The Folly of Calculating the Date of the End from the Bible

WTWizard

I have seen various ways of calculating dates from the Bible. The one the Tower uses is the Seven Times, based on incorrect lengths of the year and faulty dates. However, I have been seeing various posts right here on this forum (I will not mention any names since all I want is to expose the folly of predicting the end, not start or continue a flaming war).

I have been seeing calculations based on the number of books in the Bible. People have also calculated by the number of chapters, the number of words, letters, and many formulas that assign point values to each letter and calculate the end time. No, it is not just here (I see it all the time in tabloid magazines as well).

The point is that, by adjusting the formula, you can arrive at literally any date from the beginning of time up to and including forever. However, it is apt to be faulty. Suppose you pick the wrong date to start from. Do that, and the whole calculation is going to be thrown off. You start with 1914 and come to 2011; suppose it's 1971 instead. Or, suppose you use a different number (there is nothing in the Bible that says "times" has to equal two times). You could arrive in a totally different millennium that way. Counting words, letters, and points will arrive at different dates depending on what faulty method you use to pick the starting point and the formula.

Anyone trying to predict the end times using these calculations had better pay heed to the message that it will come as a thief in the night. You cannot calculate when that thief is coming. He will show up when he feels like it, independent on any calculations. Likewise, people that use numbers and point systems to calculate the end of this system will invariably fall into non-sequitors. Just because things fell into a particular pattern the first time does not require it to fall into that pattern this time. More likely than not, your prediction will be a total bust.

This is fair warning to anyone that predicts that the end is coming in 2011 by this formula. The year 2012 is coming, like 1915 did, and you will be embarrassed when it does. Unlike the Watchtower Society that could throw out 1914 when 1915 came, these 2011 predictions are indelibly placed on the Internet. All anyone has to do is cut and paste these forecasts onto their own hard drives, or print them out, and then wait until they go out of date. At that point, it goes right back on the Internet. Big embarrassment. And, try altering the date--and you will have the original staring you right in the face when the second date goes bust.

Is it worth the embarrassment when these predictions go out of date?

drew sagan

Yep, it all is pretty much worthless.

What I find the most amazing is how well of a tool apocolyptic speculation can be. There is literally millions (if not billions) of dollars being made on peoples fears and worries regarding the end of the world. Mainstream American has become obsessed more than once. Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth", the Left Behind series are two that come to mind. The Watchtower is just one of many who obsess over dates, events, and hopes regarding the end of the world.

Get over it!

jgnat

The simplest explanation (occam's razor) I ever heard for the futility of setting dates is that the bible literature cannot be anchored in time to a specific date or place. That is, even for events that are vividly described, we do not have a conclusive (secular) date. There are inconsistencies also regarding the timing of one event to the other (i.e. 70 years), when reliable archeological evidence points to a different duration. There are even inconsistencies between books of the bible. One scholarly explanation for the difference is that religious writers gave a divine duration (i.e. 70 years) to impart greater authority to their interpretation of history.

Those who set dates actually rob us of the joy of anticipating Messiah's arrival. By setting dates, the eschatologists disappoint their adherents again and again. When we have set our hopes on a certain date and that date passes by without Messiah?s coming, we find it harder and harder to believe that Messiah is coming at all.
When you see a person prophesying about the Messiah, you should know that he is either engaged in witchcraft, or has dealings with demons and demons come and teach him calculations and secrets, to his shame and the shame of those who believe in his words for no man knows about the coming of the Messiah. (Sefer Chasidism)
Perhaps the witchcraft allegation is a little strong, but given the devastating effects that setting dates can have upon people, their lives and their faiths, one might rightly conclude that demons are well pleased with the work of those who set dates for Messiah's coming.

http://www.cyber-synagogue.com/weekly_drash_Behar-Bechukotai_5766.htm

Other links on the futility of setting dates:

http://keithhunt.com/Dates.html

http://members.citynet.net/morton/rapture.htm

http://www.christadelphianbooks.org/agora/editorial/editor47.html

REBORNAGAIN

have you ever noticed how numbers mean soooooooooooooooo much to the human being?

1.) How much money do you earn

2.) How old is he/she

3.) How much HP does that engine have

4.) How many do you want

5.) How many days ago

6.) What size is that

7.) What grade are you in

8.) How big is it (inch., ft. cm. etc.)

9.) How far is it

10.) What time is it

11.) How much does it cost

12.) How much do you weigh

I could go on. Anyway...obviously we humans are hooked on numbers. Is it an addiction?

LINDA

zack

To paraphrase a line from the Shawshank Redemption: If you're not busy living, then you're busy dieing.

My time inside the WTS (I was born in) was spent on the focus of its leaders: DEATH and DESTRUCTION of the WORLD. It is a psychology I am not trained

to explain, but I think it precedes their fixation with dates and predictions. I know it was very damaging for me and for many others to fixate so intensely on a date

of the "END" becasuse it meant an "end" to us as well. Time was always "running out" on my life.

I used to beleive they were sick. Now I am just convinced they are evil and have been all along.

Carmel

Not only can you not predict when the thief will appear, he can be there and leave and you'll not even know it after the fact, unless of course, you realize something is missing! carmel

Hellrider

Homer Simpson on predicting the end of the world: "

"Let's See, 414 Verses In The Book Of Revelations, Divide By The Number Of People At The Last Supper, Subtract The Number Of Filipinos In The Bible.."

...and that`s how he found his date.

("Thank God its Doomsday", episode 19 of The Simpsons, the 16th season)