1914 Was Originally Just 40 Years Past the End Date of 1874, That's All it Was! (page 2)

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"HARVEST" is a term which gives a general idea as to what work should be expected to transpire between the dates 1874 and 1914." Studies In the Scriptures - Thy Kingdom Come p.135

"These, already examined, show that the close of 1874 marked the beginning, as the close of 1914 will mark the end, of this 40 years of harvest; ..." Studies In the Scriptures - Thy Kingdom Come pp.149-150
SETTING UP THE EARTHLY GOVERNMENT ---- Not until the full end of Gentile Times (October, A.D. 1914) should we expect the earthly phase of God's Kingdom; for in giving a lease of dominion to the Gentiles until that date God made no mistake and his plans alter not. The earthly phase of the Kingdom of God when set up will be Israelitish; for such is God's engagement or covenant with Abraham and his natural seed. Even the chief favor, the spiritual Kingdom, was offered first to fleshly Israel, and would have been given to them if they had been ready at heart to receive it on the conditions attached to it, - to suffer with Christ and afterward to be glorified with him." Studies In the Scriptures - The Day of Vengeance pp.624,625
The end of the harvest was to be followed by both the heavenly and earthly paradise.
"When this is fully accomplished, as it must be within this harvest period, then will follow the resurrection of the ancient worthies, then the kingdom of God, in both its heavenly and earthly phases, will be established and manifested to the world, - an event due at the close of this harvest period and time of trouble." Watchtower 1895 May 15 p.123-124 reprints 1816

TD

OTWO

You've got almost every single detail wrong, but the gist of your messege is spot on. The dates have been and still are continually reinvented after the fact.

"You can find anything if you work backwards. It's like writing a Sherlock Holmes story. Just work backwards from what a great detective would expect to find and make him look like a genius in discovering those things."

Thats so true, but it can sound so convincing if you are wanting to believe, or have been brought up in it and don't know better

OnTheWayOut

Page 1 replies-

Sigfrid Mallozzi- yes, that is exactly the point. They used to teach that a generation was 40 years, they used to teach different stuff. Thanks for that thought.

Anders Andersen, BTLC
Good question, good answer. Thanks.

Stan, most of us REALLY DID believe all this crap.

Finkelstein, somehow we were mostly indoctrinated enough to ignore Watchtower violating Jesus' command.
1975 was indeed used to sell literature. 1975 paid for modern presses for the giant printing company. It also attracted more recruits than they lost in the aftermath.

BTLC, on Russel's shift attempt on 1914 to 1915, old information like this is enough for me to be sure that many (if not all) of the people in the "ivory tower" know that the doctrine is bullshit to manipulate people.

peacefulpete, very excellent point on 40 years already foreshadowed. Watchtower teaches that stuff with virtually everything, so that fit right in. And back in the days, doctrine was very much a juggling act of adding this factor and that factor, making something literal and another thing symbolic. It's much stupider now with the "overlapping generation" stuff they come up with.

OnTheWayOut

Page 2 replies.

Blondie, thanks for the "Harvest" information.

TD, I simplified to make a point but I am pretty sure it isn't wrong. Go ahead. Tell us what is wrong about what I said. But be sure it is wrong, not just over simplification.

BluesBrother, yes- I needed it to be true. Many were brought up with no other options.

TD

When Jesus didn't appear as expected, Russell still believed it (or at least wanted to keep selling pamplets that explained it). He taught that Jesus must have returned invisibly, meaning that Jesus was ruling from Heaven starting in 1874.

Although Russell was intrigued by Dispensationalism, he didn't jump onto the Adventist bandwagon until well after the fact. His first known written pamphlet on the manner of Christ's return was actually not published until the year 1877

Russell, by his own testimony, (Published in ZWT in July of 1906) did not accept Adventist chronology and date setting until he met Nelson Barbour in January of 1876, which again, was after the event had allegedly occured.

It was Barbour, not Wendell who convinced Russell of the dates 1874, 1878, the forty year harvest and 1914 as well as the chronology behind them.

It was Barbour, not Russell who came up with the idea of an invisible Parousia as an explanation of why nothing happened in 1874. (The idea was first suggested to Barbour by B. W. Keith.)

blondie

The WT Proclaimers book said the following which brought out new dates I knew nothing about.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101993039#h=67:0-67:669

Using Bible chronology that had first been laid out by Christopher Bowen of England, they thought that 6,000 years of human history had ended in 1873, that thereafter they were in the seventh thousand-year period of human history, and that they had surely approached the dawn of the foretold Millennium. The series of books known as Millennial Dawn (and later called Studies in the Scriptures), which were penned by C. T. Russell, drew attention to the implications of this according to what the Bible Students understood from the Scriptures.

Something else that was seen as a possible time indicator involved the arrangement that God instituted in ancient Israel for a Jubilee, a year of release, every 50th year. This came after a series of seven 7-year periods, each of which ended with a sabbath year. During the Jubilee year, Hebrew slaves were freed and hereditary land possessions that had been sold were restored. (Lev. 25:8-10) Calculations based on this cycle of years led to the conclusion that perhaps a greater Jubilee for all the earth had begun in the autumn of 1874, that evidently the Lord had returned in that year and was invisibly present, and that “the times of restitution of all things” had arrived.—Acts 3:19-21, KJ.

Based on the premise that events of the first century might find parallels in related events later, they also concluded that if Jesus’ baptism and anointing in the autumn of 29 C.E. paralleled the beginning of an invisible presence in 1874, then his riding into Jerusalem as King in the spring of 33 C.E. would point to the spring of 1878 as the time when he would assume his power as heavenly King.* They also thought they would be given their heavenly reward at that time. When that did not occur, they concluded that since Jesus’ anointed followers were to share with him in the Kingdom, the resurrection to spirit life of those already sleeping in death began then. It was also reasoned that the end of God’s special favor to natural Israel down to 36 C.E. might point to 1881 as the time when the special opportunity to become part of spiritual Israel would close.*

OnTheWayOut

TD, okay on when Russell started his own pamphlets. I meant that he wanted to distribute his own, but I did kind of lead it to say he was already distributing. Otherwise, you are splitting hairs on a very simplified explanation. You are adding accurate layers but the whole point was that we don't really need to bother with all the details. Thanks for correcting me, though.

Blondie, that 6000-years thing sounds like the predecessor to the 1975 thing, stealing from other doctrines. It further tells me that some of them knew the whole thing is bullshit.

TD

OTWO,

The idea that Russell's teachings were predictive in a way relavant to JW's today may seem trivial to us, but it's very important to them

--Which is why the fact that Russell actually despised Wendell's chronology (His words, not mine) is not splitting hairs.

1914 Was Originally Just 40 Years Past the End Date of 1874, That's All it Was!

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