Signs of the Times

by sass_my_frass 2 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  sass_my_frass

  Hi all, I haven't been around a lot, mostly due to study commitments. The course is going well although I got very stressed out last year at the workload and have decided to take more breaks and take longer to finish it. I'm looking at seven years at the mo! I'm enjoying it though.

  I've got another family visit coming up in a few months and thought it might help to have on hand some facts re the Signs of the Times propaganda. Mum has asked that I keep my eye on the news and get my ass into gear if I notice that the Signs are making it clear that the end is coming, *sigh*. It is my opinion that the world is in exactly the same state as it ever was, and that humankind has exactly the same proportion of good:evil as it ever has. Eg: more people die in earthquakes, famine and war now just because there are more people. I'd like some statistics to back it up. Does anybody know of a website or some research that approaches the signs of the times from a comparative point of view? I'm sure there's somebody out there who has looked into it.

  It's not like I can give the site to mum, but it would be handy to have a few numbers or facts in my head to throw into the conversation if it comes up. I'm kind of hoping it doesn't though, actually I'm hoping that they agree to not talk about any of it, and not talk about the disaster zone our family has become. Ideally I'll be able to get them to just go out somewhere and try to enjoy each others company in public where the conversation can't be steered towards how I've destroyed the family and them, etc. If it can't, this time I'm going to control how much I let them put us through, and if it gets ugly again I'll just end the conversation.

  The most important thing to my parents is how they and the JWs look to outsiders. They'd be relieved if I lost it and cut them off. It used to matter to me that I wouldn't look like the bad guy, but I'm caring a lot less these days, and knowing what lies they've spun already it won't be much worse to be the one to do the cutting off. I'm just hanging on now because it's the only thing I can do to highlight to them how horrid disfellowshipping is. If I'm the one to walk away, they can pretend that it was all me. In this case it really only costs us a few ugly days a year, and I'll be more cautious this time about how far I let them push us.
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  Marcel

  for me talking about the signs of the time is no fun. its because the average witness would never realize that in any century and in any time the people would have felt alike. russel thought the 19th century is worse and noone could ever reason about it that its not the last times. in the middleage the people feared the end of the world. as a fact the todays western population is in (relative) health, peace and unity. we have food, we have water, we have peace, no cold war. of course if you lived in the middle east you may feel otherwise. but this was the case in all centuries. the *only* thing that changed is the technology. we have greater weapons, higher lifestyle, better communications and so on. but essentially we could be as dumb as in the 19th century russel was. the REAL last days may occur in a 1000 years when humans nearly destroy earth in a battle between mars and earth and the big railgun =D j/k i guess you know what i mean. there isnt a sign which is so clearly that you cant debate on it. its always in the eye of the watcher. and of course there is no increase in earthquakes. i guess that rules everything else out. marc
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  Doug Mason

  Have you seen the book "The Sign of the Last Days - When?", Jonsson and Herbst, Commentary Press (ISBN 0-914675-09-5)
  
  More to the point is to read Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 VERY CAREFULLY, and you will see that Jesus was protecting his disciples from deceivers who would use signs as indicating the "end of the age" was near.
  
  Jesus was saying to them, do not listen to these false prophets, because there would be wars, since nations would fight.
  
  Jesus NEVER points to the size, length, number of casualties, and so on. No, he was pointing to the deceivers who were, even as Jesus was speaking, attempting to use these events as indicators.
  
  Do not interpret the Bible through the use of contemporary history. Look down the centuries and you will see so many examples of people who have done this, to their complete downfall. The WTS is no different from these ancient soothsayers.
  
  The only one important thing is to KNOW that God offers salvation as a gift. Accept that gift, whether you stay in one organization or another, or in none.
  
  Doug