Apologies if this has been asked before, but.... When I was growing up into the fabulously handsome critter I am nowadays, I always remember talk of the Great Tribulation that would not only befall mankind but overtake this system of things in the near future. In fact one of my earliest memories was standing in a queue that seemed to go on for miles (I was only 7) outside with my mum and aunt/cousins at a cinema to see StarWars, so I reckon it must have been 1977 and listening to them talk of it. Anyway I digress, What and when exactly is the "Great Tribulation" according to JW beliefs.
I always understood it to be a period of time when it would be like a culmination of earthquakes and pestillance and all that Matthew stuff, Peace and Security being called and Governments turning against religion and finally JWs, then Armageddon coming.(again according to JW beliefs) What I don't understand is, are we according to that belief living in the great tribulation now, or is it something in the future to come?
I realise that many of you don't even subscribe to any of the above anymore, but what is the latest WT explanation?Are we "in" the great tribulation now, or is it still yet to come?. I asked a similar question on a JW board on beliefnet a while back and didn't really get a understandable reply.
Any thoughts?
Scoob