People have always believed the sky is about to fall. When Russell first started his little group it was because as the end of the 19 th century approached there were many that believed the end was imminent. Armageddon was coming and the faithful would be raised into heaven. My father-in-law belongs to a group that more or less believed that they were going to be caught up and taken to heaven before 2000 and those left on earth were going to perish. They still believe it, just think it's been delayed.
Rest assured many who lived through WW1 and WW2 when bombers flew over their cities and Europe was in ruins believed it was the end.
The JWs have always believed the sky was falling. Without getting into dates, think about pretty recent history the cold war when JWs believed it was going to end tomorrow, nuclear or the Peace and Security stage when JWs believed destruction of the system and World Peace was for yesterday. And maybe this will reassure you: some JWs believed the FLQ terrorist crisis in Quebec, Canada that brought the army into the city of Montreal, was the beginning of the end. Guess what, aside from those who died from natural causes and accidents, everyone's still around.
Edited by - wheelwithinwheel on 12 February 2003 8:12:29