Arrogant? JW's? SURELY you jest!

Dave of the "Not good enough to be spoken to by his in-law's" class

Good point Dave! I should have said "We all know Witnesses are very arrogant"

You are right we don't have to think about such an obvious fact!

Great points made by everyone! The 144,000 teaching was one I was never comfortable with, yet I never dared question for fear that I would be looked upon as a doubter or worse yet, an apostate!

In all the Gospels whenever Jesus spoke to the masses it was to thousands of people. As a matter of fact, it would speak of thousands of men, plus women and children (See Matthew 14:14-21, Matthew 15:33-38, Luke 12:1). How is it then, that 2000 years later there are still over 8000 of the elite still on earth? In 2000 years God couldn't find 144,000 worthy of ruling with Him in Heaven? That makes absolutely no sense.

CCGirl, I looked up the verses quoted in the WT magazine, and found they have nothing at all to do with what is printed. I guess they are assuming no one checks the Bible, they just assume whatever is written by the "slave" is accurate.

As far as a new date, aren't they indicating that because it took Noah 120 years to finish the ark, that it would take that long for Armaggedon, and in that way are pointing to 2034 as "the year"?

From the Watchtower of December 15, 2003 pp.14-19 "Our Watchfulness Takes On Greater Urgency":

6 In Noah's day, Jehovah declared: "My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:3) The issuance of this divine decree in 2490 B.C.E. marked the beginning of the end for that ungodly world. Just think what that meant for those then living! Only 120 years more and Jehovah would bring "the deluge of waters upon the earth to bring to ruin all flesh in which the force of life is active from under the heavens."—Genesis 6:17.

7 Noah received the warning of the upcoming catastrophe decades in advance, and he wisely used the time to prepare for survival. "After being given divine warning of things not yet beheld," says the apostle Paul, "[Noah] showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household." (Hebrews 11:7) What about us? Some 90 years have passed since the last days of this system of things began in 1914. We are certainly in "the time of the end." (Daniel 12:4) How should we respond to warnings we have been given? "He that does the will of God remains forever," states the Bible. (1 John 2:17) Now is therefore the time to do Jehovah's will with a keen sense of urgency.

What doesn't make sense to me is that by 2034 there should be NONE of the "elite" left on earth. Who will be running the WT then, since the faithful and discreet slave must be one of the annointed? Will the "rank and file" Witnesses have to take over the asylum?

Only time will tell.

Blessings,

Mrs. R

Here is the October/November 1881 Watchtower I mentioned. Read the 4 or 5 paragraphs before the sub heading "The great Pyramid".




I know this is hard to read so I will put a larger copy in the Gallery.


Or here is half a page maybe this will be a little easier to read.

THANKS CAL!! This is great info. I have got to buy those CD's. Might be able to get a couple when we come next week.

You've just confused me more than I was before!!

CCGirl

What has got you muddled? Let me know specifically and I'll do anything else I can to help you... as we all will. It tends to be confusing.

The strange thing is .... is that the Judge didn't have to create an earthly class because there were more than 144,000 witnesses in the Society.

C.T. Russell taught that BOTH the 144,000 and the Great Crowd were heavenly classes. The GC was made up of those who ran the race but did not make their calling and election sure; "many are called, few are chosen.

The Judge could have kept this belief no matter how many Witnesses were in the movement.

RR

Thanks RR. The reason I gave in my posts was they way it was described from the platform at our Kinmgdom Halls in my area. There was even a talk on it given on a Sunday, that because there was more than 144,000 there must be a class that would stay on a paradsie earth.

Thank you though for your insight. I was aware of Russell's teaching about both classes.

I agree that Judge Rutherford made many changes to doctrine that made no sense to anyone but him. It is no wonder his publications are no longer in print. Forget "old light", if you read some of the baloney he was teaching you quickly realize there was no light at all! He said prohibition was of the devil (he was quite a drinker), and that the end (Armageddon)was in 1929 and he actually had a house built for the princes, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If he had so much faith in God, what made him think God wouldn't provide housing for his "princes"? Give me a break, he needed a summer home in California is all! The sad thing is, although some of these erroneous teachings have been abandoned, the system they have of coming up with doctrines, rules, and regulations that must be adhered to continues in effect. They continue to insist on being everyone's conscience, and not allowing the members to think for themselves.

Blessings,

Mrs. R