by brotherdan 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I watched a Christian program on the "2012" hype today.
There is absolutely no way things can wrap up by 2012 otherwise we would be in the "great tribulation" and the Antichrist would be running amok.
As it is, he hasn't even appeared on the world stage.
The tribulation runs for seven years total so even if it starts tomorrow that would take us up to 2017 for the big time drama to come to an end.
Blessings,
Stephen
When I was in high school in 1975 they quoted Jacques Cousteau a lot. Among other things he predicted that because of the growing threat of pollution, by the end of the decade, there wouldn't be any marine life left in the ocean. I wasn't supposed to even graduate because armegeddon was supposed to have come...and they had all kinds of evidence that this was true. But here I am with a son who graduated in the year 2000.
In December 31,1999 everyone was hunkering down for something to happen when the clock struck midnight. Remember Y2K...Computers would crash,the worlds banks would collapse, airplanes would crash, trains would crash, the stockmarket would crash. We'd be throwing our money in the street like the bible said.
Three years ago (or two) the Avian flu was supposed to wipe out milions and cause the economy of many countries to crash because there would be too few workers and so much being spent on sick people. Now you rarely hear a word about it.
Then there was the World Peace Summit (I think that's what it was called) more than a decade ago, where all the world religious and political leaders came together to talk about peace. That was suposed to be fulfillment of the Peace and Security prophecy that would occur in the end.
In between all that...someone would always drag up something Nostramus predicted about the upcoming year that was supposed to be "curtains" for the world. I always wondered why he had all those sequential predicitons when the earth was supposed to have ended when his previous predictions came true.
On one hand JW's point out the terrible world conditions as proof that the end is near. On the other hand they say the world's claim of peace and security is what will prove were in the end . Take your pick.
And on it goes...if you live long enough...you'll have a whole list of these. So start writing them down.
Chalam, PLEASE....That is not in the bible. 7 years? where do apostates get this stuff? This here is the REAL definition...
The
“GreatTribulation.” When answering the question of his disciples concerning the sign of his presence and the conclusion of the system of things, Jesus mentioned a “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Mt 24:3, 21) As a comparison of Matthew 24:15-22 with Luke 21:20-24 reveals, this had initial reference to a tribulation to come upon Jerusalem. The fulfillment came in 70 C.E., when the city was besieged by the Roman armies under General Titus. This resulted in severe famine conditions and much loss of life. The Jewish historian Josephus relates that 1,100,000 Jews died or were killed, whereas 97,000 survived and were taken into captivity. (TheJewishWar, VI, 420 [ix, 3]) Such a “great tribulation” has not occurred again or been repeated upon Jerusalem.Jesus also referred to this tribulation in connection with his coming in glory: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.” (Mt 24:29-31) The term “immediately” in this passage does not rule out the possibility of a lapse of a considerable period between the tribulation upon Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the events that were to follow. Writes Greek scholar A. T. Robertson: “This word, common in Mark’s Gospel as euthus, gives trouble if one stresses the time element. The problem is how much time intervenes between ‘the tribulation of those days’ and the vivid symbolism of verse 29. The use of entachei [shortly] in Rev. 1:1 should make one pause before he decides. Here we have a prophetic panorama like that with foreshortened perspective. The apocalyptic pictures in verse 29 [of Matthew 24] also call for sobriety of judgment. . . . Literalism is not appropriate in this apocalyptic eschatology.”—WordPicturesintheNewTestament, 1930, Vol. I, pp. 192, 193.
Others have made like observations concerning the use of the Greek word rendered “immediately” at Matthew 24:29. A footnote on this text in TheWestminsterVersionoftheSacredScriptures reads: “‘Straightway’ [immediately] is probably here ‘a term of prophecy, not of history’, and so does not imply immediate sequence, which indeed in any case is not always to be pressed . . . Similar terms are common in apocalyptic literature to introduce a new scene in a rapidly changing series of visions: cf. Apoc. xi. 14: xxii. 12.” MatthewHenry’sCommentaryontheWholeBible states: “It is usual, in the prophetical style, to speak of things great and certain as near and just at hand, only to express the greatness and certainty of them. . . . Athousandyearsare, in God’s sight, butasoneday, 2 Pet. iii. 8.”—1976, Vol. III, p. 205.
Biblical evidence indicates that the tribulation upon Jerusalem in 70 C.E. pointed forward to a far greater tribulation. About three decades after Jerusalem’s destruction, the apostle John, with reference to a great crowd of persons from all nations, tribes, and peoples, was told: “These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation.” (Re 7:13, 14) Earlier, the apostle John had seen “four angels” holding back destructive winds so that the sealing of the 144,000 slaves of God might be completed. This sealing evidently links up with the ‘gathering of the chosen ones’ that Jesus foretold would follow the tribulation upon earthly Jerusalem. (Mt 24:31) Accordingly, the “great tribulation” must come after the chosen ones have been gathered and their sealing is completed and when the four angels release the four winds to blow upon the earth, sea, and trees. (Re 7:1-4) The fact that a great crowd ‘comes out of the great tribulation’ shows that they survive it. This is confirmed by a similar expression at Acts 7:9, 10: “God was with [Joseph], and he delivered him out of all his tribulations.” Joseph’s being delivered out of all his tribulations meant not only that he was enabled to endure them but also that he survived the afflictions he experienced.
It is noteworthy that the apostle Paul referred to the execution of God’s judgment upon the ungodly as tribulation. He wrote: “This takes into account that it is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you, but, to you who suffer tribulation, relief along with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus.” (2Th 1:6-8) The book of Revelation shows that “Babylon the Great” and “the wild beast” have brought tribulation upon God’s holy ones. (Re 13:3-10; 17:5, 6) It therefore logically follows that the tribulation to come upon “Babylon the Great” and “the wild beast” is included in the “great tribulation.”—Re 18:20; 19:11-21.
the mayans were a pagan group, why would the WTBS care what they said ? jeeeze they couldn't pick a date to save anybody themselves.
BD:
The Rank and File is being groomed constantly to think the end is SO SO SO close. Like Mad S. said most think that means a couple of years - i predict that in 2013 there will be an article in the WT which redicule those who has "speculated" armageddon would come in 2012, and state they got it wrong because they relied on science and pagan religion to arrive at that date.
The WT has always been very quiet about other doomsday group's failures. I doubt they are about to change that.
Do you guys HAVE to be so bitter? They never said for sure 1975 would be the day. Heck that was 35 years ago! Get over yourselves? They haven´t even come close to setting another date since. What is you guys problem? I suppose apostates never make mistakes...
It just proves that Jehovah´s Witnesses keep on the watch. If they NEVER said it was soon how could they keep on the watch? Didn´t Jesus say it was soon? So how DARE you blame the witnesses for saying it was soon when Jesus said it was soon and that was 2,000 years ago.
You want to blame not by looking at the facts but because of your own stubborn pride.
So was the WT/JW Org. God's Channel of communication, Spirit directed, 35 years ago Bane ?
BANE Chalam, PLEASE....That is not in the bible. 7 years? where do apostates get this stuff? This here is the REAL definition...
Bane, where you get your stuff, the WT?
They have proved themselves totally wrong on numerous occasions 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975, 1994 etc.
I rather take the bible at face value rather than their false prophecies and interpretations.
2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.
11 "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
24 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. "
Blessings,
Stephen
Oh you gotta love the Fundamentalists and their Literal take on the Bible, it may even surpass the Society's goofy Revelation Climax book.
I want to see the Russian Calvary riding into the Valley of Megiddo like the Fundi's tell me about, talk about entertainment value.
