The waters of Babylon the Great......

by ozziepost 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  ozziepost

  ......are drying up?

  When the book Revelation....Climax was published (1988) it seemed safe to assert that the coming destruction of false religion would derive from the drop in her waters of support i.e. membership. Note this statement on page 256, paragraph 16:

  Just as ancient Babylon relied on her watery defenses, Babylon the Great today relies on her huge membership

  of "peoples and crowds and nations and tongues". At the time the number of Jehovahs Witnesses worldwide was growing at a good rate and in the magazines and in talks it was being pointed to as evidence of Jehovah's blessing.

  But times change. The borg is experiencing several years of reduced growth, even decreases in the Western world. Yet what is happening to the so-called Babylon the Great? It's still in evidence and even growing in some areas.

  So it appears that 'new light' has flashed forth, for in the newly published Isaiah's Prophecy, Volume II we find this 'new light':

  Just as Babylon's protective waterways failed to save her from Cyrus, so the 'waters' of mankind that support and protect Babylon the Great

  will be "dried up" before she is justly destroyed.Previous 'interpretation': 'waters' = church membership
  New 'interpretation': 'waters' = mankind in general
  So it's a subtle change, but a precursor of a bigger shift?

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
  Anonymous
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  TweetieBird

  Thanks Ozzie for the post. The R&F will never make the connection. They will think that it has always been the latter interpretation. And of course, the few that stumble across this will just consider it "new light." I am so sick of hearing that term, "new light."
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  jayhawk1

  As a former JW, I would have read that and not seen any difference. But you are right, the Society slipped another wattage change (new light) in under the ordinary JW Publisher's nose.

  "Hand me that whiskey, I need to consult the spirit."-J.F. Rutherford
• 

  Pathofthorns

  This is an interesting comparrison.

  You are probably right in that they are laying the groundwork for some alterations to past interpretations.

  Path
• 

  Moxy

  im afraid i dont really see the difference between 'membership' and 'people who support.' if you looked at the first mention of the waters on page 238 of Revelation, youd see this description:

  These symbolic waters are ?peoples and crowds and nations and tongues,? that is, all the thousands of millions of humans over whom she has dominated and from whom she has drawn material support. But these waters are also drying up, or withdrawing support.

  the wording is pretty similar to Isaiah here.

  frankly these ideas of subtle, clever adjustments give them far too much credit.

  mox
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  Sam Beli

  Hello Ozzie,

  Good observation. One question: How do you have the “stomach’ to keep reading this stuff? I have become so sick of it that I got rid of most of my JW litter-ature (note – I am glad that some, like you, do keep us informed).

  Thanks for your excellent research.

  Sam Beli

  I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. Solomon