Followup question-Jehovah's Witness "whitewashing" history & preaching 1799 as start of The Time of the End

Question

In a previous question, a well-versed answerer responded that current publications of Jehovah's Witnesses don't discuss obsolete information because it would "confuse" people.

Although "Proclaimers" is a fairly recent publication, the WT describes it as a "candid" - therefore, honest - account of their history including "adjustments" they've made when their "truth" turned out to be not. Page 730 of the Index lists some adjustments for years 1873-1975. Obviously, this is all "obsolete" information, but this IS a history book so if you exclude "old" information, it wouldn't really be a history book, would it?

1. So why would adding 1799 to that list cause any more "confusion" than all the other dates in that list?

2. Does this "confusion" result because to admit the WT was teaching 1799, not 1914, would mean that 1914 is also subject to becoming "obsolete" as the WT date for the beginning of the Time of the End, which would confuse anyone who thinks it's the absolute truth?

Answer 1

There is no reasoning with JW's. They refuse to research their religions history, and the ones that know it, refuse to accept responsibuilty for the wrongs..There have been so many date changes and "rule" changes in the course of their religions history. They refuse to ever think that they may just be wrong. JW's think that everyone hates them., but they are wrong..I am sure some do..but most people bringing questions like this up..is because they are trying to get them to see the light and research. They are good people, but they have been mislead and I feel that they are victims of victims..I wish they had the courage to research ..do hard research..But, they can't..they will be dissfellowshiped or worse..considered an apostate. They are not allowed to question what they have been taught..It is discourage..unless one wants his mind to be filled with poison of Satan and apostates as they believe. I feel sorry for them..They are such good people..being mislead. I have nothing but love for them..and pray for them..

Answer 2

The premise of this "question" is misleading, and does not accurately represent this answerer's main points.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070627093758AAxBGL6

Essentially, Jehovah's Witnesses do not continue to write about 1799 because the matter was always a minor one, appeared rarely even in early literature, and never affected any major teaching. Ideas about 1799 are almost 90 years old.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not avoid this topic or that merely because of its "confusing", "embarrassing", or perhaps disquieting nature. However, they also do not TEACH a matter simply to UNTEACH it. That would be unloving, unproductive, and a wasteful use of the religion's resources.

Interestingly, newer JW publications intended for teaching bible truth to new students no longer consider the trinity within the main body of the book, instead relegating it to an appendix. Why? Because fewer and fewer students even pretend to believe such illogical, unscriptural dogma. As this idea is increasingly rejected by the general public, it made less and less sense for Jehovah's Witnesses to teach the trinity only to show where the bible refutes the trinity.


The question also seeks to make some connection between 1799 and 1914. While no one human can speak for Jehovah's Witnesses, please be assured that even the year 1914 is not venerated as some cherished talisman by the adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses.

True Christians (such as Jehovah's Witnesses) serve with God and Christ in mind, not a particular year.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_09.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_10.htm

Answer 3

I guess it depends on the definition of The Time of the End or the Last Days. Peter took a line from Joel the prophet when he responded to those that thought they were drunk from wine.

He explains:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
..... That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
..... Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
..... Your young men shall see visions,
..... Your old men shall dream dreams.
Acts 2:17

Peter believes that what they have seen was what Joel prophesied about The Last Days. Does that mean that Peter was wrong? Again it depends on how you define The Last Days or The Time of the End.

grace2u

Answer 4

--ALL THAT fine research and what have you concluded?
1. THAT OUR organization is imperfect? Most of Jehovah's witnesses already know that!
2. THAT JEHOVAH & Christ Jesus are using an imperfect organization? All of us already know that!
3. THAT 1914 IS indeed the marked year that Jesus foretold at Matthew 24, Luke 21 & Mark 13! YES WE MOST certainly believe that & GUESS WHAT:
---NOTEWORTHY INDIVIDUALS found that the world went crazy since that year & WE were the only organization that foretold that , AND GUESS again that was acknowledged:

*** ce chap. 18 pp. 227-229 pars. 29-32 The Bible—Is It Really Inspired by God? **
***1914—The Turning Point in History
--30 From the human standpoint, the world troubles and global wars foretold in the Bible were far from the thinking of the pre-1914 world. German statesman Konrad Adenauer said: “Thoughts and pictures come to my mind, . . . thoughts from the years before 1914 when there was real peace, quiet and security on this earth—a time when we didn’t know fear. . . . Security and quiet have disappeared from the lives of men since 1914.”25 People living before 1914 thought that the future “would get better and better,” reported British statesman Harold Macmillan.26 The book 1913: America Between Two Worlds notes: “Secretary of State Bryan said [in 1913] that ‘conditions promising world peace were never more favorable than now.’”27
--31 So, right up to the very brink of World War I, world leaders were forecasting an age of social progress and enlightenment. But the Bible had foretold the opposite—that the unprecedented war of 1914 to 1918 would highlight the beginning of “the last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1) The Bible also provided chronological evidence that 1914 would mark the birth of God’s heavenly Kingdom, to be followed by unprecedented world trouble.28 But was anyone living back then aware that 1914 would be such a turning point in history?
***32 Decades before that date, there was an organization of people who were making known the significance of 1914. The New York World of August 30, 1914, explains: “The terrific war outbreak in Europe has fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy. For a quarter of a century past, through preachers and through press, the ‘International Bible Students’ [Jehovah’s Witnesses] . . . have been proclaiming to the world that the Day of Wrath prophesied in the Bible would dawn in 1914. ‘Look out for 1914!’ has been the cry of the . . . evangelists.”29

--HAS THE WORLD improved since that year of 1914 OR did it get worse as Jesus foretold IT WOULD?
--THIS IS WHAT JESUS SAID would happen :
(Matthew 24:7-8) “7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of "pangs of distress.”(these pangs that Christ alluded to were birth pangs--my comment)
--HAVE YOU ever been pregnant or do you have a wife who has been?
**TRY AND TELL a woman when she is in the bloom of the pregnancy or in the the short period of "pangs" that are experienced JUST BEFORE the birthing, ---that she is just imagining those pains--She will throw a bed pan at you and be justified!
--HERE ARE MORE "PANGS OF DISTRESS"---Box on page 228]
**1914—A TURNING POINT IN HISTORY
Even after a second world war, many refer back to 1914 as the great turning point in history.
-- “It is indeed the year 1914 rather than that of Hiroshima which marks the turning point in our time.”—René Albrecht-Carrié, The Scientific Monthly, July 1951.
-- --“Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been deeply troubled by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined march toward ever greater disaster. Many serious people have come to feel that nothing can be done to avert the plunge towards ruin. They see the human race, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, driven on by angry gods and no longer the master of fate.”—Bertrand Russell, The New York Times Magazine, September 27, 1953.
-- “The modern era . . . began in 1914, and no one knows when or how it will end. . . . It could end in mass annihilation.”—The Seattle Times, January 1, 1959.
-- “In the year 1914 the world, as it was known and accepted then, came to an end.”—James Cameron, 1914, published in 1959.
-- “The whole world really blew up about World War I and we still don’t know why. . . . Utopia was in sight. There was peace and prosperity. Then everything blew up. We’ve been in a state of suspended animation ever since.”—Dr. Walker Percy, American Medical News, November 21, 1977.
-- “In 1914 the world lost a coherence which it has not managed to recapture since. . . . This has been a time of extraordinary disorder and violence, both across national frontiers and within them.”—The Economist, London, August 4, 1979.
-- --“Civilization entered on a cruel and perhaps terminal illness in 1914.”—Frank Peters, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 1980.
-- “Everything would get better and better. This was the world I was born in. . . . Suddenly, unexpectedly, one morning in 1914 the whole thing came to an end.”—British statesman Harold Macmillan, The New York Times, November 23, 1980.

**TRY AND CHANGE that kind of history , that Christ was referring to as the greatest marked era and you will indeed find yourself facing a brick wall.
--AT THE SAME time do not forget that Jesus said that his heavenly presence (PAROUSIA)as the installed King , making ready the forces of Armageddon would be taking place!
--DON'T YOU want his intervention OR do you like this filthy world TOO MUCH?

Answer 5

If the Jehovah's Witnesses want to believe that, then I think they should go ahead. It certainly has no impact on me.

Answer 6

From the time of pastor Russel in the mid 1800's they have been setting dates and they were wrong all the time.We do not need Jehovah's witnesses or the watchtower .We need the Bible and faith in Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

They are a religious false cult that has failed at every examination put to them...they are clearly a false religious group Jesus warned us about...well here they are!