This site has been going for 13 years. Did you ever at one point fear armageddon?

by ILoveTTATT 33 Replies latest jw friends

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  scotoma

  I am an atheist.

  But I admit to the possibility of other sentient material life forms who may be able to utilize the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics and travel to an infinite number of universes just an instant in time away from our universe.

  What do big brother sentient beings do? Since cooperation is necessary for a culture to evolve to its highest potential (you either get along or kill each other) these big brothers of the universe jump around making subtle adjustments that help other sentient entities evolve.

  The payoff for the big brothers is the marvelous products that can emerge from the interconnecting minds of trillions of beings. Perhaps the ability to create new universes by utilizing energy of galaxy clusters - WHATEVER. Use your imagination.

  Perhaps a "personal god" is a placeholder for cooperation. Utilizing the natural desire for survival built into competing species these entities "bribe" us mortals into acutally believing we will live forever as long as we love (cooperate) with one another. Everlasting life is a trick to make us willing to sacrifice for the good of the whole.

  That's where I start to worry. None of us are important. We are all expendable because there are an infinite number of experiments going on with an infinite number of Bobs, Teds, Carols and Alices that work as modules. In this SciFi like universe progress is made by jettisoning our selfish desires for status, food, sex, which all are the basis for war but have been essential to climb the ladder of sentience.

  You get a group of people and tell them they are special. You eventually send a special envoy who tells them that they aren't special. They kill him. This impresses people. He becomes the model of self-sacrifice. Since no nation is special there is no need to kill others. You let all the "special" people create a terrible world and bring it to the edge of destruction. The people who aren't special actually become unique because they survive the destruction because of their worldwide brotherhood based on self-sacrifice. The world is shaken by the chaos but impressed by the survival of those who cooperate and have self-sacrificing love.

  Everyone learns the lesson. At that point the big brothers let them start associating with the more advanced societies of the cosmos.

  Back to why I worry. Since everlasting life is just a gimmick I'm not really going to live forever as promised. I will either die for the good of all or just die anyway.

  "It may be you will be hid on the day of Jehovah's anger."

  But then none of it matters on a personal level because there are an infinite number of each of us moving along some continuum somewhere.
• 

  scotoma

  DataDog,

  There is nothing significant about a blood moon.

  It is slightly noteworthy that it happens on the passover.

  It is still interesting that Titus made his AD70 attack on Jerusalem on Passover and it was a passover with an eclipse of the moon AND it also was April 14.

  The real eye catcher would be if prior to April 14 Israel and Palestine achieved a significant breakthrough in the struggle for peace along with a lot of fanfare and public display.

  At that point you might want to watch out for the other shoe to drop.

  My stomach would be churning at that point. And though few here would admit it most on this board would have some second thoughts.
• 

  WTWizard

  I do not believe in any event in which those believing in joke-hova will be ushered into paradise while everyone else will be destroyed by joke-hova. Rather, I am looking for an actual war against Israel, where Israel is losing badly. That almost happened in 1973 with the energy crisis. At some point, the messiah will appear and, using black magick, help Israel win the war and destroy all its military foes. After which, this messiah will force all other nations into a treaty where all of us common people will be enslaved. It will be as if the Dark Ages were digitized, because those enforcing it will be able to instantly spot dissent with psychic powers. No trial--you are suspected of being a heretic, you die a horrible death. And this time, no end.

  Another thing I look for is Agenda 21. Once we are all in tiny apartments barely 25 square meters, assigned work, and with rationing of all commodities, we will effectively be slaves to the system. Dissidents will be cut off from their means of sustenance, perhaps by turning off their microchip or wiping it clean. Perhaps they will be brought into the "justice(??)" system to be tortured. That, too, will be the deluxe version of communism, which is virtually identical to the xian version. The outcome will be the same--humanity stagnating and suffering, while the angels harvest their souls.
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  krejames

  I don't have any specific beliefs now. But I did feel my anxiety rising again when I read some of the latest WT articles that someone posted on this forum. The mindset and old fear comes back. I'm conscious that I don't naturally "expect" a long future. It's like at the back of my mind I believe something big is going to happen but I think that's just years of indoctrination and will take a while to leave me. All I know is, is that I feel much more peace of mind now than I did as a JW. I can also echo the sentiment someone else posted - that even if there is a God and Armageddon is about to happen, I find it difficult to believe JWs would be the chosen ones let alone the only ones to survive. And if that were the case, it is not a god I would want to worship.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  Hang in there. Just for fun, buy yourself a nice bottle of scotch. Plan on opening it with friends 10 years from now....

  At this point in my life, I don't even buy green bananas. . .

  . . . but it really has nothing to do with the fear of Armageddon coming -- now, or within my lifetime.

  Doc
• 

  fresh prince of ohio

  I left in the Spring of 2002, when 9/11 was still very fresh. For whatever reason, i was really numb to the events of 9/11. I just was beyond caring much about anything at the time, i was so burnt out on JWism that I felt dead inside, like a zombie.

  I never fear that somehow JWism is what the leadership trumpets it to be - a system of mental constructs which one must hold firmly to -- and continually demonstrate ones holding to in various ways -- in order to not be killed by God when God decides that it's time to start raining fireballs from the sky and opening up giant cracks in the earth to "destroy" all those who don't hold to the same mental constructs.

  That said, I do fear the financial/social/governmental collapse of the United States. I've carried that fear since I was a teenager, and JWism was the only thing that ever gave me a measure of relief from it.
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  flipper

  ILOVETTATT- Interesting thread. Since I've been out and stopped attending for good since 2003 - I have NEVER feared an alleged " Armageddon " because it's a total unreality used by the WT Society and other religious cults to promote fear and guilt in their members. But before I lost the mind control while still attending the 9/ 11 attacks DD make me briefly go back to the organization in 2002 for a year or so and got reinstated as I had been DFed from 1998 to 2002 so I was scared in my own mind controlled way that 9/11 might be something foreboding. But I blame the WT Society for instilling that fear in me from birth. Once I saw through the veneeer and scam - since 2003 I've NEVER been in fear of anything anymore
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  Phizzy

  When 9/11 happened I was still an active JW.

  I didn't think then it had anything to do with Armageddon. Also as a JW I never feared the Big A, I trusted that Big J in the sky was a God of justice who could read hearts, so what had I to fear ? If I was judged not good enough, then fair enough, I was what I was.

  I still believed at that time that there would be an end to the "System of Things", brought about by God, but I often said to fellow JDubs that I believed we would be pleasantly surprised how god did it, and at who survived it.

  I did not go along with the WT's more loony ravings about it, all based on a very symbolic book.

  As soon as I left for good, I researched everything, God, Bible, Religions, and the truth set me free from all silly fears.

  If you have left the religion, make sure it leaves you, or you will continue to suffer, totally unnecessarily.

  Be truly free, and happy.
• 

  bigmac

  i was an active dub in the 60's--a regular pioneer even. we all lived in the cold war era--hoping a nuclear war would never happen. so --we preached an alternative--jehovah was going to destroy everybody ( except his witnesses ) instead. we simply swapped 1 fear for another.

  but--hand on heart i never bought the armageddon idea--but then--i didnt believe in jehovah either. thats 1 of the reasons i quit well before '75.
• 

  SuperBoy

  I'm conscious that I don't naturally "expect" a long future.

  I have that too.
  It's weird isn't it?
  And yet, here we all are.
  
  I told my mum (who asked me "What if it's true, what will you think then?") that I couldn't worship a god who seems intent on spreading misery piecemeal around the world.

  I realise that if the tsunamis in Thailand and Japan never happened, that wouldn't strengthen your faith. But they did happen. And for the people who died, I believe they are at peace, there is nothing else. But for those left behind, the pain, the anguish, the grief. Touching generations, and thousands of people. And we are overseen by a loving god?
  
  The 9/11 attacks shook me to the core. Again, if it didn't happen, we wouldn't all be going around saying how marvellous god is because a terrorist attack didn't happen, but they did happen. And again, misery and gloom sweeps around the world.

  "Ah yes, but that's Satan's system. And Jehovah's timetable."
  
  Well, how does mankind ever have a chance? We have been imperfect since Adam & Eve, and now we have Satan and his demons roaming around, causing mischief. How would we know how manking would do on their own two feet? Look at what we do - medical research, cures, striving to be better. Yes, it goes wrong and we have wars and awfulness, but maybe that is because god is allowing Satan free reign?
  
  And also, why make it so difficult to find this god?
  
  "Because Satan has made it difficult".

  But if God is a god of love, and desires that no one die, you'd think he'd make it easier. No?
  
  "People have to use their free will to choose".
  
  But if people use their freewill in the wrong way, they are doomed to die anyway? How is that free will?
  
  I am an athiest now. I can't square these circles anymore.
  (I am typing this while Kingdom Melodies 4 plays. What the feck is wrong with me?!! Haha.)
  
  We are on this planet for a blink. Make it the best you can.