Dates and times

jhine

Last night at my Bible study group we looked at 1Thessalonians ch 5 . We have been working through the whole letter.

Verses 1-11 start with

" Now , brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you , for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night "

It's all about just being ready every day because no one knows when the end will come.

The question was asked " given that over the years people have tried to work out a date for the end what is the point of that? "

What would your answer be to that?

Jan from Tam

carla

Also Matthew 24:44 - New International Version

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Years ago I asked my jw- if the jw's are always expecting the end to come, are they actually stalling the end because they are expecting it all the time? If one believes the Bible then it must come only when it is least expected, right?

He said he would get back to me on that. I think that was about 20 years ago and apparently they have no answer or maybe the answer keeps changing so much he can't keep up either?

DesirousOfChange

LUKE 1:8 -- "He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.""

Why did I never see this (as I do now) when I was an active JW?

peacefulpete

It is one of the more obvious misinterpretations of the WT.

The passage is literally saying not to speculate about when the destruction would come, insisting that it will be as unpredictable as a thief in the night and that there will not be a sign. (written before the Gospels) Everyone will be going about life as usual in peace, no terrors, no warnings. Then the advice is that Christians be always "awake" so as not be caught off guard.

It is hilarious actually that the WT and others before them spun the very verse into a sign, a sign of no signs! They lift the phrase "peace and safety" and create a new global event/sign to watch for.

It's like my doctor telling me there are no warnings for cancer to occur, it can happen when least expected, so I interpret my lack of symptoms as a sign of cancer.

On the converse, Paul seems to be saying assume that any day you will get cancer. I'm not sure how healthy that is.

jhine

So Pete , how would you answer the question? Why did the Org. do that , what was the motivation?

Jan from Tam

TonusOH

There seems to be a subset of people who need to know the date and time, even though the Bible made it clear that this could not be known. It's one of those things that isn't even ambiguous, Jesus says no one knows the day or hour. The thought behind it is also pretty clear- always live a life that god will approve of, don't wait until the time is close to try and score enough points to earn salvation at the last minute.

But almost since the time those words were written, people have tried to figure out when the world will end. I don't think there is a number left in the Bible that has not been applied in some odd formula that, almost always, results in a date not far from when the 'researcher' is living in. It feels good to be the one who gets to see these things happen. It feels meaningful. "I was there when it happened" would be special.

Magnum

It's all about just being ready every day because no one knows when the end will come.

I agree.

And what about vs 3? A really big deal is made about that in JW Land. My whole life I've heard about some kind of official proclamation or declaration of peace and security by governments.

However, when I really started thinking and analyzing, I realized that verse says NOTHING about a government agency or about governments. It simply says "they." It also says nothing about any kind of official declaration. JWs read it that way because they've been programmed to.

Following is, to me, the most reasonable explanation/meaning of the verse. It just parallels the words attributed to Jesus at Mt 24:37-39. People in general ("they") would be saying peace and security in that they would just be going through their daily lives doing normal, everyday things thinking/saying everything's good (peaceful and secure) and then they'd be caught off guard.

That, to me, is a reasonable explanation that fits the point Paul was making and fits with the rest of Scripture.

JeffT

I don't think there is a number left in the Bible that has not been applied in some odd formula that, almost always, results in a date not far from when the 'researcher' is living in

When I was researching my novels, I wanted to set up some end-times dates for my fictitious religion. I concluded that I could pick any date I wanted and then bash numbers out of whatever texts worked.

To answer the question I would say there is no point. Just lead the best life you can and don't waste time fessing around with dates.

Mikejw

LUKE 1:8 -- "He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.""

Luke 1:8 doesn’t say that. Did you make a mistake?

BoogerMan

@ MIKE JW - It's Luke 21:8

Dates and times

Share this