A few days back I was talking to the one friend I have that is still a Jehovah's Witnesses. Actually, I think he is in denial that he left, since he has not been regular to meetings for four years. Well we got in this discussion about prophesy. As you might expect this comes up a lot with almost all Witnesses. So what was it about?
Well he was trying to explain to me that he felt he needed to go to meetings more, because the way the economy is looking is like the prophesy of "money being worthless, and thrown into the streets." What I have noticed on here, and in my real life is that some of us do this. We see one thing coming true, in a sense, and it raises some concerns as to whether or not the Witness are correct. Not that it is wrong, as we were in that religion for years and it is only natural that something will surface from time to time that bothers us. There is a problem in this fear and logic though.
That problem is that you can not look at the small things a religion gets right, and ignore all the major things they got wrong. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and it only stands to reason that if you throw 100's of prophesies out there over a hundred years or more, a couple are going to match something. What few people realize about the organization, is that many of the publications on prophesy were written after the fact. What does that mean?
After the fact, meaning they took prophesies from the Bible and years later said that events in the past fit these. So they did not predict nothing, they just worked things that happened into events we all know. How much would you respect a scientist if he told you that he developed a machine that can tell you where a earthquake was, as long as you did not mind knowing until two days after it happened? I don't know about you, but I would think he is a quack!
Now I know, whether we admit it or not, a few out there get scared at times when they watch the news. They worry that this might be the end and some of that teaching put in their head, resurfaces as fear. Just remember when this happens, that you have to have a true north of logic. That logic being, "how can you trust people, who are wrong about so much, even if they get something right now and then." Basically, even a broken clock is right twice a day! ... but would that make it a reliable time piece? I don't think so, do you?
My thought
Even a broken clock is right twice a day!
by kenpodragon 11 Replies latest jw friends
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kenpodragon
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JT
great point
9-11 caused many jw to go back - of course we know that in a few years after nothing has happened if they have not learned the truth about the truth they will find themselves back where they were
depressed and misreable
but your point was great
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IslandWoman
Kenpodragon,
Beautiful. Thanks!
IW
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imanaliento
when I was in there: i use to say how can it be so wrong when it's so right.
now i say : how can it be right when it's so wrong !!
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Nathan Natas
Even a broken clock is right twice a day, but you never know when unless you compare it against a good clock. If all you have is a broken clock, you know nothing.
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jws
Even if the JWs are not right about prophecy, the Bible still has prophecies. Assuming you still believe in the Bible after your JW experiences. I still do.
When I was a JW, I remember every time something happened in the Middle East, people were trying to find a way to fit it into some prophecy or another. Always looking for that cry of "peace and security".
I don't think you're speaking of an entirely JW phenomenon, but a religious one in general. The Bible speaks in symbolisms of many things that are to occur and many Christian groups have some sort of a concept of what these symbolisms might represent (who is the king of the north, who is the serpent, who is the beast, etc.). One popular (though fictionalized) view of this is the Left Behind book series.
If the Bible fortells things, wouldn't it be for the purpose of us understanding those things before or when they are fulfilled? Either that or as a way for us to look back after these things have happened and say, "look, the Bible fortold this", it must be right. In my opinion, other than proving divine inspiration, it does not do much practical good to know a prophecy was fulfilled after the fact. It's usually to let people know what's coming beforehand.
All I'm going to say is *maybe* things are being fulfilled that were spoken of years ago. Particularly when things start happening in the Middle East. Ancient Babylon is in what is now Iraq, which the US seems on the verge of war with. Suicide bombings in Israel, etc., etc. *Maybe* this is all leading up to something. Or, like past events, it will come and go.
I don't buy that a little hard-times here in the US means anything in particular. The JWs are sort of USA-centric. What about financial problems in Japan a few years ago. Why would "people throwing money into the streets" apply only to the USA? Why wasn't it a fulfillment when Japan had financial woes? Or Russia?
All I'm saying is maybe things in the Bible are being fulfilled. I wouldn't discount it altogether. But to get scared and run back to a false religion like the JWs seems idiotic. If some final judgement was at hand wouldn't you want to be closer to God, not serve him via proxy through some man-made organization?
-j.w.s.
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OUTLAW
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day"..WBTS dosen`t even have the track record of a broken clock.They haven`t been right in 125 years..LOL...OUTLAW
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TTBoy
Two things that have been bothering me are the economic situation in the US and the possible massive confrontation with Iraq. Both seem pretty scary.
I think about the "great depression" we bounced back from that. WWII, we made it out of that one too. Maybe if someone acted against Hitler before it got out of hand the war would never have happened. I try to follow this type of reasoning with Iraq. It's a very hard call to act to prevent a greater wrong, it's a lot easier to defend a possition after the problem is known.
It seems that the government is taking positive steps to get the economy back on tract. Interest rates are extremely low so the housing industry is booming. New houses means new appliances which is good for many industries. New houses means all construction divisions should be doing good. I guess you can think of this as a weeding out time for bad executives which is a good thing.
It's those GD Saudi investors and these exectives who screwed up the stock market. Saudi's pulled trillions out of the market according to CNN. This has direct cooralation to the situation in Iraq and the US stand to removing Sadaam. I also find it interesting that Bush is basically deciding the fate of the UN with this issue. Don't know what to think of that.
I suppose many thought the great depression and WWII were the end of the world.............I guess only broken clocks will tell
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kenpodragon
What bother me most about the JW's is that they are now depending on there age to keep their followers ignorant. Meaning, because a lot of the old timers are passing away. They can now get away with looking like they are something, they are not, because fewer and fewer people are around that can call them on it. Thus, to the average new Witness, it would appear that their books of prophesies were told before the events of the 20th century and not after. Thus making them seem like they are in deed guided by God, instead of what is really just strategic placement of knowledge.
Just my added thought
Dragon
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DanTheMan
I suppose many thought the great depression and WWII were the end of the world
Oh yeah, Joe Rutherfraud milked WWII for all it was worth.
Good topic. The WT cult made a lot of us into fearful, emotional cripples. One night last summer, a severe thunderstorm rolled through, tornado sirens blaring and the whole nine yards, it happened in the middle of the night. It hit my fear button pretty hard.
The economy is a big fear factor for me also. I think it is possible that someday the U.S. is going to have to default on the debt. 7 trillion dollars is a joke, it will never be paid. And that will be the end of prosperity and American dominance of world affairs. We'll see what goes down then.