Hi Vanderhoven
Thank you for sharing your beliefs. I was curious about many religios and I have come in contact with this understandings before.
"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again. And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. .Matthew 24:21-22. You belief probably is that the earth will burn with literall fire at Jesus's second coming and all Christians will be raptured to heaven. Everyone else will die . Meanwhile God will create another earth, Christians will return, the just und the unjust will be resurrected on that paradise earth for life and judgement. In the end after the thousand years all that will not be faithful will go down in the second death and there will not be few.
"When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:87-10, 13-18
Your beliefs are very similar to Jws, so acussing them of the same things you believe is not fair.
But we are missing the bigger picture here. The real problem with christianity started with Jesus and the apostles. Not being under the control of the state( the roman empire) christianity was a serious issue and needed to be dealt with. Back then Christians didn't want to have anything to do with the oppressive roman empire. And they found a refuge in the new faith by holding on to Jesus's commandments.
And Jesus said to them, “Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.Romans 13:7. "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."
John 17:14, 16 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”
John 18:36-37.
The problem was that people worshipped caesar as god too, so he wanted not only what was his, but he wanted what was God's as well. He wanted to be loved by his subjects. It was a big thing to be loved by the masses in roman times. Jesus was seen as a threat. So the persecution of Christians started.
It didn't work out and christianity couldn't be stopped but grew into a social phenomenon. It was emperor Constantine who came to the idea to make christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire. So it worked. The roman empire through Vatican managed to rule the world for more than 1000 years. It was not until the renaissance when people started to question the right of Vatican to rule under the divine right. (Medici family, philipIV of france, Martin Luther, and king Henry VIII of England and some protestant priests who translated the bible in English.) It was the french revolution who contested the right of kings to rule under divine right as well. All these weakened the catholic church and we live in a time when they almost have not power at all. However, the modern state learned from that and incorporated the Christian religion, so they can have Devine authority over people (soft power).
In the last century Rutherford came with the idea that the governments of this world are not appointed by God. He together with a few others were imprisoned for sedition. The catholic church was very angry with JWs because they tried contesting their ingenious invention where christianity was incorporated in the state, and they constantly pursued an aggressive action against them. This was when all the trouble for jws started and it not stopped until early sixties when they changed the Romans 13 interpretation. From there on Watchtower made efforts to reconcile with secular leaders. They became state approved religious organisation. They became associated as NGO with the UN, they appointed a representative at OSCE. They convinced most western democracies of their good intentions and they have become widely accepted. It took a bit longer to convince France, but in 2009 even there Watchtower received legal approval.
What can I say is that everything is about power and control of the state. Who dare to challenge that gets punished. Otherwise nobody cares what someone believes as long as it does not bother Caesar. Probably you don't like Jehovah's witnesses because they believe they are the only ones to be saved. If you are confident with your standing what does it matter that much. If people are honest God can save them just by reading the bible but only with His help.