The end of the age or the end times what did the Bible writers mean?

by Crazyguy 10 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Crazyguy

  There are plenty of scriptures pointing to the idea that the end was near according to the scriptures way back then. Example at Act chapter 2 Peter states were in the last days, at 1john chapter 2 in the last hour. Jesus stated he would be back before some of that generation died and of course the famous quote 'this generation'. At the end of the book of Revelations 5 times in the last chapter the writer says he will be back soon. Paul is said to say the same that his contemparies were in the end times.

  So what we're these people writing about? It's been proven that these writing were written most likely after or at least during the second century and many of them are not even talking about the return of a Christ but an end of the age, so again what are they refuring to?

  Some believe it's all about the Zodiac and it's great year spaning 2150 years. Example the Taurus bull and representations of bull gods then Aries represented by the Ram then Picees the fish which some say Jesus was a representation of. In Luke I can't remember what chapter but Jesus tells his followers to look for a man that looks like the water bearer that of Aquarius. Speculation as to when the great year changes over is all over the place from 125ad 300ad all the way up to 2500ad.

  So is the end of the age the change of the Zodiac or were they refuring to some things else, your thoughts?.
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  Finkelstein

  They were trying to propagate the notion that since Satan has such a short to time to ruin the earth and humanity and there will be physical signs of that, unexpectedly Jesus the Messiah would return and bang take out Satan and bring back the earth to a paradise state for humanity .

  The JWS/IBSA think that those said occurring events have intensified since 1914 and therefore supports the doctrine that mankind is living in the end times or the last days.

  So hang onto your drawers folks Armageddon is coming soon.
  
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  John Aquila

  The writers were referring to their audience, but somehow, it seems every freaking generation from then on to now, wants to apply it to their particular time.

  There should be and "End" to people applying the Biblical End Times to themselves.
  
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  Vidiot

  What did the Bible writer John mean when he wrote about the peyote-influenced fever dream he had while in exile on a Roman gulag for nutjobs and political prisoners?

  Hmm, good question.
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  username

  The events have only occurred more frequently due to the advent of round the clock information at our fingertips. Remember the days (at least in the UK) we had 3 channels (showing my age!) Then Rupert Murdoch came along and gave us sky news, now we have a glut of 24h news channels.

  Then the world wide web was introduced to us, giving us more choice. Now we have phones that are not attached to little red boxes. These handy devices fit in your pocket but can carry you anywhere around the world in a millisecond. Not being satisfied with smartphone technology, the techies wanted to invent the same technology as the smart phone but on a larger scale. The tablet was born, now this wasn't made of stone like Moses tablets, these were made of silicon, and more functional than Moses stone tablets. These devices let you see the ten commandments and much much more, including the opportunity to break at least one of the ten commandments is you so wished!

  So now we are living in an era that mankind has never seen before, the era that led most if us to this forum. Welcome to the age of information :)
• 

  Simon

  Remember the days (at least in the UK) we had 3 channels (showing my age!) Then Rupert Murdoch came along and gave us sky news, now we have a glut of 24h news channels.

  No, first it was Channel 4 first and Countdown !
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  Doug Mason

  “As a work of prophecy, of course, Revelation is wholly and self-evidently wrong. ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ demands the biblical author, quoting the souls of the dead martyrs, and he answers his own question by attributing an unambiguous promise to Jesus Christ: ‘Behold, I am coming soon.’ (Rev. 6:10-11, 3:11, RSV) Those words were first reduced to writing nearly two thousand years ago, but the readers of Revelation are still waiting for the day of revenge that is predicted with such clarity and confidence in the ancient text.

  “The author of Revelation is not the only figure in Christian scriptures whose prediction of the end-times was mistaken. Jesus, according to some awkward sayings attributed to him in the Gospels, assures his followers that at least some of them will see the end of the world with their own eyes. The apostle Paul, in turn, offered the same assurance to his generation of Christians. Both Jesus and Paul were gone by the time the author of Revelation set down his vision of ‘things which must shortly come to pass.’ (Rev. 1:1, KJV) All of them turned out to be dead wrong, and the world is still here. …

  “More than a few readers of Revelation in every age, including our own, have thrilled at the idea that the end is near. Indeed, they are perfectly willing to overlook the plain fact that the world has not ended as predicted, and they persist in poring over the text of Revelation in a fresh attempt to figure out the precise date when it will. They have always been wrong, too, of course, but nothing has discouraged the so-called date setters who study the text, crunch the numbers, and come up with dates when the world must end. Not a single century has passed since the ink dried on the first copy of Revelation without some new prediction of the precise date when its prophecies will finally come to pass.” (“A History of the End of the World”, pages 13-14, Jonathan Kirsch)
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  Diogenesister

  Simon No, first it was Channel 4 first and Countdown !

  Da da, Da da, Da da da da! boing!
• 

  kaik

  The end of the ages, or end of time is Greek concept; it is not Jewish origin. Jews believe in Time to Come, or arrival of the Messiah King and the start of Messianic age. There is no violent end of the world. The belief of humanity divided into ages and its violent age, is Greco-Roman. Greeks believed in golden, silver age, and these invented lost past times where in their mind destroyed by clashes between gods, which eventually destroyed the Earth. This belief was known to early Christians who transformed the idea of lost golden era of humanity into their Christian theology, and they believed that the violent end at the hands of Christian god will user another golden, righteous era for humanity. I am not sure who was the original proponent of this idea outside John of Patmos, but the idea of end of times and end of age is well resonated in the writing of St. Augustine in his monumental work City of God.

  Since late antiquity, Christianity was obsessed with the idea of end of age and end of time, until Catholic church forbade it as heretical teaching. The crackdown against doomsday beliefs started already during Schism in the 14th century, and was finally considered as heresy by the time of Reformation. However, the torch of the doomsday scenario was transferred to Protestantism which produced numerous doomsday cults in Anglo-Saxon world including JWs.

  If anyone studies the end of time hysteria and hypes since the Roman Empire to the end of the Middle Ages, there was a strong belief that the End is here and new Golden age of humanity will arrive shortly. When Alaric sacked Rome in 410 hundreds of thousands Christians saw it as a sign of the End. Similar mass hysteria happened in 1000AD or 1419. At the end, the end of age and end of time means nothing. Catholic church knew it already 500 years ago.
  
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  Heaven

  Interestingly enough, there are people on this Earth today, who have never read the Bible. Some are even believers. If you never read the Bible, would your life be any less for it? There are many who can attest to their lives being lived just fine without it. There are also people for hundreds of thousands of years in the past who never read it and there will be many, many more to come.

  There seems to be this segment of the homo sapien species that loves to believe in made up ideas as factual and real, who, for some reason, do not wish to use logic, reason,and critical thinking. Fantasy can be fun (although end times ideas I would not classify that way) but it is not real. The other rather disturbing thing is that these 'believers' continue believing even when their fantasies fail. This is part of psychosis.