Back in the old BBS days, James White participated in discussion groups and
dialogued with many Jehovah's Witnesses. The following is a post by James
responding to a JW who claimed the WTBTS did not predict the end of the
world/second coming in 1975. Turns out the WTBTS did make the claim and
James do***ented it well.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
From: James White
To: Brian Blad
Subj: 1914, 1975, etc.
BB> As to 1975, I looked at all the references, and I did not find any
BB> official statement of the society that 1975 was it.
According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand
years from man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh
period of a thousand years of human history will begin in
the fall of 1975 C.E.
-!-Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 29
From the most reliable investigations of Bible chronology,
harmonizing with many accepted dates of secular history, we
find that Adam was created in the autumn of the year 4026
B.C.E. Sometime in that same year Eve could well have been
created, directly after which God's rest day commenced. In
what year, then, would the first 6,000 years of man's
existence and also the first 6,000 years of God's rest day
come to an end? The year 1975. This is worthy of notice,
particularly in view of the fact that the "last days" began
in 1914, and that the physical facts of our day in fulfill-
ment of prophecy mark this as the last generation of this
wicked world.
-!-Awake! magazine of October 8, 1966, p. 19
But, without a doubt, nothing has created more interest
in this textbook than the first chapter with its chart and
fine information regarding the 7,000 years of God's rest
day. The observation that 1975 may well mark the beginning
of mankind's great Jubilee has intrigued many.
-!-Watchtower magazine of January 1, 1967, p. 29
The May 1, 1968 Watchtower (pages 272-273) throws more fuel upon the
fire by specifically raising the question of Armageddon taking place in
1975. While not taking a firm stand, the article presents the
possibility as the clear indication of "Bible chronology." A few
months later, the Watchtower of August 15, 1968 ran a lengthy article
entitled "Are You Looking Forward to 1975?" The article repeats the
assertion (found in the earlier articles) that the time between Adam's
creation and Eve's "need not have been a long time. It could have been
a rather short one." This will be im****tant in examining the excuses
made by the Society in 1976. Then we read:
One thing is absolutely certain, Bible chronology reinforced
with fulfilled Bible prophecy shows that six thousand years
of man's existence will soon be up, yes, within this
generation! (Matt. 24:34) This is, therefore, no time to be
indifferent and complacent. This is not the time to be
toying with the words of Jesus that "concerning that day and
hour nobody knows, neither the angels in the heavens nor the
Son, but only the Father." (Matt 24:36) To the contrary, it
is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of
this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end.
More articles appeared--10/15/69 Watchtower, pages 622-623; 10/8/71
Awake! pages 26-27. The excitement grew--fed by these tidbits from
Brooklyn. Some today say that "some of the brethren simply became
overzealous." That is ridiculous. The conclusion that 1975 would be
the end was clear from the materials that WTBTS was printing. Notice
the _Kingdom Ministry_ (a publication reserved for Jehovah's Witnesses
and not distributed to the public) of May, 1974:
Yes, the end of this system is so very near! Is that not
reason to increase our activity?...Yes, since the summer of
1973 there have been new peaks in pioneers every month. Now
there are 20,394 regular and special pioneers in the United
States, an all-time peak. This is 5,190 more than there were
in February 1973! A 34-percent increase! Does that not warm
our hearts? Re****ts are heard of brothers selling their homes
and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days
in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a
fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked
world's end.
Things could hardly be clearer! There is no word of warning from the
Society in the above quotation--instead, one finds the Organization
feeding upon the frenzy produced by its publications. And the WTBTS
prospered! Yes, over a million people *left* the Society in the years
following 1975--but the overall growth rate of the Society was much
improved by the 1975 push.
When 1975 came--and went--just as 1914, 1915, 1918 and 1925 had
done in the past--the Society produced its "reason" for the delay.
It's quite simple, actually: there was a delay, they said, between the
creation of Adam, and the creation of Eve. To this day, that "delay"
is now about 16 years! Of course, this was in direct contradiction to
what the Society had said earlier--their _Aid to Bible Understanding_
book had directly asserted that Eve was created in the *same year* as
Adam (compare the age of Seth as found on page 538, bottom left column,
with chart on page 333, bottom right column). When the Society
replaced the _Aid_ book recently, they used the material from the
chronology section nearly word-for-word--with the exception of those
passages that directly discussed 1975. Those passages were "emended"
(without note, of course).
The duplicity of the Society can be seen in comparing the 1968
edition of the book, _The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life_ with the
1981 edition. In quoting Dean Acheson, United States Secretary of
State, from a Newsweek article of October 9, 1967, the *original*
version read:
Also, as re****ted back in 1960, a former United States
Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, declared that our time is "a
period of unequaled instability, unequaled violence." And he
warned: "I know enough of what is going on to assure you that,
in fifteen years from today, this world is going to be too
dangerous to live in."
Note: 1960 + 15 years = 1975. Now note the 1981 edition:
Also, as re****ted back in 1960, a former United States
Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, declared that our time is "a
period of unequaled instability, unequaled violence." Based on
what he knew was then going on in the world, it was his
conclusion that soon "this world is going to be too dangerous
to live in."
Note the reference to 1975 has been subtly removed--again, with no
note to explain the deletion.
JW> Again, Brian, you say that the Society makes mistakes. OK, that's
JW> fine--but when the Society makes those "mistakes" in the name of
JW> Jehovah God, and teaches these "mistakes" as the truth of Jehovah
God,
JW> do you really think that their claim to be "Jehovah's only
organization
JW> on earth" holds water? I do not believe so--and when someone claims
to
JW> speak exclusively for Jehovah, I, for one, do not believe that their
JW> past history is "irrelevant."
BB> Every human makes mistakes.
Yes, every human makes mistakes. But when a human says that he is
speaking in the name of Jehovah God, that removes from him the excuse,
"well, it was just a mistake." As the Awake of October 8, 1968 put it:
True, there have been those in times past who predicted an "end
to the world," even announcing a specific date....Yet, nothing
happened. The "end" did not come. They were guilty of false
prophesying.
JW> Then you admit that the Society is but a human organization?
BB>
BB> Yes, all Witnesses do, But we also recognize that it has God's
backing
BB> and direction, although it is not by "direct revelation"
From the 1939 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses:
It should be expected that the Lord would have a means of
communication to his people on the earth, and he has
clearly shown that the magazine called The Watchtower is used
for that purpose (p. 85).
In 1955, when current WTBTS president Fred Franz was asked "At any
rate, Jehovah God is now the editor of the paper, is that right?" Franz
responded, "He is today the editor of the paper [i.e., The Watchtower].
In the same trial Nathan Knorr was asked about The Watchtower: "In
fact, it is set forth directly as God's Word, isn't it?" Knorr
replied, "Yes, as His word." The questioner then asked, "Without any
qualifications whatsoever?" Knorr replied, "That is right."
The January 15, 1969 Watchtower said:
Jesus foretold that among his people there would be a "faithful
and discreet slave" class who would be providing the spiritual
food to God's family of devoted servants on earth, acting as
*his channel of communications* and overseeing the carrying out
of the Kingdom interests world wide (p. 31).
There is much more I could mention, Brian: the Society's referring to
itself as our "mother," and all sorts of things. I think the viewpoint
taken by the Witnesses long ago remains today:
Furthermore...people cannot see the Divine Plan in studying
the Bible by itself....if he then lays them [the six volumes of
the _Studies in the Scriptures_] aside and ignores them and
goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for
ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes
into darkness. On the other hand, it he had merely read the
Scripture Studies with their references, and had not read a
page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end
of two years, because he would have the light of the
Scriptures. (Watchtower, 9/15/1910).
This is still true today--think about it, Brian: how many pages of the
Watchtower's writings are you to read in a year? And how many pages of
the Bible in comparison? When you do a study with someone, do you
study a book of the Bible, say, Romans, or do you study a Watchtower
publication that is ostensibly *about* the Bible?
BB> Which part of 1914 James?
Well, there are a number of false parts: the interpretation of Daniel 4
is false--the book of Daniel itself refutes the WTBTS interpretation.
But, most obviously, the entire scheme is based upon saying Jerusalem
fell in 607--it didn't, it fell in 586. The Society knows this, but
has purposefully changed history to hide the facts.
BB> That the Christ took his heavenly throne in
BB> 1914, no I would not as the composite sign has/is being fulfilled
BB> exactly as Christ stated it would when he was ruling in Kingdom
BB> power. I'm not familiar with other statements regarding 1914.
...the "battle of the great day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14),
which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of
earth's present ruler****p, is already commenced.
-!-The Time is At Hand, 1888, p. 101
And doesn't this sound very much like Witnesses today, Brian:
...yet so great is our confidence in the Word of God and in the
light of present truth ****ning upon it, that we could not have
doubted its testimony whatever had been the appearances. The
date of the close of that "battle" is definitely marked in
Scripture as October, 1914. It is already in progress, its
beginning dating from October, 1874.
-!-Zion's Watch Tower, 1/15/1892
And who can miss the parallel between these words and those used to
stir up excitement about 1975:
For instance, as we look back and note that the Scriptures
marked 1873 as the end of six thousand years from ADam to the
beginning of the seventh thousand, and the fall of 1874 as the
beginning of the forty-year harvest of the Gospel age and day
of wrath for the overthrow of all the institutions of "this
present evil world..., we can see that *facts* have well borne
out those predictions of Scripture.
-!-Zion's Watch Tower, 7/1/1894
The same year the Society said that "they are...God's dates, not ours."
Finally, as to the belief that Jesus returned invisibly in 1874:
Surely there is not the slightest room for doubt in the mind of
a truly consecrated child of God that the Lord Jesus is present
and has been since 1874.
-!-Watch Tower, 1/1/24, p. 5
To understand the events concerning the Lord's second presence
from 1874 to 1914 requires one to be spiritually minded; and
the clergy are not spiritually minded.
-!-Creation, 1927, p. 291
Today, if one is "spiritually minded" one believes that Christ returned
in 1914, right, Brian?
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