How could anyone know objectively if they live in the "last days", if they fail to examine history? How would anyone know if things were
actually worse? If these prophecies have no standard of comparison, then they are meaningless, since they apply to any time period
at all.
How about war? Well, WW2 took place over 60 years ago. Since then, Europe has enjoyed the greatest period of peace and
prosperity in its entire history. Disarmament experts say that the world is more peaceful - as measured by declared wars
between nations - than it has been in many years.
Famine? Today, the UK Telegraph reported that, for the first time, the number of overweight people in the world has overtaken
the number of malnourished! And the trend is "accelerating"!
Pestilence? When the Bible was written, life expectancy was less than 30 years! Scholars still debate that figure but there is
widespread agreement that life was short in Rome, what with disease, war, lack of sanitation, riots, poor nutrition and so on.
Many Western nations are enjoying the greatest life expectancy in their entire history, like Japan.
"The increasing of lawlessness"? - The Watchtower avoids using hard statistics here because they show that US crime is low,
historically speaking. Imagine ancient Rome - with no forensics, no fingerprints, no civil rights legislation, no security cameras,
a 30 year average life span - and massive public displays of bloodshed in the Colesium. Emperors were often crazy and the rulers
were massively corrupt. I don't know how anyone could think that wasn't worse.
But what about morals? what about "Critical times, hard to deal with"? ( 2 Tim 3)
Well, let me start by quoting from "The World of the Gladiator" page 6
"The image of the gladiator conveys the whole sweep of casual cruelty; the cheapness of life, the sheer incomprehensibility
of a civilization apparently built on blood and suffering."
"Fierce, without love of goodness"??? My God, the Romans had no "Geneva Convention"! Prisoners would be executed by the
thousands, entire nations could be annihilated, and captured opponents could be dragged thru the streets of Rome, beaten,
spat on and slaughtered for an afternoon's amusement. The Bible even refers to this as a "triumphal procession" (leading
to death). Wild animals ate people alive while crowds cheered for more.
"Having no natural affection?? Are Watchtower writers aware that Romans commonly dumped babies they didn't want?
That baby girls especially were killed off? That Christians complained that dogs were eating them? ( Tertullian)
This was a far cry from aborting a lump of cells - it was widely practised infanticide.
"Lovers of money"?? I can't imagine ANY love of money that was more horrible than slavery in Roman times. Lives were bought
and sold. Woman were raped as mere property or sold to be prostitutes. Men were disposed of in gladitorial "games", if
they displeased their OWNERS.
Do I have to go on about adultery in Rome? or how penis shaped statues were used in worship or hung around the neck,
as an amulet? Or how the legal age for marriage in Rome was 12 for girls? Or how mercy was rejected as "unmanly"?
Or how they would crucify people by the thousands along some roads? Or how they would cover Christians with tar and use
them to light up city streets?
Does our world still have crime, war and sickness? Of course! But don't ever doubt that the human race is getting better and
evolving upward! The idea of "worse and worse" justifying the idea of "Last Days" is nonsense.
metatron
( and by the way, the Watchtower's practise of quoting anecdotal "evidence" and FAILING TO PROVIDE exact citations
(8/15/06 pg 5) is nonsense, too. They don't want anyone checking their quotations for accuracy)