Doing away with Calculating How Close we are to THE END

by FusionTheism 39 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  FusionTheism

  The Watchtower Study Edition, August 2015, "Keep In Expectation!" Article:

  Paragraph 3: "After looking forward to the end of this system for what may seem to be a long time, however, some may wonder, ‘Do we still have sound reasons to keep in expectation?’ Let us see."

  Paragraph 5: "Jesus did not say how long that period of time would go on before the end arrived"

  Paragraph 6: "We might ask: Could not 'the conclusion of the system of things' refer to a future time when world conditions will become even worse? The Bible does indicate that wickedness will greatly increase 'in the last days.' (2 Tim. 3:1, 13; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 12:12) So we can expect that world conditions, bad as they are now, will continue to decline."

  Paragraph 10: "Many of us have been keeping awake spiritually for decades. However, let us not allow the passing of time to weaken our resolve to keep in expectation."

  Paragraph 11: "He said: 'Keep on the watch.' So a long wait would not justify mentally postponing the end or totally dismissing their expectations."

  Paragraph 14: "We will surely be thankful that God, who ‘has placed times and seasons in his own jurisdiction,’ exhorted us to live with an awareness that ‘the end of all things had drawn close.’—Acts 1:7; 1 Pet. 4:7."

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  This ties in with the "Newest Light" from the 2015 Insight Book regarding the "generation":

  "So his comment about “this generation” logically had an application down to 70 C.E. However, he was also using the word “generation” with reference to humans whose lives would in some way be associated with the foretold events during his presence."
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  John Aquila

  Paragraph 14: "We will surely be thankful that God, who ‘has placed times and seasons in his own jurisdiction,

  What the Bible really says:

  (Acts 1:7) . . .“It does not belong to YOU to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction. . .
  

  
  They cut part of the scripture to suit their needs.
  
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  Magnum

  If they are doing away with the calculating, aren't they still promoting the idea that the end is imminent?

  When I stopped going to meetings in the last few years, they were still using words like "imminent" relative to the end. Are they still doing that? Aren't they still saying things like "we're on the brink of the new world"?
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  Finkelstein

  "So his comment about “this generation” logically had an application down to 70 C.E. However, he was also using the word “generation” with reference to humans whose lives would in some way be associated with the foretold events during his presence."

  No Jesus was speaking to the people living at the time and referred to them as " This Generation "

  Also in Matthew 16:28 Jesus says ...
  "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

  Dam looks like the Watchtower Corporation got caught in more lies and deceptions.
  

  
  
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  DJS

  Magnum

  It seems the Dark Lords are replacing imminence with eminence - their own.
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  The Searcher

  "So a long wait would not justify mentally postponing the end or totally dismissing their expectations."

  How can you postpone something - if you don't know the timing of it???????????
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  Finkelstein

  The WTS. has built up its organization by uses lies and deceptions, unsupported doctrines to attract people to its organization.

  The return of Christ, the end times, the Great Tribulation, Armageddon soon were all devised and exploited marketing strategies employed by the WTS and its head editorial writers of this religious publishing house.

  The main vehicle of exploitation really though came from the bible itself and the believability of the bible and its writings.

  Thats freedom of religion in America folks take it or leave it.
  
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  cofty

  Paragraph 6: "We might ask: Could not 'the conclusion of the system of things' refer to a future time when world conditions will become even worse? The Bible does indicate that wickedness will greatly increase 'in the last days.' (2 Tim. 3:1, 13; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 12:12) So we can expect that world conditions, bad as they are now, will continue to decline."

  Am I reading this right? It sounds like a major change.
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  Fisherman

  The Watchtower Study Edition, August 2015, "Keep In Expectation!" Article:

  "....doing away with calculating how close we are to the end"
  

  Based on what? When you are expecting something to arrive, a package from china for example, you need to have some idea or time frame when you are going to get it. You can figure it can take a week, a month, maximum two months. But it is not going to take a year. You need to know for a fact that the package is on it's way ('season') and then you need to have a time frame about when you are going to receive it. You do not need to have an exact day, but you need to have some parameters, some idea, something. So that you can gauge somehow when you can expect the package to arrive. Otherwise it does not make sense to wait for something that may or may not come.
  

  I think that "Keep in Expectation" means not that you are expecting the the GT to come, but that you live your life as if the GT was going to come. But why not say that outright? And the reason is that people need to feel a sense of urgency, if they don't sense it, they won't live as if there was anything to be urgent about. So, if you expect people to be in expectation of something, they need to have some idea when. There is no way to calculate exactly when, but you need to be able to extrapolate some time frame.
  
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  steve2

  Say that to the earlier - and now long deceased - generations of brothers and sisters who were kept on a knife edge because they were told over and over the day was fast approaching. My maternal grandparents converted to the Bible Students in the mid-1920s. They choose to never purchase their own home and property because at that time the organization was loudly thumping the message that this system was doomed and would not last. They rented until they died in the 1970s.

  Now, generations later, the Watchtower takes another look and opines that a more cautious approach is warranted. No apologies, no admission they got it wrong and that in their error, untold numbers of believers put their current lives on hold, slaving for a kingdom that never came.

  The August 2015 study edition Watchtower may be an enlightening realization for many who have been blind sided by the organization - and who still have youth on their side. But for so many others who have slaved for the organization and foregone so much, the article's carefully framed conclusions will be cold comfort.