Once when I was a JW, perhaps around 1994 or 1995, I overheard a conversation between a lady who was studying and the husband of the sister that was studying with her. She asked, "so, why exactly are there increased earthquakes? What is the cause of it?" His answer? The "increased activity of the demons".
At the time, I was still somewhat of an idealistic newbie to JWism, but when I heard the brother's answer as to what the cause of the earthquakes is, it was jarring. It's one thing to paint a picture of woe-to-the-earth in very broad strokes by saying that Satan and the demons were cast out of Heaven in 1914, and that this is the reason for all the troubles. But when you start thinking literally about the specific things that are supposedly happening because of this, and you imagine a group of invisible, undetectable, crazed beings somehow getting together to shake tectonic plates and cause earthquakes...I mean, really, come on! It's ridiculous!
But I took them at their word that an inexplicable increase in earthquakes was a fact of the 20th century. And so, later on when I really started feeling like JWism wasn't everything that I had thought it was at first, this was one of those "Where else can I go" strings that kept me tied me to it. :(
