Pawn to Queen 2034 anyone?

by Fisherman 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  TonusOH

  The impression I always got was that "soon" referred to the next few years. And even that stretches the definition as we typically use the word. I knew many JWs (and heard of many more) who felt that way. I was in high school in the early 80s, and did not expect to graduate before the end came. Then we were expecting it at any time before the year 2000, as the WTS appeared to. After that, it became more of a general expectation, but I am not sure because by then I was well into my fade. Every time I've spoken to my mother in the last 20 years, she has tried to impress on me that the world situation is so bad that things cannot continue much longer and the end is close.

  I'm not sure she even realizes how often she has been telling people how close the end is. Forty or so years at the very least. If you had approached her in the 1970s and told her that the end was close, but would not arrive for another fifty years, she likely would have dismissed such a statement as nonsensical and idiotic. How could one have a sense of urgency for events that were still a half-century away? Each passing year makes it more nonsensical and idiotic. But since they've been waiting for "soon" all of this time, it is difficult to recognize the larger picture. Imagine deciding not to have children because the end will come in 50 years? Or putting off a college degree? Or a career?
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  carla

  I remember having the 'soon' discussion with my jw years ago when we still had jw discussions. As usual lots of run around, re-defining the word etc.... you know how it goes with a jw.

  After one of the 'soon' discussions I started to use the word as he did in dubland- him- are the kids ever going to clean their room?! me- yes, soon. him- when will we do xyz or z? me- soon. You get the idea. After a bit of that he never would define 'soon' again. Go figure!
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  redvip2000

  Most JWs don't step back and look at the big picture. They just live day by day. Another meeting, another book, another field circus outing, another convention, on and on they go on the rat race.

  I see it in my own family. Waiting for the big A for decades, through failed prophecies and timelines, they just believe the latest "understanding".

  There is never a moment when they take a step back and realize that they have been in holding pattern for decades supported by multiple iterations of failed predictions.
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  Beth Sarim

  ''Most JWs don't step back and look at the big picture. They just live day by day. Another meeting, another book, another field circus outing, another convention, on and on they go on the rat race.

  I see it in my own family. Waiting for the big A for decades, through failed prophecies and timelines, they just believe the latest "understanding".

  There is never a moment when they take a step back and realize that they have been in holding pattern for decades supported by multiple iterations of failed predictions.''

  Just chalk it up to the ''sunk cost fallacy''. I mean what high - control group would come to the realization that ''we're no different than any other high - control group'' or ''what if we are even a little bit wrong''
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  Phizzy

  " I mean what high - control group would come to the realization that ''we're no different than any other high - control group'' or ''what if we are even a little bit wrong''.

  The group as whole never will, but those are the questions that come to mind when you are in, add to Cognitive Dissonance, and as in my case, eventually lead to a proper examination and scrutiny of beliefs. Then an Exit, hopefully.

  It is a mystery as to how the org. will play it in the near future, all this End Times stuff is already seen as bullshit by young JW's, but sadly they look no further, and carry on being "in" because ALL their friends are.
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  BoogerMan

  @ Fisherman - isn't the org's tenuous teaching that Matthew 24 has a "greater fulfillment" the problem?

  Wasn't Matthew 24:14 fulfilled before 70 C.E. as Jesus described?

  (Matthew 24:14) "And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end [of the Jewish system] will come."

  (Colossians 1:23) "...not being shifted away from the hope of that good news that you heard and that was preached in all creation under heaven...."

  (1 Timothy 3:16) "He was made manifest in flesh...was preached about among nations, was believed upon in the world, was received up in glory."
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  Disillusioned JW

  Boogerman, well Christianity certainly didn't get preached in the Americas (western hemisphere), or even the southern half of Africa and most of eastern Asia by 70 CE. However, the book of Mormon says Jesus made appearances in the Americas (the continents of North America and South America) and that he taught the people there.

  The Bible writers didn't even known there were people on the western hemisphere of Earth. They didn't even know there was a western hemisphere of Earth. That is because they were flat earthers, who thought the Earth was like a circular plate instead of a sphere (like a ball), with a dome (like an inverted bowl) on the top side of the disc.
  
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  FedUpJW

  This system is obviously on its way out very, Very, VERY soon!

  We can narrow it down even closer. This system is in the last nano-second, of the last seconds, of the last minute, of the last hour, of the last day, of the last week, of the last month, of the last year, of the last decade, of the last century, of the last millennium.

  If an exact WHEN is needed I predict it will happen on October 1st of 2222, at 2:22 A.M. eastern time in New York, USA. That is soon in the grand scheme of time.
  
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  BoogerMan

  @ disillusioned JW - I think it would be reasonable to conclude that Jesus was referring to the preaching being done initially to the ones he was sent to - the dispersed lost sheep of Israel, i.e. Jews and the "world" of Judaism.

  After that work was completed, then his prophecies about pointed stakes, great tribulation, and destruction of the temple would then be fulfilled.

  Paul wrote Colossians 1:23 approximately 6 years before Jerusalem and the whole of Judea began to endure 3 1/2 years of great tribulation, followed by Jerusalem's destruction.
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  Fisherman

  DJW

  It is funny how people like you tell me what it means to be good JW.