Read sometime old Watchtower publications from the 1870s-1920s and you will find the same thinking about the 19th century, about how it had such amazing inventions and wars and events....why was the "time of the end" thought to have begun in 1799? The Napoleonic wars seem quaint today, just as quaint as the steam boat, but all those events were still thought to be earth-shaking events that clearly marked this generation (i.e. the generation of the 1870s) as in the time of the end. There is a lesson to be learned in that.
You are mistaken if you think I believe that we are living in the last days. It's a possiblity, but I believe what Jesus said about no one knows except God when the end will come. I should have explained this to you in an earlier post. Here I go.
I believe Isreal existence is a requirement for the end to come, but that does not mean I believe we are living in the very last days RIGHT NOW. I am well aware of Jehovah Witnesses failed prophecies and failed prophecies from other groups over the centuries. Failed prophecies are the results of wishful thinking and a lack of understanding of how to study the bible properly. There are many conditions which must be met first in order for the end to come. Such groups as Jehovah Witness twist and bend scriptures out of context and are to blame for their OWN failed prophecy. There is nothing in the bible that hints at an exact end of the world date and if it did, it would have been contradicting itself. A lot of groups read information into bible that's just not there while ignoring other scriptures at the same time.
There is NO WAY the end of the world could have came without Israel being reborn first. Secondly, the teaching of Jesus have to be known through out the whole earth before the end comes. Which is another reason God waited thousands of years to fufill His promise to revive Israel as a nation. people who claimed that the end of world was coming before these conditions were met were not studing the Bible as they should have been. The teachings of Christ was not known all over the world until recently or last century or so. The Japanese for instance didn't allow foreigners to explore their country until the later part of the 19th century.
Personally, I believe a powerful empire will rise in the middle east. People every where will become very gross in their sins, and serious persercution of Christians forcing them to worship God in secret will occur before the end comes.
So why did people believe that they were living close to the end of the world for the last 2000 years? Could it be they were being misled by Satan?
Of course. I have studied it extensively in the past year. The author clearly did not expect thousands of years to pass before the end (as ch. 9 and 11 rather dramatically show)....indeed, it designates the Maccabean crisis of the second century BC as the "time of the end". Only through later reinterpretation, much of it eisegetic and imposing concepts foreign to the book, such as applying the "year-day" principles (as Miller and Russell did), can it be stretched out to our day. Because Daniel has been the fodder of every eschatological prediction for centuries, it is so embedded with layers of successive interpretations that it will be quite difficult to discuss the author's intent without having those interpretive assumptions about the book interfering. Instead, I would just recommend you to read any good commentary on the book to understand what I mean.
Are you reffering to the 70 year period? That has nothing to do with time of the end? you have to look in the eariler chapters of the book. The dreams of the King of Babylon in which saw a huge image revealed by Daniel that at least 3 majors empires would rule after him. The Roman Empire lasted WAY past a thousand years after Neb had his dream from God. And the Ottoman Empire which ended the roman empire lasted right up into OUR own time. Daniel's prophecy showed that FOUR empires would rule in successive order until the time of the end.
What is more John shown in the book of Revelations that one Power would arise after the Roman Empire in successive order. History shows us that this power was the Ottoman Empie. Now I can't emphasise this enough, John pointed out that the Roman Empire would fall someday.
This is what Daniel really predicted: Babylon ----> Media/Persia ----> Greece/Rome------>Ottoman Empire--------> 10 kings? Did history follow this or what?
Do you need me to explain this to you in detail. If you were formaly a Jehovah Witness like me and rest of this board, Then I know there is lot of false information in your head put there by the JWS concerning the beast images both John and Daniel saw.
I am aware the borg falsely teaches that Egypt, Assyria, and the United States are included as being part of the beast that John saw. These nations have nothing to do with it.
I think I said a enough for now. Explain everything to you in detail if you want me to.
