Did the WT totally "luck out" with World War I starting in 1914?

lepermessiah

My family is still fixated on the 1914 date, simply because World War I started that year.

I told them I will agree it is a significant year in world history, but that the 1914 date as presented by JW's is based on lies and charlatanry.

I said "I think the WT really lucked out with 1914 with WWI starting that year - it keeps most JW's stuck on that date"

The standard answer is "Well, that was the year everything went haywire".....

Let the circular reasoning continue

snowbird

I personally believe the Evil One orchestrated the events of 1914.

Syl

Yes, yes they did. I'm going to start a thread one of these days detailing exactly why I feel this way too. 1914, in my opinion, is not a very significant year in "world" history. It was the starting year for a European war, that's it. It was not even the date for the first "world war".

JW's totally lucked out because this is the only thing they have that they are able to hang onto, and it's only because something happened (it certainly wasn't what they predicted). They have rewritten their history in order to keep this date intact with their doctrine. I bet that if nothing had happened that year, this religion would NOT be as big as they are now.

They will never let go of 1914. They can't. Their existence is hardwired to this date.

Yan Bibiyan

As civicsi00 eluded to, the JWs moved the destruction of Jerusalem from 606 to 607 BC just to keep 1914? Amazing!

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that board room when the subject came up and history was massaged (and had a tape recorder too )...

-Yan

undercover

War in Europe had been feared since before the turn of the century. Of course no one could predict what year it would start or how long it would last or if it could be avoided even.

Russell's original "time of tribulation" was from 1874 plus 40. He was aware of the political climate around the world and it surely influenced his belief in the "end times" scenerio. So if the war started anytime in that period, they could eventually twist their doctrine to include the events as momentous and prophecy filling.

One thing I've always found interesting is that the WTS loves to point to 1914 as the start of the war...and it is, but the US, home of the WTS/JWs didn't declare war until 1917. Just a minor thing, but when compared to WWII, most Americans talk about 1941 thru 1945 as WWII - the time of US involvement. But since 1914 fit so well with the WT theology, it was better to keep to the European timeline instead of the US one when talking about WWI.