by slimboyfat 61 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I've heard this as well. This seems to be part of the the rank and file JW culture, the unofficial folklore as it were.
When I was in, it made no sense to me. There seemed to me to be no guarantees what structure if any would survive Armageddon intact. Of course, the idea of seven billion everlastingly killed horrified me as well. It is something I struggled with as a JW.
We definitely talked about what houses we were going to have in the new system.
Until a local needs talk questioned how Christian that was.
I've heard and made statements like that while in FS. But never with the meaning 'I hope the people living in this specific house die in Armageddon, because I want this house'. It was always conveying the meaning of 'After Armageddon I'd like to have a house like this in an area like this'.
Thoughtless and selfish, yes. Intentionally cruel...not so much.
Yes - mostly when I was younger.
Since for years now its been Pounded into to us that We Wont get to choose where we live or what we do.
That sounds like paradise :) right.
Fantasizing about their future home in paradise is a common JW preoccupation:
I saw that jws tended to do more house claiming before 1975 and it increased as 1975 drew near...a time when the WTS only gave non-jws 6 months to become jws.
Strange, how they picture Armageddon in their literature with fireballs destroying buildings. What would be left to inherit?
Yes, I remember this very clearly:
1. My mother and her friends always talked about which houses they were going to take over after Armageddon. I actually asked my 71 year old sister about this topic this morning and she remembers very well many Witnesses talking in this manner.
2. About 20 years ago, when I still sporadically attended meetings, one of the Elders gave a talk and specifically stated that Bethelites, District Overseers, Circuit Overseers, Missionaries, Elders, Ministerial Servants and Pioneers will get their pick of the best properties in the New System because they gave their all in this system of things and will be rewarded accordingly for their efforts by Jehovah. The Bastard came home from work a few years ago and sat down in his easy chair and dropped dead. Of course, it remains to be seen what 'palace' he will be bequeathed in 'God's New Order'.
3. When I was Pioneering, I called on a man that had a decent home on a lake. He told me, 'I'm not interested in religion or what you are selling'. Being a Watchtower Stooge (on the surface anyway) I dutifully said to him, "don't you want to live in Paradise?" He replied, "What do I need your Paradise for? I've got one right now!" Every time I drive by that home I think of than gentleman. He was a pretty smart guy.
Since I haven't knocked on one door since 1990, I couldn't tell you what conversational foolishness the current crop of Jehovah's Witnesses engages in. Frankly, I don't give a damn.
I witnessed that first-hand from the COBE in my congregation, a worthless bethelite called Luis Costa, shortly before I became inactive. We were d2d witnessing in an affluent area of our territory and EVEN BEFORE HE RANG THE BELL of that house he remarked how beautiful it was, and he made several remarks on how we would like to have that house for himself after Armageddon and how he was going to claim it, etc...I was appalled. Even before the dwellers had a chance to say yes or no to the message, my uber-zealous pharisee COBE was coveting his house and, by implication, pre-judging them as worthy of death. Tasteless and disgusting...
EdenOne
Pretty common fare as well in French Canada with the younger crowd. Mostly obsessed with 'Lakefront' and high end cars with 'leather' Raiding car dealerships for big 4X4 pick ups and the like. I even bought in on it thinking that I'd commandeer my neighbor's lots that surround my house and then greet my parents back, set them up in one of the better houses and we would cultivate the newly vacant cleansed land that surrounds us. Dreams that Nazi's are made of.. I was pretty stupid to say the least. Actually quite embarrassed and ashamed..
