My wife is frightened about the end/ What to say without sounding Apostate?

suavojr

My wife called me at work saying she is scared after reading today's daily text. I don't read it anymore, therefore I went online and found this.

Tuesday, March 3

Those days will be cut short.—Matt. 24:22.

What can we expect will happen during the coming great tribulation? Jehovah will “cut short” the attack of the United Nations on false religion, not allowing true religion to be destroyed with the false. This will ensure that God’s people will be saved. What happens after the initial part of the great tribulation has passed? Jesus’ words indicate that there will be a period of time that will last until the start of Armageddon. What events will occur during that interval? The answer is recorded at Ezekiel 38:14-16 and Matthew 24:29-31. After those events, we will witness Armageddon, the climax of the great tribulation, which parallels Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. (Mal. 4:1) With the battle of Armageddon as its climax, that coming great tribulation will be unique—an event “such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning.” (Matt. 24:21) When it has passed, Christ’s Millennial Rule will begin. w13 7/15 1:7, 8

I have plenty of information to use but what can I use? She is scared, she wants to study this topic with me. How can I talk with her true identity? I need to keep her cult personality off and help her use her critical thinking abilities. What to do and what to say? I am going to test the waters and plan to talk about the following.

· *** g95 6/22 p. 3 Predictions of the World’s End ***

This article mentions that end times prophecies have been around forever and they've all failed. Goes on to mention William Miller and 1844, mentions Harold Camping and many more. Conveniently they forget to mention their own failures in 1874, 1878, 1914, 1925, 1940s, 1975 and before the 21st century.

Also I was planning to share this footnote,

[Footnotes]

Jehovah's Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus' second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect. Because of this, some have called them false prophets. Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions 'in the name of Jehovah.' Never did they say, 'These are the words of Jehovah.' TheWatchtower, the official journal of Jehovah's Witnesses, has said: "We have not the gift of prophecy." (January 1883, page 425) "Nor would we have our writings reverenced or regarded as infallible." (December 15, 1896, page 306) TheWatchtower has also said that the fact that some have Jehovah's spirit "does not mean those now serving as Jehovah's witnesses are inspired. It does not mean that the writings in this magazine TheWatchtower are inspired and infallible and without mistakes." (May 15, 1947, page 157) "TheWatchtower does not claim to be inspired in its utterances, nor is it dogmatic." (August 15, 1950, page 263) "The brothers preparing these publications are not infallible. Their writings are not inspired as are those of Paul and the other Bible writers. (2 Tim. 3:16) And so, at times, it has been necessary, as understanding became clearer, to correct views. (Prov. 4:18)"-February 15, 1981, page 19.

g93 3/22 pp. 3-4 / Why So Many False Alarms?

suavojr

I want to make it clear, my intention is not to make her claim immediately the WT/JW are a false prophet. I want to help her start thinking for herself and maybe she can find the inner peace she is seeking.

StarTrekAngel

Remind her Jehovah has promised us protection and that, if we believe what we read, we understand that the attack would happen on false worship, not on JWs, therefore there is nothing to fear. Make sure to drive that point home and then finish it with the second point. Which is, we don't want to be like those over zealous brothers of the 1970's, whom upon reading things like this, made drastic conclusions that the end was coming in 1975. But we know what happened to those brothers. May be that will drive her curiosity.

I wish I could put that to practice myself but this kind of questions never really come up.

J-DUBBED

A good thing I'd like to tell all of them......."Wake up and smell the coffee"

Finkelstein

Maybe you should point out the bible, particularly the last book Revelation, is mythological and fictional in nature.

Actually if you read the bible carefully with an analytical mind you can see that Jesus's spoken words were directed to the people living at the time. Its was intentionally expressed as such to bring engaging relevance to this deity

Of course power cultivating religionists such as the WTS leaders are not going to honestly reveal that bit of information.

cappytan

You could preface the "apostate" stuff by just saying, "Look, this is just pure speculation, but don't you think it's possible that.....yadda yadda yadda?"

Then, if she gives you any grief about it, just say, "Sorry, I was just trying to be a spiritual head. I'll just stay quiet next time."

Crazyguy

Read 1john5 in this chapter it says that God's testimony is that those that believe in Jesus is the messiah have eternal life and to say any different is calling God a liar.

eyefell4it2

I have been out for years and my parents USED to mention armageddon and such to me but they don't anymore. Although I don't have much advice I do know you have a great start there above. Also, here are some threads I read which provided information re this whole "end of times" thing. Hope it helps you in your research:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/189072/jws-you-unique-take-look-this-my-research

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/104689/russell-barbour-connection

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/240420/think-you-should-know-about-this-man-after-all-he-changed-your-life *

To me, the link directly above about William Miller was the most telling so start there. I did a search of his name on this forum and got several threads so you may want to do the same.

Cover of a Millerite pamphlet (as you can see by the date, that prediction is 172 odd years late....

Hope this helps!

PS- I believe Miller apologized about his false prophecies but other religious groups ran with the predictions anyways.

StarTrekAngel

Guys, he said he did not want to sound apostate. :)

Finkelstein

Its easy to apologize after the fact and the money has been taken by these charlatans.

opps .... I made a mistake, as they count the money as it were.

or did I ????

My wife is frightened about the end/ What to say without sounding Apostate?

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