I've always had difficulty understanding how Watch Tower interprets 1 Thessalonians 5:3 as prophetic of a future event - that the nations will unite in a (false) cry that they have achieved 'peace and security' which will signal the start of the Great Tribulation. Whenever I've read that passage I got the sense that it is simply stating a general principle... that when people are complacent and off-guard, thinking everything is o.k., peaceful and secure then sudden unexpected events hit them harder and they don't know what to do. When I was first coming in (1980s) I well recall the "True Peace and Security" book that made a big deal about the UN having declared 1986 'The International Year of Peace'. I'm sure it was heavily implied that that might be the fufillment of the "cry", but when I mentioned this years later to a brother he shut me down saying No they never said that.. Of course at the moment (or ever ?) it does not seem like the nations will unite in anything...
1 Thessalonians 5:3....Prophecy ?
by HereIam60 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Raimundo
Something that Paul does constantly is to quote Jesus but with other words
he does it in all his letters
When he talks about peace and security he is quoting what Jesus said about Noah's flood
Jesus said that people would eat, drink and marry, that is to say people would BE CAREFREE AND AT PEACE
but destruction would come like a flood in a SUDDEN way
Paul says the same thing and if you notice both talk about the day of the Lord
That does not mean that people will reach a fictitious peace which will happen
Simply waiting for the exact same words to be pronounced like magic words is another misinterpretation of the governing body
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BelisemDeBelimakom
When you read it in context, you realize that the verse is not as the WT interprets it. The WT tactic is this: you can cherrypick a verse, a word, a group of words, and make it say anything you want. When you read 1 Thessalonicians in context, you realize that WT is using deception.
Just like Jesus said, here Paul reminds us that the end will come like a thief, so no one can predict it. If there were to be foreseeable signs, He would contradict himself. Paul here gives a general warning about being spiritually alert and about the conduct we as Christians need to focus on.
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TonusOH
It is like talking about famine or disease or natural disasters as signs of the end. These are things that happen frequently throughout human history, and continue to do so. The UN designated 1986 as the Year of Peace and Security. How much clearer could a sign get? And yet... nothing.
One can interpret it to mean that the end will come when it is least expected. In other words, when the nations are celebrating peace and security (ie, when they feel that things are going as well as can be hoped), that is when the end will be upon them. In other words, it's not necessarily a literal cry of "peace and security" as much as it is a sense of complacency.
The problem is, humanity has been so on edge, constantly predicting the end for centuries. It's as if we will never become complacent. So god might never get a chance to sneak up on us. The ultimate irony: our fervent desire for the end to begin might delay it forever...
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nowwhat?
Paul was talking about the Jewish religious leaders before the destruction of Jerusalem
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peacefulpete
HereIam60....You are dead on correct. The writer was insisting upon the suddenness and unpredictability of His coming. This was in response to the apparent delay and growing disillusionment. It also shows no awareness of the 'sign' in the Gospels, but that is another topic. The WT however did not invent their misapplication of the phrase in 1 Thess.. Here is a thread in which I posted Olof Jonsson's research. In that thread there is another link to another thread with details of the WT development of the idea.
The UN, was the WTS given special knowledge?
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Rattigan350
1 Thess 5:3 is not a prophesy.
The Watchtower liked to use that scripture because they like future prophesies to lead people.
First to have a prophesy, there must be a prophet to relay it. Paul was not a prophet. Paul was a historian and he was just comparing the history of Israel from the past to how it will again play out in the future.
The nations are not the ones declaring peace and security. I was the people that did that in the past because they had temporary peace such as when Babylon went against Jerusalem and when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. Any connection to the future would be about the wild beast attacking the harlot and then a break in the action and people would declare peace and then they both would be destroyed.
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Acluetofindtheuser
I'd like to add another scripture that the Organization uses to say that Paul was even a Visionary, when in fact he was not.
2 Corinthians 12:1-5
This is where Paul relates a man's vision of him being sent to the third heaven and to paradise. Paul is boasting about this man's special vision but he refuses to boast about himself in any way. The vision was not given to Paul it was given to this unnamed man. The Insight Book says this about that vision on 2 Corinthians in the section on Heaven.
"Since there is no mention in the Scriptures of any other person having had such an experience, it seem likely that this was the apostle's own experience."
Paul said it wasn't his vision and he didn't want to boast about himself so he boasted about this guy. They can't throw in the words "seems likely" to prove their point without data to support their conclusions.
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Duran
[7 When they have finished their witnessing, the wild beast that ascends out of the abyss will wage war with them and conquer them and kill them. 8 And their corpses will be on the main street of the great city that is in a spiritual sense called Sodʹom and Egypt, where their Lord was also executed on the stake. 9 And those of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their corpses for three and a half days, and they do not allow their corpses to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those dwelling on the earth rejoice over them and celebrate, and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those dwelling on the earth.]
[3 Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape.]
[ 7 But you who suffer tribulation will be given relief along with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels 8 in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. 9 These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength, 10 at the time when he comes to be glorified in connection with his holy ones and to be regarded in that day with wonder among all those who exercised faith, because the witness we gave met with faith among you.]