I remember being told that the end would not come until everyone has had a chance to hear God's message. Yet as we know, the Witnesses have not been able to get into China with any real organized movement. For a long time, we expected some amazing change to happen there, much like we saw when the Soviet Union fell. Yet it never happened, and soon I was hearing things like, "The work does not have to reach China, for the end to come?" I heard these exact thoughts on convention and assembly stages. As the Witnesses were thinking about this, and knowing the message we were told versus how little we were able to get in there. So what I wondered, do Witnesses think that Satan owns China, as a home and they are his people? They seemed to be okay with the idea that China would not have a chance at the new system of things, they actually seemed encouraged by the idea. Either way, did you understand this to be the case with China?
Is China just Satan's home and his people?
by free2beme 19 Replies latest jw friends
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Stealth453
Interesting point. I need to give this one a bit of thought. Could it be nothing more than the double-speak that the watchliar is so famous for?
Hmmmmmm
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FairMind
The most current comment I’ve heard on this subject is that not necessarily every individual will have the “Good News” preached to him or her before the end comes. In fact, with many new people being born every minute how could this happen? The standard JW answer to this question is “Jehovah knows what is in peoples hearts”.
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daystar
How can they possibly support this scripturally after citing for so long that "this good news of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world, and then the end will come"?
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parakeet
***"this good news of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world, and then the end will come"?***
Daystar, the WTS should have fiddled with this scripture as well as John 1:1 in the NWT. They should have had it read, "this good news of the kingdom will be preached throughout the nations with cooperative governments, and then the end will come." I guess it's too late for them to try to "revise" it now. -
james_woods
I once heard a Circuit Overseer make the over-the-top observation that the scripture should be interpreted to mean the good news would be preached in "each nation" but not necessarily to "each person". This would absolve them of collective guilt in places like Red China.
He also went on to say that there were probably people even in the United States that had never personally been contacted, but that was OK because of the above rule.
His main point was that the big A could come ahead and happen in 1975, even if we had obviously never covered China, North VietNam, North Korea, most of USSR, and many others.
And then concluded it all with the time-honored "Jehovah knows what is in their hearts, of course". Some of the more irreverant younger guys asked one another "OK, so what is the point of MAKING US do all this door to door time, if he knows peoples hearts, already?"
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Leolaia
The most current comment I’ve heard on this subject is that not necessarily every individual will have the “Good News” preached to him or her before the end comes.
Yet Armageddon is supposed to be eternal judgment for them, with no hope of resurrection. So let's see....murderers, thieves, rapists, etc. from centuries ago get a second chance at life while an honest, hard-working family guy from Xiaoping must die eternally because he dared to live at the time picked by God to be Armageddon.
I had a debate on this question with a friend in the late '80s. We decided that the Society was teaching two irreconcilable things simultaneously: (1) Armageddon is very, very near, (2) To survive Armageddon, one must become a part of the organization to receive salvation. There were so many countries where the JWs were unable to reach everyone that it seemed impossible that Armageddon could happen any time in the near future. If God only judges hearts and can offer salvation apart from the organization to those who have not had a witness, well, then that would contradict the doctrine that one must be identified with the organization to survive. If the witness is what is really life-saving, how can the DESTRUCTION unleashed by Armageddon affect people individually, and yet "not necessarily every individual" will receive the warning beforehand.
At the time the Society also taught that one is bloodguilty if he or she fails to go out preaching the warning and some perish because they did not receive the news. It boggled my mind to try to reconcile THAT with the insistence that Armageddon was "just around the corner" and the fact that there were whole countries that have not received a witness at all.
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blondie
Now:
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w00 1/15 p. 13 "Keep on the Watch" ***Fifth,
we see a global preaching work being accomplished, which Jesus said would take place just before the end of this system. Jesus stated: "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) Today, that prophecy is in the course of fulfillment on an unprecedented scale. True, untouched territories still exist, and it may be that in Jehovah’s due time, a large door leading to greater activity will open. (1 Corinthians 16:9) Nevertheless, the Bible does not state that Jehovah will wait until every individual on earth has received a personal witness. Rather, the good news must be preached to Jehovah’s satisfaction. Then the end will come.—Compare Matthew 10:23.Then:
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w65 9/15 pp. 575-576 Questions from Readers ***Since
millions of persons in China and other places have never heard the Kingdom message, will these people be preserved through the destruction of Babylon the Great and the war of Armageddon, or perhaps be resurrected later?—H.S., U.S.A.It is important to understand what the Bible says about the destruction to come at the end of this system of things. In his illustration of the sheep and the goats Jesus indicated that a separating work would be done "when the Son of man arrives in his glory," and that persons would be classed as either "sheep" or "goats." (Matt. 25:31-46) In part, the basis for the separation would be the reaction of people to the preaching of the good news of the established kingdom. That preaching work is now being done by Jehovah’s witnesses. Jesus explained that those on earth who favorably responded to that message and treated kindly its bearers would be classed as "sheep" and would enter into "everlasting life." The rest of mankind who did not respond favorably to the preaching work and offered no aid to those who carried the Kingdom message would be classed as "goats" and would go, not into a temporary death, but into "everlasting cutting-off" at the time when judgment is executed.
But some persons, appreciating that millions of people are to be resurrected and given an opportunity to serve God, wonder if the millions of individuals living today who apparently have never heard the Kingdom message preached will be everlastingly destroyed without ever having had a witness about God’s purposes. It is true that at present it appears that there are vast numbers of mankind who have not heard the Kingdom preaching. Also, from what the Bible says and from conditions in the world, we know that we are in the "last days." But we do not know just how much more will be accomplished in preaching the Kingdom message before the end comes. (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Matt. 24:3-13) If at the end of the second world war someone had said that the Kingdom preaching would be carried out, by more than a million publishers, in over 190 lands, including communistic countries, many might have found that hard to believe. Yet, Jehovah has blessed his people, and that is exactly what is being accomplished. So, if it is Jehovah’s will to have this message personally carried to the millions on earth who seemingly have not yet heard it, that will be accomplished. If he chooses, he could see to it that this message is spread in ways that we cannot yet imagine. Jesus did foretell that "this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matt. 24:14) We can rest assured that God will see that the preaching work is done to his satisfaction. After that "the end" comes.
Then those who correspond with "goats," whether in China or elsewhere, will be pronounced "cursed" and will not be permitted to survive that "end" into God’s new order of things. Since these go into symbolic "fire" (like the Devil and his angels), their punishment will be everlasting. They will never be resurrected.—Matt. 25:41-46.
"Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."—Ps. 37:10, 11.
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anewme
I heard a dreadful expression "offspring of scorpions are, well, scorpions" in defense of Jehovahs decision to destroy the innocent offspring of those killed at the Big A.
Surely there is a way to reach China. Walmart and McD have, havent they? -
JH
Probably Chinese food won't be on the menu in the new system.