 1914." - See "The Truth Shall Make You Free," published by the Watch Tower Society in 1943, page 239."
    bummer! the bible students thought jerusalem fell in 606 and still came up with the 1914 date. and you don't need to buy old books on ebay to show it, it's all in the climax-book!


    now let's think that over for a bit: no JW would deny that the bible students expected the end of the world in 1914, nothing less. and here in the revelation-book it sais that 1914 was calculated using the false assumption that there was a year 0. and as the destruction date is 607 now, we know it was simply moved back for a year. which implies that 1914 is NOT calculated by starting at 607, but 607 is calculated by starting at 1914!

  • stev
    stev

    Doing a Google search, I found this on the touchstoneforum.com. It explains the history of Barbour and his Gentile Times theory, and the dating of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is quite complicated. I didn't write this, and I don't know who did, but I appreciate the research that was done. It is found on another website, and I will post the link to it, also.

    Steve

    http://www.touchstoneforum.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.pl?az=show_thread&om=371&forum=DCForumID2

    The Chronology and Time Prophecies of Nelson Barbour & Charles Taze Russell (and origin of the Gentile Times prophecy dating from the destruction of the Temple).

    “Without chronology,” says Dr. Hales, “history would lose its most valuable characters of truth and consistency, and scarcely rise above the level of romance”-- Martin Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology, 1914.

    The Jewish nation had a Divine chronicler.

    Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.

    2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

    There have been several other chroniclers in history as well as those who have written about time prophecies and chronology. There are too many to list here, but we will list some of the students of influence who were the most direct links leading us to the ministry of Pastor Russell. We will try to trace in order the line of the history of our chronology and time prophecies that we use to our day.

    Henry Fynes Clinton, Esq. M.A (His books were published between 1824-1853)

    Mr. Clinton published a very large five volume treatise, “Fasti Hellenici,” and "Fasti Romani," in which he tried to compute the length of time from Adam until our day and also harmonize Scripture with the known archeology of his day. His work is a very extensive and scholastic work on this subject. He references all the ancient authors, explores the options and problems. He computes the date for Adam to be 4138 BC and he has the birth of Abraham also 10 years different from the Elliott/Bowen calculations. He has 2030 instead of 2020 BC. Through projection we can see that he taught that the 6000 years would end in 1862 AD.

    “His reasoning is clear, his authorities are numerous, and his tone is moderate. . . His chronology contains perhaps fewer errors than that of any of his predecessors. He determines the Joshua-Judges ‘Chasm’ (20 years instead of 13) and the Samuel ‘Chasm’ (32 years instead of 20) by means of a subjective estimate, or conjecture, instead of by inference from the date contained in the Text, and for the Persian and Greek period from Cyrus to Christ, he adopts the figures of the Canon of Ptolemy instead of those of the prophet Daniel. Like most other Chronologers, he does not understand the Scripture method of recording the lengths of the reigns of the Kings of Israel and Judah. He is to be blamed for his assertion that the figures given in the Books of Kings and Chronicles are sometimes ‘corrupt’ and to be rejected. But apart from these errors, which make his Era for the Creation B.C. 4138, just 96 years too long, he is a most worthy and a most judicious guide.” Martin Anstey, “The Romance of Bible Chronology” p53. (1914)

    Clinton deals entirely with history, chronologies of all the major historical nations, and the Scriptural record. He does not encumber himself with time prophecies.

    Edward B. Elliott (1793-1875) and Rev. C. Bowen, “Horae Apocalypticae” London, 1846.

    Edward Bishop Elliott received his education at Trinity College in Cambridge in 1816.

    “Perhaps its most unique feature is the concluding sketch of the rise and spread of the Jesuit counter-systems of interpretation that had made such inroads upon Protestantism. Holding unswervingly to the Historical School of interpretation, Elliott gives the most complete exposure of these counter-interpretations to be found.” Leroy Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 3, p717.

    The chronology presented in the work of Henry Fynes Clinton work was picked up and refined in Elliott's four volume treatise “Horae Apocalypticae." In the first edition of his work published in 1844, and throughout the space of several pages, Elliott explains what changes he made to Clinton's work. To this chronology was appended a very long footnote beginning with the second edition of his work in 1846. It was in this edition that Elliott appended a chart of his "Scripture Chronology of the World" where he states that "on the fly-leaf is appended in illustration a Tabular Scheme of this Scripture Chronology, with the scriptural authorities in brief; drawn up by my friend and brother, the Rev. C. Bowen, Rector of St. Thomas, Winchester." Horae Apocalypticae, Second Edition, London, p259 (1846). It is this Scripture chronology which ends in 1872 which is in the direct line of where our chronology originated from.

    This statement above presents us with two questions:

    1) What Scripture chronology does Elliott refer to when he says "this Scripture Chronology?"

    2) Did Bowen write the chronology list independently of Elliott, or did he only draw up a tabular scheme of Elliott's chronology?

    In answer to our first question we will refer directly to the first edition of Elliott's treatise where the chronology presented in Clinton’s work was extensively discussed by E.B. Elliott in his four volume commentary on Revelation entitled, “Horae Apocalypticae” (Hours with the Apocalypse – 2500 pages) first in 1842. Later a chart of this discussion was drawn up by the Rev. C. Bowen and appended to a footnote in the second edition of "Horae" in 1846 and the three succeeding editions following (the last in 1855).

    “The . . . column was drawn up by Reverend C. Bowen, of England, for the Reverend E. B. Elliott, who gives it in his Horae Apocalypticae, as the chronology of Mr. Clinton, whence it was copied as such in the first edition. It varies, however from Mr. Clinton’s 10 years in the aggregate, and in a number of places in the detail . . ” Taylor, Daniel T., "The Voice of the Church" (Rouse's Point, N.Y., 1855)

    "This Scripture Chronology" which Elliott refers to in this footnote refers specifically to the several pages of discussion Elliott made on the chronology of Henry Fynes Clinton.

    The second question can be answered by looking at the entire footnote where the chronology list appears. There is a reference in an earlier statement where Elliott discusses Henry Fynes Clinton's chronology.

    "According to the elaborate tables of one of the most judicious and learned of our modern chronologists, the late Mr. Flynes Clinton, the world’s 6000 years would seem to be very near their ending." p254, Horae Apocalypticae, Second Edition, London, 1842.

    "When the termination of sixth millenary? . . . Mr. Clinton, in his Essay on Hebrew Chronology, appended to the third volume of his late learned Work entitled Fasti Hellenici, has greatly elucidated the subject." Ibid,, p254.

    "Thus Mr. Clinton seems fairly to have estimated Joshua's age . . ." Ibid., p257.

    "Mr. Clinton, not without reason, as it seems to me, prefers the latter." Ibid., p258.

    "See my abstract of Mr. Clinton’s chronological argument and tables." p732, Horae Apocalypticae, Fifth Edition, London, 1855.

    " . . . a difference . . . noted by me (Elliott) in the text . . ." p259, Horae Apocalypticae, Second Edition, London, 1842.

    "The chronological question on which I have now to enter, becomes one of really important bearing on the point in hand . . ." Ibid., p253-254.

    "Thus there is nothing in the Jewish mundane chronology to affect the accuracy of Mr. Clinton's. . . I cannot therefore but suspect that to constitute the interval this prophetic term of years may have been the abbreviator's object. . . " Ibid., p259.

    "There remain but two small chasms in the Hebrew chronology to fill up, and one doubtful point to settle, arising from a difference between an Old Testament statement and one in the New Testament, in order to the completion of OUR chronological table." Ibid., p257.

    From our examination of the first question we can now see that these statements, and others like it, suggest to us that the chronology was Elliott's and he had his friend, the Reverend Bowen, draw up the chart. The answer to the second question is not as simple.

    It may be that the chronology was a cooperation between the two friends, Elliott, and Bowen but there is simply not enough information to determine if this is truth or conjecture.

    While there may have been other influences on Elliott, or Clinton's chronology, it is unfortunate that neither of them gave references as to where they developed their chronologies.

    What we do know is that Elliott seems to have picked up John Aquilla Brown’s time prophetic views regarding the “Gentile Times” prophecy of “seven times” or 2520 years. Mr. Brown wrote a book in 1823 called “The Even-Tide” which dated this prophecy from 604 BC to 1917 AD. Elliott lists this interpretation as well as the 606BC-1914AD concept and others as several possibilities for fulfillment of this prophecy. Elliott did not see the 606BC date as the fall of Jerusalem, but rather the first year when Nebuchadnezzar took prisoners from Israel to Babylon.*
    ___________________
    * "Nebuchadnezzar's own accession and invasion of Judah, B.C. 606 …" Elliott, HORAE p261 (Second Edition). As was said previously, it was not until the second edition of "Horae" that Elliott's friend Bowen drew up the chronology of Elliott's. However it was not without modifications. Whether the modification was a misunderstanding of Elliott's or Clinton's concepts by Bowen, or some understanding of Bowen himself is unknown.

    The above statement agrees with the chronology of Clinton's which Elliott based his work upon. Clinton wrote, "We may place the expedition of Nebuchadnezzar towards the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th year, in the summer of B C. 606." Clinton, Henry Fynes, Fasti Helenici, p328 (1824) " The destruction of the temple is determined by concurrent sacred and profane testimony to July B. C. 587." Clinton, Henry Fynes, Fasti Helenici, p285 (1824)

    In Elliott's discussion of the chronology periods, he does not speak about the ending of the period of the Kings and the Desolation. The only thing that Elliott says is that 606 BC was the first assession year of Nebuchadnezzar and that B. C. 587 was Zedekiah's Captivity and destruction of the temple (see "Horae Apocalypticae" Second Edition, p258). Bowen picks up all of Elliott's changes to Clinton's chronology, except he changed the understanding the 606 date from that of the other two men without any historical reference or documentation listed for us in Elliott's work. It may be that Barbour looked at Bowen's list without reference to the rest of Elliott's statements on "this scripture chronology" and this would explain the difference.

    Nelson Barbour: "The Midnight Cry: Evidences of the Return of our Lord in
    1873" published in 1871

    After the disappointment of Miller, Nelson Barbour drifted off into unbelief and darkness for several years until he made an around the world trip. “To wile away the monotony of a long sea voyage, the English chaplain proposed a systematic reading of the prophecies.” Nelson H. Barbour, The Midnight Cry and Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873, (1871) p32.

    When they reached the 12th chapter of Daniel, Barbour noticed something that he had never noticed during his years as an Adventist. He questioned the explanation of the Abomination of Desolation ending in 1843. “Why did we begin the thousand years thirty years before the abomination was set up? Here is our mistake, and it is one of thirty years. The days end in 1873, not 1843. All this came in a moment. From that hour… the whole truth of our position was made clear.” Ibid., p32-33.

    “Bro. Miller and others assumed the long cherished view that 6000 years would end with the Lord's return. Understandably, they looked for a chronology which would make it so, and it is not surprising that Bros. Miller and Barbour both found systems which satisfied this view.” David Rice, Time and Prophecy, p78.

    While in the library in London, England, he discovered E.B.Elliott’s work, Horae Apocalypticae and saw that Elliott’s figure ended the 6000 years in 1873.

    “When he looked at the figures, the shock, he says, almost took his breath away…Bro. Miller stated soon after 1843 had past, ‘that he could see no light this side of 1873…” Ibid., p33-34.*
    -------------------------------
    * This statement of Barbours has not been validated in any way in any of the research we have done or by any of the Seventh Day Adventist scholars of Miller's ministry.

    While traveling back to America on the ship, Barbour read Elliott’s treatise with great interest, comparing each line of reason with Scripture and at the same time he spoke with the chaplain on the ship and they made an attempt to end all of the time prophecies in the same year of 1873!

    Carefully Barbour continued studying Elliott’s writings and after returning to America he wrote a book entitled, “The Midnight Cry and Evidence for the Coming of the Lord in 1873” which he originally published in 1870 (a second edition is dated 1871). The year, 1873 came and went and Jesus did not return. That same year he started a monthly magazine, “The Midnight Cry” which expounded his new chronological and time prophetic ideas and his new date of 1874.

    Two years later the title of the magazine was changed to “Herald of the Morning” where he expounded upon the view that Jesus would return in 1874-75 and adding the evidences of the Jubilee’s, the Jewish / Gospel age parallels.

    Barbour makes the suggestion that he found a new argument about the Jubilees coming out to 1874.

    "I would call especial attention to the article on the Jubilees. It is a new argument, but one of the strongest ever presented on Time. When the 1335 "days" of Dan 12, expired, as in full years, they certainly have; (and we are living in a little fraction of time "the prolonging of the vision," as shown in a former article;) the force of that argument was spent; then it was that more light was required; and it came at the needed time. Suddenly, while walking in the street, the suggestion came, "The seventy years during which the land enjoyed her Sabbaths, is a key; turn that key. Divide the time during which jubilees were given, by fifty, and the time during which there were no jubilee years, by forty nine" It was evening, I hurried, I ran through the streets: I began to shout and praise God before reaching my room, satisfied it would come out 1874, but I wanted to see the figures. O! If it only does come out so, the last doubt will disappear; and I will give myself anew; soul body and spirit, to the work. When I put the figures down, just as they stand in the Bible chronology; just as they stand in the argument on "The two dispensations," which shows they are equal, that the time under the twelve Tribes was 1843 years; and that therefore, the time under the Gospel, will be 1843 years; and that they all center here, that they point to the "fourth day of the seventh month" of 1874 longest period, my heart leaped with joy the Lord! The race is almost done a story soon to come. " Barbour, Herald of the Morning, March 1874, Volume 1, Number 4, "OUR PAPER", p2.

    However this date being arrived at by the Jubilee period was also in "Horae Apocalypticae" which Barbour credited to as where he discovered the chronology.

    "As to the Jubilaean chronology it seems possible that as seventy years marked the length of Israel's waiting-time for the redemption from Babylon, and seventy weeks of years that of its further waiting for its primary redemption by Christ Jesus, so seventy Jubilees may define the mystical period of its whole existence as a people, from the Exodus to the epoch of both the natural and the spiritual Israel's perfect redemption: a period which reckoned from the Exodus, (each at fifty years,*) will end (on the basis still of Clinton's Chronology) A. D.1875. But there seems to me here far too much of the conjectural, to admit of our resting at all on the argument." Elliott, E. B., Horae Apocalypticae, 1846 (second edition)

    It wasn’t until several months later when Barbour presented his thoughts on the “Gentile Times.”

    “There is a fixed period of Gentile rule, the four Gentile kingdoms, during which time Jerusalem is to be trodden down…the prophecies of Daniel, and the facts of history, prove that Jerusalem, ‘the sanctuary and the host,’ have been trodden under foot of the Gentiles for a longer period than the gospel has been given to them... there is a period of time called ‘seven times;’ during which the Gentiles were to rule over literal Israel.” Nelson H. Barbour – Herald of the Morning, October, 1875, "The Times of the Gentiles", p74.

    Charles Taze Russell:

    It was about January 1876 (see R5909) when a young Charles Taze Russell found copy of Barbour’s Herald of the Morning. His attention was immediately attracted to the time prophecies of Barbour and Patton as well as other Scriptural understandings.

    “The Editor was beginning to get his eyes open on the subjects that for some years had so greatly rejoiced our hearts here in Allegheny--that the object of our Lord's return is not to destroy, but to bless all the families of the earth, and that his coming would be thief-like, and not in flesh, but as a spirit-being, invisible to men; and that the gathering of his Church and the separation of the "wheat" from the "tares" would progress in the end of this age without the world's being aware of it.” C.T.Russell, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1906 (R3822)

    Although Brother Russell was not exclusively under the aura of Barbour for the time studies, he did accept every one of Barbour's time prophetic interpretations in the summer of 1876 without modification (except for the 1260 which Br. Russell later changed from 1798 to 1799.) Each of the Time prophecies taught in the second and third volumes of the Studies in the Scriptures originated with Nelson Barbour before meeting Pastor Russell (See Sidebar)

    ===================================================================
    SIDEBAR:
    Early Herald of the Morning (authored by Nelson Barbour) issues with origins of C.T.R.'s time prophecies

    70 wks / 490 yrs, BC 2 date - June 1875, Herald of the Morning p16
    1260 & 1798 - 1871, "Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873" p6
    1290 & 1828 - 1871, "Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873" p24
    1335 & 1875 - 1859 (according to Advent Christian Times, Nov. 11, 1873)
    1845 yr doubles - June 1875, Herald of the Morning p5
    Jewish/Gospel Age Parallels - December 1875, Herald of the Morning p88
    2300-1843 - 1871, "Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873" p49
    2520 (606-1914) - July 1875, Herald of the Morning p25
    Jubilees to 1874-75 - March 1874, Herald of the Morning p50
    1878 based on Parallels - October 1875, Herald of the Morning p69
    ===================================================================

    An associate of Russell’s, Jonas Wendell as well as other Adventists also thought that 1873 would witness the burning of the world and that the chronology of the history of the world ended at the beginning of 1873.

    Russell wrote of this meeting with Barbour, “But there were no books or other publications setting forth the time-prophecies as then understood, so I paid Mr. Barbour's expenses to come to see me at Philadelphia.(where I had business engagements during the summer of 1876), to show me fully and Scripturally, if he could, that the prophecies indicated 1874 as the date at which the Lord's presence and "the harvest" began. He came, and the evidences satisfied me. Being a person of positive convictions and fully consecrated to the Lord, I at once saw that the special times in which we live have an important bearing upon our duty and work as Christ's disciples; that, being in the time of harvest, the harvest-work should be done; and that Present Truth was the sickle by which the Lord would have us do a gathering and reaping work everywhere among his children.

    "I inquired of Mr. Barbour as to what was being done by him and by the Herald. He replied that nothing was being done; that the readers of the Herald, being disappointed Adventists, had nearly all lost interest and stopped their subscriptions;--and that thus, with money exhausted, the Herald might be said to be practically suspended. I told him that instead of feeling discouraged and giving up the work since his newly found light on restitution (for when we first met, he had much to learn from me on the fullness of restitution based upon the sufficiency of the ransom given for all, as I had much to learn from him concerning time), he should rather feel that now he had some good tidings to preach, such as he never had before, and that his zeal should be correspondingly increased. At the same time, the knowledge of the fact that we were already in the harvest period gave to me an impetus to spread the Truth such as I never had before. I therefore at once resolved upon a vigorous campaign for the Truth.

    “. . . While it (The Three Worlds) was not the first book to teach a measure of restitution, nor the first to treat upon time-prophecy, it was, we believe, the first to combine the idea of restitution with time-prophecy.” C.T. Russell, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1906 (R3822)

    After the Three Worlds was published in its entirety, Barbour restarted his magazine with J.H. Paton and C.T. Russell as co-editors.

    After some time Barbour wrote and published an article which denied the substitutionary atonement of Christ (Herald of the Morning, August 1878). Brother Russell wrote a response to Barbour's article in the very next issue and was first to defend the doctrine and Barbour countered similarly. Soon letters between the three ensued and he wrote another article on the subject. Russell’s 2 1/2 page article was followed by Barbour’s 3 1/2 page editor’s note denying the doctrine again.

    Bro. Russell then discussed the matter with John H. Paton and requested that "he also write an article for the Herald, which, in no uncertain tone, would give his witness for the precious blood of Christ." C.T. Russell, Zion’s Watch Tower, May 1880 (R1214) Paton's article appeared in the October issue and another followed in December 1878.

    After about a year of these debates, both public and private, Russell and Paton left to start another magazine, “Zion’s Watch Tower” which would proclaim similar chronological and time prophetic concepts as well as defending the blood of Christ and the substitutionary atonement and which expressed the same chronological and time prophetic views of Barbour's "Herald of the Morning."

    "The general facts are much more valuable and important than merely the day or the year respecting these facts. 'Let brotherly love continue!' Suffer not any dispute over a day or a year to break the most precious bond of love which binds us to the Lord and to all who are truly his. Be specially careful on this point when the subject of discussion is one respecting which we have no positive knowledge. The rupture of fellowship may sometimes be necessary, when we "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints" --faith in the divine plan, in the Redeemer, in the efficacy of his death, etc. These matters are positively stated in the Bible--not left to deduction, as in the case of chronology and all matters based upon chronology." C.T. Russell, Zion’s Watch Tower, November 15, 1913, (R5348)

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