What were the Bible Students expecting in 1914, after all?

by EdenOne 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  slimboyfat

  Eden the situation as I understand it is this:

  Russell for decades predicted that 1914 would mark the end of the time of trouble and the start of kingdom rule on earth.

  However as 1914 grew closer this prediction appeared increasingly untenable. Time was running out. Therefore Russell switched his prediction to stating that 1914 would mark the beginning of the time of trouble and kingdom conditions would follow shortly after.

  Therefore the quote you have found was from the period when Russell was already backtracking as regards what he predicted would take place in 1914.
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  EdenOne

  TD Thanks for the link to that document. Very interesting.

  Zion's Watchtower, August 1, 1904, p. 229:

  "April, 1878, marks the date of the establishment of the kingdom. [...] Thus the establishment of the kingdom commenced [...] the kingdom will be fully established or "set up" by October A.D., 1914; for that date closes the forty years of "harvest" and accomplishes its design."

  I didn't realize before that Russell taught that there was a 40-year period (well, in fact 36; 40 is counted from the beginning of the parousia in 1874) between the commencement and the finalizing of the establishment of the kingdom. This was referred to as the "Day of Vengeance". (How can a divine enterprise take 40 years to be "set-up" is beyond me). Therefore, in his view both 1878 AND 1914 are dates of the establishment of the kingdom. Question remains: in 1914, visibly or invisibly?

  Eden
• 

  Vidiot

  EdenOne - "What were the Bible Students expecting in 1914, after all?"

  The Rapture.
  
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  Lieu

  To answer your question, Armegeddon. Definitely not any enthronements. That supposedly happened in the 1800s.

  It's an adventist rapture based group thing. They were're expecting God to "take them home" ... erroneously and stupidly.

  If you go by the Bible, it says God does things in his time not anyone else's. The date is unknown. Not to mention that theives don't let anyone know exactly when they are coming (unless they seriously suck as thieves).

  As so called Christans, that's what JWS get for calling Jesus a liar when he said no one knows the date. (May as well call him Satan).
• 

  EdenOne

  Ok, I'm getting to the point I'm trying to make (I think):

  TD, the author of the paper you linked to, says:

  "It can be clearly seen from the period literature that the Witnesses' doctrine of God's kingdom as a heavenly government establishment in 1914 AD did not begin to emerge until the year 1920 and did not reach its final form until the year 1925." - page 42

  I think that the statement found at the Watch Tower of May 1, 1914 proves that this isn't accurate. Russell did teach that God's kingdom as a heavenly, invisible government BEFORE October 1914, and not only after 1918/1920:

  "Christ and the church have only been the incipient kingdom, an embryotic kingdom - the kingdom class, preparing for investiture of authority in God's due time, which we believe is now near. The kingdom is to be a spiritual one, and hence its rulers will be as invisible as are the angels and the heavenly Father. [...] During the Millennium, the Kingdom authority and power of God through Christ and the church will be exercised amongst men; and yet they will not see it with the natural eye, but merely with the eyes of their understanding."

  Eden
  
  
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  TerryWalstrom

  During the Millennium, the Kingdom authority and power of God through Christ and the church will be exercised amongst men; and yet they will not see it with the natural eye, but merely with the eyes of their understanding."

  What an imagination as well as a talent for seemingly saying something without saying anything.
  The only check or restraint on the FDS wild imaginings has been the actual disproof of failed events. And even that barely slows them down.
  
  
• 

  TD

  I think that the statement found at the Watch Tower of May 1, 1914 proves that this isn't accurate. Russell did teach that God's kingdom as a heavenly, invisible government BEFORE October 1914, and not only after 1918/1920:

  Well as the author attempts to explain, much depends upon how basic terms are defined. Is Russell's use of the term, "kingdom" in The Divine Plan of the Ages identical with Rutherford's use of the terms, "nation" and "government" in the article, Birth of a Nation?

  I would say no. Russell taught from the very beginning that when fully set up, the kingdom of God would exist in two parts. --A spiritual or heavenly phase and an earthly or human phase. Russell taught that the heavenly phase had been set up in 1878 and all that remained for its completion was the gathering of the last of the elect. (cf. The Battle of Armageddon pp. 612, 622) 1914 was supposed to see the completion of the kingdom in its entirety (i.e. Both the heavenly and earthly phase) and the dawn of The Golden Age.

  That is very, very different from how Rutherford (And JW's today) later interpreted the events of 1914.
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  Lieu

  Russell wrote a sixty something page pamphlet on Christ's invisible return and it was set in the 1800s, not 1914.
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  EdenOne

  Terry - The only check or restraint on the FDS wild imaginings has been the actual disproof of failed events. And even that barely slows them down.

  Exactly. The leadership of the WTS is in the business of belief, not facts. Facts tend to be an annoying nuissance that ocasionally needs to be dealt with.

  Eden