1914-----1919 Is the foundation that they stand on. Remove that and they collaspe and go mainstream.
Is the GB setting up to dump 1914?
by karter 57 Replies latest jw friends
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cult classic
There is not a JW around today who is not aware of the "importance" of 1914. Unlike the other "prophetic" dates that passed. It would be extremely difficult to dump. They will of course continue to work around it and downplay it but they can't drop it anytime soon.
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OUTLAW
The problem of 1914,has already been Fixed,with the "Generation Change"..
The WBT$ new definition of the word Generation (Screw the Dictionary!)..Now takes in MULTIPLE GENERATIONS..
1914 can now be preached for another 100 Plus years..
All you have to do is believe,a Generation is 200 Plus years..
Until the WBT$ redefines Generation again..
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isaacaustin
Outlaw, when this 2nd part of this cumulative generation ages out the WT will simply say that 'evidently Jesus was referring to a series of 3 overlapping generations who together make up the generation who will be around when this old sytem comes to an end...'
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Leolaia
I personally doubt that 1914 is needed as a foundation for 1919.
Back in the 1920s it was needed because Rutherford needed an excuse to keep his flock busy and to divorce them from older Russellite expectations, as well as a scripturally-grounded basis for claiming that his "Bible Student" faction was more legitimate than other competing Bible Student groups.
Then Franz ran with this teaching and used it as a key for interpreting virtually any prophecy in the Bible. But did he need to? The Society claimed by repetition over and over that they were God's true organization, on many other grounds than simply being chosen in 1919.
I think the new "overlap" generation teaching is a sign of things to come. The Society doesn't need to turn to dates to support their organization's claims to spiritual exclusivity. They now are turning to their organization's spiritual exclusivity (i.e. as embodying the "anointed" on earth) to support claims on dates (i.e. when the generation begins and ends). Eventually I think they can simply drop 1914 and just say that history shows that the organization got off the ground in 1919, and there needs to be no Bible-derived or external grounds for that date. It is kind of like Pavlov's dog; eventually you don't need the food to make the dog salivate, just the bell.
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isaacaustin
Outlaw
Setting: year is 2090
Evidently Jesus was referring not only to the generation born in 1914 but future generations of annointed who would make up this cumulative generation that would by no means pass away until all things occur.
lol lol- not exactly sure what a cumulative generation is. haha But yeah, they'd probably justify it that as long as you know someone who new someone who knew someone from the 1914 generation it counts.
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excito-are
Good comments.
The great war of 1914 has as much signifiance to people today as the Napoleonic War of 1803 -1814 did to the people of 1914. The very fact people no longer connect with the generation of 1914 shows how much the world has changed and moved on from that era. However the Watchtower has to keep the date as it is core due to its claims about their chronology. And this is where they are lucky or clever if you will, as the rest of its members in general are too busy giving wax lyrical to the Watchtower, to really notice the death of its claims of 1914.
Excito
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mentallyfree31
Let me just point this out: Jehovah's Witnesses have been accepting changes in major doctrines for over 130 years. The religion is bigger today than it has ever been. True, 1914 is the BIGGEST doctrine of all probably.
However, when I tried to discuss how 1914 is false with my wife, she immediately said "it doesn't really matter". It's still God's organization.
Just a thought.
-mentallyfree31-
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ziddina
The WTBTS is highly enamored of the 1914 date because that's the ONE time they actually got something "right"...
1914 was a WATERSHED year for humanity... Something big DID happen in 1914 - the beginning of WWI - the "war to end all wars"... And the beginning of huge changes for all humans living on the face of the planet...
WWI set the stage for the next big war and all the smaller wars since then. It preceeded and influenced some of the largest slaughters of humanity on earth - I'm talking about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, WWII's death toll from military actions, and the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps...
The weaponry and political upheavals started in WWI are still reverberating today...
Of course, that "1914" date is totally erroneous, since the WTBTS based it upon that erroneous date for the destruction of Jerusalem - 607 B.C. If they'd had their dates "right", then they would have been ballyhooing 1934 - 1935, and not much happened in those years...
That would be one big reason to hang onto 1914, in my opinion..
Zid
