I had some major questions regarding 607 BCE which directly affect the Doctrine of 1914. My teacher, admitting being weak on history, could not answer my questions. I started researching and found that the appropriate dates for the "seventy years" were appearing to be 609 BCE to 539 BCE, the ruling period of Babylon. This meant that everything I was being taught based on 1914 was in effect, a lie. I wrote a detailed letter to the Society headquarters, with a cc: to the elders of the congregation I was attending, both service and ministry school asking for details on 607 BCE which is neither backed historically or biblically and called my teacher saying I would not be at service until I had some real good answers. I also sent my teacher a copy of the letter written. An elder came to my house and I showed him what information I had already. He also admitted being weak in the history and said to continue researching as the Society would appreciate the effort.
Well, I did a chronological of the Watchtower dates and found, through their own published information, that the kings of Babylon had a 20 year hole in them. And checking their referenced material, in particular, Antiquities of the Jews X, also found the same 20 year difference in the total number of years between the fall of Israel to the Assyrians to the fall of Babylon .
Based on these two findings, I adjusted the dates of the kings to remove the undefined 20 years between the last two kings of Babylon, Labashi-Marduk and Nabonidus, which by the way aligned them to historians dates. Then referring to all the Scripture that the Society used, applied the new dates and it fit Scripture like a glove. I found that most of the arguments they made, especially in the Appendix to Chapter 14 of Kingdom Come were tommyrot and not necessary if the dates were properly reflected.
I called my teacher to talk to her about my findings. Not only did she not call back, she returned my letter, unopened.
I called the elder that had come to my house and encouraged me to continue to set up some time to go over my findings. Again, no call back.
So far, and it has only been a little over a week, I have heard nothing from Society headquarters, but the lack of return phone calls tells me that maybe the congregation has heard something.
I really did not think a bible study student could be classified "apostate" but now I am beginning to wonder. Somehow I think I am going to get the "heart not in the right condition" answer because, I was looking for proof of the truth--questioning the Organization.
What I did learn, which is of most importance, is that I can read, research and understand the Bible without the Watchtower doing the interpretation for me. I can use their material for alot of the Scripture meaning, back out all the doctrine tommyrot and learn the true meaning that Jehovah wants for us all. If that means I am an "apostate" to the congregation, so be it.
Thanks for listening,
AddaGirl