whyhideit,
You have been following the news ...on Iraq... Finally.. .war...The Economy...finally caves in and major retailers fold...You figure it is not affecting you personally, and go to sleep as if it is a normal day.
Well I don't know how plausible this scenario is for me. I won't sleep well if we go to war on Iraq. I can just barely imagine a scenario where the folding of major retailers won't affect me personally either. The entire national economy is now very tightly wound together. I or at least many of friends would lose their jobs.
The next day ...a nuclear bomb has detonated in the USA, ... LA burning in ruins. People are dead and burning ...Disneyland, Hollywood, Downtown LA, all in flames .... The...nuke came from North Korea ... detonated from a vehicle...government has banned travel ...declared martial law ...a... curfew, all people found on the streets will be shot and considered a threat to the United States. You sit there watching the news all day and seeing the world in what seems to be complete chaos. Three million people are estimated to be dead in the LA area alone, with millions more injured and expected to die of the nuclear fall-out, and radiation burns. Just as you start to relax , the news updates ...
I'm already not sleeping well, and now I can start to relax???
My brother and I both watched the second plane hit the second WTC tower. He was a few blocks away, close enough to see people jump. I was "across the river" trying to decide whether to come into the city where I work, thinking it might have been an accident. I turned around immediately when I saw the second plane. Truth is, I was surprised at how quickly we all relaxed. For a few days I was angry at how easy it was for many people to be flippant about it.
...how would you feel? Would it waken up some hidden fear inside of you to run back to the Kingdom Hall? Would it make you think this is the end? It is easy to say, "I would never go back" when all is going well, but history has proven that life can change with no notice. How would you really react?
The word "Armageddon" would definitely come to mind, because I no longer attach any Biblical significance to the word, and what you describe sounds like my idea of Armageddon. I only think of it now in situations like you describe: secular, man-made catastrophic events. Your idea is right, I'm sure, that a lot of people would go back.
(I personally would surely think of it, but I really can't see any logical connection with going back to the Kingdom Hall and any Armageddon. But with family still in, I'd think it was the only way to possibly comfort them. They're just outside of LA.)
Even if it was some kind of a "Biblical" Armageddon, I would not rush back to the one religion that so uniquely proved it had no expertise in these matters. Still, social activity will bring necessary comfort and those churches that keep people busy talking and proving to themselves that they are right would have greater appeal than ever before.
The JWs just reported on a service year that started just a week or so before 9/11. Every mathematical indication (to me) was that there would be a 1% loss in the US and a flat 0% increase worldwide. (Btw, a 1% loss per year would still take a couple thousand years to get rid of JW's completely.) Their entire increase, and that extra percent in the US, is therefore due to 9/11, in my book.
I did like the post. Thought-provoking.
Gamaliel
