JWs, Religious Authority, & 1914 A.D. (Long)

[jschwehm]

The JWs believe that God’s Kingdom began its rule through Jesus Christ in the year 1914 A.D. The way they arrive at this date is as follows:

1. They use Daniel 4 where Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon had a dream about this huge tree. The JW book “You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth” on page 139 says “The tall tree in Daniel Chapter 4 represents divine rulership. For a time this was expressed through the kingdom of Judah. In other words, God’s rulership over the earth was expressed through the line of King David.
2. This huge tree that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream was cut down and a stump was left and bands of iron and copper were put on it to keep it from growing. The JWs interpret this to mean that at some time God’s rulership was going to cease and they believe that this occurred when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in what they claim was the year 607 B.C.
3. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the JWs believe that there was no longer a government on earth that represented God’s rulership. This period where God had no earthly government to represent him they call the “appointed times of the nations” or the “Gentile Times” and they believe that it is this time period that Jesus referred to in Luke 21:24.
4. They believe that at the end of the “Gentile Times” that God will again have a government here on earth through which He can reign and of course that government would have Jesus Christ as the King.
5. They believe that if they can figure out when these “Gentile Times” were to end then they could figure out when Jesus would begin his reign over the earth. In Daniel chapter 4 it is said that the tree would not be allowed to grow for “seven times”. How long is “seven times”?
6. In Revelation 12: 6, 14 the Bible speaks of 1260 days and the JWs believe that this is the equivalent of 3.5 times. They determine according to their book “You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth” that “a time” is 360 days and so 7 times 360 days would be 2520 days.
7. Then they jump to Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6 and say that there is a Bible rule that one prophetic day really stands for one year. So the 2520 days is really 2520 years. Meaning that the “seven times” is really 2520 years long. In other words, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in what they claim was the year 607 B.C. there would be 2520 years of time that would have to pass before Jesus could become King of the earth.
8. They calculate the time of Jesus becoming King of the earth as follows:

October, 607 B.C. to October 1 B.C. equals 606 years
October 1 B.C. to October 1914 A.D. equals 1914 years
The Gentile times (the Seven times) equals 2520 years

1. The JWs believe that Jesus returned invisibly in the year 1914 A.D. and began ruling over the earth as God’s appointed King. The JWs also believe that this includes Jesus throwing Satan out of the heavens in the year 1914 A.D. and allowing Satan to focus his attention in making the earth a bad place. So, all of the wars, earthquakes, illnesses, etc are all proof that Jesus is now reigning over the earth invisibly from the heavens since the year 1914 A.D.
2. They believe from the year 1914 A.D. to the year 1919 A.D. Jesus inspected all of the religions of the world and appointed the leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses as his “Faithful and Discrete Slave. The members of the “Faithful and Discrete Slave” class must be of the 144,000 (of the heavenly calling) class. This is what the book “You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth” says on page 193:

“On his return in Kingdom power in the year 1914, did Christ find a “faithful and discreet slave” class providing spiritual “food” or information? Yes, he found such a “slave” made up of the remaining ones on earth of his 144,000 “brothers.” (Revelation 12:10; 14:1, 3) And since 1914 millions of persons have accepted the “food” they provide, and have begun practicing true religion along with them. This organization of God’s servants is known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

So, this means that the basis for the religious authority of the leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses rests upon whether or not they were actually chosen to be God’s “Faithful and Discrete Slave” when Jesus returned invisibly in the year 1914 A.D. If the year 1914 A.D. is wrong when it comes to the return of Christ, then the religious authority of the leaders of the JWs is highly questionable and the entire religious authority of the JW leadership falls like a house of cards.

Jeff S.
www.catholicxjw.com

 

[Eileen_T]

So what I want to know is, if only 144,000 get to go to Heaven, who the Book of Revelations say are Jewish, male and virgins I believe, does everyone else just get to stay on Earth?

 

[dosdog]

So what I want to know is, if only 144,000 get to go to Heaven, who the Book of Revelations say are Jewish, male and virgins I believe, does everyone else just get to stay on Earth?

Translation Errors
Here is a partial listing of King James Version translation errors:

Revelation 14:4 should be “a firstfruits”, because the 144,000 are not all the firstfruits.
bible.ca/b-kjv-only.htm

 

[JW_Annihilator]

So what I want to know is, if only 144,000 get to go to Heaven, who the Book of Revelations say are Jewish, male and virgins I believe, does everyone else just get to stay on Earth?

They think a special class of people called “the annointed” will go to heaven. Originally all 144 000 were supposedly chosen by god sometime in the 1930s, however the JWs stupidly claimed that the world would end before the annointed died out. They also faced the problem of random people claiming they were members as the entire thing is a bunch of lies and theres no way to verify real members. Recently they changed their doctrine to allow new crazies to claim they are the annointed, this solves the problem of the annointed all dying out, they can just get new ones now as no one keeps track of them.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

Getting back to Jeff’s post,
The book of Daniel nowhere states, nor even implies,
that the Seven Times in Nebuchadnezzars dream
have anything to do with the Davidic Kingdom.
The dream is said, by Daniel himself,
to apply to, and ONLY TO, King Nebuchadnezzar.

There is no statement or even a hint, anywhere in the Bible, that
Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times of madness
have anything whatsoever to do with the length of the Gentile Times which Jesus referred to in the gospels.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses apply these 7 Times
to a period when Israel will be without a Davidic King
(after the murder of Zedekiah) without any biblical warrant
to do so whatsoever. The Seven Years of Madness were strictly and only a lesson to Nebuchadnezzar that Yahweh truly is the Most High God, and nothing more. And THAT is what the Bible teaches.

The Watchtower Society, in applying it to the Davidic Kingdom,
is engaging in pure, unadulterated GUESSWORK.

God bless,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[Jaypeeto4]

bump
( cuz I think Jeff’s original post is very good)