I was talking to another ex-witness recently and I brought up "the great tribulation" but she wasn't familiar with this term--I was raised with it. As I recall (I might be a little cloudy in remembering) I was taught that after armageddon, satan rules for 100 years and this time was "the great tribulation" because JWs would be thrown in concentration camps and burned at the stake or something...or maybe it happens right before armageddon? I'm starting to think this may be one of those false memories...or maybe a regional thing? Was anyone else taught this term?
great tribulation?
by under74 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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avishai
Oh, hell yeah, i remember it. It was used to scare the shit out of me and it was in their publications. I can't believe they don't remember teh term.
I think it's a period right before the tribulation where "gods people " will be persecuted. Did your folks ever do hiding drills with you? Just in case of persecution?
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MerryMagdalene
Hello, Under74, and welcome!
I haven't had a chance to read your other posts yet but look forward to doing so.
I, too, remember the term "great tribulation" being used a lot as I was raised in the truth (1965-1987) and a quick review of the WT Publications Index I have for 1986-1990 testifies to its continuing useage. I believe it is used in connection with Armageddon. Listed under this term in the Index include the following:
(See Also Armageddon; Generation; Judgments of Jehovah)
*act of God *angels participate *comes "as a thief in the night" *"day of vengeance" *destruction final *end, not of earth, but of "world" *events before: cry of "peace and security", final sealing of 144,000 *events during: heavens darkened *survivors: anointed remnant possibly, being "good" not enough, "great crowd" come out of, Jehovah's organization, like Noah *"this generation" *why necessary
--Merry
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under74
Heww...I was starting to think maybe it was something that I wanted to believe I was tought in order to justify the special kind of hate I have for the religion. My mom never had us do drills she'd just say some shit about Jehovah protecting us...so my brother and my sister and I would constantly talk about what we should do/where we would go if something happened when we were at school or away from our mom.
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Narkissos
As I recall (I might be a little cloudy in remembering) I was taught that after armageddon, satan rules for 100 years and this time was "the great tribulation" because JWs would be thrown in concentration camps and burned at the stake or something...
Hi Under74.
I try to remember how it was in the 80's. What was expected before the end of the 1914 generation (this has changed in 1995) was the following:
1. The nations proclaiming "Peace and security"
2. The "great tribulation", featuring:
2.a. The destruction of "Babylon the Great," i.e. religion except JWs.
2.b. The assault of "Gog from Magog," a world attack against JWs.
2.c. Armageddon or Jehovah's intervention (with the destruction of all mankind except JWs).
3.a. Satan is locked in the abyss for 1000 years.
3.b. Satan is unlocked, tempts "perfect" mankind again and is destroyed.
Has the script changed in the last few years?
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MerryMagdalene
Wow...I never realized before now, but I guess that's why I was always putting together little "survival kits" when I was a kid "just in case." And I played a lot of imprisonment/persecution games where I was being confined and questioned by evil people who hated God. Freaky memories
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under74
Narkissos- Thanks for that. Some of it sounds familiar. I don't know if the script has changed...my (immediate) family left in the early 90s and I wasn't too much into reading the literature (I was in my early teens when we left) The books I'm most familiar with reading was My Book of Bible Stories and that little pink one...I think I was given Young People Ask...Was that the pink one?...I "acted" like I read a lot when I was younger.
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Narkissos
and that little pink one...I think I was given Young People Ask...Was that the pink one?...
The only pink one I remember was "Listening to the Great Teacher" or something like that. I left before Young People Ask was published as a book (it was a collection of earlier Awake! articles I guess).
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onacruse
Until about 1970, the WTS said that the great tribulation began in 1914, but was "suspended" by Jehovah "for the sake of the chosen ones." Hence, not only the idea of a "remnant" was supported, and dozens of antitypical classes developed, but also, the appearance of the "great crowd," as those who were people who had actually survived the GT. Then the WTS shoved the whole thing into the future, and those who are now identified as of the great crowd are really only "potential survivors of the upcoming GT," and the "remnant" (based on current Memorial figures and mortality rates) will continue on well into the middle of this century.
Reminiscent of "millions now living will never die."
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holly
it happens before armaggedon, when the political system turns on the religious systm and there is world wide ban on religion. the day this happens the tribulation starts, then comes armageddon when god gets sick of everyone and tears the wicked from the earth. sounds a bundle of fun doesnt it!