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I was wondering how long did the society teach this? was it past 1930? Do you have a ref I can check?

THanks!

The change to 1914-1918 began to appear in Watchtower publications in the early 1940's- see 'The Truth Shall Make You Free' p.231 ch. 'Seven Times'.

Rutherford and the Watchtower Bible Students rejected the Pyramid chronolgy in the late 1920's. This caused a major split with those Bible Students who still wanted to follow Pastor Russell's conclusions from SITS. Rutherford and F.Franz felt there was a 100 year discrepency in calculating the length of the creative days and felt that 1974-78 was the 6000th year period from Adam's creation not 1874-78. There was also a dueling theory that appeared in the Aid To Bible Understanding bk from 1969 that proposed the creative days were of undetermined lengths.

agape

designs

That big a discrepency would without fail prove that the chronology of 1914 is false for if there is that big a problem there would be no way it could be right.

Hi Bros!
a careful read of the REVELATION CLIMAX book page 172 Par 5, says that the realese of the book "Goverment" at the Detroit conv. in 1928, set forth "proofs that Christ took his throne in 1914" !
Anyone have a "Goverment" book??

The discrepency comes from the Book of Acts and the reign of the kings it mentions in chapter 13. Different ancient texts render this differently- see Aid Bk. p.337 under 'Chronology'.

One of the consistent problems in the modern Truth Movements, whether it was Russell or Rutherford or F.Franz or P.Johnson etc., is that they write Sermonizations as opposed to Systematic Theology.
The problem this presents is that theories and hypotheses or interpretive statements get placed on the same level of Doctrine as the core explicit teachings of the Bible which relate to worship of Almighty God and Salvation in Jesus. Areas like the Chronological Tables and Charts developed by Russell or the theories of Rutherford and F.Franz are called 'The Truth' and their followers are expected to trumpet the whole line of teachings as Truth rather than properly delineating Essentials from theory.

1874, 1878, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975 should have never become a Doctrine of the Truth Movement. In Systematic Theology these ideas would have been properly categorized as Hypotheses and Speculation.
Acceptance of these speculations would never have become a litmus test on whether someone was 'in the Truth', never.

Eisegesis (reading into texts theories and ideas and taking scripture out of context) can be fun sometimes but they just do not stand up to critical examination.

There are better and proper methods for understanding Sacred Scripture and they build up the Believer rather than lead to disappointment.

agape

designs

http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/governm...itles.html

http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/index2.html

http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/1800s.htm

Thanks for the info, that's one of their books I don't have but the time period makes sense . Rutherford formally abandoned the Chronology of the Pyramid in or around 1928.

designs

Thanks Justi, I scaned the book and found these statements. So it does seem that 1928 was when they officially changed Christ's Kingship from 1878 to 1914. 12 years after Russell died!

quotes: It will be found from the evidence that the ouster proceedings against Satan began in 1914 and that the work is still progressing. That work must progress until God's government of righteousness for man is fully and completely established in the earth pg164
Period of the Gentiles;
All peoples or nations aside from Jews are designated in the Scriptures as Gentile or heathen. The reason for this is that the Jews, or Israelites, were God's people and over them he was the Ruler. When God permitted the Gentiles to overthrow Zedekiah, Israel's last king, there the Gentiles or non-Jews began universal reign, and from that time the "Gentile times" began to count. The date of the overthrow of Zedekiah is positively fixed by the Scriptures and also by profane history as 606 B. C. It was in that year that Satan became the god of the entire world, that is to say, the invisible ruler over all the nations of the earth. It follows then that the end of the "Gentile times" would also mark the beginning of the time when Satan would no longer be permitted to rule without interference. It becomes important to fix definitely by competent proof the period of the Gentiles, which Jesus called "the times of the Gentiles". (Luke 21:24) There are two lines of direct evidence corroborative of each other, and there is one line of circumstantial evidence which also corroborates the direct evidence, as to "the times of the Gentiles". All three show that "the times of the Gentiles", or period of the Gentiles, ended with 1914 A. D. That date therefore fixes the time of the end of Satan's rule, and from that time forward interference with his rule is to be expected. pg 165
The "Gentile times", as above stated, began with Nebuchadnezzar, in the year 606 B.C. "Seven times" or 2520 literal years would cause the "Gentile times" to end in the year 1914 A.D. That, then, would mark the time when he whose right it is should take the power granted to him as the great Executive Officer of the Most High and when he would begin to exercise his power and authority for the overthrow of Satan's rule. pg169
Again, mark that it was in 1914 that the nations of earth began to assemble in war or tumult and the people began to imagine a foolish thing, to wit, that the World War would make the nations of earth safe for democracy; and further, that this could be brought about by a confederacy of nations. It was at that time that the prophecy was fulfilled by Jehovah's placing upon the throne his beloved Son. pg183