by PopeOfEruke 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
As I haven't read any JW literature some 10 years or more now, can anyone tell me when was the last time that 1914 was seriously mentioned or discussed in a WT or book or whatever?
And when was the last time the calculation of the "7 times" which leads to 1914 was actually put down in writing in JW Lit? Has it been in a WT Study article recently?
I am curious as to how dim these once-bright "lights" are becoming.
Sincerely,
His Popeness
During the 1990s the 1914 doctrine has gradually been mentioned less and less. I can't even remember the latest "in-depth" discussion of the "gentile times" calculation. They leave it to older publications. There have been indications that even some top Watchtower leaders don't put any stock in the calculations any more, but just say "look at the signs that are being fulfilled" in order to keep claiming that we're in "the last days". They know perfectly well that the 1914 calculation cannot be supported either biblically or secularly.
AlanF
And of course there was that November 1995 Watchtower that seriously changed their thinking on the bogus 1914 doctrine. In that issue they stated that "this generation" no longer really means the generation alive since 1914, but now simply means the generation that will be living at the time of those signs mentioned in Matthew.
There are tremendous and far reaching implications that this change had on many of their other doctrines, such as the Anointed Class doctrine. I remember even in 1991 private discussions in my congregation that since "this generation" will by no means pass away before all these things occur (i.e., the signs of the end), then Armageddon must be coming withing ten or so years, 20 tops. Why did we believe that? Because the WT taught that some anointed would still be alive when Christ came. So we reasoned that since they're so old, and that they'd almost certainly be dead within 10 or 20 years, that Armageddon was imminent.
Of course that all changed in 1995.
However, what troubles me the most is that when they change their teachings they say it is Jehovah who is "stirring" the congregation of His people. That's a rather dangerous assertion. I'm reminded of something from Jeremiah. Jehovah was instructing Jeremiah to expose the error of Israel and Judah, and in so doing went on to say about their prophets: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. Yes," declares the Lord, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The Lord declares.'" (Jeremiah 23:16, 21, 31) Sound familiar? I wonder why they have never asked for forgiveness for the error of their teachings. Jehovah would certainly forgive. Sadly, though, that's not the case.
And it's interesting to imagine that if some Witnesses started teaching at the doors something the GB threw out because of "new light", would they be disfellowshiped for teaching something now considered incorrect?
Pralis
This is interesting. My adult daughter quit studying after coming to just this point of the 1914 generation and the calculations of the gentile times in the "knowledge book". It came out in 1995(time to publish new light?). The difference I see is (correct me if I am wrong, please)no mention of FDS or anointed being around THROUGH Armageddon. There are several phrases which seem to imply the 144,000, notice a completed number, ruling in heaven right after Armageddon.
Pope OE, I'm like you, inactive for so long 95 just past me by. Dates set for the generation to end were on the way out in 95. Now to downplay 1914 & still maintain urgency to publish? Maybe there is a new featured book of conversion to replace the knowledge book, coming soon but with the new spin.
I now need therapy for my therapy. I'm reseaching WT lit. with this post. It's interesting though to see the WTS turn of the screw.
wren
When was the date 1914 ever even really seriously concidered by any but Jdubs? The only date in history I find that may fit the slot on any date is 1948.
Norval
In the mid 1970's, my best friend and I discussed what we would do if Armegeddon hadn't arrived by the year 2000. Based on the "generation" teaching, we agreed that theoretically some of the 1914 generation could be still alive,
But we made a pact that if ever the year 1914 was dropped as the year the Kingdom started ruling, if that teaching was changed, then that would prove the JW's to be not the truth and we would definitely leave. We had been taught that 1914 was an ABSOLUTE truth that would never be changed.
Well I stuck to the bargain, having left a few years before that awful WT discussing the "generation" change. What a pile of shit that article was, I had never read anything so deceitful and twisted in my whole life.
But I was so glad to be free! Its still hurts me sometimes that they GB could be so cruel to the brothers. How evil must those people be? Maybe Bush should put them in the "Axis of Evil" group.
The Pope
I was reading everyone's comments and I have to add mine. I was pretty much devastated by that 95 Watchtower. I, too, had been taught to pin so much of my hopes on 1914 and the Generation that it just turned me totally sour. I continued to go along for a little while after that on the surface everything was okay, but the volcano was rumbling and getting ready to blow. I don't even know what my disfellowhipping date is, it just is not important to me, sometime in 99 I think. But, I am glad I'm out, because as tough as it can be out here, at least you're not following some "fantasy world teaching" having expectations of Paradise Soon To Come! : - ) Life on life's terms. The Real Deal.
If you listened to Ciro Aucilino's talk that is posted on Randy Watters site, at one point he inadvertantly mentionned that Satan was cast out of heaven in l914. He caught himself, and stumbled in his speach, and then changed it to 1914-1918. I thought at the time he wasn't supposed to be mentionning 1914, but said it out of habit.
belbab
That doesn't suprise me, actually. Cults are like that. The whole 1914 episode reminds me of that televangelist who said that if he didn't raise a certain amount of money, the Lord would "call him home". Well, he failed to raise the money and he's still breathing. Strange, hey?
I believe that the WTS will continue onward just the same. We have a saying here in the US that goes "there's a sucker born every minute". Unfortunately, there are many lonely, spiritually broken people out there who need love and fellowship, and look to cults to get it.
Fortunately, there are many out there like me who do get out, and warn others about that cult. Free speech cuts both ways, and it applies every bit as much to me as it does to the cults.
Frankly, I'm suprised that the WTS hasn't pulled a Scientology type move against their "opposers" and sued/slandered/harassed the critics in any major way.
I'm out of the WTS now, and I'll never look back.
As for the 1914 thing (I see I went offtopic there, my bad), I was a Borg back in the 1980s. Yes, 1914 was a big deal then. Just take a look at any WTS literature from that era. It was constantly emphasised over and over again from the pulpit and from the WatchTower and Awake magazines. One need only look for oneself.
The WTS is truly evil. They have broken so many souls and enslaved the minds of so many. Take a look at my .sig file - although that was originally from a Soviet leader, it could very well have come from any Circuit Overseer. The WTS is very much like the old USSR that way (maybe we should call it the WTSSR?) in its control of its followers. The 1914 thing is only one of many abuses.
For those of you in the WTS and loyal - why follow the fallible, pulsing light of the WTS when you can follow Nature and Reason to the pure Light of Truth?
"Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all!"
~Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union, echoed in the teachings of the WatchTower
