The "Critical Times" Con-Game - Dec. 15 Watchtower

by metatron 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  metatron

  "All this testifies that we are living in 'critical times'" - 2 Tim. 3: 1-5 (Dec. 15, 2003 Wt pg. 14)

  They never get tired of repeating this deception, do they?

  Does ANY WITNESS ever get out their Bible and actually read the context, in verse 6 ??

  "For from these arise men who slyly work their way into households and lead as their

  captives weak women loaded down with sins, led by various desires."

  Paul spoke in the present tense about wicked, sneaky men who arose "FROM THESE"!!

  - that TELLS YOU that all of the preceding bad qualities EXISTED 2000 years ago

  AND qualified Paul's time as "critical times". Any idea of urgency based on

  "critical times" is therefore logically unsupported.

  And as for "critical times", let's use SOME REASON:

  Does your neighbor own slaves? Can he work them to death or rape them

  if he pleases? ( Ancient Rome)

  If you don't want a new born baby, can you legally kill it? ( Ancient Christians

  objected to this Roman custom)

  If you go to a stage play or movie, are the actors actually tortured or killed

  as part of the story? ( again, Romans did this as part of the performance, using

  prisoners).

  If you watch sports - even boxing - are the participants expected to actually

  kill each other deliberately and brutally? Are sports fans allowed to drink some

  of their blood? ( the Colliseum)

  Is having sex with children legal - and celebrated where you live? ( Rome, again)

  Do I have to go on and on? Does logic and history ever enter the minds of Watchtower

  readers? Far from being "worse and worse", most people in the developed world

  have never had life so good. Got indoor plumbing?

  Nor does "sexual depravity" make much difference. European countries that

  recognized gay rights and marriages years ago have not seen any great

  change from 1 - 2% of the population claiming homosexual status.

  And straight sex? You aren't often told that VD ( STD's for you modern types)

  was so bad among American troops in 1918 Europe that US leaders worried

  about it draining the war effort. Your Granpaw's fun in France led directly to the

  issuance of enormous numbers of condoms to GI's told to "put it on before you

  put it in". (WW2)

  You say the human race is threatened by AIDS now? Ever hear of a horrible

  history wide epidemic of syphilis - incurable at the time and spread all over

  the world? ( evidence of it found among countless ancient remains all over the

  place).

  The Society cherishes these "worse and worse" notions because it's part of

  how they maintain power over people's minds. Better and better is closer to

  the real truth for most of us- even in a moral sense. Solomon was wise

  in teaching " Do not say 'Why have the former days proved to be better than these?"

  for it is not due to wisdom that you have asked about this " Ecc. 7: 10

  metatron
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  waiting

  Whenever I see your name as the author of a thread.........the thread's worth the read.

  If there were no "critical times", then there would be no "sighing", then there would be no urgency needed because Armageddon would be afar off (or never) - and no need to go knocking on doors & 5 meetings a week - and no need for the WTBTS.

  Therefore, the WTBTS teaches bogus history - only what they want the Jehovah's Witnesses to read.

  waiting
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  shotgun

  Good work Metatron.....Have you ever read The signs of the Times or last days by COJ? I can't remember the exact title.
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  metatron

  I haven't but I'd like to.

  Even outside of the "truth", I get horrified by how poor the teaching of history can be. Kids go to college

  and miss out on the depth and glory of how the lowly human race has triumphed over adversity of every sort.

  I'm grateful for all the suffering that enabled the beauty of our present life.

  metatron
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  heathen

  I think we have had to deal with critical times in the last century on a vast scale . We had 2 world wars and we have been living under the threat of mutally assured destruction since the 50's. The money grubbing religionists flaunt their wealth and really know how to put on a con-game . There's plenty more such as natural disasters and stock market crashing , murder and suicide ,poverty .
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  metatron

  Let's analyse the last century:

  Mutual Assured Destruction? Most people in the Middle Ages lived in a climate expecting complete destruction/ death.

  They experienced the Bubonic plague and the Black Death and Hundred Years war and more misery than you or I can imagine.

  Meanwhile, Europe living under the nuclear Umbrella of the U.S., ENJOYED THE GREATEST PERIOD OF PEACE AND

  PROSPERITY in their entire history! Like it or not, Pax Americana was the best thing to ever happen to Europeans.

  Money- grubbing religionists? Not even close! I don't see anything these white-suited crooks have done that even begins

  to compare with the Vatican's blatant sale of indulgences hundreds of years ago. Or ... to go back further in time, how about

  the Assyrian priests who encouraged the wholesale slaughter of entire nations to gain wealth and power? Have you ever

  seen wall carvings of piles of heads or other body parts they proudly accumulated?

  Natural disasters? Bigger than the extinction that wiped out most creatures on earth like the dinosaurs?

  Bigger than Krakatoa? Bigger than the historical explosion of Santorini? Or Pompeii? Worse than the Ice Age?

  Stock market crashes? There were PLENTY of depressions and panics thruout US history - and other nations.

  In the rest of history, there was no prosperity to CREATE a stock market capable of crashing - is that better?

  Murder and suicide? You mean when modern forensics didn't exist? When you could suffocate any baby and get

  away with it because there was no way to prove otherwise? ( Modern Statisticians derive this from orphanage records).

  Violence? Like when Romans/Babylonians/ Assyrians or Hebrews slaughtered entire cities including all women

  and children?

  Poverty? did they have Social Security and Welfare checks in ancient times? or did Hindu women throw themselves

  on funeral pyres so they wouldn't be a burden to everyone? Did Eskimos put their sick old people on drifting icefloes

  because they couldn't take care of them?

  Worse and worse? Do you have an indoor toilet? Do they punish criminals in your neighborhood by nailing them to large

  pieces of wood to slowly die? Do you have antibiotics to prevent having ten kids born so three or four will survive childhood?

  ( examine a very old graveyard). Was Charles Dickens utterly horrified at the violence and filth of New York city ?

  ( see Gangs of New York - it has a historical basis).

  I could go on....

  metatron
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  kgfreeperson

  While I agree with metatron's assessment of "better and better" I really do worry that environmental degradation will catch up with us. Not God's angry hand. Our own lack of stewardship.
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  Mysterious

  Society has always faced challenges through history though. We overcame the old ones and now we face new ones. It's not that it's getting worse, it's just that there are always challenges to overcome.
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  heathen

  You do have a point that the scripture could be describing any point in history but I also think that we live in a time of enormous potential for disaster with the nuclear war threat on the horizon still .Never has man faced a threat like that before , not only destroying themselves but rendering the planet useless with all the fallout and radiation .Despite all the technology and education we have , the desire to control and manipulate gets even more dangerous . The belief that having the bigger gun is the only way to provide peace is now being challenged by the terrorists who have had europe and the US gripped with fear for quite some time now . I do agree it is nice that religions can no longer have a convert or die policy but they are nothing but con--men . People are free to give their money to whoever they want but alot of times it is the belief that God will pass judgement on them if they don't that makes them do it .
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  ballistic

  Heathen, a nuclear bomb could have wiped out the entire human race 4500 years ago, but there has been born an extra 1 billion in the last 100 years and we're all spread out to the four corners of the earth. Personally I don't believe in doom.