How did they talk their way out of that one?
2007-03-09 03:14:27 · 34 answers · asked by ms vicci pollard 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
They said the God's watch had stopped.
2007-03-09 03:30:09 · answer #1 · answered by Clive 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No "excuse" was needed because no such claim was ever made.
Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses pretend that they taught Armageddon would come in 1975. Is that the way Jehovah's Witnesses themselves understood the matter?
In 1975, there was a peak of 2,179,256 active Witnesses preaching from house to house. Did they quit in 1976? No.
By 2005, there were 6,613,829 actively preaching Jehovah's Witnesses, more than THREE TIMES as many!
Even in the United States, Jehovah's Witnesses have doubled their numbers since 1975. The articles of Jehovah's Witnesses which mentioned 1975 did so because it seemed to represent 6000 years since mankind's creation; no connection was made between that year and Armageddon.
Jehovah's Witnesses have long taught that not even Jesus knew the day and hour of Armageddon.
(Matthew 24:3-36) .The disciples approached [Jesus] privately, saying: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” 4 And in answer Jesus said to them: “Look out... 10 Then, also, many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another. ...13 But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come. ...36 “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.
It is sad when the enemies of truth work to spread misinformation regarding this peaceful Christian religion.
2007-03-09 07:37:34 · answer #2 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Actually, the great JW mathematician, Everearnest Adder, has explained the error in his thesis "It's Still 100 Gross Who Will See Jehovah." It turns out the basis for the original JW calculation did not take into account the original base system used by the biblical writers. After correcting for that factor, it was revealed that the true end date is June 5, 1992.
2007-03-09 03:29:15 · answer #3 · answered by JAT 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
That is new to me.
Actually some zealous witnesses may have mistakenly deduced the end of this sytem of things by certain dates but this was not the organisation.
Nobody on earth knows the time that Armageddon will come about as Jehovah God said the end will come like a thief in the night. The Watchtower doesn't state the exact time of that happening only that by world conditions existing now that we are drawing close to the Day of Jehovah.
2007-03-09 03:28:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Dear Vicci,
You mean there was one end declared for 1977 as well. I hadn't heard about that one. But maybe it was like the one my mother prophesied for February 3, 1962 which was not published.
When I talk to Watchtower Witnesses about the false prophecies they rattle off the list of published dates so well that I don't have to memorize them. They tell me that they were wrong to publish such dates but in their zeal for the end to come they couldn't help themselves. They also remind me that "Everyone makes mistakes".
Even when I ask jws to take a look at Deuteronomy 18:20-22 and tell them that God does NOT make mistakes it just rolls right off their backs and they continue on to distorting Scripture left and right.
2007-03-09 03:27:13 · answer #5 · answered by JOYfilled - Romans 8:28 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
They have to predict a year when the world is going to end, their huge business depends on it. They only exist because they have the rank and file of their organisation absolutely terrified of missing the ark, so the end of the world has always to be imminent to enable them to achieve this and so keep the millions rolling in. I have been called a moron, Liar and accused of slander by them for asking questions about their organisation on here. Seems nothing concerns the Governing Body, whatever is uncovered about them, however nasty, so long as the people in their congregations don't get to know about it.
2007-03-09 23:03:58 · answer #6 · answered by claret 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
According to the Discovery Channel program on Sunday about End of Time predictions, every Church has done this. What were their excuses.
Witnesses have been on a learning curve, too bad other religions aren't. They still stay with the same ol' same ol', just like the Jews of ancient times.
2007-03-09 06:39:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
the conspiracy theory of being brainwashed is always a possibility. but that exists in every circle of influence no matter who a person or what group you belong to.
They re-educated themselves and went back to the bible to explain it away.
actually the watchtower taught them why it was wrong, and corrected the issue.
my personal opinion, there is a rapture, it has always existed since adam and eve taught their children to believe in a prophecy of the coming messiah. So everyday the world ends for some people. tens of thousands of people disappear suddenly all the time. One year the account of missing children in the U.S alone was about 800 thousand missing. men and women have left cars parked on the side of the road and go missing each year without a trace.
2007-03-09 03:25:26 · answer #8 · answered by Priestcalling 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I'm not sure what their excuse was but I bet they came up with a new date for the world to end. And the Aztecs are going to have some explaining to do also.
2007-03-09 03:20:48 · answer #9 · answered by Rayne 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it is an interpretation of a passage in the old testament that the number 7 is evil therefore in 1977 two sevens clashed.. this is also in rasta philosophy apparantly on the 7th july 1977 when 4 sevens clashed jamaica recorded it's highest ever work absentee figures... it can easily be changed to 2077, 2177, 2277... Jah help everyone on the 7th july 7777 when 6 sevens clash...
2007-03-09 03:23:40 · answer #10 · answered by lion of judah 5 · 4⤊ 1⤋
We did not state that the end would occur in 1975, but that this marked 6,000 years of human history. We did strongly believe that it was quite possible, even probable, that the end would be that year, but we never said definitely that it would.
This was true then, and it is true now:
“Someone may ask, Do you, then, claim infallibility and that every sentence appearing in “The Watch Tower” publications is stated with absolute correctness? Assuredly we make no such claim and have never made such a claim. What motive can our opponents have in so charging against us? Are they not seeking to set up a falsehood to give themselves excuse for making attacks and to endeavor to pervert the judgments of others?” Zion's Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 September 1909.
We do not serve Jehovah with a date in mind; we dedicate our lives to him FOREVER. Anyone who lets a date stand in their way of serving him are serving him for the wrong reasons. Apparently Jehovah knew that we would be anxious for the end to come, expecting it by a certain time. After all, he did inspire the prophet Habakkuk to write:
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” –— Habakkuk 2:3, KJV.
2007-03-09 04:18:54 · answer #11 · answered by Abdijah 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋