Why would Jehovah wait so long?

by schnare 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  THE GLADIATOR

  Jehovah's Witnesses should re-name themselves - Tomorrow's Witnesses.

  They don't have to rush into changing their name - tomorrow will do.

  The sun'll come out, tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar, that tomorrow
  There'll be sun!
  
  Just thinking about, tomorrow
  Clears away the cobwebs, and the sorrow
  'Til there's none!
  
  When I'm stuck in a day
  That's gray and lonely
  I just stick out my chin
  And grin and say
  
  The sun'll come out, tomorrow
  So you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow
  Come what may
  Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow
  You're always a day away
  
  
  
• 

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Duh! Jehovah has waited so long because he really wanted to see the results of the 2012 London Olympics. Obviously.

  Then I suspect that he will want to see the results of the Rio Olympics in 2016.

  He's also waiting for the Cubs to have a great season. Then he'll see about doing his armageddon thing. Maybe.
• 

  King Solomon

  Actually, I updated that pix to make the story more complete:

  

  

  Seems pretty clear to me: YHWH seemingly is playing a game of bowling, where He resets the pins so he can just knock them down again... Gotta do SOMETHING up there: all the incessant racket from choir practice must drive him nuts!
• 

  The Searcher

  @ MP - who wrote "If im wrong please show me where it says God will send his son to die to pay for our sin or something similar."

  As soon as Adam & Eve sinned and brought death to all their descendants, (Romans 5:12, 18, 19) God gave us the very first prophecy in the Bible (Genesis 3:15) to show that a 'seed' would be produced to undo all the forthcoming damage to mankind. That 'seed' was to be one individual - Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:16)

  As the centuries passed, more and more information about this special 'seed' was gradually revealed; facts such as Daniel 9:25 - 27 tells us, that the Messiah would die in the "middle of the week", (three and a half years) but the Law Covenant would continue till the end of the week. (three and a half years later)

  The Israelites sacrificed the blood of animals for forgiveness of sins, and these sacrifices foreshadowed "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." Hence Paul said, "For indeed our Passover has been sacrificed." 1 Cor. 5:7.

  Hope this explains one or two things.
• 

  jworld

  Because Gods never actually show up, they only exist in humans' minds, like money and morality.
• 

  King Solomon

  The searcher said:

  The answer can be found in Genesis chapter 3. The Creator's name was slandered by Satan when he told the perfect woman Eve that she did not have to obey her God.

  You must have a different definition of "slander", from that used in legal circles AND the general population, if you think your statement constitutes evidence of slander (hint: it doesn't).

  In fact, the biggest lie he told her was that she would become just like God Himself.

  Uh, God himself admitted in Gen 3:22 that man HAD become "like Gods":

  22 Then the L ORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil;

  which is exactly what serpent the serpent claimed in Gen 3:5:

  “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

  So your statement claiming it was "the biggest lie" is not only wrong, it's a great lie itself, and you are slandering the serpent by falsely accusing him of being a liar! Ironic, eh?

  Jehovah then answered the challenge, not by instantly destroying Adam, Eve, & Satan,

  Well, of course YHWH couldn't "instantly destroy them", following through on "the same day" threat, as who else would fill the Earth? He'd have to start over from scratch (and there must've been a shortage of raw materials like mud/clay back then?)

  Seems I remember another example in the Bible (Judges 11:34) which serves as a warning against make hollow threats or vows you don't intend to carry out.

  Seems YHWH didn't consider the ramifications of what would happen if Adam disobeyed, and He might've benefitted from using some of that Divine fore-knowledge to consider the example of Jephthah and his daughter (whom Jephthah sacrificed on the altar to YHWH), after making a hasty vow.

  (the disturbing issue raised of child sacrifice is off-topic in this thread)

  The following Scriptures clearly show that Satan and his demons are governing the earth. (and not successfully either) Luke 4:6; John 12:31; John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9.

  Well, remember that Noah's Flood WAS Armageddon (Take 1), and YHWH's sitting at a 0/1 success rate with that: He failed miserably at accomplishing His stated goals (stated as eliminating "evil found in the hearts of men"; four chapters later, you have Sodom and Gomorrah).

  They have a choice.

  Puleeze. It's no more than a "love me or die" death threat. People have as much choice to comply as captives who have guns held to their head; freely-given love is no more sincere than Stolkholm Syndrome (which apparently is not just for Swedes anymore).

  When this takes place, no one knows the exact time, but can anyone here over the age of 30 honestly say that they believe that the political, religious, commercial, and environmental systems are as good as they were decades ago?

  <raises hand!>

  When I was a kid, people lived under a constant fear of nuclear war between the USSR and US. Kids today are oblivious to such a threat....

  Besides, JWs claim it both ways: they say that things WILL get better before the Armageddon ("men will cry out, Peace and Security") but also JWs want to claim how much worse things are getting! Make up your minds: are things getting worse, or better?

  Try taking out a patent on an invention which would provide free/cheap energy, and see what would happen.

  Those evil patent lawyers and companies who play the patent game, trying to protect their intellectual property from the evil of licensing agreements!!!
• 

  Cold Steel

  “Jehovah's Witnesses and many other religions believe Jesus will return or has returned (invisibly).”

  Many Christian sects believe in the return of Jesus, but invisibly? Only the JWs believe Jesus will return invisibly. That way it’s easier to prove. It’s like transubstantiation. The emblems change into the literal body and blood of Jesus. Catholicism uses it in place of the gifts of the Spirit. When healings, visions, and speaking in tongues ceased, the church needed to replace them with miracles of their own. So what better way than to come up with an invisible miracle? Every week the priest performs a miracle and he doesn’t have to prove a thing. It’s like the fastest gun in the West routine. Wanna see it again?

  “If Jehovah was actually planning an Armageddon, then why is he waiting so long? I think, that it's an obvious fact that the world's population is constantly increasing. Why would you wait so long, which means just having to kill more unbelievers? It's been over 2000 years now. What is he waiting for?”

  You proceed from the premise that Armageddon is as the JWs describe it. As recorded in the Bible, it’s not the unbelievers who are destroyed; it’s the wicked. There are many in the world who are good, decent, honorable people, and these will be spared. How do we know this? The Lord says that of the army of Gog (Ezekiel 39) left after the battle (Armageddon), a sixth would be left. In other words, Gog (the “beast”) will be destroyed, and 5/6th of his army. But the sixth part will be spared. Why? Are we to assume that they’re Jehovah’s Witnesses? Or that they’re “believers”? No. When Jesus returns, a large part of the world will still have not been taught about Christ. But many will be honorable people. When Jesus returns, it will be his glory that destroys the wicked — for no man can see God and remain in the flesh unless he is quickened, as Moses was quickened when he saw God face to face. This same glory will only destroy the wicked on the earth.

  As to why the Lord is waiting so long, he really isn’t. It only seems long to you. According to the scriptures, the Lord created Earth in six days. This isn’t 24-hour days but six eras. Similarly, the earth’s existence is divided into seven “days” (with each day being a thousand years). Since the Lord finished his work and rested on the seventh day, the earth’s temporal existence finishes on the seventh thousand-year period which is the Millennium. We say it will be a thousand-year period of peace, but it’s really not an entire millennium. Jesus returns in the beginning part of the Millennium and then establishes peace. So since Adam, we are still in the end part of the sixth thousand years. At some early part of the Millennium, a war is launched against Jerusalem and Jesus appears in the heavens and delivers the Jews from their enemy. It is then that Gog is defeated and the Millennial reign is instigated. At the end of the Millennium, there is one more Satanic rebellion. It is quickly put down and Satan and his angels are cast out for eternity. At that time, death and hell are destroyed, the judgment completed and Jesus delivers the glorified earth to his Father. Thus, it was determined that mankind would continue through seven millennia.
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  Cold Steel

  “ Seems YHWH didn't consider the ramifications of what would happen if Adam disobeyed, and He might've benefitted from using some of that Divine fore-knowledge to consider the example of Jephthah and his daughter (whom Jephthah sacrificed on the altar to YHWH), after making a hasty vow. ”

  Of course the Father knew well in advance that Adam would sin, and I believe that was part of his plan. You take two people who are essentially like children (innocents) and you then expose them to the most evil entity in the universe. What did he think was going to happen??

  Adam and Eve were immortal in the Garden, but they were incapable of being glorified as was Christ after his resurrection. John teaches us that in the Atonement we become co-heirs with Christ. In short, Jesus will sit on the right hand of the Father and be the recipient of all the Father’s power and all glory. So, too, shall the faithful be made like Jesus and will sit down with him on his throne. That means that all those who are exalted become like Christ and the Father. So man becomes like Christ and Christ is like the Father. And thus they are given dominion, power and a kingdom. But again, mankind could not attain to that glory had they remained in the Garden. Only by gaining a knowledge of good and evil could they do it. And since the Father could not condemn Adam and Eve without them first sinning, he had to arrange for Satan to entice them. He knew that Adam and Eve would fold, and that’s why he prepared a redeemer for mankind in advance.