I'm in ch 9 in my study, and we will go over the section "Major Developments of the Last Days" (pars 6-9) next week. Although I don't see anything special in pars 7-9, I think par 6 allows the JW's to strike a chord with people, and I was wondering if anyone could help me with how to respond to it. They are able to quote real figures in that paragraph such as "three times as many people fell victim to war in [the 20th] century as in all the wars from the first century AD to 1899."
As I read pars 7-9 carefully, I can easily point out that they don't actually say there was an increase in food shortages, earthquakes, or diseases. They simply state that these things continue - which does nothing to support the idea that the 20th century holds some special prophetic significance. However, the figures for war casualties do appear significant. I am wondering what I can say to my study conductor if he puts me on the spot with the immensity of the war death figures for the 20th century. I have to be clear and to the point. He tends to be emotionally driven and only uses "logic" when it suits him.
One good thing is that I have gotten him to commit to stay on-topic in the line of thinking established in par 22-23 of the previous chapter. I've gotten him to admit that the author of the booklet is saying there is "evidence" for the claims those paragraphs make about 1914. He assured me that chapter 9 would provide me with the "evidence." So here we are, examining the "evidence." Like I said, pars 7-9 do not look like evidence to me, but par 6 kind of has me stumped.