Will we see the GB replace 1914 with a new date in the next 30 years?

by nvrgnbk 55 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  nvrgnbk

  Hello amnesty,

  Honestly, there are so few jws around who even have a clue about the importance of those dates.
  They could change it to almost anything and the vast majority would stay around to show loyalty at any cost.
  The relatively few who give up will simply be dismissed as bitter apostates, seeking their own selfish desires.
  
  No matter how weak the doctrinal argument or strong & clear the evidence, if a jw ain't ready to leave - they simply ain't goin' nowhere!

  I have to agree with the essence of your reply. However, the

  there are so few jws around who even have a clue about the importance of those dates

  part I'm not too sure about. I'm only 34 and this is huge to me. I can't be the only one.

  Hoping many, many more wake up,

  Nvr
• 

  Gayle

  I think they would have difficulty with a 2/3 majority vote. Don't think any of them have the "creativity" (one of those things 'if you don't use it, you lose it' things).
• 

  Amnesty Vendor

  I only make that statement, because for many years I served as wt & bookstudy conductor.
  During this time, very, very, very few could understand the significance of wt doctrines and even fewer were willing to give it serious thought.
  
  Age has little to do with it.
  Many are afraid to allow even the thoughts to develop because of the snowball effect that it may have on their lives.
  
  I could go on & on about this, but many have done a much better job on this site already.
• 

  Leolaia

  I wonder tho if they might change the rationale for 1914. If they could find some other "Bible prophecy" to support that date, then they could let go of 607 BC which has become something of an albatross. And that could be a win-win, because adding 20 years to the 2,520-year schema would give them some chronological backing to 1935, a date which embarrassingly lacks any grounding in scripture (really, their interpretation of scripture). Then again, they might want to get rid of 1935 too.
• 

  nvrgnbk

  I only make that statement, because for many years I served as wt & bookstudy conductor.
  During this time, very, very, very few could understand the significance of wt doctrines and even fewer were willing to give it serious thought.
  Age has little to do with it.
  Many are afraid to allow even the thoughts to develop because of the snowball effect that it may have on their lives.

  So very true! Especially in foreign-language congos.

  Once a frustrated WT conductor too,

  Nvr
• 

  willyloman

  Honestly, there are so few jws around who even have a clue about the importance of those dates.

  I agree with this statement. I doesn't mean nobody is paying attention. But many are not. The average dub is as ignorant about the historical teachings of his sect as he is about most everything else.
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  stillajwexelder

  because adding 20 years to the 2,520-year scheme would give them some chronological backing to 1935

  Leo - they could come up with something like " that was when Great Crowd was identified " etc - or the old sign in the heavens and 1957 date - that would add another 40 years of life approx
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  Bluegrass Tom

  They can't back off of any dates that they have asserted for decades of time. There is too much hinging on them. The central supports of their doctrinal philosophy will crumble, and they will open themselves up to litigation and sniping from "apostates". They will slowly change things over time, minimizing the use of dates, etc. At some point in the future I can see the WTB&TS saying "What 1914?, What 1919? We never really said that." This is what they did with the 1975 milestone. At that future time they will refer to some current Watchtower article that says that we all serve with no dates in mind and only by faith, etc........and the beat goes on. Get in line Sheep! This is new light from the "channel"!
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  NO.
  
  They will just stop talking about 1914, and after a while everyone else will stop talking about it too. The Watchtower is getting out of the prophecy interpretation business, slowly but surely, Revelation book study notwithstanding. I suspect that was probably at the behest of one of the oldtimers on the Governing Body.
  
  I think as time goes on we'll see them focus more on their current strengths--control, loyalty, and retention.

  I will morph my opinion out of this- I truly believe they would like to stop talking about 1914, and this has been considered.
  The problem stems from their need to give weight to their authority. They hitched their wagon to 1914-1919 fulfillments, now
  they live with the hitch. They unhitch a bit at a time. They got "this generation" off of a 1914 countdown. I expect that they
  will very shortly tighten up on the remnant, forcing the numbers down, then we can better speculate how they will proceed.

  Here's my thought, though. Everything is about membership numbers growing and contributions flowing. As they develop
  these ideas, the numbers continue to go in the toilet. They got 15-minutes-per-month elderly publishers to keep their
  numbers high, teen baptisms, more efforts in third-world countries. It's not working. Someone will eventually examine the
  results of 1925, 1975, and say "The fallout afterward was smaller than the growth before." They will develop a new line of
  thought on 2034, with time to develop it into a panic like 1975. This will start after the numbers really start plummetting
  faster- when the current JW drones get tired of "The end is right around the next corner." Perhaps this will start after 2014.

  Their words will be so calculated that they never said anything 100% definite, but everyone will believe it's definite (like 1975)
  and they will also develop the fallout strategy beforehand (like 1975) in an attempt to retain members. This will be more than
  a recruiting campaign. They will need a serious retention campaign. That's why I am pretty certain it will happen. This effort
  will ultimately fail in recruitment, but make great strides in retention (for awhile), allowing them enough profit to make it to the
  next focus.

  They may go back to Freddy Franz's nutty 7000-years Creation Day, again, after that. I discussed at length why they never
  needed to abandon this, entirely. If Adam was 130 years old by the time Seth was born, then the creation of Eve, the sin in
  the Garden of Eden, the birth of Cain and Abel- ALL THAT- must have happened within 130 years of Adam's creation. That
  gives 130 years after 1975 for the first 6000 years of the 7th day to come to an end (minus time for 2 births- say 128 years). That gets them past the year 2100. IMO-
  that will be part of their fallout recovery over 2034. (Complicated? Try reading F. Franz's other theories.) They will think all
  this nonsense will bring them back to their heyday.
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  Nosferatu

  No! They were right about 1914! Well, they were right about something.... they're not sure what, but they WERE right about something about 1914. It's the only shrapnel of proof they have that they're the one true religion, and they will cling to it. They just need some filler between 1914 and now.