1914 ? When The Day of Wrath Would Dawn

[JW Insider]

10 hours ago, Melinda Mills said:

Seems lots of brothers use only the Online Library but not the other resources like the Watchtower CD.

Ah! OK. I think you're right.

[bruceq]

Interestingly that "World" article about the Bible Students and 1914 is sold as a reproduction on ebay!!! So you can see most of that article for yourself. The sellers who are Witnesses have the ebay designation "lisa.joeywit" or "Watchtower Historical Items and Research Publications". They have an amazing collection over 800 of stuff including replicas of artifacts from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint with the tetragrammaton on it. 

[Many Miles]

On 2/9/2017 at 1:21 PM, JW Insider said:

So the Proclaimers book researchers, in 1993, knew that they could not use the entire quote, and reduced it to only the portion of that newspaper that we could claim was an accurate assessment of what the Bible Students and the Watch Tower had actually been saying:

*** jv chap. 5 p. 60 Proclaiming the Lord’s Return (1870-1914) ***
“Look Out for 1914!”
 When World War I broke out in 1914, “The World,” then a leading newspaper in New York City, stated in its magazine section: “The terrific war outbreak in Europe has fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy. . . . ‘Look out for 1914!’ has been the cry of the hundreds of travelling evangelists, who, representing this strange creed [associated with Russell], have gone up and down the country enunciating the doctrine that ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’”—“The World Magazine,” August 30, 1914.

Note that they specifically left out the false portion of the quote this time, in 1993, and this 1914 newspaper has never been used again in a Watch Tower publication written after 1993.  (And it has not been used incorrectly since 1988.)

I'm not trying to resurrect anything ancient here, but this popped up on a search.

I think what's written in this comment is correct insofar as the society's publications go. However, writing correspondence apparently didn't get the memo. Deskmen were still trotting this out at least as  late as 2013. I have a letter from the society in my files to a JW who questioned the then new teaching about the faithful slave being the GB. The letter asserts the incomplete language (ellipsis doted quote) from The World Magazine as evidence that God blessed Russell and his associates' efforts "in their search for ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE". [Emphasis added]

[JW Insider]

32 minutes ago, Many Miles said:

Deskmen were still trotting this out at least as  late as 2013. I have a letter from the society in my files to a JW who questioned the then new teaching about the faithful slave being the GB. The letter asserts the incomplete language (ellipsis doted quote) from The World Magazine as evidence that God blessed Russell and his associates' efforts "in their search for ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE". [Emphasis added]

I appreciate that information. I've still heard it in a talk too, but I don't recall if it is any any of the latest outlines. I remember some bros in correspondence like Bro Malone and Bro Pritchard. I can't imagine their reaction to a memo that would say please don't quote any publications before a certain date unless you adjust the wording to such-and-such. It would have given away the "deceptive" use of the quotes when there was already an argument brewing over these statements in the early 80s in writing. I got the feeling that Service & Correspondence wasn't privy to all the arguing going on in writing.

I was nearby when I heard commotion that turned out to be Brother Greenlees yelling and throwing (slamming) a new summer convention publication down on the desk of one of the writers in an office shared by Bro Lengtat and Bro Napolitano. It wasn't specifically about this particular issue, but was partly over the fact that the publication didn't highlight the true importance of 1914 nor the visible Organization. The anger was also over the fact that none of the publications for that summer made these most important points and the fear (I think) that some might get the impression it was left out on purpose.  

I think that Service/Correspondence was mostly oblivious to these kinds of arguments. I don't know that for a fact, but there was a good amount of interaction between brothers in Writing, but I rarely heard about much face-to-face interaction between Writing and Correspondence except through question memos and then memos responding with "guidance" outlines. One brother, Pritchard, I think, said that he started out using the files to merely copy the previous letter on the topic, but that only someone else would send a memo request for updated guidance. I'm guessing that if there was a letter in the file on the topic, it could go back decades.

I have a feeling you know more about this process, so I'm hoping you'll clarify if you know.

[Many Miles]

12 hours ago, JW Insider said:

I think that Service/Correspondence was mostly oblivious to these kinds of arguments. I don't know that for a fact, but there was a good amount of interaction between brothers in Writing, but I rarely heard about much face-to-face interaction between Writing and Correspondence except through question memos and then memos responding with "guidance" outlines.

In my exposure, it seemed the two departments didn't really interact at all unless some change was afoot. Change could come from any direction. But when it occurred memos would be issued and guidelines would be updated within each department and then everyone under their own umbrella had their marching orders for the day. They were working a job. Not too many added to their job by trying to figure out if something new was coming. They just did their job. The more creative thinkers, I believe, were in writing. The institutionalists were stacked in service. Sometimes it seemed like, inside, the society was a daycare for adults. Honestly, it came across like that sometimes. But this is just a view from my window of exposure to men in different fields at the society. My work was in the field, with people.

Back on the topic, I recall when I first read the "the greatest evidence of all" line in that 1993 brochure, which evidence was the fulfilled "extraordinary prophecy" of Russell's as proclaimed by The World Magazine. I nearly choked on my own coffee! "The greatest evidence of all". Can you imagine?! You know there were some folks in writing clinching their jaws. But not in service. It wasn't their job.