How do you defend 1914 after reading Luke 21:8?

[Alessandro Corona]

 I'm just curious what you all have to say, and I will debate any comments that I disagree with. 

Luke 21:8 He said: “Look out that you are not misled, for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time is near.’ Do not go after them.

Let us assume, I am a new study, I have already been made aware of the 1914 prophecy, I then read this scripture in my off time and bring it up in the study. How would you defend 1914? Are you not someone saying the due time is near? How can I become one of Jehovah's Witnesses and live in harmony with this verse?

[John Houston]

I see no one has yet come to answer you. In reading this verse, Jesus gave only 2 reasons why we would have to know these ones would be false. Listening to what Jesus told his disciples when thy asked what would be the sign and he gave them what to look for, anyone just claiming to be Christ and that now is that due time, would be false. Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour and we have never claimed this either. We do say the signs that Jesus gave would be forthright are here, and also as stated by the apostle Paul. We are living in that time of the end, during the pangs of distress as Jesus stated it elsewhere. All we are going to show from scripture is the signs are before us, any action to this evidence is or the person it is their choice. Hope they choose the road leading off to, life, cramped and narrow though it is and only a few are finding this road, per Jesus' words.

[JW Insider]

On 8/31/2017 at 4:55 PM, Alessandro Corona said:

Luke 21:8 He said: “Look out that you are not misled, for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time is near.’ Do not go after them.

Let us assume, I am a new study, I have already been made aware of the 1914 prophecy, I then read this scripture in my off time and bring it up in the study. How would you defend 1914?

There is nothing wrong with the single idea that the due time is near. Even if it is 1,000 years in the future, it is nearer now than when we first became believers. The book of Revelation appears intended to bring that day "close in mind." It makes it easier to imagine by giving us imagery and symbols that make us desirous of getting through the "pangs of distress" as @John Houston mentioned, and finally reaching the "new heavens and new earth" of Revelation 21 and 22. Revelation itself mentions that the "due time is near."

• (Revelation 1:1-3) 1 A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place. And he sent forth his angel and presented [it] in signs through him to his slave John, 2 who bore witness to the word God gave and to the witness Jesus Christ gave, even to all the things he saw. 3 Happy is he who reads aloud and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and who observe the things written in it; for the appointed time is near.

Peter provides a good commentary that fits both Revelation and Jesus' revelation in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Peter gives us a practical way to view these revelations about Christ's parousia.

• (1 Peter 4:7-10) 7 But the end of all things has drawn close. Therefore, be sound in mind, and be vigilant with a view to prayers. 8 Above all things, have intense love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 10 To the extent that each one has received a gift, use it in ministering to one another as fine stewards of God’s undeserved kindness that is expressed in various ways.
• (2 Peter 3:11-13) 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, consider what sort of people you ought to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, 12 as you await and keep close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah, through which the heavens will be destroyed in flames and the elements will melt in the intense heat! 13 But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.

2 Peter 1 pointed out that Christ's parousia could be 1,000 years off, or even on the order of 1,000's of years off. People would even be ridiculing Christians for the fact that things are still going on as they always were, so that it was obvious that the parousia had not yet begun. They were already doing that when the letters of 2 Peter and Jude were being written. People were still doing that in the year 1000 C.E. and 2000 C.E, and although it gets harder to see how things could go one, Jehovah might even allow things to go on to 3000 C.E. But this does not mean that the end is not "near" or "close." Then end of all things, the day of the Lord, could arrive tonight at 6:30 p.m. But for all of us , it is as near as the end of our own lifetime, after which our very next thought or breath would be in the "new heavens and new earth." No matter what, that's how Christians should live their lives.

[Shiwiii]

On 9/23/2017 at 5:58 PM, John Houston said:

and we have never claimed this either.

maybe implication is a better description of what the wt has said. Stay alive til 75'

On 9/24/2017 at 3:19 AM, JW Insider said:

2 Peter 1 pointed out that Christ's parousia could be 1,000 years off

Who was it that said the "parousia" already happened? Isn't that what 1914 is?