To YoYoMama:
Your post encapsulates a great deal of what has been wrong with Watchtower notions for 120 years. The argument presented is self-contradictory and blatantly ignores both reality and various Bible passages. Let's see how:
: Matt 26:41 "Keep on the watch and pray continually, that you may not enter into temptation."
A bare question like this does not say just what to "keep on the watch" for. In context, Jesus was telling his disciples to keep on the watch for the men who were about to come and arrest him. Of couse, the disciples were not to keep on the watch for some sign that the arresters were about to arrive, but for the arresters themselves, that they had already arrived.
: Commentary:
: What would help us to keep on the watch? While in the garden of Gethsemane shortly before his arrest, Jesus told three of his apostles the above. Years later, Peter gave similar counsel to fellow Christians. He wrote "The end of all things has drawn close. Be sound in mind, therefore, and be vigilant with a view to prayers." (1 Pet. 4:7)
The Society has long claimed directly or by implication that this passage applies also to our day, the time since 1914 -- not just to the soon-to-come destruction of Jerusalem. Simply going through the WTS CDROM brings up plenty of references.
A number of Bible passages that the Society claims apply to "the final end" are cross-referenced to 1 Peter 4:7. Here are a couple of examples:
Psalm 37:10: "And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more..."
Luke 21:35-36: "For it will come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of all the earth. Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication..."
Watchtower publications have made more direct application of 1 Peter 4:7 to our day:
*** yb00 222 Czech Republic ***
[Jehovah's Witnesses] well know that when describing the events of our day, Jesus said: "By endurance on your part you will acquire your souls." (Luke 21:19) And the apostle Peter was inspired to write: "The end of all things has drawn close. Be sound in mind, therefore, and be vigilant with a view to prayers. Above all things, have intense love for one another." (1 Pet. 4:7, 8)
*** km 4/99 1 Intensifying the Witness as the End Nears ***
There is even greater reason for us to cultivate that same sense of urgency now, as "the end of all things has drawn close." (1 Pet. 4:7)
*** yb98 254 A Letter from the Governing Body ***
They are sustained by Jehovah's love, by the intense love of the international brotherhood, and by a keen awareness that the events of our day all point unmistakably to the near end of the old system.-Rom. 8:35-39; 1 Pet. 4:7, 8.
*** w97 8/15 17 "Soundness of Mind" as the End Draws Close ***
"The end of all things has drawn close. Be sound in mind, therefore."-1 PETER 4:7.
THE above words of the apostle Peter should have a profound effect upon the way Christians live their lives.
*** w93 6/1 13 Be Sound in Mind-The End Is Close ***
"The end of all things has drawn close. Be sound in mind, therefore, and be vigilant with a view to prayers."-1 PETER 4:7.
*** g90 2/22 21 Sudden Destruction!-How Have They Coped? ***
The Bible prophecy has even greater force in our day: "The end of all things has drawn close."
*** km 12/75 2 Your Service Meetings ***
25 min: "The End of All Things Has Drawn Close." Discussion of 1 Peter 4:7-19, with passages on which questions are based being read first. (When the apostle Peter wrote, he was referring to the approaching end of the Jewish system of things. Today we are fast approaching the end of the entire wicked system. So the admonition of Peter has timely meaning to us.)
*** w75 9/15 563 Have You 'Stopped Storing Up Treasures on Earth'? ***
As we consider these fine examples and appreciate today that "the end of all things has drawn close" (1 Pet. 4:7), ...
*** w73 6/15 362 Be "Sound in Mind" as the New Order Draws Near ***
In view of the now fast approaching end, on what should we focus attention? "Be sound in mind, therefore," is the inspired writer's counsel, "and be vigilant with a view to prayers." (1 Pet. 4:7)
*** w73 6/15 365 Be "Sound in Mind" as the New Order Draws Near ***
Why can we believe that the apostle's counsel beginning at 1 Peter 4:7 fits us at this time?
*** w65 12/1 732 Moving Forward in Jehovah's Service ***
Although I know I have found the truth, I have not yet officially taken the step of dedicating my life to Jehovah. One day-it is in the autumn of 1918-for recreation I attend a concert of classical music. Casually I pull a colored piece of paper out of my pocket. I do not even remember how it got there. It is a program of the "Autumn Day-Assembly of the Bible Students Association in County Hall in Berne." I read the text printed on it, which says: "The end of all things is at hand."-1 Pet. 4:7, AV.
: Clearly, fervent prayer should be a part of our Christian routine. (Rom. 12:12; 1 Thess. 5:17) Note that Peter also said "The end of all things has drawn close." How close? There is no way for humans to pinpoint the exact day and hour. (Matt. 24:36)
At the 1993 summer district conventions the Society did away with its traditional interpretation of Matthew 24:36 and then claimed that it, along with many other passages from Matthew 24:15-44 apply to the future. In line with this, the Society in 1995 applied many parts of Matthew 25, to the future, especially changing its tradition about when the separation of "the sheep and the goats" was to occur.
: But there is a difference between indulging in speculation, which the Bible does not encourage, and keeping in expectation of the end, which it does encourage. (2 Tim. 4:3, 4; Titus 3:9)
Indeed there is a difference. Until the aftermath of its failed predictions and encouraging of expectations for "the end" in 1975, JW leaders did not seem to know the difference. Indeed, prophetic speculation was an integral part of the JW experience.
Today, the tendency to prophetic speculation among JW leaders is not dead, but has simply been toned down a little. Rather than quietly 'keeping in expectation' and watching for when "the Master" actually arrives, they constantly remind their followers to watch for "signs" that he is about to arrive. In other words, they constantly try to interpret events so as to anticipate the arrival of "the Master" -- quite opposite to the avoidance of speculation that Jesus encouraged. Indeed, so fervent are JW leaders to continue their prophetic speculation that they have completely lost sight of Jesus' words in Luke 21:8:
He said: "Look out that you are not misled; for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, 'I am he,' and, 'The due time has approached.' Do not go after them."
The men of the Governing Body of "the faithful and discreet slave" certainly "come on the basis of" Jesus' name, they certainly say, "I am he" in the sense of "I am the one prophesied who Jesus appointed to lead his people in these last days", and they have certainly proclaimed worldwide that "the due time has approached". Why do they expect true Christians to ignore Jesus' words and follow them?
: What is one way that we can keep in expectation of the end? It is by paying close attention to the evidence that the end is near. W 1/15/00 11, 12
The above is completely contrary to Scripture. Jesus clearly stated, "Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." (Matthew 24:42) In fact, "on this account you too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that you do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming." (Matthew 24:44) Obviously, if Jesus' followers thought that "the end" was going to come at a specific time, then that time could not be "it". Therefore there is no way to interpret events so as to know, even slightly in advance, when "it" was even about to come. It follows that those who continually claim to know even the approximate time when "the Son of man is coming" cannot be Jesus' followers.
Of course, we have a long history of JWs and other end-times proclaimers being wrong. They're wrong about the time frame, and they're wrong about the events they interpret as positive signs of "the end". Most of them claim that Matthew 24, 25, Mark 13 and Luke 21 contain prophecies about events that allow "faithful ones" to figure out when "the end" is just about to arrive. They claim that these passages say that when war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes and other big nasties reach unusual proportions, that "the end" is just about to come. However, they're wrong about their interpretations, and they're wrong about their claims that today such events are unusually common. A careful reading of these passages shows that the writers were saying exactly the opposite of what these interpreters claim -- that such events were so common in human history that they should not be interpreted as signs of anything. And of course, a careful examination of events of the 20th century proves that war kills about the same number on average as they always have, that famine and pestilence are down dramatically, and that earthquakes kill about four times fewer on average than they did a few hundred years ago.
AlanF
