Our Readers Ask: Will the Earth Survive 2012?
Page 10: "When will this occur? No human knows. "Concerning that day or hour nobody knows," said Jesus, "Neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32) Jehovah's Witnesses do not try to predict when God will destroy the wicked. Though they are alert to "the sign" of the end and believe that humankind is living in the Biblical "last days", they cannot know just when "the end" will occur."
Why do I feel there's a certain lack of truth in that statement? I mean, they were just recently on that long list of failed predictions after that Harold Camping incident, right? It seems particularly odd for them to refer to "calamity howling religious leaders" as being part of the problem with these sorts of predictions. Do they not themselves regularly howl calamity? Anyway...there's another gem in here, in the next article, "Who Can Interpret Prophecy?"
Page 12: "The inspired prophets of old, such as Daniel, did not personally analyze the current trends of their time and then attempt to unravel a complicated future by uttering a prophecy. If they had tried to force the future to unfold in this way, such prophesying would have originated in their own imagination. It would then have been a human prediction, a forecast built upon an imperfect foundation."
So, my guess is that the Revelation book hasn't been studied in awhile...because that's exactly what this description sounds like to me. It seems peculiar that they would even think of discussing this kind of subject in a Public Edition. Yet again it would seem to expose their most vulnerable flank--the issue of prophecy.
But I find these statements to be disingenuous, personally. How about you?
--sd-7