After looking at the latest 2011 "God's Gonna Cut You Down" District Convention invite, I found myself getting a strange and familiar feeling. Back when I was mentally in the Borg, I used to actually get a bit intimidated by the "fire & brimstone" message on these things. And now that I've mentally unshackled myself, I am beginning to see the deep-seated psychological effect that a lifetime of dogma has infused in me. Such demons are not so easily shaken, it seems.
Mr. Falcon will grab you and say,
"Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in 'life'?
The result is that even this invite makes me feel a little on edge. I even ashamedly admit that a tiny, tiny part of me is rationalizing, "What if the JWs are right? I'm going to die!" Go ahead and laugh, I'll wait....
Done yet? Good. So after this little embarrassing moment of mental relapse, I began to wonder if Jehovah's Witnesses are unique in their apocalyptic babblings. One thing that always sort of brought me mental-soundness was when I stepped back and realized that many practices that JWs do actually aren't that much nuttier or stranger than any other "Christian" religion. For example, the Catholic church has clergy and confession. JWs have elders and judicial committees. The point is that although JWs try to act like they are completely unique in "True Worship", they are basically structured like any other religious organization.
So, I was wondering, as I am wholly ignorant to the countless faiths that exist today - Are there any other major religions right now who have similiar apocalyptic doctrine regarding things such as the "Last Days" or "Daniel's naked beard guy dream statue"?
Help ease a wearied mind.