I am so sick and tired of ex-jw's and born again christians(bacs) always condemning jw's and mormons for giving false dates when in fact born agains have a history of end of the world and rapture date setting. Every time I bring this up to hard core born agains they always say "but those born agains are not apart of my church." But in the very next breath they will claim that Jesus has "one" church and one body of Christ exist. So if the Church started 2000 years ago it is the same body and according to born agains all those christians was part of the body of Christ. So this will cause a problem in born again theology because if you check church history it is riddled with christians setting dates for the end thousands of years before JW's and Mormons. Some of the church fathers gave dates believing that the end was going to happen in the first century. So my question to born agains and ex-jw's is Are born agains false prophets since some of the church fathers believed the end was going to happen 2000 years ago? Even the Catholic church set the date for the year 1000 AD believing the Satan would be destroyed and that Armaggeddon had to come in that year. My question to Catholics is Are Catholics false prophets since the Catholic Church predicted Satan would be destroyed and the 1000 year reign would happen in 1000 AD? I have gotten many born agains that will dismiss alot of this and say "Well that happed over 2000 years ago that does not apply to present day Christians. But JW's can say the same thing and say that Russell and Rutherford and Knorr set those dates not present day JW's. I am in no way condoning JW's date setting I feel sorry for them because they have let men lead them astray but I am tired of the pot calling the kettle black when born agains and ex-jw's complain about date setting from the WT society. And trust me I have dealt with born agains for over 20 years and I know them like a book and I come up with their answer before they do and many times they are shocked and look at me with a blank stare. Born agains and JW's like for people to be intimidated by there perceived knowledge of the bible.
What would Ex-JW's and Born Agains do if it was proven that BAC's gave wrong dates for the end
by booker-t 6 Replies latest jw friends
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The Quiet One
I don't understand why you are lumping ex-jws and born-agains together. Do you mean ex jws who are now born agains? If so, I'll leave the debating to others who are more knowledgeable as to born agains.
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NewChapter
I'm an exjW, and I think all date setters are ridiculous. So I guess I have the same question as Quiet One. Do you mean exJW's that are now born again?
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NeonMadman
Please cite the church fathers who actually set dates. I am aware that some expected the return of Christ possibly within their lifetime, but I'm not aware of any orthodox Christian writers in the early years who went so far as to set specific dates.
"Born again Christians" do not have a monolithic organization as the JWs do, so there is no mechanism by which false teachers are regulated other than the local church (or the hierarchial church in some denominations). If someone is a false prophet or teacher and is independent of any local or denominational church, then you can hardly expect to hold every Christian everywhere responsible for the false teachings. Many, many BACs, for example, were and are teaching against the false prophecy of Harold Camping. It hardly makes sense to try to pin them with responsibility for a teaching that they opposed. JWs are universally expected to accept and teach whatever doctrines the WTS advanced; that's a whole different matter. If they advocate what the orgnaization teaches, and the organization is provably wrong, then they can be held to be in error. Likewise, anyone who claims to be a BAC but supports the teaching of, for example, Harold Camping deserves the label of false teacher.
To try to equate the body of Christ with the JW organization is a category error. The body of Christ is a spiritual, invisible organism, not a visible, human organization. No human can be absolutely certain as to who is a member. The pious person who has been sitting in the pew next to you for 20 years might be a total hypocritem, and the person you would regard as marginal in the faith might be truly devoted. Jesus said the wheat and weeds would grow together until the end of the age, and only at that time would it become obvious which was which. Just claiming to be a Christian doesn't actually make you one in the biblical sense. Jesus said that false teachers and false prophets would arise and deceive many. The existence of the false does not negate the existence of the true, nor is it necessary to condemn the true because of the errors of the false.
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NeonMadman
In regard to your statement that "the Catholic church set the date for the year 1000 AD believing the Satan would be destroyed and that Armaggeddon had to come in that year," I would again have to ask for citations of official Roman Catholic sources that said this. The fact that a rumor may have been going around does not make the church itself responsible any more than the whole JW organization would be responsible for some weird remark made by a random JW at the door. If there was an ex cathedra statement by the pope, or a document from the Magisterium, that would be a different matter. Not that I am defending the Catholic church, I just feel that you are playing a bit loose with church history.
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Rocky_Girl
Anyone who sets a date is nuts. Anyone... And today's society doesn't take people like that seriously. The world will randomly be destroyed one day when a butterfly flaps its wings the wrong way and the current causes a chain reaction which moves the Earth too close to the sun. In the words of Sugarland: "Shhhh. It happens."
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garyneal
I am so sick and tired of ex-jw's and born again christians(bacs) always condemning jw's and mormons for giving false dates when in fact born agains have a history of end of the world and rapture date setting.
Karma, what goes around, comes around.
Jehovah's Witness calls out all other religions as false while maintaining they're the only true religion. Their false dates negate that claim.
Same goes for Mormons.