PART 2 - PESTILENCE - How The Watchtower Distorts Facts and Builds Fear

by KingDavidwasframed 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  KingDavidwasframed

  WT quotes are taken from their own website so as not to be “out of context” as the JDub apologists will cry out. http://www.watchtower.org/e/20060915/article_02.htm

  WATCHTOWER WRITES “There will be . . . in one place after another pestilences,” said Jesus. ( Luke 21:11 ) Medical science today is more advanced than ever before. Still, both old and new diseases continue to ravage mankind. A U.S. National Intelligence Council document states: “Twenty well-known diseases—including tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and cholera—have reemerged or spread geographically since 1973, often in more virulent and drug-resistant forms. At least 30 previously unknown disease agents have been identified since 1973, including HIV, Ebola, hepatitis C, and Nipah virus, for which no cures are available.” According to a Red Cross report of June 28, 2000, during the preceding year, the number of people who died from infectious diseases was about 160 times greater than the number who died in natural disasters.

  SENSATIONALISM – when defined under journalism is defined: sensationalism: extreme reportorial style intended to arouse readership interest based on emotional appeal, often with questionable accuracy
  
  Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/sensationalism#ixzz1a74EtcP3

  The WT uses sensationalist writing to scare their readers into trusting in their leadership – namely that they are Christ’s chosen spokesman to deliver His message in “these” last days.

  Let’s now look at some REAL facts.

  AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY (ALE): http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/life-expectancy-through-the-ages.jpg

  If you lived in Jesus and the apostles time (from 500BC to 500AD) you could expect to live to about 35. Any longer and you were on “borrowed” time. Why?? Well, let’s see, TB, typhoid fever, small pox and scarlet fever for one (aren’t they all pestilences too?? I’m confused - NOT) and then those pesky Romans would just go out and kill you and your family if you didn’t let them rule you. Plus, police were not what they are today (another topic – another day).

  How about the Medieval Period – you know the “Dark Ages”? Early on in the period, 48 was a promising ALE but they never had Matlock back then so was it really living??? Maybe that’s why it shrunk to 38 near the end (they also didn’t have Viagra back then so why would you WANT to live past 40???). “Historians” (You know those guys who can’t accurately tell when Jerusalem fell and then was ordered to be rebuilt) blame poor living conditions and the Black Plague as big killers back then dropping life expectancy down to 38. Personally, I think it was the women – could you imagine sleeping with them back then before Budweiser and implants – not to mention toothpaste (shudder) – I’m sure the ladies out there could say the same for us men. Moving on....

  The Victorian Era gave mankind till 40 on average. Again – it was the damn pestilence’s fault for cutting people down in their prime. But hope was on its way because in just over half a century Corvettes and blondes in mini-skirts would give man a reason to live past 40............

  By 1950, science had helped citizens of the world the benefit of an ALE of a whopping 70 years for men and 75 for women (Damn you Noxzema!!!!) That is at least DOUBLE then what was expected when Jesus was born.

  And today? How about a little number like 82 years for men and 85 for women (Axe and Gillete are getting smarter products for men – we’re catching up to the ladies).

  So how is it that the Watchtower can make blanket statements like “old and new diseases continue to ravage mankind.”?? Perhaps it is because they do not want you to feel safe. Maybe they can’t check history out for themselves? Maybe they don’t want to? Perhaps they like having their minions stay in line.

  Comments like “According to a Red Cross report of June 28, 2000, during the preceding year, the number of people who died from infectious diseases was about 160 times greater than the number who died in natural disasters” are designed to make you think that the great SARS monster is going to eat you up if you do not have the Watchtower’s protection. When you read that statement above, ask yourself this “How many people died in natural disasters in 1999?” I mean, yes infectious diseases DO kill people, but if 1000 people died from natural disasters, then 160,000 does not really seem as bad as “160 times” a number you do not know. And if out of those 160,000 (theoretical number only), how many were “old” people anyway? I mean, how many were dying anyway and a disease got the blame instead of the clock running out? The Watchtower is banking on the fact that most of their readers WILL NOT ask these questions when they read such sensationalist comments. They are counting on their followers to get scared more and hold on to “Mommy Organizations” hand tighter.

  And what about World populations compared to epidemic outbreaks?? Between 1347 and 1352 in Europe 25 million people died of the Black Plague. That was 1 person out of every 3!!!! Even cancer isn’t hitting that many people (unless you are a smoker but I believe even with that the odds are better).

  The Watchtower is hoping that they can scare their readers into trusting them by using past examples like this and sensationalist reporting.

  All I ask is that people think for themselves and do not take one person’s word (or an organization’s word) for the basis of their whole life. Life a happy, loving life – not one of fear!

  There will be more articles like this........
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  Ri

  If you think it...Satan will make sure you get it....just saying...Ever wonder why some sicence fiction movies come true. Even the old ones.
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  artemis.design

  Absolutely spot on. They now predict the younger generation to have a life expectancy way into the 90's. Even in countries like Africa, although life can be grim in some parts, mostly due to being war ravaged, the vaccines are available to cure most diseases.

  WT apply this to all the "signs of the end of the conclusion of the system of things". The one that gets me is "earth quakes in one place after another". But there is no indication that there has been an increase in sizemic activity since 1914 (If that’s the date they still go on).

  Also studying history, one realises this is probably the most peaceful period of time in human existence. But then maybe that is another sign when we cry "peace and security". So its end times when there is war, and end times when it is peace?
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  designs

  They like to play on people's natural phobias and insecurities. The Apocalyptic message of the Watchtower really has its blame or faults with the Bible itself. The death of the human race by the hand of God except for an elite is a pretty terrible message.
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  andys

  Also about earthquakes I have an app on my android phone, earthquake alert, every day there is over a dozen earthquakes, the earth has been shaking since its beginning, also this app on my cell phone tells the depth at which the earthquake is, theres so many factors to take into consideration that the Watchtower Society misses.
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  Pistoff

  I just had this conversation with an active witness friend, a pioneer.

  They repeated this canard, that diseases are rampant.

  I said pretty much what you are saying, that life expectancy continues to go up, an indicator of fewer average early deaths from disease and war.

  I got the Huh? response; they said, really??

  I said yes, really.

  Wife and I spent the weekend with 2 couples who are true blues (which of course means they have to avoid science books and pretty much any reality based discussion about the real state of the world).

  By the end of the weekend, my head hurt from the things they said, and of course, I did not challenge for fear of alerting their aposta-radar.

  I don't think I can do it again.
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  Pistoff

  The actual page they take the quote from:

  http://www.dni.gov/nic/special_globalinfectious.html

  As always, the actual information is much more complicated, and nuanced. The WT cherry picked the quote.

  The WT does not comment on how likely one is to die from a disease now, as compared to 1900, 1920, 1950, etc (much lower chance now).

  The reality is that in the US the things most likely to kill the average witness are heart attack, cancer or an obesity related condition.

  Unless you have an aversion to vaccines, courtesy of the Jenny McCarthy types or an older witness family member who can remember the Golden Age articles slamming doctors and vaccines.

  Then you might die from flu or the next super virus that comes down the line. Your kids might die from one of the childhood diseases that are making a comeback, courtesy of the anti-vaccine idiots.
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  KingDavidwasframed

  The argument JW's use about things being worse in the last days would be like me propheseying "in 20 years, there will be a Starbucks on every corner"

  Every generation (I'm talking about generation in the everyday sense that normal people use it now), has complained about the future generation being worse. And yet all signs point to people living longer and healthier.
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  WTWizard

  I will compare these figures with the Plague of the 1300s that wiped out 3/4 of the population. Did the Spanish flu do that? Did HIV do that? I don't think so. And, back then getting tuberculosis was a death sentence. These days, though it is far from pleasant, at least there is some hope of cure. Many people back then died from simple pneumonia that could be prevented these days with basic hygiene.

  The biggest threat today is not pestilences, but medicine itself. These days, more people die from properly prescribed and administered prescription drugs than any infections. Depending on which sources you use, the figure is between 150,000 and 850,000 per year. This has to do with drugs prescribed for "diseases" like high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and psychiatric conditions that are merely symptoms. Treat the symptoms, ignore the cause, cause more problems, and people die from that. At least with infections, allopathic medicine (antibiotics) combined with nutritional support and hygiene can limit the damage they cause--much better than the witch doctors and superstitions that were so common during the First Dark Ages.
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  00DAD

  No doubt that the WT uses scare tactics and "yellow journalism" techniques to promote their agenda.

  Nevertheless, it is important to not misunderstand statistics like those of Average Life Expectancy. It is just that, an average. Consider these comments by Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. on the subject of The Life Expectancy Myth:

  Life expectancy is a statistical determination that is useful to population experts but not to individuals. Anthropologists have calculated that the life expectancy of a Stone Ager was about 28 years, giving the impression that he or she would be elderly at 30! Yet fossil studies reveal that about 10 percent of humans who lived before the Agricultural Revolution made it past the age of 60. If it were not for homicide, many more would have lived that long.

  Infant mortality is one of the main determinants of life expectancy and it helps to explain why it was only about 45 years for Americans in 1900. Once we developed decent plumbing, childhood vaccines and high-quality premature infant care our life expectancy nearly doubled in a century.

  Or as explained another way, the problem is with the use of averages:

  Dramatically Longer Average Lifespans: Fact, Myth, Or Something Else? - Yes, the average life expectancy a century ago was low, but it was dragged down by an astounding -- by our standards -- number of childhood deaths. Fifteen percent of children died before age three, and over twenty percent before age eight. Now 99%+ make it to their fifteenth birthday, and we don't lose 20% of a given year's children until they're ... over 65.

  There are many examples of average lifespans in the sixties or older from centuries past.

  The book Expectations of Life (summarized here) shows that members of the English aristocracy could, if they lived to twenty, expect to live into their sixties. Remarkably, this is true for any time after the thirteenth century (with the exception of plague years).

  Our own analysis of the signers of the Declaration of Independence shows an average lifespan of 66 years, with many living into their seventies and longer. Their average age at the signing was 45.

  Noted aging researchers Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova looked at over 6,000 women born into European aristocracy in the 1800s and found that those that survived to age 30 lived until their mid-60's (born in the early 1800s) to almost 80 (later in the 1800s).

  A sampling of Cape Cod gravestones of the early 1700s finds many marking the final resting place of people who died in their sixties, seventies, or even eighties.

  Or to quote Mark Twain, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."