Schizm said:
: In compliance with e-watchman's thought (as much as I hate to admit it)
??? The man is a lunatic. What do you have to do with him?
: I still wonder if perhaps it might've been by DESIGN, rather than luck.
Really. Assuming that "Satan" or some other supernatural Big Nasty exists, do you really think there's any possibility that he started a widespread war that killed several tens of millions of people simply to influence the outworking of the plans of a few thousand Bible Students? Don't you think that "Satan" is a little smarter than that and could accomplish his nefarious ends somewhat more efficiently?
: Had WW1 not happened in the very year (1914) that Russell placed so much emphasis on then it would appear that the Bible Students would've surely been forced to abandon the 2520-year theory (which was a mistaken belief to begin with, in my opinion).
No question about it. But the vague connection between Armageddon, being a war of sorts (which was supposed to end by or start in 1914 depending on what publication year of Russell's writings you read), and the war that began in 1914, being a real shooting war, is hardly a foundation upon which to base a claim of "fulfilled prophecy". After about 1904, and because everything he had expected up to that time had not come to pass, Russell changed the notion of Armageddon: he claimed that it would begin sometime before or in 1914 and quickly lead to the dissolution of all national governments and other human institutions. So when the shooting war began in 1914, Russell saw this as the beginning of Armageddon, and predicted that by 1918 everything would have been accomplished -- God's kingdom would rule, etc. His consummate sales skills are evident in that he convinced his followers that all of his previous prophetic failures were of no account, and that only his prediction about 1918 was of any consequence. Of course, his death in 1916 prevented him from seeing yet another massive failure, but Rutherford and his corrupt cronies took full advantage of the willingness of the Bible Students to virtually worship Russell, and gradually convinced their braindead followers that yet more predictions (that all failed) would come to pass, such as the coming of Armageddon in 1925.
: It stands to reason that those who are truly sincere in their worship of God are a worry to Satan, particularly if they are organized and appear to be growing in numbers (which was indeed the case with Russell's group).
Yeah, right. Tell that to the world's 300 million Pentecostal types, who are growing at about 5% a year. How come "Satan" isn't attacking them in force?
: True Christianity is a threat to Satan's welfare.
Riiiight. The existence of a bunch of mere human beings really threatens the welfare of a supernatural being able to kill those humans by wind, water, fire and pestilence (remember the story of Job if you have trouble with this concept) by the hundreds of thousands in a single day.
: Satan's very existance hangs in the balance.
Ooh, yeah! The increasing numbers of Pentecostals might push God into doing something about Satan!
: With everything to lose
Like what?
This is what gets me about people like you: you never really get down to specifics.
: it would've been to his great advantage
Like what? Winning the lottery?
: to do something at that particular time that would lead the Bible Students into further error.
Oh I see. So Satan influenced the Serbian assassin to kill Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, as well as influencing hundreds of thousands of others during the previous 40-50 years to act so as to lead up to the situation for with this event was a trigger, so as to start World War I and influence a few thousand Bible Students to keep on going in their foolishness.
You need a psychiatrist bad, my friend! Talk about conspiracy theories!
: Had WW1 not happened then it's logical to think that the Bible Students would've gone on to better things than that of believing the duration of the gentile times was foretold in Daniel 4.
No, they would have died out, just like many other groups had died out during the many hundreds of years of false predictions preceding 1914.
: Right now their
The word is "they're".
: still stuck on believing this error, which causes them to believe even more falsehoods yet (meaning the many things that are linked to the idea that God's kingdom was established in 1914).
Sad, but true.
: Surely, Satan couldn't be more happy ... if the Bible Students were indeed showing all the signs of being true worshipers of God.
In view of my above comments, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry, seeing an apparently somewhat intelligent person emitting such silliness.
AlanF
