by alexb123 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Joebin wins this thread with a seismologically snarky comment. Congratulations! A pox on your firstborn and locusts are on thier way.
Alexb123. Welcome. Hang out a while if you want. Your friend will likely not be moved by facts of reasoning (unless said Reasoning comes from a little brown book). Most Witnesses believe what they are told. I hope you succeed in engaging in an intelligent debate!
-Not Reasoning On It
***Awake 2002 March 22nd p.9***
Earthquakes, Bible Prophecy, and You
BEFORE his death, Jesus foretold events and situations that would give evidence that this world had entered "the conclusion of the system of things." That period, he said, would be marked by such things as pestilences, food shortages, and large-scale warfare. He also mentioned "great earthquakes" that would occur "in one place after another." (Matthew 24:3, 7; Luke 21:10, 11) Was Jesus referring to our day?
Many say no. They assert that the number of earthquakes has not substantially increased in recent decades. In fact, the U.S. National Earthquake Information Center reports that earthquakes of 7.0 magnitude and greater remained "fairly constant" throughout the 20th century.
Note, though, that the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy does not require an increase in the number or power of earthquakes. All Jesus said was that there would be great earthquakes in one place after another. Furthermore, he stated that these events would mark the "beginning of pangs of distress." (Matthew 24:8) Distress is measured, not by the number of earthquakes or how they rate on the Richter scale, but by the effect that they have upon people.
Sooo -
It looks to me that they were already planning to ditch the "Generation pf 1914" teaching as far back as 2002 , as they claimed PRIOR to this that earthquakes had increased markedly during the generation of 1914.
Sly ole reptiles!
HB
A book that you may find helpful is 'The Sign of the Last Days- When?' by Carl Olof Jonsson & Wolfgang Herbst (copyright 1987) May be a bit old but still some useful info when dealing with jw's.
Chapters-
Our 20th Century- Time of the End?
Famine- is it worse today?
Earthquakes & Historical Facts
Pestilences- Past & Present
Some Remarkable Facts about War
Is Today's 'Increasing Lawlessness' Unprecedented?
The Myth of the Composite Sign
What Will Be the Sign of Your Coming?
Appendix-A Correspondence with Seismologists, B 'Coming' or 'Presence' What do the facts reveal, C The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse
WELCOME
I don't know, awful lot of them this week, a bunch in Reno, Nevada, and one this am near Frisco....and how 'bout all these tornadoes. Can't say it does not make a person think.
Oh, back to you're question: Matthew 24
It seems my friend who has been a JW for about 12 years still thinks that the WTS says there are more earthquakes since 1914.
That's the intention of the WTS today. To make the member think that the former claim is still valid
when it has been proven false.
M.J. says it nicely: The WT previously stated that earthquakes had increased in frequency since 1914, but it was exposed by those darn fact finding higher critics that it wasn't really so.
So the WTS stopped publishing that assertion in the 1980s I believe.
Now they simply assert that earthquakes affect more people these days than they used to. Which is true. There are billions more people living now than ever before in history. So yes, more people will be affected.
They twist current truthful statements into their doctrine and never retracted their WRONG statements
from previous years.
However - they changed again in April 2007 Special Talk Outline
