What used to worry you the most about the great trib and Armageddon?

by Julia Orwell 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Heartofaboy

  Deep down I always felt I wouldn't make it thru the Big A no matter how hard I tried to do all the WT said we had to do.

  Even as a child I never felt I could count on still being alive in the near future because the Big A was always soooo close & I would never be able to be brave like the brothers & sisters in Malawi.........I would be bound to blurt out EVERYTHING I knew if the persecuters started to cut bits off me to make me talk & try to make me say I didn't believe in Jehovah anymore.

  My parents were shocked & desperately sad that they had brought us children up in the JW's when as an adult I told them the worries I had as a kid.

  They thought they had given us the wonderful hope of living in the New World when in reality the stuff I learned from the Watchtower had played on my young mind & had made me troubled way beyond my years.

  In my young mind I knew I didn't 'love' God, I didn't even like him after reading of all the horrible things he & 'his' people did in the bible.........so if you don't love God with your whole heart what hope is there for you.
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  myelaine

  dear Julia Orwell...

  God loves people and animals.

  The reports from the WTBTS about how armeggedon happens are false. The bible tells us that the warfare is spiritual not physical. Jesus came to win our hearts and minds to Himself. Even now the mission of the church is to win peoples hearts and minds to Him. Armegeddon is not literal fire coming down from God as is portrayed in that horrible paradise lost book (pg 208-209).

  The "fire" actually starts here on earth. It is the same "fire" that was seen as tongues of fire on the heads of the first believers.

  "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance". (acts 2:1-4)

  The fire is the Holy Spirit!...enabeling believers to spread the gospel. If you will read the book of joel, chapter 2 tells you how this "fire" spreads around the world...even gathering people (the nations) into "judgement"...Jesus, by the Holy Spirit will be winning hearts and minds to Himself. In the end the spiritual forces and sources of evil will be routed and caused to retreat by a cleansing of minds by the Holy Spirit. Then God will personally destroy the evil spirit forces that lead man astray ("fire" from heaven").

  Having said that...there are HUMANS who are completely reprobate and the sight of such a world wide Pentecost might cause them to snap...however, I trust my God to stay their hand for this hallowed event. If there are people who lose their lives during this event I write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them." rev. 14:13

  love michelle
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  Turd Ferguson

  I can remember as a young child being terrified after hearing graphic details of persecution and being told; that's what we will soon face, any day now in the great tribulation. Things like; beheadings and rape and torture and cinder blocks being tied to your penis! All in graphic detail! As well as the horror show that was all of the armegedon talk and imagery in the books and towers. And then throw in the demon terrors from all the absurd stories that were told as absolute fact! I would be so filled with anxiety I couldn't even sleep at night. It really is child abuse and I'm so glad I havn't put that on my own kids! Even as an adult it still hits me, eventhough I know it's irrational, when certain triggers are tripped like certain new stories etc. I can still feel that horrible sinking, empty feeling in my stomach. So glad to be free!

  @ Blondie- Love that answer!
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  Hillary

  I remember in the early 1980's, an elder told my mom that she had to learn to get along better with a certain person who she was always squabbling with because "you never know who you might have to go into hiding with when the great persecution/great tribulation comes"
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  return of parakeet

  I don't remember ever worrying about Armageddon when I was a braindead, reluctant dub teenager. I don't think I ever really believed it would happen.

  Now that I've been out of the cult for more than 30 years, I'm very worried about humanity's future -- not in the dubs' sense of it, but because of all the very real threats to our existence -- nuclear, viral, environmental, etc.

  There may very well be an "Armageddon" but, guess what, dubbies? You'll be wiped out along with the rest of us.
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  FlyingHighNow

  Despite my sincere and heartfelt efforts and hardwork for Jehovah, I would not be found worthy enough.
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  Jomavrick

  As a kid, I worried that the great tribulation would break out on a Nebraska Football Saturday and I would miss the game. That too horrible a prospect!
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  Witness My Fury

  Toilet paper.
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  chapstick

  PAIN
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  andys

  For me it was that fear that out of no where it could come unexpectly at anytime but now its so nice to wake up in the mornings and not have that fear anymore, when I wake up the sky is BLUE AND THE SUN SHINES:)