Did JWs decide it was better if they said that Jesus already came invisibly?

Question

so that they do not look so bad after so many failed prophecies?

Answer 1

They first said that in the last half of the 19th century and have repeated it about 8 times because "they were mistaken."

The organization has convinced its followers that they are the only source for true Biblical understanding, yet the scriptures clearly indicate that if any supposed prophet makes ANY claim that proves false (much less SEVERAL claims) they are to be considered a FALSE prophet. Under the law, they were to be STONED...

As for the return of Jesus, it will NOT be a secret or quiet event, but will be immediately obvious to everyone. After that NO ONE will be "left behind." That is the CLEAR teaching of 2Peter 3:7ff...

2Peter 3:7 BY GOD’S WORD THE HEAVENS AND EARTH OF TODAY ARE BEING RESERVED FOR FIRE. They are being kept for the day when God will judge. Then ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 Dear friends, here is one thing you must not forget. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years. And a thousand years are like a day.
9 The Lord is not slow to keep his promise. He is not slow in the way some people understand it. He is patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed. Instead, he wants all people to turn away from their sins.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. THE HEAVENS WILL DISAPPEAR WITH A ROAR. FIRE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING IN THEM. God will judge the earth and everything in it.
11 So EVERYTHING WILL BE DESTROYED. And what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives.
12 Live like that as you look forward to the day of God. It will make the day come more quickly. ON THAT DAY FIRE WILL DESTROY THE HEAVENS. ITS HEAT WILL MELT EVERYTHING IN THEM.

... No one could "sleep through" the events as Peter describes the return of Jesus. It will not be a secret happening. The simplest explanation of the text is that the entire physical realm will cease to exist.

Andy H... You are way off track. Look up the Biblical meaning of "prophecy." It is not "fortune telling," or something that can be selectively turned on or off. It IS PROCLAIMING GOD'S MESSAGE REGARDLESS OF CONTEXT.

Answer 2

Matthew 5:12; John 15:20, If they have persecuted me, they will persecure you also;
2 Timothy 3: 12 In fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in asociation with Christ Jesus will also be pesecuted.

Progressive changes, enlightment

Why have there been changes over the years in the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses?
The Bible shows that Jehovah enables his servants to understand his purpose in a progressive manner. (Prov. 4:18; John 16:12) Thus, the prophets who were divinely inspired to write portions of the Bible did not understand the meaning of everything that they wrote. (Dan. 12:8, 9; 1 Pet. 1:10-12) The apostles of Jesus Christ realized that there was much they did not understand in their time. (Acts 1:6, 7; 1 Cor. 13:9-12) The Bible shows that there would be a great increase in knowledge of the truth during “the time of the end.” (Dan. 12:4) Increased knowledge often requires adjustments in one’s thinking. Jehovah’s Witnesses are willing humbly to make such adjustments.

Answer 3

No.

Jehovah's Witnesses conscientiously teach the results of their sincere bible research. They have never claimed to be divinely inspired "prophets" or made any "predictions".


The bible itself tells its readers that Christ's presence would be "with the clouds". The apostle Paul plainly implied that the enemies of Christianity would NOT be able to "see" Christ.

(Revelation 1:5-7) Jesus Christ, “the Faithful Witness,”...Look! He is coming with the clouds

(1 Timothy 6:13-16) I give you orders that you observe the commandment...until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. ...who dwells in unapproachable light, whom not one of men has seen or can see.

(Ephesians 1:18) ...the eyes of your heart having been enlightened...

(2 Corinthians 3:16) When there is a turning to Jehovah, the veil is taken away.


The fact that Jesus comes "in the clouds" reminds one of the presence of the sun behind clouds. Anyone can "see" that the sun has risen, even if the sun's outline is not plainly delineated. The effects of the sun can be seen, and any person can discern the other clues indicating the literal presence of the sun above the horizon.

The bible describes something similar with regard to the personal qualities of the Creator.

(Romans 1:19-20) What may be known about God is manifest among them, for God made it manifest to them. For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made

Thus, it seems rather obvious that only those actually LOOKING for the Christ will discern his presence.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.ca/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_05.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_10.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_01.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_09.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/20000622/

Answer 4

It is for the benefit of True Believer's who must face down Satan as he seeks to stamp out the last bit of YHWH's truth that remains in this realm. These are normal times. These are end times. Our generation has been selected to witness the final awesome battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. We have been "chosen" to witness the "ultimate triumph" of "good" or evil.
2 Thessalonians 2: 8-12, And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9) Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11) And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie;
12) That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Answer 5

When Jesus come,s back you won't need the JW,s to tell you
The Bible say,s every eye shall see him and every knee
shall bow and confess that he is King of King,s.

Answer 6

LOL I think that is the reason. Funny how members in that cult will believe anything. I wonder what psychos in their cult claimed to see him.

Answer 7

By ''so many'' do you mean one? And it was not a prophecy because they didn’t claim it was infallible.

Answer 8

Don't we all attempt to cover up and/or rationalize our errors, whether grave (pardon the pun) or not? It's human nature at its best and most glorious hour!

Answer 9

--JESUS DECIDED that his presence would be invisible!

--WHY DO YOU think rather than say to his disciples who asked:
(Matthew 24:3) “3 While he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the“. disciples approached him 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?””

--WHY DID they ask about a sign if he was going to come visibly?

--WHY DID he answer:
..........4And in answer Jesus said to them: “Look out that nobody misleads YOU; 5 for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. "
---COULD HE NOT have easily said this is what I am going to look like , or I will come riding in an actual chariot, or a model T Ford, or on top of the space shuttle!
---HE COULD HAVE SAID YOU WILL NOT mistaken me because I am coming on Christmas Eve, or New Years Day, or some outstanding way!
--NO INDEED he said in versus 7, 8 ,12--THE SIMPLE presentation as to his Parousia" in a visible "sign" as:
(Matthew 24:7-8) “. . .“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......12 and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.”

--WHY DO YOU BELITTLE the idea of invisibility when the setting for Christ's PRESENCE OR PAROUSIA WAS to follow this invisble activity:
(Revelation 12:7-10) “. . .And war broke out in heaven: Mi′cha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled 8 but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. 9 So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. ....
--10 ..... “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God!”

--DID YOU or ANYONE see this battle in heaven , did you see Christ empowered as KING of the Kingdom?
--DID YOU ALSO SEE or anyone else see the following action take place as we say in 1914 OR do you believe that everybody would see this invisible scenario:

(Revelation 12:12) “. . .On this account be glad, YOU heavens and YOU who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to YOU, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.””

--AS TO OUR failed prophecies , why is it even the world recognized the date above as to having any merit and you so CRITICAL OF US --can not even hope that we are in the last days of this wicked system & that Christ would bring it to that end?
*** ce chap. 18 pp. 227-229 par. 32 The Bible—Is It Really Inspired by God? ***

"...... 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.”

....****1914—The Turning Point in History***
--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) --
****AGAIN FOR maybe something to sink in:
......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.”

--MY MY it must be gratifying to you, to so belittle what Christ actually spoke of because we as JWS had the courage to simply believe and have proof that we indeed are very deep in the time of the end, and the true fulfillment of his promise is about to take place: "....thy kingdom come......"

Answer 10

Jesus 'second coming' hasn't happened yet. I don't know where you get this info...