by FrightMare 46 Replies latest jw friends
Oh please! All John said was "those ruining the Earth." Ever heard the expression "There goes the neighborhood"? It could be as simple as John thinking that the Romans were ruining things for the Christians with their persecution.
As for the Earth being ruined, nothing you mentioned will do it. Global warming? Ozone? Forget it. Those things will have major effects, but not the loss of all life on earth, or the ruination of the planet. Changes <> Ruination.
Indeed, the apostle John's foresight is truly amazing.
Consider the following facts that prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that inspired Biblical prophecy is being fulfilled in our day:
1) There's nothing in John's phrase "ruining the earth" to suggest that he meant environmental degradation. In fact, he almost certainly meant moral degradation.
2) God hasn't brought anyone to ruin who's ruining the earth either environmentally or morally.
3) Only by resorting to convoluted mathematical jiggery-pokery can it be argued that John was referring to the 20th century--let alone *pinpointing* it.
What more proof could we possibly ask for?
comment
I think i just might have a nightmare and tremors tonight!
How could he look into the future and know what would occur? More specifically, how was he able to pinpoint the 20th century and beyond as the time when it would occur? (Or at least the witnesses were able to)
That statement is just hilarious. How exactly did John pinpoint the 20th century? The Witnesses are just like every other apocolyptic cult/sect throughout history claiming that the end is coming in their generation. No big surprise here.
rem
"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell
On top of all this, virtually everyone in the world realizes that 1914 was one of the biggest turning points in our modern history. Mere coincidence?
The London Star observed: "Some historian in the next century may well conclude that the day the world went mad was . . . [in] 1914."
"It is indeed the year 1914 rather than that of Hiroshima which marks the turning point in our time."-René Albrecht-Carrié, The Scientific Monthly, July 1951.
"Everything would get better and better. This was the world I was born in. . . . Suddenly, unexpectedly, one morning in 1914 the whole thing came to an end."-British statesman Harold Macmillan, The New York Times, November 23, 1980.
"Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been deeply troubled by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined march toward ever greater disaster. Many serious people have come to feel that nothing can be done to avert the plunge towards ruin."-Bertrand Russell, The New York Times Magazine, September 27, 1953.
As regards economic consequences, Ashby Bladen, a senior vice president of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, writes: "Before 1914 the monetary and the financial systems were compatible. . . . If one takes August 1914 as marking the dividing line between them, the contrasts between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries are striking. In many aspects of human affairs there has been a complete reversal of trend. . . . One major reason was the severance of the linkage between the financial system and money with intrinsic value that began in 1914. . . . The breaking of the linkage was a momentous event. . . . 1914 marked a radical, and in the end catastrophic, transformation of that system."
"The modern era . . . began in 1914, and no one knows when or how it will end. . . . It could end in mass annihilation."-The Seattle Times, January 1, 1959.
"The whole world really blew up about World War I and we still don't know why. . . . Utopia was in sight. There was peace and prosperity. Then everything blew up. We've been in a state of suspended animation ever since."-Dr. Walker Percy, American Medical News, November 21, 1977.
"In 1914 the world lost a coherence which it has not managed to recapture since. . . . This has been a time of extraordinary disorder and violence, both across national frontiers and within them."-The Economist, London, August 4, 1979.
Historian Edmond Taylor expresses something that many historians agree on: "The outbreak of World War I ushered in a twentieth-century 'Time of Troubles' . . . Directly or indirectly all the convulsions of the last half century stem back to 1914."
The World Book Encyclopedia states: "World War I and its aftermath led to the greatest economic depression in history during the early 1930's. The consequences of the war and the problems of adjustment to peace led to unrest in almost every nation."
The German reference work Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon, says that "the effects of World War I were literally revolutionary and struck deep in the lives of almost all peoples, economically as well as socially and politically."
Fright, I don't agree with you that 1914 is any more a pivotal date than most others. Why not 1939 when WW11 started; or 1948 when the Jews "came home?"
What is fascinating to me however is the increase in knowlege that has manifested itself in the last 2-300 years. The increase in scientific, technological, medical and archeological knowlege has been astounding and appears to be increasing exponentially. It's kinda like Moores law relating to comuter processing power. Like you, I would like to know what was/is unique about the last couple of hundred years as opposed to the tens of thousands that humans have been here prior. One article I read recently pointed out that human knowlege is doubling every 3 years. Now, I don't know how accurate that is (or even if it can be measured) but it's obvious that the increase is mind boggling.
later,
chappy
later,
chappy
: Why has such an unprecedented boom in population and technology occurred during the specific time the Bible points to the 'last days', 1914?
Far less people are dying during childbirth and from diseases and starvation. People are living much longer due to better nutrition and medicine.
Far from pointing to the "last days," such population growth points to the "best days" overall in the history of man.
Only a nitwit would conclude otherwise.
Farkel
"When in doubt, duck!"
Farkel
Of course you're correct about the drop in disease and people living longer, but what do you think was the catalyst for all this progress?
Humans have been living on the earth for tens of thousands of years with little or no progress; then suddenly an expolsion in progress.
I'm not necessarily implying anything biblical, but you have to admit is is thought provoking.
later,
chappy
Humans have been living on the earth for tens of thousands of years with little or no progress; then suddenly an expolsion in progress.
The Enlightenment caused this. Thinkers began to throw off the shackles of religion and turned to science instead. End result = explosion in progress.
The Roman Empire had many technological advances. Then it was overthrown, and the Dark Ages began. What reigned supreme during the Dark Ages? Religion. What happened when religion was put in its place? Progress.
Chappy,
Seeker beat me to it! He expressed my thoughts on your question perfectly!
Farkel
"When in doubt, duck!"
Frightmare,
Oh please, we all know the prophetic words of John was just because he ate bad chicken, mushrooms, or something else.
"Hand me that whiskey, I need to consult the spirit."-J.F. Rutherford
