What Happened to the 6000 Years?
Norman Hovland
Jehovah's Witnesses are generally very ignorant about the Watchtower Society history. Most of them would benefit greatly from reading older issues of the Watchtower and other literature published by the Society in earlier years.
Those of us that were around before and after 1975, remember the Brooklyn song and dance about 6000 years since Adam's creation would run out in 1975. There was much excitement about this because it would fit SO well into the Freddie Franz "chronology" about how "fitting" it would be for the big A to come in 75. This article from 1968 really got the Witness community going:
3 Hence, outside the Bible's timetable, most dates set by historians are unreliable. Only a few "assured," or absolute, dates, such as 539 B.C.E., can be accepted as certain. Christians, confident in Jehovah's Word, know that the internal evidence of the Bible is the safest guide in these matters. This helps us to determine with great accuracy where we stand in the stream of time, particularly in regard to the seventh period of time, or "day," mentioned in Genesis. -- Gen. 2:2, 3. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 271]
Notice this line here: "This helps us to determine with great accuracy where we stand in the stream of time," Quite hilarious isn't it? If there is anything the Watchtower Society has established as "gospel truth" up through that organizations history, it is their total inability determine anything, let alone with "great accuracy"! But it gets funnier still. Take a look at this rather amusing reasoning. The determining factor to be able to predict if Armageddon would come in 1975, was how long time Adam used to name the animals, and how long it took for him to realize that he was "alone" and needed a mate. But with the efficiency of God, it wasn't likely to take more than a "few weeks or months" in the same year:
4 According to reliable Bible chronology Adam was created in the year 4026 B.C.E., likely in the autumn of the year, at the end of the sixth day of creation. Then God brought the animals to man to name. Yet, of Adam, Genesis states these words of Jehovah: "It is not good for the man to continue by himself." (Gen. 2:18) Adam would realize this lonely condition very quickly, perhaps in just a few days or a few weeks. He would realize he needed another earthling with whom he could communicate, share his experiences, and his life. Nor would his naming the animals take an unduly long time. The basic animal kinds could have been relatively quickly named, for when such basic kinds were taken into the ark in Noah's day, it did not involve millions of beasts, but perhaps only a few hundred basic kinds. Thus, Adam's naming of the animals and his realizing that he needed a counterpart would have occupied only a brief time after his creation. Since it was also Jehovah's purpose for man to multiply and fill the earth, it is logical that he would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps just a few weeks or months later in the same year, 4026 B.C.E. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 271]
So here we get a good insight into the insane ramblings of Fred Franz, the Society's big spiritual leader and writer since the days of Booze Rutherford. Take a look at this where he is thinking out loud:
5 Therefore, God's seventh day and the time man has been on earth apparently run parallel. To calculate where man is in the stream of time relative to God's seventh day of 7,000 years, we need to determine how long a time has elapsed from the year of Adam and Eve's creation in 4026 B.C.E. From the autumn of that year to the autumn of 1 B.C.E., there would be 4,025 years. From the autumn of 1 B.C.E. to the autumn of 1 C.E. is one year (there was no zero year). From the autumn of 1 C.E. to the autumn of 1967 is a total of 1,966 years. Adding 4,025 and 1 and 1,966, we get 5,992 years from the autumn of 4026 B.C.E. to the autumn of 1967. Thus, eight years remain to account for a full 6,000 years of the seventh day. Eight years from the autumn of 1967 would bring us to the autumn of 1975, fully 6,000 years into God's seventh day, his rest day. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 271]
This article sent the whole Witness community into a fewer pitch and the matter was addressed again the same year. This next quote mention that "lively discussions, some based on speculations, have burst into flame during recent months". The quote also identify the reason for all these "speculations":
WHAT about all this talk concerning the year 1975? Lively discussions, some based on speculation, have burst into flame during recent months among serious students of the Bible. Their interest has been kindled by the belief that 1975 will mark the end of 6,000 years of human history since Adam's creation. The nearness of such an important date indeed fires the imagination and presents unlimited possibilities for discussion. [The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, p. 494]
Then, after this opening the article state the following:
2 But wait! How do we know their calculations are correct? What basis is there for saying Adam was created nearly 5,993 years ago? Does the one Book that can be implicitly trusted for its truthful historical accuracy, namely, the Inspired Word of Jehovah, the Holy Bible, give support and credence to such a conclusion? [The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, p. 494]
Then follows several pages with the most incredible insane, long winding, twisted, hopeless and far-fetched arithmetic, ever put together. After having totally anesthetized the reader with all this mind numbing tripe, the article state:
35 One thing is absolutely certain, Bible chronology reinforced with fulfilled Bible prophecy shows that six thousand years of man's existence will soon be up, yes, within this generation! (Matt. 24:34) This is, therefore, no time to be indifferent and complacent. [The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, pp. 500-501]
You should all whip out this issue of the Watchtower magazine and enjoy this genuine piece of true Watchtower insanity in full flight. Feast your eyes on this incredible reasoning. This is precisely the same kind of number juggling that has been around in the Watchtower Society for so long and has cost them so much embarrassment up through the years. Then of course Franz would throw in the well-tried and tested old prune, the 1914-generation, another embarrassing example of the Watchtower "Bible Chronology", that didn't burst until 1995:
Some of the generation that discerned the beginning of the time of the end in 1914 will still be alive on earth to witness the end of this present wicked system of things at the battle of Armageddon. -- Rev. 16:14, 16. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 272]
Here we again get to watch Franz wallow in wishful thinking and hallucinating in a big way. Yes, how "fitting" it would be if the 1000 year reign could start in 1975:
7 The immediate future is certain to be filled with climactic events, for this old system is nearing its complete end. Within a few years at most the final parts of Bible prophecy relative to these "last days" will undergo fulfillment, resulting in the liberation of surviving mankind into Christ's glorious 1,000-year reign. What difficult days, but, at the same time, what grand days are just ahead! [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 272]
Then, a little bit of prudence seeps in, "ahemm, well of course no one knows for sure, you know". But mind you, it would be very "foolish" with the "limited time remaining" of course. Yes sure, but not anywhere near as foolish as those listening to the drivel in the Watchtower magazine. And of course those who continue to listen to them.
8 Does this mean that the year 1975 will bring the battle of Armageddon? No one can say with certainty what any particular year will bring. Jesus said: "Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows." (Mark 13:32) Sufficient is it for God's servants to know for a certainty that, for this system under Satan, time is running out rapidly. How foolish a person would be not to be awake and alert to the limited time remaining, to the earthshaking events soon to take place, and to the need to work out one's salvation! [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, pp. 272-273]
Notice how the Watchtower quote Mark 13: 32, in this issue. But only a few moths later the same year, the frenzy got the better of them and they didn't want to be fobbed off with such silly quotes from the Bible:
This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that "concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father." (Matt. 24:36) To the contrary, it is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end. Make no mistake, it is sufficient that the Father himself knows both the "day and hour"! [The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, pp. 500-501]
Not only the Watchtower Society and Fred Franz was keenly aware of the imminence of Armageddon, one of the Watchtower Society's favorites and a person of great importance to all "true" Christians was also aware of the limited time left:
13 Satan the Devil also knows that the time left is very reduced. Revelation 12:12 states: "The Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time." Satan the Devil has a real problem where time is concerned. He has very little left. What he would not give to have more time to work out his debased purposes! But he does not, and so is furious. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 274]
Isn't it really funny to read this drivel, written 31 years ago? Open a recent Watchtower and read exactly the same drivel about "living in the final years of this system". It is incredible how they seem totally unable to change anything in Brooklyn. This seem to be the only "record" they own, and they play it over and over again:
By measuring and calculating time, we know we are living in the final years of this system of things. It is crumbling before our very eyes in one orgy of violence and crime after another. Minute by minute, day by day, year by year it moves without fail toward its catastrophic end. There is no going backward for this system. How true, then, in our day, what Paul stated at 1 Corinthians 7:29: "Moreover, this I say, brothers, the time left is reduced." It is especially reduced in our day, as we are near the end of 6,000 years of human history. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 274]
The next quote tell us that the apostles didn't know about 1975, well as it turned out the Watchtower Society didn't know anything about 1975 either. Just as little as they know about anything else. Like the apostles who had their own period of frenzy, also had the same experience, absolutely nothing happened. Did they learn anything from it? Nope, nothing! So all of you Watchtower followers, heed the call, no delaying or dilly dallying, go out there and spread the Watchtower literature like there's no tomorrow, because to you there is no tomorrow, to you it is forever "ground hog day":
36 Even if one cannot see beyond 1975, is this any reason to be less active? The apostles could not see even this far; they knew nothing about 1975. All they could see was a short time ahead in which to finish the work assigned to them. (1 Pet. 4:7) Hence, there was a ring of alarm and a cry of urgency in all their writings. (Acts 20:20; 2 Tim. 4:2) And rightly so. If they had delayed or dillydallied and had been complacent with the idea the end was some thousands of years off they would never have finished running the race set before them. No, they ran hard and they ran fast, and they won! It was a life or death matter with them. -- 1 Cor. 9:24; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:1. [The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, p. 501]
The more time they spend working with Jehovah's visible organization, the less time they will have left to get into difficulty. [The Watchtower, May, 1, 1968, p. 275]
The more time they spend in "Jehovah's organization" the less time they will have to have a life. Of course the 6000 years since the creation of Adam, hasn't been heard of the last 25 years. The elaborate example of this accurate "Biblical chronology" which was "proved" by calculations and twisted "reasoning" which took several pages to "explain" is totally forgotten in Brooklyn and by the Witness community. In the next 50 years, the rest of the completely nonsensical Watchtower "chronology" will go the same way, but the "end" will of course always be "imminent"!
