The JW decisively false concept of Armageddon.

greendawn

The JWs have a certain understanding of Armageddon and the immediate period prior to it that is completely false.

For example there is no reason to believe that they (or anyone else) are doing a pre armageddon preaching separating work but to the contrary given their anti christ behaviour they are clearly not fit for this purpose. So the end can't be near.

Should God ever use a human org to effect this separation it will be very different from the WTS in its character and preaching methods. It will be much more humane and christ like, people will not be able to find 100 reasons for not accepting it as they can do with the WTS.

Any other ideas that discredit any aspects of their end of the world concept?

doogie

i can think of a couple...

JamesThomas

Any other ideas that discredit any aspects of their end of the world concept?

All end of the world concepts, are just that, concepts, abstract notions which can be written down in a book and evangelized.

On the other-hand, there can be a very real "Armageddon", where the actual consciousness which is reading this right now, has it's entire conceptual world/reality and defective identity wiped away, or seen as utterly false.

Here Armageddon is an inner event, an awakening from what I believe self/reality to be, to what is Real, to what I am.

j

jaffacake

The best theologians ad Bible commentaries have interesting teachings. Nearly all scriptures have several meanings on several levels, at least four.

My own thoughts IMHO. There was the literal aspects of Matthew's (&other) gospel, the prophetic in terms of historical, but also spiritual, deep inner meaning etc. Much of the 'this generation' was indeed fulfilled in the generation of those to whom Christ was speaking. The stay awake stuff is most likely for us throughout our lives, we do not know the day or hour when Christ may come (into our hearts and minds). Our own Armageddon that comes at different times in each of our lives. There are also elements about the future end to our universe, when heavens & earth shall pass away - possibly millions or billions of years hence. But that may not be the end of our consciousness, though possibly in this dimension or universe.

There is no literal single event armageddon like fundamental Christians & JWs teach. Just apply the proper principles of biblical interpretation without denominational (or non denominational) bias, to get a little closer to 'truth'. We cant pick & choose what to apply literally and what metaphorically. Jesus nearly always spoke in parables, and used hyperbole & extreme exaggeration to make memorable points...pluck out your eye, faith can move mountains etc.

Leolaia

It is worth to mention the following interesting threads by Justin on the Society's original concept of Armageddon and how it changed under Rutherford:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/83014/1.ashx
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/83015/1.ashx

Honesty

I'm headed to the Great Pyramid with a state-of-the-art digital tape measure.

LouBelle

These days I'm leaning towards something Similar that JamesThomas said. That Armegeddon is an inner thing, an awakening.

We each experience our own Armegeddons', Our own final battle within ourselves. I mean all of us have gone through the "earthquakes" the shaking up of our beliefs. We were spiritually blind. We've now found our truth and moved on and being free from them is our own blessing/paradise now.

Sunspot

Should God ever use a human org to effect this separation it will be very different from the WTS in its character and preaching methods. It will be much more humane and christ like, people will not be able to find 100 reasons for not accepting it as they can do with the WTS.

Greendawn,

Actually, you zeroed in on this in your post. The way I see it, God did use a human (not any organization) in the form of Jesus himself.We all know that Jesus doesn't have anything whatsoever to do with the WTS, nor does his Father.

Jesus CLEARLY STATED that no man knows the hour, so with that point alone---it blows the WTS out of the water, no matter how weasel-worded they want it to appear. They have gone way out of their way to even utter their stupid and unscriptural semi-predictions.

I can't really say when I might think the Big A will come, because all the references made to it seem to be pointing to "bible times". I don't think that leaving Jerusalem and heading for the hills applies to our century somehow!

In any event, I am doing nothing illegal, unscriptural, deliberately misleading to others, or claiming to speak for God. I would not be afraid if it came tomorrow. That's more than I can say for the WTS.

Annie

metatron

One persistent deception is writing articles ( in the Awake in particular) that stir up fear of some coming disaster

like nuclear war, pollution, global warming or whatever - without clearly explaining that none of these can be Armageddon!

Armageddon is a Divinely directed event that involves selectivity. Actually, the Society has quietly admitted as much.

A nuclear war, etc is not Armageddon.

They also butcher scriptures like Luke 21 that are describing the Great Tribulation and not any 'last days' stuff that led

up to it. If they ever bothered to use a harmony of the Gospels - in which the accounts are put side by side - this would be

obvious. When Jesus spoke about 'the roaring of the sea and its agitation' and 'powers of the heavens being shaken' , he was

describing Armageddon itself, not the last days.

metatron

truth_about_the_truth

A common misconception of Armagedon by JWs is that it is the name of an event when it actually is not. The world Armageddon is mentioned only once in Rev. 16;16 and if you read it carefully, it is not an event. It is a place. A place where the military might of the world is gathered for a great war during the end times.

There are a lot of frightening events that happen during this time period but it is not given a name. Jesus' mentioned that there would be great tribulation as never experienced before. Another common misconception is that JWs think that the great tribulation is also the label of some specific time period when it is not. Jesus was merely using that term to describe the difficulty of living during that time.

JWs commonly think that Armageddon is some mega-storm that Jehovah is causing where everything will be destroyed, buildings toppled over and wicked people will be randomly killed (as in the one brochure illustration with Will Smith and John Lithgow look-a-like corpse) and JWs surviving. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Thats not how Revelation describes the end times. The climax of the end times described in Revelation is the return of Jesus in his glory as he resurrects the dead and gathers the surviving faithful as both groups are transformed and meet him in the air. It's funny how the WT ignores this fact that the bible clearly talks about. Instead, they focus on the fact that Jehovah will murder billions of ppl randomly at an event called "Armageddon".

The JW decisively false concept of Armageddon.

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