If you've left JWs for Christ - will the end still come?

flamegrilled

Something I don't see supported much on JWN is the notion that the end of this system is indeed coming, even if later than WTS has predicted over the years.

Now for those that have left and become complete non-believers (in the Bible) that is understandable. You guys are welcome to comment of course, but I'm far more interested in some feedback from the people who have left JWs and pursued a Christian course. Are you still convinced that there will be a war of armaggedon or do you now interpret the scriptures a different way?

If you do still think the end is coming, then where do you feel that JWs have got things wrong in their interpretation of events (not timing, but rather the things that will actually occur)?

If you don't think that such an event is looming then how do you read all of the prophecies that JWs interpret this way? In particular alongside all of Jesus' other warnings the wording at Luke 21:34,35. For any that would answer that all this applies to Jerusalem in 1st century only, how do the subsequent visions of Revelation fit?

FG

Crisis of Conscience

nicolaou

If you've left JWs for Christ - your journey is not yet over.

flamegrilled

Now I know why some of those WT questions add the word "Explain" afterwards.

tornapart

I believe most of what Jesus said in Matt 24 and Luke 21 as having 1st century fulfillment and most of Revelation as having future fulfillment. I still believe in an 'Armageddon', a resurrection at the end of a 1,000 years (but am beginning to go towards that 1,000 years as not literal) and the final destruction of Satan. Whether it comes in my time or not I am not concerned. This is God's time plan and even Jesus didn't know the dates when he was on earth and neither did the angels. All that matters to me is learning as much as I can now and being as a good a christian as I can.

Heaven

The 1 constant in life is change.

All systems have a beginning and an end, even in nature. But these 'ends' are just the the transition into a new beginning. The Armageddon in the Bible is just the psychotic vision of an old demented man (John of Patmos). It is not based in anything real or factual. The Book of Revelation only made it into the Bible by 1 vote.

From the current information available, how the industrialized nations live will eventually need to transition to a more sustainable way of living with the natural world as our consumption of fossil fuels cannot go on indefinitely. There are many people living on Earth today who do not live with the modern conveniences that we do. Some have chosen this way of life. For others, it is not available to them and they would probably not wish to live as we do.

It's pretty easy to prophesize about something that has already happened. Much of the Bible was written by people well after the events took place. As for future ideas such as Armageddon, that's just myth. Bronze Aged Middle Eastern men's ideas and interpretations of the unknown do not consitute reality. They are not based on fact. Regarding Luke 21: 34-35, nothing new is being said here. You just have to live life to experience it's ups and downs. Nobody said life was a happy thing all the time. Each of us must find our own way, and must come to understand how to deal with life. Becoming an alcoholic or drunk just makes things worse.

"Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Semisonic

Sulla

Interesting question, flamegrilled.

The orthodox Christian viewpoint is that Christ will, indeed, return one day. It is in the Nicene Creed:

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father
He will return in glory to judge the living and the dead
And his kingdom will have no end

In the pithy liturgical language of the Catholic Church, the mystery of faith is summarized thus:

Mortem tuam annuntiamus, Domine, et tuam resurrectionem confitemur, donec venias
-- We proclaim your death, Lord, and confess your resurrection until you return

So, the idea of the end of all things is orthodox. The idea that, for example, the book of Revelation is speaking of events that will happen in the 20th or 21st century is a pretty late innovation, generally unsecured to the traditional approach to reading that work.

The JW-ist reading of the End Times statements variously recorded are, as is typical of the movement, mostly idiotic mis-readings of the text.

N.drew

Revelation does not say God gathered them to armaggedon. It says the demons do. So why are Christians interested in what demons do?

Vanderhoven7

Is Armageddon Past or Future?

Try:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS9CAp7WEZE

Rev. 16:

5Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
"You are just in these judgments,
you who are and who were, the Holy One,
because you have so judged;
6for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."
14They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
16Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. 19The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.

Of course this interpretaion calls for the early writing of the book of Revelation and identifies Jerusalem as "Babylon" and "The Great Harlot"

http://www.bibleprophesy.org/rev1718.htm

N.drew

I don't have sound on my computer. I did not link up.

OK Perhaps the demons have spoiled the day. So it's not so great anymore.

I believe Christians can't think out of the box.

If you've left JWs for Christ - will the end still come?

Is Armageddon Past or Future?

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