Failed Prophecy of the Church

[Corpus Aristotelicum]

I have always wondered how the JW or Watchtower Church still persists to this day.

They openly predicted the end of the world multiple times and got it wrong every time. Does this not satisfy the test for a false prophet?

Deuteronomy 18:20-22
But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

Predictions (by date of publication) include:

• 1877: Christ's kingdom would hold full sway over the earth in 1914; the Jews, as a people, would be restored to God's favor; the "saints" would be carried to heaven.[28]
• 1891: 1914 would be "the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men."[29]
• 1904: "World-wide anarchy" would follow the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.[30]
• 1916: World War I would terminate in Armageddon and the rapture of the "saints".[31]
• 1917: In 1918, Christendom would go down as a system to oblivion and be succeeded by revolutionary governments. God would "destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions." Church members would "perish by the sword of war, revolution and anarchy." The dead would lie unburied. In 1920 all earthly governments would disappear, with worldwide anarchy prevailing.[32]
• 1920: Messiah's kingdom would be established in 1925 and bring worldwide peace. God would begin restoring the earth. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful patriarchs would be resurrected to perfect human life and be made princes and rulers, the visible representatives of the New Order on earth. Those who showed themselves obedient to God would never die.[33]
• 1922: The anti-typical "jubilee" that would mark God's intervention in earthly affairs would take place "probably the fall" of 1925.[34]
• 1924: God's restoration of Earth would begin "shortly after" October 1, 1925. Jerusalem would be made the world's capital. Resurrected "princes" such as Abel, Noah, Moses and John the Baptist would give instructions to their subjects around the world by radio, and airplanes would transport people to and from Jerusalem from all parts of the globe in just "a few hours".[35]
• 1938: Armageddon was too close for marriage or child bearing.[36]
• 1941: There were only "months" remaining until Armageddon.[37]
• 1942: Armageddon was "immediately before us."[38]
• 1961: Awake! magazine stated that the heavenly kingdom "will, within the twentieth century, cleanse the entire earth of wickedness."[39]
• 1966: It would be 6000 years since man's creation in the fall of 1975 and it would be "appropriate" for Christ's thousand-year reign to begin at that time.[40] Time was "running out, no question about that."[41] The "immediate future" was "certain to be filled with climactic events ... within a few years at most", the final parts of Bible prophecy relating to the "last days" would undergo fulfillment as Christ's reign began.
• 1967: The end-time period (beginning in 1914) was claimed to be so far advanced that the time remaining could "be compared, not just to the last day of a week, but rather, to the last part of that day".[42]
• 1968: No one could say "with certainty" that the battle of Armageddon would begin in 1975, but time was "running out rapidly" with "earthshaking events" soon to take place.[43] In March 1968 there was a "short period of time left", with "only about ninety months left before 6000 years of man's existence on earth is completed".[44]
• 1969: The existing world order would not last long enough for young people to grow old; the world system would end "in a few years." Young Witnesses were told not to bother pursuing tertiary education for this reason.[45]
• 1971: The "battle in the day of Jehovah" was described as beginning "hortly, within our twentieth century".[46]
• 1974: There was just a "short time remaining before the wicked world's end" and Witnesses were commended for selling their homes and property to "finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service."[47]
• 1984: There were "many indications" that "the end" was closer than the end of the 20th century.[48]
• 1989: The Watchtower asserted that Christian missionary work begun in the first century would "be completed in our 20th century".[49] When republished in bound volumes, the phrase "in our 20th century" was replaced with the less specific "in our day".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Jehovah's_Witnesses

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

You may want to be more specific in the title of your thread. Perhaps "failed prophecy of the JW church"?

 

[smaneck]

Didn't Jonah's prophecies fail? How about the one by Jesus "this generation will not pass away until you see the end of these things?"

In any case, I don't think the JW prophesy so much as they interpret biblical prophecies.

I have always wondered how the JW or Watchtower Church still persists to this day.

They openly predicted the end of the world multiple times and got it wrong every time. Does this not satisfy the test for a false prophet?

Deuteronomy 18:20-22
But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Jehovah's_Witnesses

 

[Arthra]

There was a "battle of Armageddon" fought near the end of WWI... It was the Battle of Megiddo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Megiddo_(1918)

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Jehova's Witnesses are a strong lesson on how religions perpetuate themselves.

The first generation to read Lk 21:32 most certainly believed that they'd see Jesus return and the world end before the last of the apostles passed away. But the religion persisted beyond that point.

The Manichaeans insisted that their founder yet lived - even after the prophet's body was put on display on the city's ramparts.

L. Ron Hubbard had been a known fraud before he even founded the Church of Scientology, and made several comments that more than suggest this religion was a money-making scam, too - and yet, the CoS keeps on gaining new followers.

Religions do not grow and prosper because they are rational and fact-based. They grow and prosper because they fulfill certain (conscious or unconscious) desires: an antidote to the fear of death, parental figures that do not lose their authority when we reach adulthood, a rigid framework of rules and answers to give people a sense of security, or even the feeling of being special, loved, or enlightened.
Everything else is negligible in comparison to this, and people will go to great length to rationalize any inconsistencies, paradoxes or contradictions.

 

[ChetSinger]

...They openly predicted the end of the world multiple times and got it wrong every time. Does this not satisfy the test for a false prophet?

I think it does. And I think their leadership does, too, because their growth actually went negative in the late 1970s after their "Armageddon in 1975" prophecy never came to pass.

More here: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/1975.php

If you take some time to peruse it, compare their about-face in 1980 with the breathlessness of their pre-1975 prophecies. It's no wonder people felt let down.

They haven't attempted to prophesy with such precision since.

 

[LoAmmi]

Didn't Jonah's prophecies fail?

We always have a chance to fix things in the face of a negative prophecy. They were told what was going to happen and they changed their ways. That change averted the disaster. Why have Jonah go at all if it was simply "This is going to happen, so all you can do is put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye"?

 

[ChetSinger]

We always have a chance to fix things in the face of a negative prophecy. They were told what was going to happen and they changed their ways. That change averted the disaster. Why have Jonah go at all if it was simply "This is going to happen, so all you can do is put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye"?

There is a passage where God says that if he prophesies evil and people repent that the evil will not come to pass. And conversely that if he prophesies good and people turn evil that the good will not come to pass. But grrr, I can't remember where it is!

 

[LoAmmi]

There is a passage where God says that if he prophesies evil and people repent that the evil will not come to pass. And conversely that if he prophesies good and people turn evil that the good will not come to pass. But grrr, I can't remember where it is!

I don't think the second part holds true (at least in the Tanach). Positive promises always come to pass regardless of behavior.

 

[ChetSinger]

I don't think the second part holds true (at least in the Tanach). Positive promises always come to pass regardless of behavior.

Hey, I found what I was thinking of! It relates to nations, not individuals, and it explains why Nineveh's destruction was put off after they repented:

If at any time I (God) declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.

And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. - Jeremiah 18:7-10

 

[LoAmmi]

Hey, I found what I was thinking of! It relates to nations, not individuals, and it explains why Nineveh's destruction was put off after they repented:

It might be the difference between a promise and declaring something then that I'm thinking of. For example, Abraham was promised that his descendants would be a great nation. That promise was never revoked despite how bad people acted. So, that might be what I'm thinking about. Like the promise is binding because the Lord gave His word whereas if He says "if you do this, I'll do this" it can be revoked.

 

[juvenissun]

Didn't Jonah's prophecies fail? How about the one by Jesus "this generation will not pass away until you see the end of these things?"
In any case, I don't think the JW prophesy so much as they interpret biblical prophecies.

Do you take Jesus as a prophet? Don't you understand what does that statement mean? It is a wonderful statement and it is true.

 

[dlamberth]

It's not prophecy I look at when looking at a spiritual trajectory different that mine. I'm more interested in where the followers are at and what they are like.

 

[smaneck]

Do you take Jesus as a prophet? Don't you understand what does that statement mean? It is a wonderful statement and it is true.

Acts calls him that. And I know what the first generation of Christians believed that statement meant, namely that Jesus would return in their own lifetime.

 

[juvenissun]

Acts calls him that. And I know what the first generation of Christians believed that statement meant, namely that Jesus would return in their own lifetime.

That is true, and is till true.

What you are not aware of is that their lifetime is not over yet. You know very well that the physical life is only part of the "lifetime", in this case, the word used is the "generation". To them, and also to everyone else, there is yet one last step to walk.

 

[juvenissun]

It's not prophecy I look at when looking at a spiritual trajectory different that mine. I'm more interested in where the followers are at and what they are like.

Does your religion say anything about that?

 

[Linet Kihonge]

That is true, and is till true.

What you are not aware of is that their lifetime is not over yet. You know very well that the physical life is only part of the "lifetime", in this case, the word used is the "generation". To them, and also to everyone else, there is yet one last step to walk.

According to Benner (An Author of a Hebrew Magazine), "While we may see a generation as a time line with a beginning and an end, the Hebrews saw a generation as one circle with the next generation as a continuation of the circle. There is no beginning and no end."

 

[juvenissun]

According to Benner (An Author of a Hebrew Magazine), "While we may see a generation as a time line with a beginning and an end, the Hebrews saw a generation as one circle with the next generation as a continuation of the circle. There is no beginning and no end."

I see problem in this interpretation. If that is the case, then terms like "my generation", "this generation" or "the next generation" can not be applied to people with a human life span. And common descriptions used in the OT like "punishment till the third generations" would become meaningless.

The time in the Exodus is an example which covered ONE generation.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

According to Benner (An Author of a Hebrew Magazine), "While we may see a generation as a time line with a beginning and an end, the Hebrews saw a generation as one circle with the next generation as a continuation of the circle. There is no beginning and no end."

This, of course, would render the statement in question virtually meaningless. No, scrap that. It would be LITERALLY meaningless.