Reasoning on the New "1900 Years" JW Theology (from David Splane)

FusionTheism

Inspired by the three recent threads on David Splane's new video declaring, among other things, that there was no Faithful Slave for 1900 years, and there may not have even been any genuine anointed ones during those years, I decided to make this post.

Here are the three previous threads on this topic:

Here is the link to David Splane's "1900 Years Video": http://tv.jw.org/#video/VODProgramsEvents/pub-jwbmw_201506_1_VIDEO

Questions About JW Theology After Watching the Video:

If Jesus prophesied that He would be with His disciples all the days until the conclusion of this system of things (Matthew 28:20) and that His congregation would never be overpowered (Matthew 16:18), then how could true Christians vanish for 1900 years?
Since, as David Splane says, God does not condemn churches or Christians for misunderstanding the Bible, but only for having a bad attitude toward the Bible or toward the preaching work, does this mean that many people in the churches during those 1900 years (or even today) may have a good attitude, even though they misunderstand the Bible?
What specific attitudes among church members would be considered "good" or "bad" by God?
What were the "good" attitudes displayed by Charles Taze Russell or Joseph Rutherford, which caused God to anoint or select them for special privileges over the other church members?
David Splane says that God would not approve of Christian groups who have severe divisions, but what exactly is a "severe division," and hasn't the Society experienced these "severe divisions" in the past?
If God's number one priority is glorifying His Name, why would He allow His Name to be hidden for 1900 years?
If God wants to save all people with the truth, then why would He allow 1900 years of ignorance and darkness?
Did God view those Catholics as having a "good" attitude -- the Catholics whom David Splane said were obeying the Great Commission and preaching to other nations?
David Splane said we know God will make sure that good-hearted people receive an opportunity, but this doesn't mean we should slack off on our urgency in preaching. But how does this work? If no one went out preaching, then how would God make sure the good-hearted people receive the Good News Message?
If God is going to resurrect all the good-hearted people from all time periods, even if they were ignorant of the truth, then why do we need to preach to people? What's the purpose?

Magnum

Very good questions. Busy now. Will come back later and give this some more attention.

hardtobeme

Remember, Don't count anything that happened before 1914.

I wonder, if there was not faithful slave until 1919, who gave the spiritual food to the first Christians? The letters that Paul, Peter, James, Judas and John wrote to the congregations and the brothers were not spiritual food at the proper time?

If the faithful and discreet slave is the governing body in our present, who was the governing body in the first century? Wasn't the first century governing body giving directions to the congregations and the preaching work? Who was in charge of feeding the brothers the spiritual food? Was there really a governing body?

According to jwfacts: "whereas the Governing Body was not established until 1971". Who was the faithful and discreet slave from 1919 (the year that supposedly Jesus chose them) till 1971? And by 1919 they weren't aware that Jesus chose them.

So, Jesus is responsible for misleading thousands, or millions of people after he chose the Watchtower. Here is what the Watchtower was teaching by that year:

The "Last Days" started in 17993 and the 1800s were the worst time period of all history
That Jesus presence commenced in 18743
That Jesus had begun ruling in 18784
Armageddon had occurred in 1914
That the end was going to come in 1925
That blood was acceptable as food for Christians
That Jesus should be prayed to and worshipped, as well as Jehovah
That the Great Crowd were a heavenly class
That birthdays and Christmas were acceptable celebrations
The cross was on the cover of the Watchtower
Teachings adapted from Freemasons, such as that pyramids and astrology supported 1914
Strong Zionist support for a new nation of Israel in fulfilment of Bible prophecy
That the Faithful and Discreet Slave was not the anointed, but rather Pastor Russell

Furthermore, the most noteworthy doctrine introduced in 1918 - that the earthly resurrection would start in 1925 - was a false and embarrassing failure.

Is Jesus responsible for promoting those teachings? He cleanse them from 1914 till 1919 when he chose them.

They have created a mess with this teaching. More questions arise than answers.

FusionTheism

Hardtobeme,

Excellent points.

It does sound like their latest doctrine is this:

* The Governing Body, since 1919, is the Faithful Slave.

* The Governing Body existed in the First Century but was not the Faithful Slave.

* But, the Governing Body didn't even really exist until around 1971. Before that, the President of the Society had all the power.

* So, was the Faithful Slave actually appointed in 1971 instead of 1919?

FusionTheism

Plus, how do we even know Charles Taze Russell was a genuine member of the 144,000?

How do we know Joseph Rutherford and his associates were chosen as the Faithful and Discreet Slave in 1919?

Being released from prison is NOT evidence of anything.

Hold Me-Thrill Me

Br. Splane's talk was just plain stupid. The early Christians had the Bible. It was in the languages of the times. They did the preaching work.

He sounds like a man on the Titanic reaching for anything floating by.

The putrid smell of no substance reeks from his face.

Frank

umbertoecho

Good logical obvious (to those who think) points. Plus the bible speaks of the Bereans as having gone through scripture to verify all that they were told.

StayedAliveAfter75

Hold Me wroter: "The early Christians had the Bible. It was in the languages of the times."

Not to pick a fight (not my style at all), but that statement is not true at all. The early Christians had copies of letters written by other Christians explaining Jesus' life and teachings as they had heard from other writings and by word of mouth. Paul and others wrote letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians, etc., but those letters were not copied and sent to all other Christian groups. In Palestine, some Christian groups, being Jews, may have had some of the Torah scrolls or had access to them at local temples - but they did not have personal libraries available to them for study and research.

I suggest that everyone who truly wants to know how the Bible came together and what was available to early Christian educate themselves by reading Professor Bart Ehrman's books and listen to his lectures (most are available for free on Archive.org). The "Bible" as we know it was mostly combined and configured in the 3rd to 6th centuries C.E. But even then, the many components of the Bible were not combined into one book until well after the 12th century C.E.

The infamous Watchtower drawing showing early disciples going door-to-door with some kind of "book purse" over their shoulders is ridiculous. They are trying to convince JWs that early Christians knocked on Jewish and Roman doors, preached, and then handed out copies of scrolls (early "Watchtowers"). The truth is that all writing materials were in short supply and used only by the government or the local temples. No one other than political leaders and their slaves and the Jewish clergy were able to read and write. They did not go to the synagogue to read scrolls - they went there to hear the scrolls and commandments of the Torah read out loud to the attendees.

There were some scrolls available to smaller groups, but again these were letters sent from Paul or the apostles in Jerusalem. The Bereans would have had maybe a few scrolls available that they would read, discuss and argue about and then compare to other available documents - just as we do today when we go to a library.

Barney

Ucantnome

Fusion Theism

you say this

'and there may not have even been any genuine anointed ones during those years,'

I just happened to watch the video the other day and what you state is the impression I had after listening to it. Watching it a second time I could only find at about 8:09 minutes into the video mention that he doesn't know if any of the people mentioned were of the anointed.

Am I wrong did I miss something? (I didn't feel like listening to it a third time)

Listener

Splane states 'we don't know if any of them were of the anointed'.

This would include their very own founder - Charles T Russell, amazing.

W 66 9/15

.....So it turned out to be after the 1870’s that a small group of sincere, anointed ones came together to form eventually the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society under the presidency of Charles Taze Russell. .....

W 55 3/1

.....Russell, as chairman of a committee of seven men, made a round-the-world tour, spreading seeds of truth that in time brought into fruitful action additional groups of anointed Christians in far-flung areas of the globe.....

Kingdom Ministry 3/95

Yet, when you consider all that has happened at Bethel these past 85 years, from the time of Brother Russell till now, there is no doubt that Jehovah’s hand has been with his anointed servants, part of the spiritual seed of Abraham, at Bethel.

Reasoning on the New "1900 Years" JW Theology (from David Splane)

Share this