Remember 1992? (page 3)

smiddy3

And didn`t they also indicate that all of the Bible prophecies about the end of the world The big A and the GT would all be over or in its final fullfilment by the end of the 20th Century ?

And that the 21st century would usher in the paradise Earth that they have so often preached about .

{ Its peculiar when you Know that the Bible never mentions mans destiny is to inhabit a Paradise Earth }

"Trinity" is never mentioned in the bible ,so it doesn`t exist

"Paradise Earth" is never mentioned in the Bible so it doesn`t exist .

Now to play the Devils Advocate :

2 peter 3: 13 But their are new heavens and a new earth we are awaiting according to his promise and in these righteousness is to dwell .

How do you refute this scripture ? with all of the above ?

blondie

I did a little looking using Google and realized how many conflicting interpretations there are of what the "new earth" means at 2 Peter 3:13, individuals and groups.

Some say the literal heavens and earth will be destroyed and recreated literally.

Some teach that the earth is only a temporary place to test the spirits (angels) that are born into human bodies and go through an evaluation process and then return to heaven with additional blessings and those that don't go another place of dishonor (hell?)

Others believe that the new earth spoken here is just another allegory for heaven.

and so on

I reminds me of what the computer said it learned in the movie War Games: The only way to win the game is not to play the game at all (something like that).

It shows how many ways this scripture can be interpreted to fit the organizational doctrine.

neverendingjourney

I've been on this forum for 12 years now. I faded a few years before that.

I've been pondering how the current crop of millennial ex-jws are different than the boomer/early-GenXers who left shortly after 1995.

I wasn't an "apostate" in the late 90s, but I do remember visiting the old H2O forum on two occasions. One was purely by accident as news had started trickling in of new GB appointments and I went online to confirm it. The second time was in connection with a search for the Creation book. That little blue book convinced me at 15 years old to forget my doubts and embrace the "truth" of the Bible.

During the few minutes I spent on that forum, I saw well thought out, lengthy debates about doctrine. Someone had gone through all the footnotes of the Creation book and pointed out how the quotes were misleading. There were echoes of that on this forum still when I joined 12 years ago, but the impression I got was that those debates had been thoroughly exhausted and were being brought up fresh as new arrivals discovered them. For the most part stuff like 607 BCE, blood, real WT history, had been settled.

But the JWs who were leaving and finding online forums in the late 90s were folks who were raised on Freddie Franz' ramblings and who were encouraged to do lengthy research into various WT doctrinal topics. Some folks fancied themselves JW scholars of sorts. It makes sense that a certain amount of reprogramming would need to take place in order to truly free yourself. I went through that lengthy process myself and it probably took a solid year or two.

However, if you go to the exjw subreddit today, which is full of millennial and post-millennial ex-jws, doctrine is hardly brought up. It's certainly not discussed as in depth as it used to be 15 years ago. I have to think that reflects the post '95 environment in the Witness world. The trend after '95 was steadily against "deep study" and more in favor of obeying for obedience's sake. There's no need to verify anything, just trust the governing body. People who grew up in that environment don't need the deep doctrinal deprogramming that I needed when I made my escape.

OnTheWayOut

I was fully involved in 1992. Baptized in 1988 and married by the end of 1990, ministerial servant on his way to elder. I have to agree with Slimboyfat on page 1 of this thread that "1995 was the turning point for JWs."

No turning back. The "generation of 1914" was expiring. So up to that point, they were very busy convincing themselves that everything was fine. The end is right around this very next corner.

Well, it expired. It didn't happen. The JW's left are just denying their disappointment.

Vidiot

neverendingjourney - "...Someone had gone through all the footnotes of the Creation book and pointed out how the quotes were misleading..."

Once again, for the newbies, lurkers, and trolls...

...if you have to cheat to defend your beliefs, your beliefs don't deserve to be defended.

redvip2000

1992? How about 2001? I thought for sure that with 9/11, we were right there. That was over 17 years ago...already.

Yup for sure. The Org lives on these temporary crisis. The latest is in fact the Trump administration, but the reality is that despite his buffoonery, it's been fairly stable.

Once he is gone, what is next? The occasional terrorist act? US - Iran war?

Holden Caufield

I was only 2 then.

Remember 1992?