You Are Going to Die at Armageddon

by The wanderer 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  purplesofa

  It did not keep me from staying in.......but I will never forget the feeling I had when DF.......

  the death sentence..........I would die at Armegeddon....it helped me to return

  When my daughter told me how depressing it was to hear about death and dying at Armegeddon....and that she did not want to continue to go to the meetings.........I did not force her to go. It is a very powerful message, hard to digest as an adult......was impossible for me.

  so for a teenager or child.......I cannot imagine the nightmares.

  purps
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  SacrificialLoon

  I'll admit it was a motivating factor in keeping me in, and it was a also bit empowering. I knew what was going on when not many others did, I... we were special. People in the world may have laughed at the fact that they were doomed, but we would have the last laugh. I was way too young to remember 1975, but the end was just around the corner when communism fell, and it was just around the corner when the first gulf war started, anytime a major event happened in the world the speculation about the end would pick up. A lot of people spent their entire lives living in fear in the hopes that their slavish devotion would be rewarded.
  
  Made me think of a famous epitaph of a group of soldiers. I'll mutilate it a bit to fit..
  
  "Go tell the world, stranger passing by,
  that here, loyal to the Watchtower's laws, we lie."
  
  Unlike the respect I feel for that group Spartans, all I feel is a sense of pity, and relief that this will not be my epitaph.
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  LovesDubs

  Its not God I feared it was those idiots in headquarters. You know how they were always telling us to "picture ourselves in Paradise?" I never could and I realized later that it was because I wasnt buying it. It was just a Wizard of Oz tactic to keep the flocks in fear..."WE ARE THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN! I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFULLLLLOZZZZZZZZZZ!" Says Brooklyn...and oh by the way if you DONT listen to that "we control whether you get into paradise or not and whether God loves you or not" schtick we tell you continuously and dont do EXACTLY as we say to do asshole we WILL take your family. So there.
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  zack

  As a young person, hell yes, I was afraid of the Big "A"---- it still didn't keep me from falling into sin, only made me have a dark outlook on the future.

  As i progressed "in the truth" I learned to see the Big "A" as some kind of deliverance. When I began to study the Bible for myself and learned that love throws

  fear outside, I quit talking about the end, the end, the end. Why is the end such a BIG DEAL if you really beleive you are going to live forever? What do you live for

  the day after the end? Frankly, most JW's I know look to the Big "A" as the means to solving all their problems. Itis isn't about righteousness or justice or even LOVE-- it is

  about not being old, sick, poor, not having to have a job, not having to do anything but let God take care of them. The Big "A", the end, paradise--- its all about what

  God will do for THEM rather than enjoying God for who He is.

  Know Fear? NO FEAR now baby!
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  x golden child

  That’s a great question Wonderer. I don’t really feel like ether kept me in too long seeing as how I’m only 18 and was just dfed Thursday. But without the support of my three older (dfed) siblings and a good friend at work the fear of dieing would have had greater control of me. I mean I think that we are all smarter than to believe that if there is a God we would be displeasing him by simply not fallowing the completely irrational rules of the organization. Pleasing God and an organized religion should have no connection. They keep them in with fear… well the few they are keeping in.
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  choosing life

  I agree with Blackswan. It was more the fear of losing my family that kept me in. I no longer believed in a vengeful god that was going to kill most of mankind. And I realized that all of us are going to have to experience death because there are no free passes as the dubs promised. No get out of death free cards in this game of life.
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  aarque

  Wow... this hits right to my heart.

  I was at a MS/service meeting with my two older sisters. I was 6, so my sisters were about 9 and 11. Let's face it... a two hour meeting that ran past my bedtime after a full day of school was (and still is) way too much for any kid. So, I wiggled, and squirmed, and bothered my older sisters who kept jabbing me in the ribs to keep still. Most of the stuff discussed was way over my head. I would turn around to check the clock only to have the person behind me tell me to turn back and pay attention.

  After the meeting was over, the PO took me aside and told me that I would die at Armageddon if I couldn't sit still during the meetings. He said God would destroy me and I would be gone forever. When I got home that night, I never told my mom that the PO had to speak to me. I went to bed and later that night there was a thunderstorm. I thought for sure I was going to die and was absolutely terrified. For years after I was absolutely scared of thunderstorms. All my growing-up years I was scared that God would find me lacking and destroy me, that one day I would just be gone.

  It wasn't until I was well into my 30's that I finally told my mom what had happened. She was outraged. By that time I had faded. I figured that if God was going to destroy me, it would be for something more than not being able to sit still. And I still cringe during thunderstorms.
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  loosie

  I was told by the PO of our cong. that I was going to die at Armegeddon if I continued to talk to my disfellowshipped brother.

  Ok so that maybe a common thing to hear if you are a baptized adult openly talking to a disfellowship relative.

  I was 5 years old my brother was 19 years old. My brother was everything to me. I wasn't daddy's little girl I was my brothers's little girl.

  This PO (prick, A***&^%) had me in tears torn betwen serving Jehovah and loving my brother.

  I wasn't old enough to know about their age of accountability rule.

  I hate that Po. I am glad that he is dead and if he wasn't I would rip him a new one.

  You never make a 5 year old think about their own death.