Which Event Made You Think That Armageddon Was Around The Corner?

by Arthur 24 Replies latest jw experiences

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  sass_my_frass

  I think, early on, I rejected the notion that just anything could be a 'sign', because Mum was crazy about it. An elder gets stood down, it's a sign, a friend divorces, a JW kid goes off the rails, the weather seems a little warmer this year, it was all a sign, but I always considered it a literal thing - it had to be a literal earthquake or famine. I started thinking about it harder - 'children being disobedient to parents', and decided that 'olden times' are idealised and our grandparents really didn't have as much respect for their parents as they say they do. Famine has been killing entire populations since the ancients turned the middle east into a desert. Earthquakes kill more people now because there are more people. (Okay so I can't explain how 850000 were killed in China five or six hundred years ago). Even when I was in, 9/11 didn't get me worried, I guess the hype didn't really make it big over here.

  A week or so after the asian tsunami, as the death toll was being announced in increments of tens of thousands, a friend on her way out said that it was a sign - she'd prayed for guidance in a difficult time of her life and Jehovah sent her this to get her back into the truth. I asked if she really thought Jehovah would kill 250 000 people to prove a point to her. She's fine now.
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  OpenFireGlass

  Every Thunderstorm I experienced as a kid....
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  steve2

  "Cool! The sooner I am put out of my misery, the better!"

  Welcome Desert Rat. Only a son in a comfortable relationship with his mother could say this and not be hit with a frying pan. I would never have said this out loud - even with a clear exit in view!

  Apostate Kate - I remember the 60s and the hyper-buzzed state after big assemblies - er, sorry, conventions - when we were so very confident that world events were shaping up so very predictably. Don't the various answers in this post demonstrate how each generation seems convinced that it will see the end. Convinced or scared shitless? With a lot of JWs it seems to be the latter!
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  steve2

  Every Thunderstorm I experienced as a kid....

  This bought back some strange memories for me...I remember my mother hiding my siblings and me under our beds during an earthquake in 1958. She started attending meetings again after that, but started backsliding again until her parents put the heavy word on her about 1975.
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  moanzy

  I must have been a very neurotic kid. In 1975 I was 4yrs old and remember being petrified of "the end".

  Then 1986 came and I was scared again thinking I would never make it.

  Then 9/11 came and I was again under great stress thinking the end was about to start (the scary talk they gave at the circuit assembly didn't help)

  And of course any kind of storm created the same fear.

  Moanzy