What event in JW history meant it was here to say...

cedars

Do you mean "here to STAY?" As in, even if the Society was chosen by Jesus in 1919, why should they continue to have his approval regardless?

If so, that's a good question. I wouldn't bet on getting a coherent answer from a JW!

Cedars

From the bible Students on to the JWs they both felt the 144,000 would be a Ruling Class. The LDS, Mormons, feel similarly as people like Mitt Romney believe he as part of a Priesthood will rule the earth.

cobaltcupcake

This may not be what you're looking for, but in some old publication (I think it was the Divine Purpose book) there was an anecdote about Bethel needing coal during WW1 when supplies were nonexistant. The brothers prayed that if Jehovah wanted the Society to continue he would provide the coal. The next day some big truck full of coal showed up to deliver - apparently an anonymous donor had sent it. That was taken as a BIG sign that they were on the right track. There were several other similar stories.

http://scottleblog.wordpress.com

The Odd Life of Jehovah's Witnesses

mP

@Cedars

What i meant to say was the JW religion would continue business as usual, as opposed to fading into obsecurity with only thousnads rather than 7 million.

simon17

The answer is when the survived 1925. That second major, specific failed prophecy within a decade was either going to break them entirely, or it was going to whittle the group down to a hard-core nucleus of believers who would never be swayed away from the group's accuracy no matter what the blunder. And that is what happened.

Also this was when they realized that specifically saying they were sure about any given year was a terrible and dangerous idea. To a much lesser extent they repeated this blunder in 1975 but it was not nearly to the extent of 1925. So they learned from this to not be so radical which helped them in the future.

All in all, surivivng 1925 meant JWs would continue as a High Control Group for a loooooooooooong time.

I quit!

I don't know if there was any one event but I do think the time period they started in had a lot to do with it. The 19th century was furtile soil for religious cults. Mormons, Adventist, Christian Scientist all came out of that time period. I think it would be harder for any of them to get started and have significant growth in our era.

King Solomon

Sure, at least a cult with a fundamental literalist slant of the Bible. New religions can spring up that adopt a new tactic targeting others eg Scientology targets the individual who wants a more science-based religion (laughable, since most anyone who understands electronics enough to know what an eMeter is would bother: it's a $5k wheatstone bridge circuit).