Cellomould:
Well, You Know, do you have any positive things to say about this whole 'predicament' then?
Yes, the positive thing, at least from my standpoint as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, is that Jehovah will ultimately be vindicated. The Watchtower has for quite some time at least had the basic prophetic sketch pretty well in mind to the extent that the present Anglo-American dual world power is the last empire before the great tribulation commences. So, even from that very elementary point of view it sets things in perspective as we stand on the verge of what appears to be WWIII.
Do you think that anyone has learned a lesson, or will it require greater stimuli to wake the masses, so to speak?
I am afraid that people are their own worst enemy, which makes the Devil's work much easier. What I mean is, that most people don't want to be bothered by world events and are willing to go to some lengths to convince themselves that nothing out of the ordinary is taking place. It is the nature of humans who are at odds with Jehovah to deny that the world is in a situation that God foretold. Jesus pointed out that the Jews in his day were hypocrites because they had the intelligence to predict the weather but somehow couldn't muster the insight to discern what Jesus' presence was all about. So, unfortunately, most people will not wake up by ordinary means.
To take a specific example: How is the US-centric paradigm faring in the wake of 911?
Well, for one thing, no measure of history, past, present, or future, can be taken that leaves out of account the invisible realm of angels---good and bad. There are many instances in the Bible where angels had a hand in delivering nations from calamity and at times abandoning them to destruction. And from that perspective wars are the primary means by which empire rise and fall. Without going into detail, it seems to me that America has taken the bait and plunged headlong into a trap. The brute force response to 9-11 was entirely predictable. Americans in fact demanded a war response. But, the U.S. has everything to lose and virtually nothing to gain by blowing up Afghanistan. So what if they get the new poster boy of evil? If so much as one nuke gets set off in the process of tracking down Bin Laden you are going to see a panic and financial meltdown that will make your knees buckle. That's the risk involved.
Will eruption of tensions such as those in India-Pakistan (which seemed so remote until recently) wake us up?
Jesus said that the tribulation would suddenly grip the entire inhabited earth to the extent that men would become "faint out of fear." The only thing that could really produce that sort of world wide instantaneous panic is a nuclear exchange on some level. It is the ultimate terror weapon. And now that you've got two nuclear powers facing off, each with their fingers on the trigger, the likelihood of them pulling the trigger is extremely high. The thing is, it doesn't even matter if both nations use restraint. Once they put their finger to the trigger they open themselves up to being sabotaged by outside forces. In other words, an agent provocateur can easily set off a conflagration by exploiting the mutual suspicion.
At any rate, that's not the sort of situation where you want to have a spiritual awakening. In fact, it's the worst time to have an awakening because during a crisis people are very frightened and are greatly suggestible and easily manipulated by propaganda. So, no, I don't think there is going to be a mass awakening even under the worst case scenario. In fact, Jesus also foretold that during the tribulation false prophets will mislead many. That's entirely in keeping with the fact that there will be a time of great confusion and panic and apparently people will be panicked into stampeding into the arms of the false savior.
Or will we have to experience 'mega death' all over again?
Mega death is probably a good word for it. Keep in mind though, Nagasaki and Hiroshima notwithstanding, that the world has never really had a war where nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction were used on civilian population centers. Neither has there ever been the possibility, until the recent advent of globalization, that an entire world-wide financial system could collapse instantaneously, as is now possible. So, really, until very recently, it has never been possible for the world to experience the sort of sudden global collapse and ensuing panic that the prophets long ago foretold. Not to be overlooked, is the prevalence of apostate ridiculers appearing on the scene at this critical juncture who deny any of this has any relevance to the presence of Christ that they formerly publicly declared. In that sense these are positive developments that indicate Jehovah's judgments are about to overtake the world. / You Know
