How many times did it take the JWs to stop trying to predict exact dates?

Greetings,

The accusation that Jehovah's Witnesses have claimed to be inspired prophets or have tried to foretell the future is absolutely false and a misrepresentation. While early Witnesses may have interpreted prophetic dates wrong they never picked “the day nor the hour.”

Anyone can see the flaw in the reasoning of your question if we were to ask the same question of the apostles: "How many of the Apostles’ prophecies had to fail before they learned?” (Lk.19:11; 24:21; Ac.1:6).

Statements by Paul and Peter clearly led fellow Christians to believe that they would not die before the Lord returned (1Thes. 4:15-18; 1Co 10:11; 15:51; Php 4:5; 2Th 2:1ff; 3:11; 2Tim 2:18; Heb 13:9; Jas 5:8; 1Pt. 1:20; 4:7; 1Jn 2:18; Rev.1:1,3). Jesus didn't return and the end did not occur before ALL these died.

So, according to YOUR reasoning the Apostles must have been false prophets!

Obviously, the Apostles had to interpret the Scriptures differently as they gained more knowledge, just as JW's have. Therefore, criticisms regarding Witnesses changing their understanding of prophecies would also condemn the Apostles! Obviously there is something wrong with such criticisms.

So Witnesses give you the same answer the Apostles and first century Christians would give. Though what the Apostles *expected* did not come true they cannot be accused of being "false prophets." Neither is there any validity in the accusation that Witnesses are false prophets because of failed expectations. If anything, our premature expectations fit the pattern of those earnest Apostles who anxiously wished for Christ's return.

Next, it is an absolute lie to claim that the WTS said that Armageddon would come in 1975. In the years BEFORE 1975 they repeatedly and EXPLICITLY told every Witness to not say such a thing. Here is an article from *1974* which shows what mature JWs knew and were saying:

"The publications of Jehovah's witnesses have shown that, according to Bible chronology, it appears that 6,000 years of man's existence will be completed in the mid-1970's. But these publications HAVE NEVER SAID THAT THE WORLD'S END WOULD COME THEN. Nevertheless, there has been considerable individual speculation on the matter. So the assembly presentation "Why We Have Not Been Told ‘That Day and Hour'" was very timely. It emphasized that we do not know the exact time when God will bring the end."--w74 10/15 p. 635; Growing in Appreciation for the "Divine Purpose":

Those who say Witnesses predicted the end in 1975 must ignore every EXPLICIT statement written in the Watchtower and spread misrepresentations in the hopes that people will not double check the facts.

Some lyingly try to say that the WTS apologized for saying that the end would come in 1975 or for “setting the date of 1975.” Of course there was no need for an apology for the date since it was accurate. But even though the WTS had continuously given EXPLICIT warnings about expecting the end to come in 1975, it still was humble enough to apologize for publishing IMPLIED statements that raised the hopes of some individuals who disregarded the cautionary statements (see w 3/15/80).

Even where our literature “implied” the end could come, people had to ignore the words constantly used like: "maybe," "if," "possibly," and the absolute comments such as "possibly, BUT WE MUST WAIT TO SEE how closely the 7,000 years of man's history coincides with Christ's 1000 year rule." And "Our chronology, however which is reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible), at the best ONLY POINTS TO the autumn of 1975 as the end of 6,000 years of man's existence on earth. It DOES NOT necessarily mean that 1975 marks the [beginning of Christ's thousand year rule and armageddon]."

So the fact is that the WTS apologized even though it was not directly to blame for false hopes of some Witnesses regarding 1975.

Jesus didn't say you would identify the true religion because they never misunderstood prophesy (indeed that would exclude the apostles). He said that you would discern the true Christian Organization from the false "by their fruits," or the results of their Biblical teaching (Mt.7:16,20). Notice, this Scripture says Christians would identify "false prophets" BY THEIR FRUITAGE not by their infallibility. Now, who has the historical record of bloodthirsty wars, immorality, sectarian violence and factional splits? (Mt.7:21-23, 2Tim3:5, Gal.5:19-23)

Witnesses have imitated Christ while other religions continue to even kill members of their own church in warfare. JW's have continued to bring their beliefs into agreement with Scripture. When they were wrong about interpretations of prophecy, they were more than eager to admit it and change. This is in contrast to most other religions.

Yours,

BAR-ANERGES

The organization as a whole has never predicted an exact date for the end, but there have been many individuals within who have tried, yea. But you're always going to have some people that think they know everything. But dont say that all Jehovah's Witnesses ever predicted wrong things. We, as a whole, have stuck by the scripture at

Matthew 24:36: "Concerning that day and hour, nobody knows.... except the father."

You clearly have been listening to unfounded rumors. There is a long list of supposed dates where we said the world would end and you know what? They are mostly lies. One date that we get picked on a lot for is 1975. We did not say that the end would come. We said it would mark 6,000 years of human history. We did say if the end came during that time it would be fitting but added that "no one knows the day or hour. And we said very little more of it that year. Some individual members got excited and jumped to conclusions. We apologized later, and have since been more cautious on how we say things. Jesus apostles asked him "Are you restoring the kingdom at this time?" They were eager for it and were unsure how it would play out just like us. If you want to know about JWs, it is best to go directly to them.

"You must be very precise when providing information about a jw teaching, or they get very upset and start calling you a liar. Yet several jw right here blame date expectations on their own brothers and former brothers. Just how precise are they being?

I have used the following quote over and over again to demonstrate how quickly they can dismiss even an apology from their own 'governing body' as regards the date setting of 1975, yet they continue to ignore it, as if it had never been published.

I will try once again, but mark my words they will still blame it on themselves not the Watchtower lleader's Here we go;

"With the appearance of the book Life Everlasting-in Freedom of the Sons of God, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of man's existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975. ... Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility ." Watchtower 1980 Mar 15 p.17

Maybe if I capitalize the aapologyfor misleading so many, they will grasp the message:

"THERE WERE OTHER STATEMENTS P U B L I S H E D THAT IMPLIED (means we think this will happen) THAT SUCH REALIZATION OF HOPES BY THAT YEAR (1975) WAS MORE OF A PROBABILITY THAN A MERE POSSIBILITY."

Now lets see if they can continue to blame anyone but those who made such HOPES a PROBABILITY instead of a mere possibility.........why yes I guess they will continue to do so. They have done so now for the last 30 years even with the bold publication of the above. Cognitive dissonance is to kind to describe their wanton excuses for their beloved organization's stepping all over themselves in provable error."

EDIT:

Rather than suggesting that Apostles made mistakes ask "What percentage of the Apostles writings in the Bible are wrong?" Zero percent. "What percentage of Watchtower statements has been wrong?" The difference being that God's servants were directed by God, the Governing Body is not.

 

Lets suppose for a moment that there was a first century GB (as is claimed).     Can anyone name a single time when the apostles as a group, under prayer and claiming God's direction as a group, ever established a belief or clarification, and then a few years later received "new light", or a different understanding of any kind, thus causing them to redirect individuals or congregations on a different course than they had previously established as from God?

If I did not know you Kagos, I would say you are now stating some "propaganda"...that goes along with your last question on Islam.

Once again, know your sources AKA links. :)

JW's clearly understand what it means "no one knows the day or hour"....not even Jesus Christ, only the Father.

Just keep your eye on the fig tree, ok?

huh? We made prophetic statements? Seriously?

I thought the opposers and apostates say that we implied that the end of this system of things would end in 1975...

Back to the prophetic statements.... most opposers will take the quote from the 1968 WT about us proclaiming ourselves prophets of God (of course out of context it was written in) and then say that all our statements are prophetic because of this one misquote....

eh... who cares what they say anyways... you try to explain to them what was meant any they disregard it.... they would rather live their life on the lie and pagan standards of the trinity man-god than the true God Jehovah..