To all my Friends and contacts: Have you ever seen or read in ANY of the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses?

It's one of those "urban legends" that apostates like to take and run with... the facts are:

**The proclaimers book page 631 highlights some early calculations presented in "Studies of the scriptures" speculating as to the significance of 1873 & 1878.

**1914 - many of the brothers had expectations of what the end of the gentile times would mean in terms of their heavenly calling ("going home" as it was termed). H O W E V E R The Watch Tower of December 1, 1912 stated:

“... let us remember that we did not consecrate [dedicate] either to October, 1914, nor to October, 1915, or to any other date, but ‘unto death.’ If for any reason the Lord has permitted us to miscalculate the prophecies, the signs of the times assure us that the miscalculations cannot be very great..” No claim was made specifically as to what would happen as the Gentile times came to its end.

Further reading Proclaimers book page 635.

**In 1919 Brother Rutherford did calculate* in the book "Millions now living will never die" that 1925 marked the end of the 70 Jubilee years (70 x 50 = 3500 years: 1575 BC to 1925) and the " the begining of the reconstruction" (new world order). The Proclaimers book page 633 acknowledged that this and other early witness calculations gave rise to "serious disappointments".

1975 No Watchtower stated that Armageddon would come in 1975. What you can read in the WATCHTOWER, May/01/1967, p 262 for example is:

"...1975 marks the end of 6,000 years of human experience.....Will it be the time when God executes the wicked?....It very well COULD be, but WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE." [CAPs mine]

Subsequently articles speculated that it "probably"/"possibly", "could" "may" come at that time but cautioned readers to "wait and see" in other words, not to presume it was a certainty.

(see WATCHTOWER, Aug/15/1968, P 499 ); In fact Brother Franz (the then President of the Watchtower Society instructed "... don’t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975."

No truer words spoken, you hear all these claims about the Witnesses giving a time as to when Armageddon will strike, but I've never seen it in writing. I'm 60 so in 1975 I was 26 years old, I know that there were ones expecting it to come to an end, but that was of their own thoughts, no date was ever listed in the publication. Many were claiming to be Witnesses that weren't, just as Jesus said, let the weeds grow with the wheat, in the end you will know them by their fruits, the weeds are out ridiculing as a sign as to what fruit they produce, and the wheat is still paying attention to what the Bible says(2 Tim 4:2;Matt 24:14;28:19).

Same with me. I've been a Witness a LOOOONG time.

Never seen a publication that picked a specific date for Armageddon. I have all the publications too going ALL the way back. My family have been Witnesses for nearly 100 years so I have the oldest of the old books.

1914 was the end of the Gentile Times.

It was never said it was a specific date for the end.

1914 marks the BEGINNING of the time of the end and the enthronement of Christ as heavenly King.

Nowhere have our publications picked an exact date for Armageddon. We always say 'we do not know the day'.

What we DO know and tell everyone is that we ARE in the TIME OF THE END.

That ARMAGEDDON IS VERY CLOSE.

We want to obey Jesus our King and stay AWAKE and ON THE WATCH and BE READY.

ARAMAGEDDON will come SOON!

THAT is what we have always taught right out of the Bible.

http://www.watchtower.org/e/200804/article_01.htm

Never, even in the 70s when people were scampering around buying and selling like crazy. The ones taking the lead said not to. But, we have those that don't listen and they did anyway. And when people caught wind of that, they just plowed into Jehovah's servants, those that listened and did not go nuts. Only Jehovah knows the day. We (think) that Jesus may know now because of everything that has happend. But that is still not a 100% and this is why I put (THINK) Next thing you know, people will be running around saying they seen that Jesus knows too because of someone on Y/A.

Agape and know that this has been going around for ages.

The very simple answer to this question is: anyone who has ever claimed (or is claiming) that the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses have specified a date for Armageddon is a liar.

Our publications have NEVER made such a claim. Whether those ones claiming that such a claim has been made or not and won't let it go......ignore them. They don't have the slightest idea what they're talking about.

- Surfari has never had any association with Jehovah's Witnesses and certainly has never studied the Bible with us.

If one was to read the Declaration of Independence, would they be confused? I personally don't understand EVERYTHING that was said a long time ago. Words, dialects accents, terms, phrases & slang changes in every language, all the time. That's common sense to know that, isn't it? That's one reason I personally like the JW printed literature, they always keep up with the times, stay up to date, speaking in modern, understandable languages, they are accurate & interesting articles, always Bible based & easily proven through science, archeology, biology, etc. Not to mention encouraging, loving, helpful & thoughtful. & yes at times, some adjustments to past statements have been clarified. Shouldn't every publisher do that? I for one don't believe everything that was ever said in the world, just because it at one time was claimed to be fact. I don't believe that smoking cigarettes are healthy & good for you. I don't believe Mercury is a fun substance to play with. I don't believe that blood-letting cures the flu. I don't believe the earth is flat or being held up by giant turtles. Yet, all these things were said at one point in time. & they were said by scientists, explorers, doctors, theologians, professors, etc. I choose to believe what has been proven & factual. That means adjustments have to be made as time passes. Can you imagine school kids today using science books that kids used in the 1950's? It wouldn't be accurate or helpful, would it? Are you going to berate the old scientists who wrote those 1950's science books or the teachers who used them in their classes in the 1950's? I doubt it. I'm glad the JW's have clarified past statements, because I don't want to be told something that was at one time in history believed as true but has since been proven as inaccurate. I don't want to be lead around by people who don't make adjustments in their thinking or tell me what they've learned through recent studies & research even if it has changed from what they previously said, how misleading would that be? Did that answer your question? Or are you just looking for fellow JW haters to rant on about?

well said to myself if a generation is 70-80 years so if he started reigning in 1914, then why not 84' to 94'? but never read in mags only ,heard gossip from haters. also I rethink and remember god limited man to 120 years the longest possible span for a generation by god's command so 2034 at the very latest but you see god said only he knew and it would be a surprise and you know how surprises are. but he said he would cut the days short on account of the chosen ones. we will have at least one anointed left living. Because so as in the days of noah so it will be in the son of man's. This is accepted to mean eating drinking ignoring by entire earth save the family of Noah. I and I alone can see the possibility of only one anointed preacher left., so you see I do not lean on my own understanding but I have my own belief that it will be sooner than you think,.Many try to put a date on it, it is not wise .looking around I see the storm, every night I dream of him, just now in fact, I Was witnessing on a bus and I told the story of how he leads us to his kingdom and how i can see it after all these years of walking hand in hand with him , I can see it like in a dream he was there leading me to his kingdom and I awoke screaming nooo, because he was not there when I woke up to see it was indeed a dream. I think it's all the christmas movies my mom has been watching while I try to drown them out with spiritual activities. No, it's what I do, and i will soon have my reality and trade It for this bad nightmare which is not the real life! agape.

Notice how all those that have gone about claiming that the WT society have predicted Armageddon to come in a certain year are no where to be found when it comes to answering a question about specific material. For all those genuinely interested, ask yourself why those spreading malicious gossip about JW's can't tell you which publication they've supposedly seen a date in? The answer... because one doesn't exist!

No, I've never read anything that gave a date of any kind. One of the dates that is thrown at me now and again is 1975 but I was having a study in 1972 and it wasn't mentioned to me at that time. If it were in the publications it would have been told to me especially since it was only three years away, but it was never talked about because the Faithful and discreet slave never gave a date due to the fact that they don't know.

There is only the time that Jesus said would be signs for us to take notice. He even said that he did not know when it would be, nor the angels, only the Father knows. So, if Jesus Christ didn't know, now could earthling man know something that Jesus didn't know. It just doesn't make sense.

The ones saying they know, either don't know the Scriptures or go by things man says, in either case, they are wrong.