by truthseeker 41 Replies latest jw friends
I sincerely hope they develop this thought further into COMPLAINT about the friends. It would awaken a lot of them
if the GB just kept haranging them , month after month. Barr's comment is excellent AS A MOMENT OF HONEST
ADMISSION that the organization is bogus, fake, phoney, not what it has claimed it is.
It's sad but the only way out of Watchtower slavery may be to emotionally drain Witnesses completely.
metatron
Some 90 years have passed since the last days of this system of things began in 1914.
It seems as if this is their way of leaning off the "1914 Generation" doctrine. Since they changed the meaning of the word "Generation", the 1914 Generation doctrine is actually still in place, it just has a different meaning now. How many times have they mentioned "1914 Generation" since late 1995? They're trying to quietly abandon it.
sincere students of the Bible have learned from the inspired Scriptures that this system is doomed to destruction. Do we believe this?
Hell no.
Today, Jesus Christ is directing a tremendous spiritual buidling work. For the security and survival of true worshippers, an ark-like spiritual paradise exists. To be preserved thorugh the great tribulation, we must remain in that paradise.
So.... we have to enter a spiritual Paradise before entering a literal Paradise? I've noticed the JWs enjoy using the word "spiritual" to escape any small inconsitencies or problems in their teaching. "Well, it must mean a spiritual death!!!" Replace the word "spiritual" with "pretend", and you have a children's television show.
In a long and exasperating phone conversation with my mum a few weeks ago, she said that she had to be especially vigilant now (as opposed to the other thirtysome years she's been a JW?) because she might, at a moment's notice, have to run to the Kingdom Hall because the Big A was starting. (How would it look if she was late for Armageddon because she had been visiting her disfellowshipped son and worldly granddaughter? Talk about egg on your face.)
Has anyone else heard this line of reasoning? Just curious.
Yes, the new year's text is stressing the need to be vigilant, jackal. The translation of this is the WTS is seeing a slide in attendance at meetings and participation in the ministry. So they are saying that the big A is just around the corner which they have been saying since 1914 almost 90 years ago. My little joke is that the end is coming in 2034 since Noah lived in a judgement period that proved to be 120 years long, 1914 to 2034 is 120 years, but it is just my little joke.
Matthew 24:42, 44
"Keep on the watch, [...] prove yourselves ready."
(Whole scripture: 42 Keep on the watch, therefore, because YOU do not know on what day YOUR Lord is coming. . 44 On this account YOU too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that YOU do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.)
Notice what parts they leave out of the year's text.
Much different than 1975 (an appropriate time for the big A to come according to the WTS)
Blondie
BTW, the WTS has 2 articles on the year's text every December to whip up enthusiasm, haha. I always wondered why the service year begins in September but a new year's text isn't enacted until January????
Blondie,
What about the idea of having to run to the Kingdom Hall itself when the Big A started? That was the part that sounded new to me. But maybe this is just my mum's take on things. Are they now stockpiling cots and blankets and C-rations so people can wait out the tribulation in the KH? Wouldn't that be fun?
By the way, your reasoning for 2034 seems rock solid. I'm going with it. Good to know know that I can relax for another 30 years. ;-)
Some 90 years have passed since the last days
What about the idea of having to run to the Kingdom Hall itself when the Big A started?
Jackal, that is a misinterpretation of a scripture about going to "your inner rooms" and waiting out for the destruction to pass.
Isaiah 26:20-21
Actually, the protection was in association with the congregation, people not a building per the WTS.
w98 8/15 19 Strengthening Our Confidence in God's Righteousness
In the near future, the greatest time of tribulation ever to strike the human race will break forth suddenly. (Matthew 24:21) When it does, servants of God will need as never before to display confidence in Jehovah?s righteousness and in the direction provided by his organization. In a symbolic way, they will then confidently obey God?s injunction: "Go, my people, enter into your interior rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for but a moment until the denunciation passes over." (Isaiah 26:20) Already they have entered into the protective atmosphere of over 85,000 congregations in 232 lands. Whatever may additionally be included in the injunction "enter into your interior rooms," we can be confident that Jehovah will help us to carry it out.
The Mormons store up food and resources.
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030323/65335.html
Officially, the WTS has never encouraged that. They want their members to rely on God to save them. I heard individuals talk about doing such things but the elder body never endorsed storing up supplies. Hiding literature from persecutors, but not food, etc.
w81 5/1 7 Make a Success of Your Life Now
Again, do Christians feel the need to make elaborate preparations for some possible future catastrophe? No. They know that a big change is coming soon, but they also know why it is coming, and they realize that Jehovah has promised protection for those who serve him. (Ps. 27:5; Isa. 26:20)
If your mom is saying those things, I doubt that these comments were officially said from the platform and will not appear in writing based on the above position the WTS has taken in the past about disasters. Over the last almost 50 years I have heard similar statements, but there is no safety in a building according to the WTS.
Blondie
?A tribulation like never before?
Jw hearing is ?a persecution like never before?
Once again the wt ?already have? and so build on their lie.
Tribulation ? from tribulum "threshing sledge" - also terere "to rub" - "to thresh out grain" (like a wrestle ? as with Jacob, until daylight)
Persecution ? per "through" + sequi "follow? - pursue (hunt you down ? like people do)
Rather than ?persist in your tribulation, keep seeking out that good grain in what you have heard, wrestle until daylight comes? - the teaching changes to ?stop asking questions, we are the truth and you are only safe with us - god is like a beast who hunts you down, and will most likely get you?.
The imaginary beast god of jwism ? he?s coming ? real soon, anytime now??.
Truthseeker, I ,and I'm sure others, are interested in the January 1 issue that's coming up because of the new statistics for 2003. Please let us know when its available.
The past few years have been a big slide for the WTBTS. A big part of it is that they were forced to abandon their 1914 generation explaination because it was expiring. Rather than abandoning it altogether or opting for 20 years more time by accepting the true dates for Jerusalem's fall, they chose an explaination that was open-ended and gave no expiration date. As far as JWs are concerned, this "generation" could be 1000 years long. They killed the urgency right then and there and are desperate to revive it.
That urgency kept people going. The fear that the big A was right around the corner certainly kept me frightened. JWs have lost their urgency. While this new push may stir it up momentarily, it will fade again. On the other hand, if they keep playing the urgency card, a lot of people will go with it for only so long and tire when they don't see anything happen. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
The problem is and continues to be their reluctance to drop 1914 as the bogus date it is. Next year will be 90 years. Before you know it, it'll have been 100 years, then 125, then 150. As time goes on, it's harder and harder to convince people Christ returned in 1914. If somebody said Christ returned in 1404, nobody would believe them. Tell them 1812 and nobody will believe you. Even if you fall for that "invisible prescence" thing, the further in the past that was, the less believable it is. If Christ did come and is ruling, what's he waiting for? That stuff may fly for somebody who's been a JW for years or senior citizens, but try convincing some 20 year old that Jesus already came in some year that is ancient history to them.
But, drop 1914 and they've got troubles there too. After all, WW1 started in 1914, "proving" their date. And they got jailed, also "proving" their date. There are many other doctrines and assertions surrounding 1914 that would have to be abandoned. Not that they haven't kept hush-hush for a while, then rolled out a new doctrine before. But they aren't keeping hush-hush about these things. The Isaiah book just repeated some of these myths surrounding 1914. This article reinforces 1914. If 1914 and these things keep getting talked about, they can't drop them so quickly.
For those of us who enjoy watching their control slip, they are painting themselves into a corner. Every time they mention 1914, they have to wait longer before they can drop it. But the longer they wait, the less credible 1914 is. The only way out will be a radical change in beliefs. That will send many running, but an entirely revamped belief system may attract many new ones too.
