Hello!
Just found it in the News and wanna know watcha think about it. Its about the 1914 doctrine and why it is false using the bible alone.
607 BCE vs. Jeremiah the Prophet
According to Jeremiah 52:12-13, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple in the nineteenth year of his reign. Since Jehovah's Witnesses consider this year to be 607 BCE, this puts Nebuchadnezzar's first year as king at around 625 BCE.
Now according to Jeremiah 25:11-12, the land of Judah was to serve the kings of Babylon for 70 years, and after the 70 years, the Neo-Babylonian Empire was to be made desolate. Witnesses and secular historians agree that this servitude ended when Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE and the Jews had returned to their homeland by 537 BCE, but they disagree as to when this servitude began. The position of the Bible and secular historians is that it started right before Nebuchadnezzar officially became king (Jeremiah 25:1-8; 27:1-7; Daniel 1:1-6; 2:1-13), yet the position of the Witnesses is that it started four years later. Surprisingly, even when the bible chronology of the Witnesses is used, a huge problem emerges.
Counting from the fourth reigning year of Nebuchadnezzar (621/620 BCE according to the Witnesses) to 537 BCE is at least 83 years. This is well over the 70 years spoken by Jeremiah even if one decides to count instead to 539 BCE. However, when one uses the dates accepted by historians, counting from the first reigning year of Nebuchadnezzar (606/605 BCE) to 537 BCE gives the necessary 70 years.
A counter-argument that Jehovah's Witnesses often use is that Jeremiah 25:11-12 means that the land of Judah would be desolate for 70 years and that the land was desolate when there were no inhabitants (Jeremiah 9:11). This supposedly occurred in 607 BCE. However, the problem with this counter-argument is that even after Jerusalem was destroyed, there were still people in Judah with a man named Gedaliah as their ruler (2 Kings 25:22; Jeremiah 39:10). These were not exiled until four years later (Jeremiah 52:30), which equals only 66 years of desolation instead of the 70 required.
To counter this argument, some Witnesses will argue that the land of Judah was considered desolate when Jerusalem's Temple was destroyed and that this occurred in 607 BCE. Yet, under this line of reasoning, the land of Judah would continue to be desolate until the Temple was rebuilt, which both Witnesses and historians agree did not occur until 516 BCE. This creates a period of 91 years, well over the 70 years foretold by Jeremiah. Interestingly again, when one uses the date of 586 BCE to count to 516 BCE, the needed 70 years is obtained.
Despite their counter-arguments, the bible chronology of Jehovah's Witnesses simply fails to add up. It is apparent that 607 BCE is 70 years before 537 BCE, but why do Witnesses insist that the destruction of Jerusalem took place in that year? And what does this have to do with 1914 and World War I.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/8/prweb546361.htm
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