How Will They End 1914 Teaching?

by EmptyInside 282 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  EmptyInside

  I'm sure this has been discussed, but 1914 has to go away. Instead of, the overlapping generation teaching, they should have just ditched 1914.

  They should have done that a long time ago with 1975. It's the last of the teachings in the Charles Taze Russell era.

  I'm thinking they just will stop talking about it, and it will be out of the mind of the rank and file loyal Witnesses . I see it in my family, just never question anything . And if they have a second of doubt ,they just put it out of their minds.

  As a side point, their simplification or as we say ," dumbing down" study articles, just shows they don't want the Witnesses to be thinking too much. They just want them busy in the cart work in dangerous neighborhoods. I kid you not, there was another shooting in my city, and on the news within the yellow tape ,was some Witnesses setting up their booth..
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  Indoubtbigtime

  One WTower recently said Jesus three Satan out of heaven about 1914

  other publications have said the recent term ‘about 1914’

  when I was pioneering I used to say look how the world changed with the first WW but this was early in 1914
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  Atlantis

  Remember the word, "Opinion"!

  
  

  Watchtower/1915/November/1st/pgs.328-329

  
  

  Our readers should know that we never prophesied anything.

  We merely gave our opinions respecting prophecies and gave

  the reader the reasons for those opinions, showing the chapter

  and verse. Nothing in the Bible declared that the church

  would be glorified by the fall of 1914.

  
  

  Scan: Click image to enlarge.

  https://postimg.cc/xqHNtPQz

  
  

  
  

  Atlantis!

  
  
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  TonusOH

  When they made the "generation" change in 1995, where they appeared to try to quietly drop it, that was when they had the opportunity to let it fade away. Once they revived it with the 'overlapping generations' explanation, they effectively doubled down. Now they are committed to it, like it or not. If they try to reverse it now, it would be a glaring admission that they were stumbling about in the dark the whole time.

  It's possible that they felt they needed to address it somehow, and adding fifty or so years to the explanation lets it fade away without them having to ever talk about it again. But that just kicks the can down the road. They won't be able to handwave it in 2076, assuming they're still relevant at that time (or that they haven't shut down by then).
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  Fisherman

  about 1914

  That is true. I’ve pointed that out on this forum but what was WT implying vis-à-vis what you conclude they meant?
  
  
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  notsurewheretogo

  1914 is pivotal to everything modern about them. It leads to 1919 when they say they were appointed by the Big J.

  They can't get rid of 1914 without changing the date they were assigned to be the slave appointed over the domestics etc.

  Of course, 1914 does stand up to scrutiny given 607AD is utterly false and the whole lunar v solar years.
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  Jeffro

  TonusOH:

  When they made the "generation" change in 1995, where they appeared to try to quietly drop it, that was when they had the opportunity to let it fade away.

  That change only reduced the significance of the amount of time that has elapsed 1914. It did nothing to reduce their dependence on 1914 as the end of the supposed ‘gentle times’. At their core JWs are an Adventist denomination and 1914 won’t be going away any time soon.
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  Ding

  Contradictions don't bother most JWs.

  Whatever the GB says is true, even if it contradicts itself...
  
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  mikeflood

  When the GB 3.0 is complete.....they are gonna kick 1914 to the curb, like immediately.
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  Syme

  If they ditch 1914, they'll have to ditch the Gentile Times prophecy, and the Last Days in general, but JWs without eschatology have no reason to exist. An alternative would be to just move End of Gentile Times to another date. They could for example accept the historical consensus about the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC; that would give them 20 years of breathing time, and pass the hot potato to the next generation of GB; this sounds cynical enough for the GB to adopt. The problem, though, would be that every WT magazine has constantly fired against the historical date of 587 BC in favor of their baseless 607 BC. Changing that would be a huge flip-flop, but it wouldn't be news.