Ozzie's Weekend Poll #34 (page 2)

ozziepost

Well, a Persian Cyrus no less!

Welcome aboard, Cyrus, and make yourself at home, but please don't do a Babylon on us. We're not the "Great" ya know!

We look forward to "hearing" much more from you.

Cheers, Ozzie

Scully

Wow.... so many thoughts here.

At the first meeting I attended - when I was about 6 years old - there was talk about the earth turning into a Paradise. My thoughts then were "that will never happen!!"

A couple of years later, after becoming regular in meeting attendance - and with all the "Why are you looking forward to 1975?" (aka overzealousness of certain brothers ) I was certain that I would never graduate from elementary school. I got beat up by classmates on the first day back to school in 1976.

Still, it was coming!! It "would not be late!!" Every major life event was never supposed to happen: high school graduation, marriage, having children, seeing my children start school, grow up, take driving classes, etc.

I never thought I would see myself turn 25 in "this system".... let alone *gasp* 40 later this year!!... I never thought I'd watch my mother and father turn into gray-haired retirees (I think that's the saddest part, too - I never wanted to see them get old.... because it means that someday they will pass away too).

Now that reality has set in.... the hardest part was accepting that everything I had put on hold until the New System was not going to happen unless I made it happen now, in this lifetime. At first it was hugely disappointing, but I quickly got over that. It's been a busy few years, I have to say, and not a dull moment!!

Love, Scully

Xena

#8 Just never seemed that real to me...

Funny thing I was talking with my daughter yesterday about the kinds of animals we both love....my favorite paradise dream was to play with tigers....sometimes I miss the dream

blondie

I was always #9. I had the scriptural proof too. If someone pushed me on it, I just whipped out my Bible. In 1975 the holy spirit finally enlightened Fred Franz and his crew.

Matthew 24 (NLT)

36 "However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

Mark 13 (AMP)

32 But of that day or that hour not a [single] person knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Since Jesus was present and participating and the angels were present to witness the creation of Eve, Jesus and the angels would know the day and the hour if it precedes from Eves creation.

*** w75 5/1 285 A Contrast-Missionaries with an Urgent, Lifesaving Work ***

Another speaker, F. W. Franz , the Societys vice-president, forcefully impressed on the audience the urgency of the Christian preaching work. He stressed that, according to dependable Bible chronology, 6,000 years of human history will end this coming September according to the lunar calendar . This coincides with a time when "the human species [is] about to starve itself to death," as well as its being faced with poisoning by pollution and destruction by nuclear weapons. Franz added: "Theres no basis for believing that mankind, faced with what it now faces, can exist for the seventh thousand-year period" under the present system of things.

Does this mean that we know exactly when God will destroy this old system and establish a new one?

Franz showed that we do not, for we do not know how short was the time interval between Adams creation and the creation of Eve, at which point Gods rest day of seven thousand years began. (Heb. 4:3, 4)

*** w75 10/1 579 The End of 6,000 Years of Man-Rule Approaches-What Has Been Accomplished? ***

Does it mean that Christs millennial Kingdom rule, as the final 1,000 years of that "rest day," is to be reckoned from September 1975? Gen. 1:27, 31; 2:2, 3; Rev. 20:1-6. No, it does not mean that
. Why not? Well, the Bible record shows that Gods creations on the "day" just preceding that 7,000-year "rest day " did not end with Adams creation. It shows a time lapse between the creation of Adam and that of his wife, Eve. During that time, God had Adam name the animals. Whether that period amounted to weeks or months or years, we do not know . So we do not know exactly when Jehovahs great "rest day" began, nor do we know exactly when it will end. The same applies to the beginning of Christs millennial reign. The Bible provides us no way to fix the date, and so it does us no good to speculate when that date may be. Gen. 2:18-25; Matt. 24:42, 44.

Since 1975, the 7,000 year long creative day has lapsed into the memory of a few old-timers and the 1914 generation has been eliminated.

Blondie

CyrusThePersian

Hi!

Note to Blondie:

I always enjoy your well researched posts! I wish I'd thought of that back in the early 70's when that 1975 crap was floating around!

And thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

Babylon will rise again!! ...Oh wait, the Persians don't like the Babylonians. Never mind.

Cyrus

Wolfgirl

9

I was absolutely certain it was coming "soon," but didn't know when.

blondie

Thanks Cyrus.

Yes, I was the bane to many between 1966 and 1975 because I burst their little bubble. I was shocked that the great minds in New York had not considered such simple reasoning. Too bad I didn't get the whole picture then and leave. But JWs have such an emotional hold on people.

Blondie

DanTheMan

2. We'll be in the paradise within five years.

This is how I felt when I was studying in 1992.

8. Didn't really believe it, but it's a nice wish.

This was how I started to feel towards the end. Especially when I saw how many a**hole dubs there were and how many nice "worldly" people there were. I stopped believing that one's survival through the big A depended on whether or not they had responded when some muttering 19 year old JW pioneer came to their door offering magazines about "Help for Arthritis Sufferers".

Kenneson

I've gone from a 9 to a 10. I no longer interpret all of Revelation literally. I now view Armageddon as symbolical. Jesus has already won the Battle through his resurrection. Revelation depicts him as a victorious because he is the Lamb and as such he has overcome and conquered Satan and his followers. And because he has overcome, we too, can overcome. 1 John 4:4. In 1 John 5:4-5 it also says: "Everything that has been born from God conquers the world, and this is the conquest that has conquered the world, our faith. Who is the one that conquers the world but he who has faith that Jesus is the Son of God?" All this language about war is similar to the weapons Paul tells Christians to use in our fight against Satan and his minions. Eph. 5:11-18. In 2 Tim. 4:7 Paul says that he has fought the fine fight (not literal) and he is ready to receive the crown of righteousness (not a literal crown). So, it's not a literal battle against flesh and blood, but against the wicked spirit forces of Satan.

If Rev. 16:14-16 and Rev. 19 are literal than we can expect the kings of the entire earth (please note that there are few actual kings remaining in modern times) and their armies to be gathered at Armageddon for battle. But will they actually do battle there or will the battle be fought at Jerusalem? But if the only participants in the Battle are Jesus and his armies and the kings and their armies fighting in Israel, this is not a worldwide Battle, but a localized one. How will that rid the world of the wicked non combattants, who remained back home (including women, children, etc.)?

So, I'm more prone to see Revelation as a symbolical book. The battle against evil is overcome not with a real sword, but with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, Jesus. And the Lamb has already won the battle. Rev. 17:14

Ozzie's Weekend Poll #34

ozziepost

Robdar

Scully

Xena

blondie

CyrusThePersian

Wolfgirl

blondie

DanTheMan

Kenneson

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