Forget what they say, most JWs do not believe the end is near...

by drew sagan 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Soldier77

  Being born a couple years after 75 I missed that whole tirade but as long as I can remember going to the meetings/CA's/DC's etc it has always been "a few years away."

  I knew an elder that was one for 36+ years and he invested all of his money in stocks and bonds. The guy is a millionaire now. Smart guy really. Makes you wonder how much he really "believed" in the first place.

  Here I was brought up to not worry about a career, dont bother going to college (which I did anyway, good thing) don't worry about a wife, or kids, wont ever get old (was told I wouldn't see 25 in this system) and don't worry about saving for retirement.

  What a crock. I'm glad I never went to bethel or got appointed past being a reg pioneer. Looking back, all of the time "in" was a shallow life with shallow relationships.
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  Witness My Fury

  What always pissed me off was the obvious contradiction between the message from the platform via Brooklyn esp at conventions... with the news of ever expanding printing / educational facilities with time projections for the projects sometimes 7 years ahead!!

  WTF!! If it's as near as you say it is, why this total opposite message in your projects!?

  Personally I lived and believed it was always just a few years away ,...
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  Bethelite Elder

  Well, I have to disagree, Most witnesses are starting to see that the end of the witnesses are near. Time is starting to get the best of the lies. I feel sorry for them. They have accumilated all the good friends on lies, and now they can't produce what they wanted. The end of mankind in general.
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  WTWizard

  Too bad for them, it was too late for them to make me flunk algebra. I understood the concept of graphing equations, and finding roots of simultaneous equations (which is foreign sounding to those who did poorly in algebra, so I recommending using Google to research "simultaneous equations). And, it was extremely simple to find two simultaneous equations that were forever getting closer and closer to each other, yet never intersected (the root). The simplest is Y=0; Y=1/X. They get closer and closer, yet they never form a root.

  In the same fashion, Armageddon is like Y=0. The closeness we are to it is Y=1/X. Yes, it is close. Yes, it is getting closer. Yet, because I didn't flunk algebra, I realized that it was mathematically possible for it to never come.
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  jookbeard

  I was raised with all the old cliches of "never going to high school/college" the prospect to going out to work was unthinkable, but as my Dub life continued I became more and more distanced from the fantasy. The problem with the R&F they fail to keep up with there own far fetched doctrine, The King of the North has gone very quiet and the world wide governments don't seem like turning on them any time soon, they also keep very quiet about the International Year of Peace, if I was still a Dub I'd think it was further away then ever.
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  goldensky

  I sometimes remember what an American elder (Peter Pugh, from the congregation of Hemet, California, in case someone here knows him) told my family a couple of years before 1975: "Do you know what the brothers are beginning to say in the U.S.A.? (Being in Spain, we always got the news a few months later than you). That maybe after all the end will not come in 1975, since everybody expects it to come in that year and then the verse "When nobody is expecting it, the end will come", would not be fulfilled. Therefore rumours are starting to spread that it will be coming in 1976 (!!!!)". And he smiled ever so proud of his deep discernment.

  No comments.
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  chicken little

  We pioneered in a very poor part of inner London, the brothers and sisters were very poor and extremely zealous and gave huge amounts to the society each month in contributions, they needed to believe the end was near; there was nothing else to look forward to.

  Fast forward to an english speaking cong in scandanavia, no real enthusiasm for the end; nobody gave any money to the contributions, and they had plenty of money in comparison to the other congregation. It was quite funny to hear an elder and his wife that had just bought a new very expensive house, had an art gallery and pots of money....but also pioneered, speaking about how awful the world was and how close the end was. YEAH...we could see they believed that by their life style. ;;;Parrots!
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  restrangled

  My grandmother was not prepared to die before the "New System".....she was 79 in the early 1970's. That puts her born at the turn of the previous century. My mom and her siblings were not prepared to die before the "New System".....some have died and most are now at the end of their lives. We children were taught we would not die, now in our 50/60 range.

  Do the lies never stop? There is no end, except the carrot continually dangling in front of new recruits. The oldies but goodies still believe its just around the corner.

  r.
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  Lunatic Faith

  I disagree. I think most do believe it or else they wouldn't live their lives as they do. The ones who avoid higher education, or investments, or sell everything to serve where the need is great. Everyone I knew believed it was within a few years away. They still say it, because to believe anything different is too faith-shattering to comprehend. In my opinion...
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  Violia

  An elder I knew well told me that he personally felt that that the wts had it all wrong about Armageddon and when or if it actually occurs it will be entirely different than what we have been led to believe. He said he stayed in the Borg b/c they had personally helped him a lot and he was not going not bite the hand that fed him. He would have had no problem df'ing anyone else who taught that , however. I asked him how he could sleep at night, and he didn't care. The Borg was his life and even if he knew a lot of it was a lie, he was haning on b/c it was his life.

  Would it be amazing if they decided that Armageddon came invisibly you know like they did with the God's kingdom is actually ruling, just invisibly?