Recently I woke in the early morning hours to a knock on the door and my first thought was, "Jehovah's Witnesses going door-to-door." So I got myself together and went to the door and sure enough there were two people standing there with Bibles in hand. They had a flier and they started to speak, "the end is coming, God is passing judgment upon man soon." I thought, "this is a little bolder then I remember being as a Witness." So I looked at the flier and I saw they were members of another Christian church that meets here in town. I took the flier, told them to have a nice day and went back to bed.
As I lied there in bed I got to thinking about all that is happening in the world. The economy is terrible, terrorism is scaring people, war seems to be just around the corner and there are several other problems I could hardly list in one post. I admit, sometimes when I hear about these events and stories, I flash back to some of the teachings of the Witnesses. I have even found myself, in a recent conversation, accidentally saying "this system of things is really heating up." I am sometimes shocked, that after so many years of not being a Witnesses, there are still some teachings or words bobbing around in my head. I even found myself pulling up the Watchtower CD to see what was said in prophecy, to get a handle on how Witnesses would see today's events.
The morning went on and I thought more and more about the time we live in and the news stories of the day, and I realized something that seems to elude my thinking pattern at times. That is, that Jehovah's Witnesses do not own a monopoly on being the only religion that says these are the last days. If I walked into most Christian churches, I would hear in one way or another that God is going to pass judgment on the ungodly people of this earth. They might use phrases like Rapture, Armageddon, or the Tribulation. Yet in the end you must conclude, most Christian religions teach of a judgment or end to mankind. It seems the difference comes in the level to which they push it.
Some churches, like the Witnesses, teach it in every moment of there day. The Witnesses think this is the "last days" and they plan every thing in their life around that. My parents did not buy a house until after 1975, because they thought the end would happen that year. I was discouraged from going to college, as the end was coming and Pioneering was more important. The list goes on and on, but in the end I conclude that I spent my Witness days thinking the END WAS NEAR, or within days. Yet despite all the religions out there teaching that concept, I only had first hand experience with the Witnesses and thought they were the only ones teaching such a message. With this flier, that I am looking at when I write this, I am some how encouraged by the fact that others have been doing the same in other churches. Why?
Well, despite what you might think, it is not because I think the end is coming. No, rather it is because I see futility and hatred in preaching it and yet thinking you are the only one right in the matter. Maybe, the message of the end is nothing more then a fools journey into to not accepting responsibly for our own actions as humans. What if this type of thinking leads to people thinking, "well we might as well let it all fall apart, if that is what God wants." I say this, as I know I felt this way as a Witness;
"Why help charities, God will destroy them soon anyway."
"Why feed the poor, they will die and get a new chance in the new system of things."
"Why fight in a war, God will erase all nations soon and put his own in place."
Why do anything, just let it all happen the way God wants it to. Perhaps, if all the religions in the world that spent so much time out warning people that the end was coming. Took that same time to make the world a better place. We would not have such a DOOMS day scenario to deal with. Maybe we would see prophesies being fulfilled of kindness and support to our fellow man. Yet in the end, we must realize, the people who preach DOOM, WANT DOOM! After all, if you told someone they were getting a piece of chocolate cake for desert, would you want to be there when the chocolate cake did not arrive? I know I wouldn't.
So when I read the news and hear all these stories. I feel some how a little more relaxed in knowing that I am most likely not the only fool having little doubts popping into my head. No, there are plenty of others out there saying the same thing and they are seeing all of these events as the icing on the cake, to their years of hard work. Yep, they find joy in seeing harm done onto others.
"Love thy neighbor, if they are a fellow-believer. Love thy neighbor's pain, if they are not."
Sure glad I actually have a heart now, and see these events as terrible and do my best to help the situation. Rather then dancing the victory dance to a desire that these days are truly the DOOMSDAY we always wanted.
Edited by - whyhideit on 12 February 2003 23:12:9