Awakened 07,
All i can say is that it does for me. When i was a JW i used to love explaining the 1914 prophecy and showing how the maths worked out. It was one of those things i used to use to "prove" to other people that this is the "truth". I was a few years out when i came across this descrepency, for me it was always the one thing that stopped me going to a meeting all those years. I have always been a person that can look at both sides of an argument, unless there is a 100% reasoning leaning on one side.
Because i have always felt this way, although i may not agree with WT explanations of other criticisms, i have always seen their point of view. The 607 v 587/6 debate for me if it can be proved one way or the other IS the defining thing that will either keep me away or make me go to a meeting.
Paul
Well - I can respect that you feel that way, I guess, with that background to it. But it seems nonsensical to me. It seems you've got it ass-backwards. What you're saying (as I hear it) is that it's OK for them to be 99% wrong, as long as this one particular 'prophecy' can somehow be streamlined to fit 1914, when (fortunately for them) a world war broke out. Or you simply don't see any problems in all the other discrepancies in the first place.
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post, was their stance on being 'appointed by Jesus in1919'. He apparently 'cleaned house' in 1918 and subsequently chose them in 1919. But, as has been pointed out before, they celebrated Christmas and a whole lot of other things went on that they'd be disfellowshipped for had they believed the same today.
But most importantly in that regard: They taught that Jesus had come invisibly in 1874 for years after 1919, when they were 'chosen'. [See this link - they did so at least until 1935, btw; that's as far as I bothered to check] You'd think Jesus himself would have fixed that little doosy as soon as He had chosen them, and not let them have an erroneous view of the date He returned, for years afterwards? That combined with all the other 'false beliefs' at the time; did Jesus simply not care at all? Why did He teach them that what He himself had said a couple of thousand years ago about "this generation" meant a generation from 1914, then flip-flop on it for decades to come, then finally (so far!) completely throw all that out the window this year and 'say' "Ooops - I really actually meant the anointed as a group - sorry folks".
They are the frickin' "God's only channel on earth today"!! Come on now! Is it just not important for God/Jesus? They just don't care at all if people have false beliefs for decades and perhaps their entire lives? Don't give a s**t? Don't have the power to steer them quickly in the right direction?
-If you have the 2007 Watchtower publications CD-ROM, do a search for 1919, and the fourth link from the top of the search should be "Commissioned to speak in the Divine Name", from 1971. There, you can find this quote (paragraph 24):
Why, though, are all these facts of history brought to our attention? It is to show the fulfillment of prophecy. Jehovah has found and commissioned his modern-day "Ezekiel." It is a composite Ezekiel. It is composed of those dedicated, baptized proclaimers of God’s kingdom, who have been anointed with His spirit for their work. (Isaiah 61:1-3) It is manifest that in the year 1919 the invisible heavenly organization of Jehovah, like the celestial chariot seen in Ezekiel’s vision, rolled up and stopped, not before Christendom’s advocates of the League of Nations, but before the anointed proclaimers of the heavenly kingdom of God in the hands of Jesus Christ.From atop this celestial chariotlike organization Jehovah commissioned this dedicated, baptized, anointed class of servants to speak to all the nations in His name. Thus, like Ezekiel, they became Jehovah’s witnesses. It was most fitting that, after twelve years of worldwide activity as such, they embraced the distinguishing name Jehovah’s witnesses, in the summer of 1931, and that in connection with the publishing of the book Vindication.
They are, according to themselves, "the modern day Ezekiel". Was Ezekiel, according to JWs and other Christians, ever wrong as a prophet? Famous for spreading false teachings over many years?
Please don't see this as an attack on you; I may "sound" mad at you above, but I'm just annoyed that they've been able to con so many with such drivel for so long. And as if that's not enough, people thereafter go to other con men and are fooled by likewise inane drivel. Gah.
