Interesting post, Rooster. Oddly enough, I was discussing this just the other day with someone, and I came across some interesting figures which the WTS has manipulated, rather than presented, to their R&F. In order to restrict the number of those whose "citizenship was in the heavens" to the simple round figure of 144,000 this is what the WTS tells us:
1 33AD : No of Christians: 8,000 [arrived at by adding Ac 2:41 and Ac 4:4] - WT 1st Sept 1981 pg 9
2 95AD : No of Christians: 40,000 [martyrs] - WT 1st Sept 1951 pg 518
3 1935 AD: No of Christians: 52,465 [memorial partakers] Proclaimers pg 717
Giving a figure of 100,465, thus leaving 43,535 to have existed down through the centuries. Simple. Neat. And whats more it fits comfortably into WT theology.
Also nonsense.
There are several things wrong or deliberately minimized so as to make these figures fit into a preconceived mould.
First, take 33AD: The WTS, by simply adding two texts together, has avoided telling us about the fact that Ac 2:47 says "The Lord was ADDING to their number day by day". Secondly, at AC 4:4, the text tells us that the 5000 that were baptized were men.[ The word used in that text is "aner" -men, as opposed to "gyne" -women] So, this begs the question: How many women were baptized? Dunno. But suppose I said that there were at least as many, ie 5000, how will the WTS be able to deny this? So in 33AD this is what the figures would really look like:
Act 2:41: 3000, + 2:47 many more added + 5000 men + 5000 women [ The figures in red missed out by the WTS] Rather than the paltry 8k mentioned by the WTS, if I know the Holy Spirit and what He can do, the figure would be at least 20k converts by the first year of the Church
Now take 95AD: The WTS admits that the no of martyred Christians was 40k. The problem for the WTS, and one they have neatly circumvented, is that this is only part of the picture. Because how many were not martyred? If to be perfectly reasonable they numbered 60% of the total, then this would indicate that the total number was nearer 70,000.
But even this is paltry. Because it means that in the period 33-95 AD the Holy Spirit only made 50,000 converts, or just on 800 a year. Taking into consideration that the Christian churches had spread to all parts of the Empire by 95AD, this figure of 800 converts a year seems small by comparison. More likely something in the region of 8,000 a year.
Then, according to the WTS, between 110Ad to 1935 there was a global Great Apostasy, where the "True Christian" church all but vanished.[ All unproven of course] This of course gives them a rational explanation for why they appeared so suddenly, like a pimple on the collective arse of humanity.
Now take 1935. This is the arbitrary date from which the WTS has started counting down the number of the anointed. But why then? How many associated at the time of Russell? His meetings drew in thousands, around the world, in fact it was a constant boast, the number attending, and his subscription list was that much, at least. In fact his books were printed and distributed in the millions. Where did these ones all go? Into a convenient black hole, it looks like.
Figures don't lie. And the blood of the martyrs who died in the second and third centuries, some 861,000 estimated in 284 AD alone, demonstates, in mute testimony, the bankruptcy of WTS beliefs. To arrogantly dismiss these uncompromizing ones as "apostates" is to display an insensitivity that reveals the truly monstrous character of the WTS leadership.
Cheers
