I think I rather get a root canal instead, its less painful...
My Wife's reaction to the Revelation Book news
by under_believer 61 Replies latest jw friends
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carla
When studying this book do jw's get even more paranoid about the 'end'? Even more of 'living in the last days' crap? What psychotic behavior can I expect? I'm not sure which book is presently being studied but I think it must have alot to do with 'head of the house' nonsense because the jw living in my house is on a real kick lately! Which of course I don't allow and that causes some difficulties. So what do you think, more paranoia, more gloom and doom than usual? Are there any good refutations on this publication? thanks.
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juni
think I rather get a root canal instead, its less painful
GOOD ONE LAPUCE !! AND GIVE BIRTH!!
Juni
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mama1119
Is there an updated edition or is it the same one we studied before??? Has the "old light" been replaced or will it just be ignored?? That book used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was a kid. Thank God I dont have to subject my daughter to that....
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blondie
I was around for
2 studies of the Babylon the Great book (released 1963)
2 studies of the Finished Mystery book (released 1969)
3 studies of the Revelation Climax book (released 1988)
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juni
I'm surprised you're not sitting in a corner drooling on yourself Blondie!
Juni
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AuldSoul
KristyAnn: And he said "No, it's only because they studied that one like 500 times when I was a Jehovah's Witness."
Well, that dates him pretty closely to being a JW between 1988 and 1996. I was surprised how quickly they kept going back through the same book. It hasn't been studied in 10 years, so I am guessing he's been out for about 6 or so. Is that about right?
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kristyann
AuldSoul... you are very good! He was taken to the JW meetings from the time he was about 1 or 2 (1983 or 1984)... and then he was active in it till I would say about 6 or 7 years ago. During those 6 or 7 years, he would casually, sporadically go to the meetings, but generally only the Watchtower studies on Sunday mornings, until about 3 years ago when he stopped going to anything altogether. You're very good, AuldSoul. :)
He probably remembers the Revelation book particularly well because he was just a child when he was being dragged to the book study meetings when they were studying it... and from what I have heard, that book sure makes an impression on little kids! Plus, when you're a child, everything seems very long and dragged out when you're bored, so it's no wonder he feels like he's been through the book about 500 times, huh?
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M.J.
I can't help but wonder. This book has been used so many times in the past, it must have had some sort of impact on the R&F--an impact which the org has probably gauged over the years. Since they are doing it again, it must have had a positive impact, from the point of view of the org. I wonder if it's been a sort of remedy whenever people are starting to lose sight of the imminence of the big A (since they can't get away with the date-setting thing anymore). If it has led to doubts and defection, I don't think they'd go there again.
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under_believer
That is an excellent point, M.J. I'm not totally convinced that they strategize that way--they could just consider it to be completing the Apocalyptic trifecta of Isaiah, Daniel, and Revelation that they've been on for several years now. Numerically appropriate, or something.
Personally, no single book did more for me as a kid in regards to convincing me that they're just making shit up as they go along. They seem to believe that every single thing in Revelation was a prediction of early 20th Century JW history. This was at a time when I believed in Biblical inerrancy, so when I finally asked myself "Do I really believe that God inspired John back in the 1st Century to write a bunch of highly symbolic stuff down specifically to describe what would happen to Jehovah's Witnesses in the early 20th Century? Even if that is so, what would the point of that exercise be, since we didn't understand it to mean that until at a minimum 40 years after the fact?" The answers to these questions seemed clear.
In any case, I think other Witnesses have a different reaction, one more in like with your point--This stuff is totally incomprehensible, nobody, not even the most devout Witness, disputes that. But it's from the "Slave", which means that it must be totally true. For the "Slave" to apprehend such incomprehensible truths increases their faith that the "Slave" is really inspired of God.