Marked for reference. Thanks!
January 15, 2008 Watchtower & The One Mistake We All Made:
by t33ap80c 82 Replies latest jw friends
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t33ap80c
Hello TD (Thomas?),
I assume that you are the author of the extremely well documented PDF at the address you gave us: http://www.catholic-forum.com/members/popestleo/Historical%20Idealism%20and%20Jehovahs%20Witnesses.pdf
In "Captives of a Concept" I state that according to the "Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom" book the date of Jesus’ Second Coming was not changed from 1874 to 1914 until 1943.
But you said, "The Proclaimers book is incorrect on this point." On page 37 of your PDF you quote the December 1, 1933Watchtower where Rutherford clearly stated: "The year 1914 marks the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory."
It is interesting that even the writers of the "Proclaimes" book missed this. One thing it means is that I need to update my book to acknowledge this fact. In my original footnote 38 page 22 I said this:
NOTE: There is some evidence that Rutherford first mentioned 1914 as the beginning of Christ’s Second Coming in the 1930’s. But the Proclaimers book doesn’t mention any date prior to 1943. Either way it wouldn’t make any difference because the change of date was made long after Jesus’ examination was over.
It has now been changed to read as follows:
NOTE:
Rutherford first mentioned 1914 as the beginning of Christ’s Second Coming in the December 1, 1933 Watchtower, p. 362. But the Proclaimers book doesn’t mention any date prior to 1943. Either way it wouldn’t make any difference because the change of date was made long after Jesus’ examination was over.Although I had heard that Rutherford may have changed the date to 1914 sometime in the 1930’s I had never seen the evidence until your PDF. And so I wanted to thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.
But as my footnote says, as far as the point I’m trying to make in the book is concerned, it doesn’t matter whether the date was changed in 1943 or ten years earlier in 1933. Jesus’ claimed food-at-proper-time examination was over in the spring of 1919. And according to what the Society has been teaching since 1933 their 1874 date would have failed his exam.
You obviously put a lot of time and effort in the production of your work, "Historical Idealism and Jehovah’s Witnesses - A Critical Analysis of How They Present Their History." I would recommend it to others on the forum.
Thank you again Thomas,
Don Cameron
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t33ap80c
Thomas,
One of the things I noticed about your research is that you quoted from the 1889 Edition of "The Time Is At Hand" where it said that 1914 "will be the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men" on page 77. Most everyone else (including "Bible Students") quote Russell's revised 1916 Edition in which he quietly changed some of the things he had originally said was going to happen 1914. Ray Franz is the only other person who quoted from the 1889 Edition.
It makes me wonder how you had access to the 1889 Edition. Ray had the Society's library there at the world headquarters at his disposal. Did you also?
Don
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lrkr
I have to tell you- this whole subject makes me very disappointed in myself. I read some of the early Russel writings over 15 years ago and had the obvious reactions to them (What!?! This guy was crazy!?! This doesn't look anything like "the truth", this guy was a "wack-job")
However, I didn't let myself connect the dots to question the appointment of a faithful and discreet slave that could tell me what to do in every aspect of life. The FDS teaching is really the foundation for making a person accept unwise, unsafe and illogical mandates. The defense mechanisms are well instilled. (Don't question, the light will get brighter for you, probably you just don't understand, etc.)
Don, thanks to you and others like you (Ray Franz, Randy Watters, etc) for helping the rest of us connect the dots.
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TD
Hi Don,
That scan of pages 76,77 was from a 1907 red (Studies In The Scriptures) "Lamp" edition of The Time Is At Hand.
I've got one of the original green, (Millenial Dawn) Lamp editions of the same book, but I was afraid to open it up flat on a scanner.
--I've inherited some of those books, found others in antiquarian book stores and my wife already had a large library of her own when we met. Collecting JW books has been a hobby we could both share.
(I'm not a JW and have never been to the Brooklyn Mecca ever.)
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garybuss
Hi Don,
Does the 1933 quote mean the Society taught both return dates, 1874 and 1914, at the same time for 10 years? :-) -
t33ap80c
Hi Gary,
In the past I had heard several times that 1874 was changed to 1914 some time in the 1930's but nobody ever came up with an actual quote until I saw TD's reference in that December 1, 1933 Watchtower. It is interesting how none of the writers of the "Proclaimers" book or the members of Governing Body were aware of that reference. But then again, perhaps it is just another indication that the ones Jehovah's Witnesses look to for spiritual guidance are not as 'sharp' as those men would have everyone (including themselves) believe.
Fortunately the change doesn't have any effect on the point I make in the book. The incorrect 1874 date is the one Jesus would have noticed during his food-at-the-proper-time examination the Society says he gave them in 1918-1919. According to the above Watchtower the Society didn't come up with the correct answer (assuming that 1914 is the correct answer) until 14 years after Jesus' exam was over. And as everyone knows, the time to pass a test is when it is given, not several years after it is over.
Don
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TD
Fortunately the change doesn't have any effect on the point I make in the book
I agree completely.
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watson
I really appreciate this thread. But, I always appreciated the idea that sometime around 1919 the Lord looked down and saw the Bible Students, and said, "those guys are really trying. I'm going to put them in charge!" That got me around the difficulties with that old "false teaching" thing.
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truthsetsonefree
That (the original thread post) is extremely profound. Isaac