The Last Days?

by ozziepost 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  ozziepost

  Today's issue of TIME magazine bears the front cover headline "THE LAST DAYS OF THE TALIBAN".

  The urgency of these "Last Days" is re-inforced in the magazine's articles by the use of words such as "final reckoning", "last sanctuary", "rule unraveled for good", "endgame".

  Words and phrases such as these may seem familiar to regular readers of The Watchtower magazine which regularly describes the present time as being the "Last Days" of this "system of things".

  Interestingly TIME describes the "Last Days of the Taliban" as occurring just two months after the commencement of the "Time of the End" for the Taliban.

  I wonder how many Witnesses will give this some thought as they consider the Watchtower's latest declaration of urgency for the last days of this system of things. At what stage will these "Last Days" cease to be the last days? Can they last 100 years? More, perhaps?

  Cheers,
  Ozzie
  
  "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
  
  Anonymous
• 

  dmouse

  A letter from the Society:

  Dear brothers,

  We are writing to all congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide to express our warm Christian love and also to commend all the brothers and sisters for the hard work that they have been doing in the work of the Lord.

  It has come to our attention that some, in their eagerness to see the end of this wicked system of things, have been running ahead of Jehovah by suggesting, even perhaps stating outright, that the End is imminent. This may well be the case, but it is not our place as humble servants of the Lord to try and ‘hasten’ His hand. The End will come when He permits it, it will not be late. May we respectfully draw your attention to our revised understanding of the term ‘generation’, as brought out in the Watchtower of November 1st 1995, wherein it is made clear that the term ‘generation’ is NOT to be used for calculating timescales. The term is now applied to all of the ‘wicked generation’ who witness the events of the last days – even babies born today if they live long enough. This means that the End could be decades, if not centuries, away, since the ‘generation’ is renewed every time a child is born.

  Nor can we in any way link the time of the end to the date of 1914. It has been brought to our attention by every respected source in the world that this date is chronologically unsound. In addition, teachings in our early days regarding 1914 were based around unscriptural interpretations of the measurements of certain pyramids. For this reason the date 1914 will not now be viewed as scripturally significant. We are grateful to those who pointed out these discrepancies to us.

  Moreover, it was pointed out in the Watchtower of September 15th 1998 (Page 14, para 18,19 and page 16 para 2) that chronology is an unreliable way of determining where we are in the ‘stream of time’. That article bought out that it is EVENTS that help us to realise how close we are to the End, not chronology. There was an earthquake somewhere last week, we heard it on the news, and so this is absolute indisputable proof that Armageddon is very near. Only those snivelling, slobbering stinking vile apostate scum types with bad hair and dirty clothes, who never clean their teeth and always eat babies, would suggest otherwise; and you don’t want to be one of those do you?

  So, sorry brothers, but we haven’t a clue when the end is coming either, and we aren’t going to make any suggestions either or you’ll just go getting all over excited again. However, if magazine sales and revenue plummets we may consider something drastic. So watch this space.

  In the meantime, keep preaching every spare minute of the day and night, unless you are studying or at the meetings. We wouldn’t want you to have time to think now would we?

  Expressing our warm Christian regards,
  The Governing Body.

  P.S. Have a nice Christmas.
• 

  Bang

  Lord, may the WT prophecies always cause embarrasement, and be renewed with an ever renewed embarrasment.

  Bang
• 

  Vanderhoven7

  Thought I would resurrect this ancient thread to remind JWs on board how long we have been in the last part of the last day

  This little gem from the Awake of 1967, May 22.
  

  

  And this:

  "Shortly, within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom." The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah p. 216

  And this:

  "Some of that "generation" could survive until the end of the century. But there are many indications that "the end" is much closer than that!" Watchtower 1984 Mar 1 pp.18-19

  And this:

  "He was laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century". Watchtower 1989 Jan 1 p.12.
• 

  pokertopia

  사람들은 신을 초월적인 존재로 생각하는 경향이 있기 때문에 신의 행동 방식이 초월적이라고 생각합니다. 그러나 신은 결코 우리에게 초월적인 방식으로 관계하지 않습니다. 인간과의 거래방식은 내재적입니다. 지금 이 순간 글을 쓰는 것도 하나님의 능력이 내재적으로 우리에게 작용하기 때문에 가능한 것입니다. 성경에서 언급되는 마지막 때나, 아마겟돈 전쟁도 역시 초월적인 방식으로 일어나는 것이 아닙니다. 그것은 창 숭배를 하는 그리스도인 공동체가 하나니의 나라인 것이며 그 공동체가 점차적으로 커져서 국가의 규모를 가지게 되고 그 명분이나 능력이 막강하기 때문에 세계의 국가들은 결국 정복되는 것이며 온 지구는 하나님의 나라가 되는 것입니다. 그 과정에서 두 힘이 불가피하게 충될되는 최대의 마지막 대결을 아마겟돈 전쟁으로 묘사된 것입니다. 그러므로 워치타워의 교리를 따르는 것은 도마 복음에 나오는 비유, 여인이 밀을 지고 가다가 길에 흐르는 줄 모르고 집에 도착했을 때 보니 빈 자루만 메고 온 격이 되는 것입니다.

  People tend to think of God as transcendent, so I think God's way of behaving is transcendent. But God never relates to us in a way that is transcendent. The way God does business with humans is inherent. Writing at this moment is also possible because God's ability inherently works on us. And neither the last time nor the Armageddon War that's mentioned in the Bible does it happen in a transcendent way. Because the community of the truth-worshiping Christian is God's kingdom, and the community gradually grows to have the size of the state, and the cause and ability are powerful, the world's nations are eventually conquered, and the whole earth becomes God's kingdom. The greatest final confrontation in which the two forces inevitably collide in the process is described as the Armageddon War. Therefore, following the doctrine of Watchtower is a metaphor in the Gospel of Doma, and when a woman arrives home without knowing that it flows on the road while carrying wheat, it is like carrying only an empty bag.
  
• 

  ozziepost

  
  Vanderhoven73 hours agoThought I would resurrect this ancient thread

  Well, Van, you’ve reminded us all very well that this “ancient thread” exposes my own last days, nay, the last of my last days ,

  😃😃

  Cheers mate,

  Ozzie 🍷
• 

  TonusOH

  In fact, in this year 1967 we are actually living in the final part of that time!

  Imagine if they then added, "if that seems close, think about how excited you will be in 55 years, when we are even closer still!"

  So, when Stephen Lett told us that we were in the last day of the last day (or however he put it), did he mean that it might be another 55 years before the end? If "close" and "just around the corner" and "the final part of that time" means "at least 55 years away," how can you assure people of the urgency of the end?
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  punkofnice

  I was of the impression that most Christians, apart from looney Jobots, felt that the prophecy of the last days was about the fall of Jerusalem under the Romans. Whether a secondary fulfilment is expected or not depends on denomination...........or so I'm under the impression of.

  The 'Last days' seems to be interpreted differently between and even within the different sects of Christianity.

  Whatever the reality, the Watchtower(tm) will definitely be totally wrong!
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  Vanderhoven7

  Well, at least they are 100% consistent!