by NanaR 46 Replies latest members private
I have heard these daft comments about having a survival pack ready so as to be able to assemble at a moment's notice (for Armageddon). An elder in my wife's congo even commented that he had not yet arranged one. I asked afterwards and he said the instruction was for natural disasters not the big A..
That does not stop the excitement mounting though......
There is always something more!,,,,,,,,,,,,
Last Days, Controlled Fear, Brings in more money, Certain expectations, Invokes a level of Stress on the body.
That stress leads to more control of the mass of the faithful........more control leads to more money
Rember when everyone sold up 1975 their homes and cashed in their chips ... sort of like the society is doing it now!...
is there any comet coming? have the pryamids moved, i heard a new discvery was made there!,,
hell i am afraid now i going to the supermarket.....
they coud be right,, we all gona die gonna die gona dieeeeeeee.
maybe it is a dream.
didi actually go to the meeting sunday,, nope!..
did i miss it? nope!
i was playing poker.
" It is one of the things the JWs got right. It is good to be prepared in event of emergency. Of course they attribute it to being prepared for the great tribulation but still, good to be prepared. Having emergency packs... that is."
I remember a few times in college taking a written exam where I picked the correct answer, although for the wrong reasons. This is reminiscent of those times. Maybe like when an ancient tribe engages in a ritual that actually provides some known benefit (eg handwashing of Pharisees before eating) even if they are doing it as they think YHWH wants them to do it. Correct conclusion, but not based on understanding why it's correct.
The location of Jesus' great tribulation was limited to Jerusalem, so fleeing from that city made sense (just like evac warnings made before Katrina). But since the "upcoming GT" is Worldwide, "fleeing to the mountains" should probably involve going to the Moon! Anyone see "personal space ship" on the JW bug out list? :)
Just another way to say "the sky is falling!" to members, without having to actually say it (saying it is messy: they've learned such words come back to haunt them later).
King Solomon:
"The location of Jesus' great tribulation was limited to Jerusalem"
I always understood that the "great tribulation" would befall the entire Jewish nation, not just the city of Jerusalem.
Nope, not all Israel.
Jesus gives the answer in verse 16:
16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Judea is the name of the mountainous southern part of the Land of Israel, so Jesus was saying to flee to the mountains OF Judea (i.e. the unpopulated areas in the hills of Judea). Being that the Temple in the city of Jerusalem was Ground Zero, the target, as it were, it's the last place you'd want to be, and fleeing on foot without returning to pick up provisions at one's home is the point he was making.
Wikipedia mentions the seeming fulfillment of this prophecy, in 70 CE (some 40 yrs after his death):
In 6 CE, Judea came under direct Roman rule as the province of Iudaea. Eventually, the Jews rose against Roman rule in 66 CE in a revolt that was unsuccessful. Jerusalem (and the rebuilt Temple) was destroyed in 70 CE and much of the population was killed or enslaved.
Maybe might've been good to take Jesus' advice back then in 70CE, even if it's not the way JWs want to turn it into a modern-day prophecy.
also from Wikipedia:
The Jews rebelled again 70 years later under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba and established the last Kingdom of Israel, which lasted three years, before the Romans managed to conquer the province for good, at a high cost in terms of manpower and expense.
After the defeat of Bar Kokhba (132–135 CE) the Roman EmperorHadrian was determined to wipe out the identity of Israel-Judah-Judea, and renamed it Philistina (Syria Palaestina, after the ancient enemy of the Israelites; the Philistines). Until that time the area had been called "province of Judea" (Roman Judea) by the Romans. [ 11 ] At the same time, he changed the name of the city of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. The Romans killed many Jews and sold many more into slavery; many Jews departed into the Jewish diaspora, but there was never a complete Jewish abandonment of the area, and Jews have been an important (and sometimes persecuted) minority in Judea since that time. [ 12 ]
So even if you don't like the idea of applying Jesus' prophecy to 70CE, you get a chance to declare it fulfilled in 135CE (or a prophetic double-play, if you prefer). And if the JW version of the Great Tribulation comes true, then Jesus gets credit for a prophecizing three-peat. :)
KS
Thanks
I would not recommend fleeing to the Mountains at all, I have a very good friend who resides in the Mountains and she has basically just dissapeared. Might have been abducted by the Albino Mountain people or something. Stay in the City, you are much safer,,,,
