Materialistic and Soon

by OnTheWayOut 7 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  OnTheWayOut

  I was reading a Bart Ehrman book,

  Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End

  NO, I won't bore you with complicated various theories I was reading. But two things I picked up on were that many groups' theology, including JW's, has a materialistic future in mind. JW's imagine paradise, living in nice mansions left empty when Deniers were destroyed.

  The other thing I noticed was how the idea of the end being "soon" has always had to morph as time marched on.

  The apostles supposedly expected all these things in their lifetime. Augustine converted because the end was soon. Coincidentally, Napoleon attacked the Vatican when it was imminently soon expected, similar to World War breaking out when CTRussell expected the end soon...after other disappointments.

  Heck, I became a JW because Jehovah called me when it was extremely soon in 1988, as the Generation was very old.

  I think that's wearing out soon.
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  St George of England

  I was born in the 1940's to JW parents. Along with many others of that time I would never go to school in the old system.

  You don't have to be a mathematician to work out about how old I am now!

  George
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  BluesBrother

  Yes, it was just as soon when I was a lad in the ‘50s … I knew old ones then who had expected it decades earlier and Russell and his mates expected it in 1914 … we are still waiting.

  I do agree with OTWO that the doctrine of the JW is a very material paradise . The ore recent videos they have made show this very clearly .
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  TonusOH

  It's easy for us to wrap our mind around physical rewards, since they can be quantified without much effort. Even Jesus spoke of dwellings being prepared in heaven and building up spiritual treasures for oneself. There wouldn't be money or houses in heaven (at least not in the traditional sense), but it was an effective frame of reference. So I'm not suprised that religious groups would use commonly-understood concepts to help believers idealize the spiritual.

  The stuff about living in nice places left behind by the dead always struck me as quite gruesome. But we grew up in a poor and downtrodden area, and the homes weren't ostentatious or in good shape. The thought of it all being crushed and buried would have been more to our liking. I guess that's just about as creepy.
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  Diogenesister

  BB The stuff about living in nice places left behind by the dead always struck me as quite gruesome. But we grew up in a poor and downtrodden area, and the homes weren't ostentatious or in good shape. The thought of it all being crushed and buried would have been more to our liking. I guess that's just about as creepy.

  Yes...I wasn't born in a poor and downtrodden area but I was born in the UK and believe me, if any of us had mentioned that whole thing about inheriting worldly mansions it would have gotten us in the back room so fast our feet wouldn't touch!!😳🤯Maybe it was a British thing. Life was less materialistic back then anyway.

  In fact, despite our homes being modest, they were comfortable and homely and many of us were saddened we would loose them when everything worldly was destroyed. Even the treasures in the Louvre etc, let alone a 3 or 4 bed semi in the shires.
  
  
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  Beth Sarim

  If I had a quarter for every time I heard a JW say ""I thought I would never grow 'old' in this system"" ,,I would be a millionaire.

  Thats part of the indoctrination. Thats why they never want you to miss a meeting. To keep that urgency up.
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  Beth Sarim

  When you realize that you are not actually guaranteed another minute on this earth,,,every human being whos ever lived before you,,present time and after you is in the same position.

  You can ""go"" at any moment in this life.

  Your life is ""finite"". All we have is the ""now"". We are on borrowed time,, in a way in this ""conscious"" life we have.

  You see,, thats why the Borg hates this kind of thinking. Their objective is to keep the $heeples donating,,infantilized & depending on them. Uncertainty.

  Endless,, repetitive hampster wheel.

  Armageddon,, paradise,, resurrected. Dangle that carrot & yank.!!
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  Rivergang

  Perhaps it was regional thing?

  To be fair, I only ever recall “I’m having that house after Armageddon” being said in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. Nobody that I knew seriously expected to be able just to walk into a nice house of their choice once the system had ended.

  Of course, little did they imagine that even spoken in jest, such remarks were perfect ammunition for propagandists!