Not mathmatics but mathmagic!
Just saying!
eyeuse2badub
How do Jehovah's Witnesses get from 1914 to 1919?
by God_Delusion 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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elder-schmelder
Very simple:
My age 36 x 5 (I have 5 kids) = 180 x 2 (I have 2 dogs) = 360 x 3.5 (A time + A times + 1/2 Time) = 1260 years
1,260 x 2 (Just because I wanted to double down "Like in Blackjack") = 2,520 x a day for a year = 2,520 years
607BCE + 2,520 = 1913AD - OPPS forgot no year "0" = 1914AD
1914AD + 5 (How many times my car broke down out in service) = 1919AD
I might have made a mistake in my calculations, I think there was something about the hoboken ferry.
elder-schmelder
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blondie
*** w01 3/1 p. 15 par. 17 Rejoicing for Those Who Walk in the Light ***
Was Babylon the Great ever forced to acknowledge Jehovah’s powerful works? Yes. During the first world war, Jehovah’s anointed servants preached under tribulation. In 1918 they went into spiritual captivity when leading officers of the Watch Tower Society were imprisoned. The organized preaching work virtually ceased. Then, in 1919, Jehovah restored them and reinvigorated them with his spirit, whereupon they set out to fulfill the commission to preach the good news in all the inhabited earth. (Mark 13:10) All of this was prophesied in the book of Revelation, as was the effect upon their opponents. These “became frightened and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Revelation 11:3, 7, 11-13) Not that they all were converted, but they were forced to recognize the powerful work of Jehovah on this occasion, just as Isaiah had foretold.
*** w01 3/1 p. 20 pars. 10-12 Salvation for Those Who Choose the Light ***
In Isaiah’s day when Jehovah’s hand protected Judah against her enemies, the majority refused to recognize this. When he blessed them with his peace, the nation showed no gratitude. Hence, Jehovah abandoned them to serve “other masters,” finally letting the Jews be taken off to captivity in Babylon in 607 B.C.E. (Isaiah 26:11-13) Still, eventually a remnant of the nation returned, chastened, to their homeland.
11 What about Judah’s captors? Isaiah prophetically answers: “They are dead; they will not live. Impotent in death, they will not rise up. Therefore you have turned your attention that you might annihilate them and destroy all mention of them.” (Isaiah 26:14) Yes, after her fall in 539 B.C.E., Babylon had no future. In time, the city would be no more. She would be “impotent in death,” and her huge empire consigned to the history books. What a warning for those who hope in the powerful ones of this world!
12 Aspects of this prophecy had a fulfillment when God allowed his anointed servants to go into spiritual captivity in 1918 and then liberated them in 1919. From that point on, the future of their former captor, principally Christendom, was bleak. But the blessings in store for Jehovah’s people were rich indeed.
*** w93 11/1 pp. 10-11 Daniel’s Prophetic Days and Our Faith ***
The 1,290 Days
15 The angel said to Daniel: “From the time that the constant feature [“the continual sacrifice,” footnote] has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.” (Daniel 12:11) Under the Mosaic Law, “the continual sacrifice” was burned on the altar at the temple in Jerusalem. Christians do not offer burnt sacrifices, but they do offer a spiritual continual sacrifice. Paul referred to this when he said: “Let us always offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15; compare Hosea 14:2.) This continual sacrifice was taken away in June 1918. What, then, was “the disgusting thing”—the second feature to look for? It was the League of Nations, promoted by the victorious powers at the end of World War I. It was disgusting because the leaders of Christendom put it in the place of God’s Kingdom, representing the League as man’s only hope for peace. The League was proposed in January 1919. If we count 1,290 days (three years, seven months) from that time, we arrive at September 1922.
16 What happened then? Well, the Bible Students were now refreshed, free from Babylon the Great, and ready to go on the offensive. (Revelation 18:4) At a convention held in September 1922 at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A., they began fearlessly to declare God’s judgments on Christendom. (Revelation 8:7-12) The stings of the locusts really began to hurt! What was more, the second woe of Revelation began. A mass of Christian cavalry—composed initially of the anointed remnant and later swelled by the great crowd—surged through the earth. (Revelation 7:9; 9:13-19) Yes, the end of the 1,290 days brought joy to God’s people. But more was in store.
*** w92 3/15 p. 11 par. 18 Do Not Miss the Purpose of God-Given Freedom ***
Yet, as God’s ancient people were taken into Babylonian captivity for a time, in 1918 Jehovah’s servants came into a measure of bondage to Babylon the Great. (Revelation 17:1, 2, 5) Members of that world empire of false religion exulted when the figurative “two witnesses” lay spiritually dead. But by God’s undeserved kindness, in 1919 his anointed servants were revived, being set free spiritually. (Revelation 11:3, 7-11)
*** go chap. 8 pp. 135-137 pars. 33-36 Marked Days During the “Time of the End” ***
By harassing the anointed Kingdom witnesses and finally by dashing to pieces their spiritual “power” for proclaiming God’s kingdom that must supersede all man-made governments on earth, the warring nations suppressed the Kingdom witnesses and thus removed the “constant feature.” This was accomplished by June 21, 1918. For nine months and four days thereafter the sentenced officers of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and their colaborers lingered in federal imprisonment, awaiting their being released on bail for a new trial and exoneration from all the false charges. Their unjust imprisonment for so long acted as a great deterrent to the offering of the “constant feature” by the Kingdom witnesses. But what about the “disgusting thing” that desolates?
34 The “disgusting thing that is causing desolation” is the international organization for world peace and security. This was first designed by the peace conference that assembled in Versailles, France, on January 18, 1919. The victorious war allies drew up the peace treaty that was submitted to the German delegates on May 7, 1919. On June 28, 1919, the German and the Allied delegates signed this peace treaty at Versailles. The international organization for world peace and security, then known as the League of Nations, was part and parcel of that peace treaty, and when the governments involved ratified the signed peace treaty, the League of Nations went into force.
35 Prior to that, when the peace conference that paved the way for the League of Nations met on January 18, 1919, the clergy of the Church of England and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America had come out in favor of the proposed League and pressed for the creation of it. The clergy hailed it as “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth.”
36 If, now, we measure 1,290 days from that marked date, January 18, 1919, when the eight representatives of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were still under restraint in the Atlanta federal penitentiary, where do we end up? According to the Bible, those 1,290 days are the equivalent of three lunar years and seven lunar months. According to the lunar calendar, January 18, 1919, fell on Shebat 17, 1919. Three lunar years from then would lead up to Shebat 17, 1922, or February 15, 1922. Seven lunar months counted from that would end with Elul 16, 1922, or at sundown, September 9, 1922. So did the 1,290 days or three lunar years and seven months end at a significant time? The historical facts answer Yes!
*** dp chap. 17 pp. 297-300 pars. 21-22 Identifying True Worshipers in the Time of the End ***
Daniel was told: “From the time that the constant feature has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.” So this time period would begin when certain conditions had been brought about. “The constant feature”—or “the continual sacrifice”—had to be removed. (Daniel 12:11, footnote) What sacrifice did the angel mean? Not the animal sacrifices offered at any earthly temple. Why, even the temple that once stood in Jerusalem was a mere “copy of the reality”—Jehovah’s great spiritual temple, which went into operation when Christ became its High Priest in 29 C.E.! In this spiritual temple, representing God’s arrangement for pure worship, there is no need of continual sin offerings, for “Christ was offered once for all time to bear the sins of many.” (Hebrews 9:24-28) Yet, all true Christians do offer sacrifices at this temple. The apostle Paul wrote: “Through [Christ] let us always offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15) So this first condition of the prophecy—the removing of “the constant feature”—was brought about in mid-1918 when the preaching work was virtually suspended.
22 What, though, about the second condition—the “placing,” or installation, of “the disgusting thing that is causing desolation”? As we saw in our discussion of Daniel 11:31, this disgusting thing was first the League of Nations and reemerged later as the United Nations. Both are disgusting in that they have been heralded as the only hope for peace on earth. Thus, in the hearts of many, these institutions actually take the place of God’s Kingdom! The League was officially proposed in January 1919. At that time, then, both conditions of Daniel 12:11 were met. So the 1,290 days began in early 1919 and ran until the autumn (Northern Hemisphere) of 1922.
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neverendingjourney
Evidently the Gentile Times and the seven times of Revelation are the same thing
Evidently Matthew 24 has a second fulfillment
Evidently the Gentile Times aka the seven times begin when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians
Evidently Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BC despite what the history textbooks say
Evidently the seven times are composed of seven 360-day years
Evidently the total number of days, 2,520 (360 X 7), are actually years, not day
Evidently we begin counting 2,520 days from 607 BC, when evidently Jerusalem was destroyed, which leads us to 1914
Evidently Satan was ousted from heaven and the end times began in 1914
Evidently there is a parallel between the 3 1/2 years between when Jesus threw out the money changers from the temple and Jesus' appointing of the WT as his special group of followers
Evidently those 3 1/2 years are actual years and not prophetic years composed of days that are actually years
You get the picture...
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Rattigan350
Wow, everyone is quoting texts and texts of publications. Why?
It is simply this:
1919 is all about the Cedar Point Assembly and post board of directors release from prison. That signaled their release from Babylonian captivity and the renewed vigor to preach and advertise the King and the Kingdom.
It is about them and not Bible prophesy fulfilling or chronology.
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God_Delusion
Thanks for all the info guys. Once thing I can safely say is that not all of us are 100% sure where 1919 comes from, which is hilarious, seeing that 1919 is super important.
Right, so I'll pick one of these explanations. Scratch that. I'll just add them all and let the reader pick one
Regards,
Jaymes -
Emery
I remember watching exgileadmissionary's youtube video regarding how the WT library can't even provide the chronology of how they arrive at 1919.
Here it is.
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God_Delusion
Righty then, I have written my "How do you get from 1914 to 1919" article. Here it is. Thank you all for your help! Let me know if you think I can add more to it :-)
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/faqs/how-do-jehovahs-witnesses-get-from-1914-to-1919/
Love,
Jaymes -
Apognophos
I fear that if you really attempted to sum up all the math that was used at different times to cover periods between 1914 and 1919, the article would be many pages long. That being said, I'm not sure your current treatment explains the Watchtower's Bible math in a way that the reader can follow, but since I'm not sure how exhaustive you want to be, I won't give a lot of general feedback.
I just want to point to where you wrote that Jesus' 3.5 year ministry was equated to the officers of the Society spending 3.5 years in jail, because they didn't -- as you mentioned earlier in the article, they served nine months. The 3.5 years was from the announcement of the year text that I mentioned earlier, to the beginning of the time that the officers were in jail. Note that I provided a literature citation about the year text bit, and this citation is from 1994, which means it is likely the most current light the Society has offered on the subject.
The officers were of course released in 1919, as you stated. This leads me to personally wonder why Jesus' inspection period ends with Rutherford getting thrown in jail, and this is supposed to be an endorsement of the Society, but meh. Although I am not sure of this, there may never have been a direct path from 1914 to 1919, so looking for one is a wild goose chase. The path the Society outlined was from 1914 to 1918, and then 1918 to 1919 was covered by the jail time served by Rutherford et al.
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jwfacts
Following are the steps required to arrive at 1919, which is based largely on Revelation 11. Each step is a failure in logic, as shown by bullet point.
- The starting point is October 1914, the year Jesus is said to have commenced ruling in heaven.
- 1914 is not Scripturally supported as the start of Jesus heavenly reign, and is a topic in its own right.
- In June 1918, Jesus came to inspect his earthly organisation. Revelation - It's Grand Climaxp.32 explains, "Jesus was baptized and anointed as King-Designate at the Jordan River about October 29 C.E. Three and a half years later, in 33 C.E., he came to Jerusalem’s temple and threw out those who were making it a cave of robbers. There appears to be a parallel to this in the three-and-a-half-year period from Jesus’ enthronement in the heavens in October 1914 until his coming to inspect professed Christians as judgment began with the house of God."
This also parallels with Revelation 11:2,3, where is speaks of the temple being trampled for 42 months or 1260 days (3 1/2 years). June 1918 corresponds to the jailing of the Watchtower board of directors. (See Revelation - It's Grand Climax pp.164,167)
- Jesus rulership is said to have commenced in October 1914, but the 42 months are said to have started in December. There is no explanation for the 2 month gap, other than it is required for the 42 months to end in June 1918.
- 9 months later, in March 1919, the Watchtower board of directors were released. The 9 month period is based on the 3 1/2 days of Revelation 11:9-11. (See Revelation - It's Grand Climax p.169)
- The 42 months of Revelation 11 is said to be a literal 42 months, but the 3 1/2 days from the same passage in Revelation 11 is said to be figurative of 9 months. (3 1/2 years = 3 1/2 years … 3 1/2 days = 9 months)
- According to Revelation - It's Grand Climax p.170, this led to great fear amongst all other religion; "There were truly great convulsions in the realm of religion. The ground seemed to move under the leaders of the established churches as this body of revivified Christians got to work."
- The release of Rutherford from jail was irrelevant to most people, and it can hardly be said that the result was that "great fear fell upon those beholding them." (Rev 11:11)
- The release of the Watchtower directors from prison in 1919 is supposed to correspond with Jesus appointing the Watchtower Governing Body as his slave.
"Anointed Christians who survived the testing period of 1914-19 were freed from the dominating influence of the world and from many Babylonish religious practices. The remnant went forward as a cleansed and refined people, willingly offering sacrifices of praise to God and having the assurance that they as a people were acceptable to him."Watchtower 1998 May 15 p.17 "In 1919 the cleansed slave class could look forward to ever-expanding activities."Watchtower 1993 May 1 p.16
- There seems to be no Scriptural reason or parallels provided as to why the raising of "two witnesses" or the release from prison of the Watchtower directors in 1919 should indicate that Jesus has chosen them as his Faithful Slave.