Over the last number of posts, we have been examining Watchtower Society (WtS) beliefs and gradually moved towards a defence of Christian orthodoxy. In this polemic, we will examine the happenings surrounding the WtS's critical year of 1919 because in that year, according to the WtS, it gained a unique status.
The year, 1919, is critical for the WtS because it believes that not only did Jesus Christ come invisibly to reign over the earth in 1914 but in 1919 judged the fitness of each earthly organisation to represent Jehovah God on earth according to the terms of Matthew 24.45-47. A WtS publication God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached (Frederick W. Franz, 1975, chap. 17 p. 350 par. 40) described this time like this:
According to the WtS,
Knowledge of this state of affairs implies two things for when Christians meet JWs.
The first point is that we must understand the substantial hold that the Governing Body (GB) of WtS has on the lives of ordinary JWs. JWs believe fervently that the WtS is the only God-appointed organisation to disseminate God's truth to mankind. This belief exercises a vice-like control on their lives and neither emotion nor reason alone can break its hold. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can break such a grip!
Second, realising the strength of the enemy forces in array before us, one important way of approach is to concentrate on the JWs' unexamined belief about the WtS's exalted position.
We must realise that most JWs have not investigated how the WtS managed to be judged worthy of this position but just assume it to be true. Be assured that the WtS is not entitled to claim such a status and that this can be shown by simple examination of their own published works.
An Outreach Strategy Action Plan
Hence, we should concentrate on how by their own documents WtS's beliefs in 1919 failed to provide 'the right food at the proper time' (Matt 24.45-47)1.
To demonstrate this WtS self-belief to be false we take a number of their beliefs that the WtS believed in 1919 but has now repudiated to demonstrate it was not providing the right food at the proper time in 1919. Therefore, it cannot be nor can its leaders be God's true and only organisation.
Please note carefully: it is not necessary and is even unhelpful, to argue about whether the Society was correct in 1919 or subsequently. That's missing the cardinal point that if the WtS was teaching certain doctrines B, C, C, P, P in 1919, and later rejected those same doctrines B, C, C, P, P then our Lord's inspection of the WtS in 1919 could not have found it to be 'the faithful and wise servant' of Matthew 24.45-47.
This conclusion follows because the WtS must have been holding doctrines in 1919 they have since held to be false. To have been holding false doctrines in 1919 demonstrates that by using its own accounts of its organisation's history its supposition about its being God's only organisation is completely untenable.
Examples: Birthdays, Christmas, Cross, Pyramid, Parousia
1. Birthday celebrations are now banned in JW circles and can be a path to disfellowshipping. New Year's Day and Mothers' Day are also now not celebrated. But all of these were being celebrated in 1919.
2. Christmas at Bethel headquarters in Brooklyn was celebrated by JW workers in 1926 and it was its last! (See Proclaimers of God's Kingdom Book, pdf, free on the Internet pp. 199-201, [Proclaimers]. The Proclaimers book even has a photostat copy of a photo showing Bethel workers last Christmas celebration!) The WtS now excoriates the practice of celebration of Christ's birth on December the 25th but what was it doing in 1919? It was celebrating Christmas!
Jesus supposedly observed them celebrating this 'pagan' feast but still gave them his blessing as his 'faithful and wise servant'! How can that be since even the WtS admits that what it was doing was an egregious error? Something is badly amiss and since Christ Jesus' judgement is perfect, the corruption of the WtS's status seeking is unmasked.
3. The Cross symbol which featured on Zion's Watchtower, Herald of Christ's Presence publication up until 1936 (!) and was therefore in use in 1919, (Proclaimers, p. 200) has now been found to be unacceptable by the WtS. So, when Jesus inspected them in 1919 what would he have thought on seeing this 'pagan, idolatrous' symbol on the organisation's magazine?
4. The Great Pyramid of Gizeh and the supposedly future-telling predictions that were assigned to its internal dimensions were a great favourite of C.T. Russell. He worked out many of his predictions based on its measurements. However, Proclaimers tells us that:
The 'further light' expedient won't work because the organisation had the errors in 1919, the date that the WtS itself has chosen for Christ's inspection, and therefore any so-called further light cannot make up for these deficiencies at the time of Jesus' inspection. It should have been rejected outright BEFORE THAT TIME to still be able to pass Jesus' test!
One avenue of escape for the WtS is to give up the 1919 'inspection error' altogether and therefore, give up its claim to be the sole representative of God's word on earth on the basis of 1919. Although, it may try to gloss over the first it has to hang on tenaciously to the second as its whole continuance depends on it! But the question for the WtS is, on what basis will it be possible to maintain its present status as God's organisation if it jettisons what it claims happened in 1919?
5. Parousia is the word JWs use to describe Christ's invisible return ('presence'). But when did this presence happen? Originally its founder taught that Jesus 'returned' invisibly in 1874 and they continued to teach this date up to 1928 when it was 'corrected' to 1914 (God's Kingdom of 1000 years Has Approached 1973, p. 206 by F. W. Franz). The switch from 1874 to 1914 presents a large problem for the WtS.
Again I repeat, the WtS is not at fault because it has taught false or incorrect doctrine. All groups are fallible. But the WtS makes a much more comprehensive claim and on that basis it has been found to fail its own test. It is at fault because of its contention that Christ chose it to be God's true representative on earth based on giving 'proper food at the right time' in 1919; that proposition has been found to be fallacious.
Memorising the five letters above (BCCPP) can constitute the foundation for a gentle polemic against JWs and perhaps by God's grace shake them into reconsidering their decision to join this aberrant religion.
*Just to be clear about one complication re the WtS's beliefs about the 'faithful and wise servant' (FAWS): the literature shows that the identity of this person/group has altered over the more than a century of WtS's publications. C. T. Russell first believed that it was all the 'Bible Students' (former name of JWs)(Proclaimers, p. 142). But then he came under some pressure to accept that he was the FAWS and accepted that in private. In 1919, that was the belief of the WtS as confirmed by the Preface of the Finished Mystery Studies in the Scriptures Vol VII 1918 (C.T. Russell, edited by C. J. Woodworth and George H. Fisher) published by the Gutenberg. That C. T. Russell was the only source of divine revelation from God was still being taught in 1922 (Watch Tower, May 1, 1922, p. 132). The FAWS identity later shifted to a class (Watchtower, January 15, 1969, p. 51) but now it is understood as the Governing Body of the WtS.
1. Matthew 24.45-47 is a key text in this discussion and needs to be consulted along with reading the above post.
2. See the link for the Proclaimers' book (pdf) on this following link http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/the-cedars-review-gods-kingdom-rules
The year, 1919, is critical for the WtS because it believes that not only did Jesus Christ come invisibly to reign over the earth in 1914 but in 1919 judged the fitness of each earthly organisation to represent Jehovah God on earth according to the terms of Matthew 24.45-47. A WtS publication God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached (Frederick W. Franz, 1975, chap. 17 p. 350 par. 40) described this time like this:
The serving of food, the right sort of food, at the proper time was the issue. It had to be according to this that a decision must be rendered by the returned master. Well, then, what about that body of Christians internationally hated and persecuted? (Matthew 24:9) Down to 1919 C.E. they had endeavored to give “food at the proper time” to the “household of faith” or the “domestics” of the heavenly Master. They did this despite interference by persecutors and the warring nations. Not only was the regularity in serving the spiritual food a problem, but the quality of the food itself was to be considered. In this respect the body of hated, persecuted Christians, who always sought to be faithful slaves of Jesus Christ, met the test (emphasis mine).Raymond Franz, a nephew of Frederick Franz, and a former member of the Governing Body* of the WtS also confirmed the 1919 date citing the above same words from his uncle's 1975 historical work (In Search of Christian Freedom 2007, p. 135 [available as pdf from Internet]).
According to the WtS,
Jesus' inspection in 1919 led
to the Watchtower Society being chosen
as God's sole organisation on earth.
Knowledge of this state of affairs implies two things for when Christians meet JWs.
The first point is that we must understand the substantial hold that the Governing Body (GB) of WtS has on the lives of ordinary JWs. JWs believe fervently that the WtS is the only God-appointed organisation to disseminate God's truth to mankind. This belief exercises a vice-like control on their lives and neither emotion nor reason alone can break its hold. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can break such a grip!
Second, realising the strength of the enemy forces in array before us, one important way of approach is to concentrate on the JWs' unexamined belief about the WtS's exalted position.
We must realise that most JWs have not investigated how the WtS managed to be judged worthy of this position but just assume it to be true. Be assured that the WtS is not entitled to claim such a status and that this can be shown by simple examination of their own published works.
An Outreach Strategy Action Plan
Hence, we should concentrate on how by their own documents WtS's beliefs in 1919 failed to provide 'the right food at the proper time' (Matt 24.45-47)1.
To demonstrate this WtS self-belief to be false we take a number of their beliefs that the WtS believed in 1919 but has now repudiated to demonstrate it was not providing the right food at the proper time in 1919. Therefore, it cannot be nor can its leaders be God's true and only organisation.
Please note carefully: it is not necessary and is even unhelpful, to argue about whether the Society was correct in 1919 or subsequently. That's missing the cardinal point that if the WtS was teaching certain doctrines B, C, C, P, P in 1919, and later rejected those same doctrines B, C, C, P, P then our Lord's inspection of the WtS in 1919 could not have found it to be 'the faithful and wise servant' of Matthew 24.45-47.
This conclusion follows because the WtS must have been holding doctrines in 1919 they have since held to be false. To have been holding false doctrines in 1919 demonstrates that by using its own accounts of its organisation's history its supposition about its being God's only organisation is completely untenable.
Examples: Birthdays, Christmas, Cross, Pyramid, Parousia
1. Birthday celebrations are now banned in JW circles and can be a path to disfellowshipping. New Year's Day and Mothers' Day are also now not celebrated. But all of these were being celebrated in 1919.
2. Christmas at Bethel headquarters in Brooklyn was celebrated by JW workers in 1926 and it was its last! (See Proclaimers of God's Kingdom Book, pdf, free on the Internet pp. 199-201, [Proclaimers]. The Proclaimers book even has a photostat copy of a photo showing Bethel workers last Christmas celebration!) The WtS now excoriates the practice of celebration of Christ's birth on December the 25th but what was it doing in 1919? It was celebrating Christmas!
Jesus supposedly observed them celebrating this 'pagan' feast but still gave them his blessing as his 'faithful and wise servant'! How can that be since even the WtS admits that what it was doing was an egregious error? Something is badly amiss and since Christ Jesus' judgement is perfect, the corruption of the WtS's status seeking is unmasked.
3. The Cross symbol which featured on Zion's Watchtower, Herald of Christ's Presence publication up until 1936 (!) and was therefore in use in 1919, (Proclaimers, p. 200) has now been found to be unacceptable by the WtS. So, when Jesus inspected them in 1919 what would he have thought on seeing this 'pagan, idolatrous' symbol on the organisation's magazine?
4. The Great Pyramid of Gizeh and the supposedly future-telling predictions that were assigned to its internal dimensions were a great favourite of C.T. Russell. He worked out many of his predictions based on its measurements. However, Proclaimers tells us that:
For some 35 years, Pastor Russell taught that the Great Pyramid of Gizeh was God's stone witness, corroborating Biblical time periods (Isa. 19.19)(sic) But Jehovah's Witnesses have abandoned any idea that an Egyptian pyramid has anything to do with true worship (p. 201).But in 1919 the WtS held to the predictions based on the Great Pyramid of Gizeh (Egypt) and only gave up this position at a later time. No amount of special pleading that 'further light' has corrected the error(s) mentioned can beat off the charge that it can in any wise be God's select organisation on earth based on what it believed in 1919.
The 'further light' expedient won't work because the organisation had the errors in 1919, the date that the WtS itself has chosen for Christ's inspection, and therefore any so-called further light cannot make up for these deficiencies at the time of Jesus' inspection. It should have been rejected outright BEFORE THAT TIME to still be able to pass Jesus' test!
One avenue of escape for the WtS is to give up the 1919 'inspection error' altogether and therefore, give up its claim to be the sole representative of God's word on earth on the basis of 1919. Although, it may try to gloss over the first it has to hang on tenaciously to the second as its whole continuance depends on it! But the question for the WtS is, on what basis will it be possible to maintain its present status as God's organisation if it jettisons what it claims happened in 1919?
5. Parousia is the word JWs use to describe Christ's invisible return ('presence'). But when did this presence happen? Originally its founder taught that Jesus 'returned' invisibly in 1874 and they continued to teach this date up to 1928 when it was 'corrected' to 1914 (God's Kingdom of 1000 years Has Approached 1973, p. 206 by F. W. Franz). The switch from 1874 to 1914 presents a large problem for the WtS.
Again I repeat, the WtS is not at fault because it has taught false or incorrect doctrine. All groups are fallible. But the WtS makes a much more comprehensive claim and on that basis it has been found to fail its own test. It is at fault because of its contention that Christ chose it to be God's true representative on earth based on giving 'proper food at the right time' in 1919; that proposition has been found to be fallacious.
Memorising the five letters above (BCCPP) can constitute the foundation for a gentle polemic against JWs and perhaps by God's grace shake them into reconsidering their decision to join this aberrant religion.
*Just to be clear about one complication re the WtS's beliefs about the 'faithful and wise servant' (FAWS): the literature shows that the identity of this person/group has altered over the more than a century of WtS's publications. C. T. Russell first believed that it was all the 'Bible Students' (former name of JWs)(Proclaimers, p. 142). But then he came under some pressure to accept that he was the FAWS and accepted that in private. In 1919, that was the belief of the WtS as confirmed by the Preface of the Finished Mystery Studies in the Scriptures Vol VII 1918 (C.T. Russell, edited by C. J. Woodworth and George H. Fisher) published by the Gutenberg. That C. T. Russell was the only source of divine revelation from God was still being taught in 1922 (Watch Tower, May 1, 1922, p. 132). The FAWS identity later shifted to a class (Watchtower, January 15, 1969, p. 51) but now it is understood as the Governing Body of the WtS.
1. Matthew 24.45-47 is a key text in this discussion and needs to be consulted along with reading the above post.
2. See the link for the Proclaimers' book (pdf) on this following link http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/the-cedars-review-gods-kingdom-rules
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