Will only "incorrigibly wicked" people be destroyed at Armageddon?

by poor places 35 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  diamondiiz

  Sep 15, 2010 page 29 paragraph 15

  “When the Son of man arrives
  in his glory, and all the angels with
  him, then he will sit down on his glorious
  throne. And all the nations will be gathered
  before him, and he will separate people one
  from another, just as a shepherd separates
  the sheep from the goats. And he will put
  the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
  on his left.” (Matt. 25:31-33) This refers to
  Christ’s coming as Judge to separate people
  of “all the nations” into two categories:
  “the sheep,” those who will have actively
  supported his spiritual brothers (anointed
  Christians on earth) and “the goats,” those
  “who do not obey the good news about our
  Lord Jesus.” (2 Thess. 1:7, 8) The sheep, described
  as “righteous ones,” will receive
  “everlasting life” on earth, but the goats
  “will depart into everlasting cutting-off,” or
  destruction.—

  This is very clear. While the elder may downplay their teaching just as they do at the door not to upset the listener, the fact is wts teaches that only ACTIVE supporters of GB will make it - since we know only GB for sure are anointed while other anointed may be mentally unstable partakers.
• 

  poor places

  Thanks for your helpful and informative replies. Thanks especially to Leaving WT for supplying a ton of quotes! I had never realized what a hard-line stance the WT organization takes on Armageddon. I was under the apparently false impression that at different times, they'd said that people who have never been preached to will survive. But those quotes are clear.

  I think that my confusion came from misunderstandings of WT doctrine by other JWs. On several occasions, I've heard from JWs that Jehovah will let those who haven't heard the good news live through Armageddon. And just a few weeks ago, I heard this brother say that only the "incorrigibly wicked" will be destroyed. It's clear that many JWs (including me, although I don't believe anymore) don't have a strong grasp of WT doctrine. It's probably worth asking why these doctrines aren't more clear in believers' minds. Do they block out the real, awful doctrine and replace it with a more pleasant version? Does the WT intentionally obscure their views on Armageddon by rarely bringing them up? It's really hard to say.

  I'm also amazed that the WT comes right out and says that infants WILL DIE at Armageddon because of the sins of their parents. Yet we are supposed to believe that God is love? What kind of mind does it take to believe that God is loving and that he will slay innocent infants? A brainwashed mind.
• 

  BluesBrother

  LeavingWT said

  "According to WT theology, if Armageddon happens tomorrow, Jehovah will slaughter tens of millions of Asian children"

  I remember once, as a keen young bro. looking at a WT picture of a little Asian kid crying in poverty/starving and I realised then that when Armageddon came, it would only bring her to her death, but they still expoited her picture in the mag. That bothered me. However I shelved it to the back of my mind and carried on..Many years passed before I really addressed the matter and concluded that it was really not the truth....

  A good many loyal dubs secretly believe that a lot of unexpected people will survive , because they cannot bring themselves to accept that their God will slaughter the non believers - and they maintain that belief no matter what the WT says..They take comfort from the weasel words in some articles like this one

  WT 98 8/15 p20

  17 All nations will shortly be examined by Christ so that he can “separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31-33) We can be confident that Christ will be righteous in judging who is worthy of survival. Jehovah has given him the wisdom, insight, and other necessary qualities “to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness.” (Acts 17:30, 31) Let our conviction be like that of Abraham, who said: “It is unthinkable of you [Jehovah] that you are acting in this manner to put to death the righteous man with the wicked one so that it has to occur with the righteous man as it does with the wicked! It is unthinkable of you. Is the Judge of all the earth not going to do what is right?”—Genesis 18:25.

  18 With complete confidence in Jehovah’s righteousness, we need not worry about finding answers to questions like: ‘How will babies and small children be judged? Might it be that a large number of people will not yet have been reached with the good news when Armageddon arrives? What about the mentally ill? What about . . . ?’ Granted, at present we may not know how Jehovah will resolve these issues. He will do so, however, in a righteous and merciful way. We should never doubt that. In fact, we may be amazed and delighted to observe him resolve them in a way that we never even considered.—Compare Job 42:3; Psalm 78:11-16; 136:4-9; Matthew 15:31; Luke 2:47.
• 

  00DAD

  If we use a scale of 1-10, with 10 being perfect saints and 1 being the most evil, vile people that ever lived, then we can take comfort from the fact that Jehovah will only destroy individuals with an "Incorrigibly Wicked" Rating (IWR) of 3.714964734346366.

  As long as your IW Rating is above that number then you're good to go, uh, er .... to STAY, I meant to say, "You're good to stay, that is to survive the Big A". Still, you might want to go back and pick up that bit of trash you dropped back there. You never know!

  Proverbs 15:3 - "The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, keeping watch upon the bad ones and the good ones."

  Your mileage may vary.
• 

  MrFreeze

  When the elders came to me last Christmas to try to get me to come back to the meetings I brought up that I was uncomfortable with believing that all non-JW's were going to be destroyed at Armageddon. I thought it was unfair. How can you really judge somebody based on them not changing their whole life because of some magazine that someone hands you with a crappy presentation "here's the latest magazines, see ya!" Is God really going to judge somebody based on that?

  They said that God won't destroy all non-JW's. God will read hearts. I told them I would be happy to show them plenty of quotes from the watchtowers that say otherwise. They didn't want to hear it. So I brought the question on them. If God is judging people based on their heart, why should we preach? If it's not based on them becoming a JW, why preach to save lives? It makes no sense. It is so sad that I believed what they were saying at one time too.
• 

  leavingwt

  BluesBrother: Thank God the WT version of Jehovah is a myth.
• 

  ThomasCovenant

  If "Only Jehovah's Witnesses, ......have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system''

  Then everyone else has NO HOPE of surviving.

  There can be no other interpretation of this Watchtower quote.

  Mr Freeze said, ''They [elders] said that God won't destroy all non-JW's. God will read hearts. I told them I would be happy to show them plenty of quotes from the watchtowers that say otherwise. They didn't want to hear it. So I brought the question on them. If God is judging people based on their heart, why should we preach? If it's not based on them becoming a JW, why preach to save lives?''

  I thnk most Witnesses would answer the same as these elders. It is the only way to get through life. Those who dwell on, and believe the official belief as quoted above, eventually leave the Organization and many end up on this forum.
• 

  LostGeneration

  On several occasions, I've heard from JWs that Jehovah will let those who haven't heard the good news live through Armageddon.

  This is something that JWs say to themselves to lessen the cognative dissonance that comes with receiving their paradise reward. They all want that reward, but if you ask them if they think its fair that 1,000 Asians have to die for them to receive the reward, it gets real uncomfortable for them.

  To lessen that pain in their mind they come up with excuses like "Jehovah will read hearts" or the "only the really wicked will die" But as the quotes already show this is NOT a WTS teaching, its just something they say on their own. In the end, its digusting and morally reprehensible to think 1,000 people HAVE TO DIE for each JW to get their paradise reward, so they reason it away in this fashion.
• 

  ShadesofGrey

  Read about the Great Tribulation in Luke and Revelation, then read Luke chapter 12 and 13 and the parellel accounts in the other gospels and ask the Lord for wisdom.

  42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

  47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

  28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

  Some things I wonder: Who is last? Why? What are they doing while they wait? Last to get where? So where do they end up?
• 

  ShadesofGrey

  Oh yes, the official WT website says that not all non-JWs will be destroyed, but their literature says differently, repeatedly. I think this is covered, but will be back later to check.