Your Grandfather might be under the impression that the WTBTS wants him to focus on dates and the fact that the end is near, and when that might occur. He might even think that since the WTBTS includes that information constantly in all of their literature that is directly from God, that the WTBTS is indicating that he should focus on that too. However, you might want to point out that the WTBTS thinks he is spiritually weak if he gives in to the temptation of taking all of those words at face value...
Watchtower, November 1, 1995, Pgs. 16-19
5 After prophesying events leading up to a time of “great tribulation,” Jesus added: “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:3-36; Mark 13:3-32)
We do not need to know the exact timing of events.
Rather, our focus must be on being watchful, cultivating strong faith, and keeping busy in Jehovah’s service—not on calculating a date.
Jesus concluded his great prophecy by saying: “Keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when the appointed time is. . . . Keep on the watch . . . What I say to you I say to all, Keep on the watch.” (Mark 13:33-37) Danger lurks in the shadows of today’s world. We must keep awake!—Romans 13:11-13.
6 Not only must we pay attention to the inspired prophecies concerning these final days of a wicked system but we must anchor our faith primarily on the precious sacrifice of Christ Jesus and God’s marvelous promises based thereon. (Hebrews 6:17-19; 9:14; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; 2 Peter 1:16-19)
Eager to see the end of this evil system, Jehovah’s people have at times speculated about the time when the “great tribulation” would break out, even tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914.
However, we “bring a heart of wisdom in,” not by speculating about how many years or days make up a generation, but by thinking about how we “count our days” in bringing joyful praise to Jehovah. (Psalm 90:12)
Rather than provide a rule for measuring time, the term “generation” as used by Jesus refers principally to contemporary people of a certain historical period, with their identifying characteristics.
7 In line with the above, professor of history Robert Wohl wrote in his book The Generation of 1914: “A historical generation is not defined by its chronological limits . . . It is not a zone of dates.” But he pointed out that World War I created “an overwhelming sense of rupture with the past,” and he added: “Those who lived through the war could never rid themselves of the belief that one world had ended and another begun in August 1914.”
How true that is! It focuses on the crux of the matter.
“This generation” of mankind since 1914 has experienced appalling changes. It has seen the earth drenched with the blood of millions. Warfare, genocide, terrorism, crime, and lawlessness have erupted worldwide. Famine, disease, and immorality have stalked our globe. Jesus prophesied: “You also, when you [his disciples] see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.”—Luke 21:31, 32.
8 Yes, the complete triumph of the Messianic Kingdom is at hand!
Is anything to be gained, then, by looking for dates or by speculating about the literal lifetime of a “generation”? Far from it!
Habakkuk 2:3 clearly states: “The vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late.” Jehovah’s day of accounting hastens ever closer.—Jeremiah 25:31-33; Malachi 4:1.
9 When Christ’s Kingdom rule began in 1914, Satan was hurled down to earth. This has meant “woe for the earth . . . because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” (Revelation 12:12) That time is short, indeed, compared with the thousands of years of Satan’s rulership. The Kingdom is at hand, and so is Jehovah’s day and hour for executing judgment on this wicked generation!—Proverbs 3:25; 10:24, 25.
Pickled
JoinedPosts by Pickled
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Annoying JW Emails
by LEOS inlong story short, i have been dfd for 2 or 3 years.
i have not really been counting.
best 2-3 years of my life.
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Pickled
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Annoying JW Emails
by LEOS inlong story short, i have been dfd for 2 or 3 years.
i have not really been counting.
best 2-3 years of my life.
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Pickled
You can say whoa, hang on there grandpa, a whole lot more happened instead of just that day by day thingy that the "Faithful and Discrete Slave" suddenly realized immediately after 1975 came and went....
Watchtower 1976 July 15 pp.435-437 Keeping a Balanced View of Time
Keeping a Balanced View of Time
[…]
16 What, then, has God revealed to us about this? He certainly has not left us without guidance. By prophecies such as those just considered he enables us to know where we are in the stream of time. The fulfillment of his prophetic word convinces us that God is not sleepy nor slow, and as the apostle Peter said regarding those acting wickedly, "the judgment from of old is not moving slowly, and the destruction of them is not slumbering." (2 Pet. 2:3) We have ample information and evidence to cause us to be confident that we live in the "time of the end" as regards the present unrighteous system of things. Yet, beyond this, there are things that God has not revealed to us. One of those things is the time for the outbreak of the "great tribulation" prefigured by the tribulation that came upon Jerusalem, a tribulation that will be global in its fulfillment.
TIME FACTORS THAT GOD HAS NOT REVEALED
17 There are reasons why we cannot know this. For one thing, even though Bible chronology clearly indicates that we have reached the mark of six thousand years since the time of the creation of the first human, Adam, it does not tell us just how long after that event the sixth creative day came to its close and the seventh creative period or "day," God's great rest day, began. Genesis chapter two, verse three, says that Jehovah blessed and made sacred that "day," and it therefore seems reasonable that it will see within its bounds the removal of the wicked old order and the establishment of God's righteous new order by means of the thousand-year reign of God's Son. Thus there is reason for believing that that thousand-year period will form the closing part of that great rest day and will restore the earth and its inhabitants to a perfect state. That would enable God to say of that seventh day and its results-as he did of other creative days-that "it was good."-Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31.
18 But that great rest day did not begin immediately after Adam's creation. Other events took place after Adam's creation but before the close of the sixth creative day. One of these is of great importance to all of us. That is the creation of the first woman, Eve. Without that none of us would be alive today, for, as the apostle Paul states at 1 Corinthians 11:12, "just as the woman is out of the man, so also the man is through the woman," all of us needing a human mother to be born.
19 How much time elapsed between the creation of the man and that of the woman? The Bible does not reveal this. It could have been a relatively short time. Adam was created-not as a child or an adolescent-but as a full-grown, fully mature man, both physically and mentally. He did not have to crawl first to learn to walk, nor babble sounds until able to speak. He was created with these abilities and could communicate with his heavenly Creator and could be set to work to cultivate and care for his garden home. He could comprehend divine instructions and also the prohibition concerning the proscribed tree of the knowledge of good and bad. (Gen. 2:15-17) In those respects, then, he would have been in position to receive a wife at any time.
20 True, and yet Adam was in certain respects like a newborn infant upon being created. Why? Because, fully adult though he was, the day of his being created was still the first day he had lived. Everything he saw-every tree, flower, plant, every stream, lake, river, every creature of all the bird, animal and fish creation-he was seeing for the very first time. This was true of everything he did. When he walked he took his very first step; and so too with the experience of running, climbing, touching, smelling, tasting, eating-all were brand-new experiences for him. What enormous curiosity he must have felt as he examined the fascinating handiwork of Jehovah God and became acquainted with his garden home! How long would he be allowed time to satisfy that curiosity before taking on added responsibility as a family head?
21 That Edenic home does not seem to have been some tiny plot of ground. It contained all the varieties of trees within its boundaries, according to Genesis the second chapter. And there was a "river issuing out of Eden to water the garden," one large enough to separate and form the headwaters of four major rivers, some of which still flow today. (Gen. 2:8-10) It would take time for Adam to go exploring all of this in order to become familiar with the area he was assigned to care for and cultivate.
22 "But," one might ask, "would it not be pleasant if he were to share all these new experiences right away with a human companion, a wife, and thus learn together with her?" That might be, and yet might it not be more appropriate if he first gained considerable knowledge and experience beforehand? Then, when joined by his mate, he would be in position to answer her questions and explain things to her, thereby enhancing her respect for him as her informed head. (Eph. 5:22, 23) God's direct warning to Adam regarding the consequences of disobediently eating from the prohibited tree placed Adam in the position of God's prophet to the companion He would later create for the man.-Gen. 2:16, 17.
23 The only information the Bible actually supplies us is that, before creating Eve, God began bringing to the man all the creatures He had formed and "the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper as a complement of him." (Gen. 2:18-20) It takes but a few words to describe this; but how long did it take in actuality?
24 The brevity of the Genesis account surely does not require our thinking that God simply gathered all the animals and birds into a big group and then had them file past Adam while he quickly called off names for them, one by one. True, he may have had to deal only with basic family kinds rather than all the varieties of creatures that have developed out of those family kinds. But even so, we cannot rule out the possibility that God's "bringing" these creatures to Adam may have involved their moving in sufficiently close to allow Adam to study them for a time, observing their distinctive habits and makeup, and then select a name that would be especially fitting for each. This could mean the passing of a considerable amount of time. And we may note that, when Adam did finally see his newly created wife, his first words were: "This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." (Gen. 2:23) This too could indicate that he had waited for some time to receive his delightful human counterpart.
25 What, then, does this mean? Simply this: That these factors, and the possibilities for which they allow, prevent us from saying with any positiveness how much time elapsed between Adam's creation and that of the first woman. We do not know whether it was a brief time such as a month or a few months, a year or even more. But whatever time elapsed would have to be added to the time that has passed since Adam's creation in order for us to know how far along we are within God's seventh "day," his grand day of rest. So our having advanced six thousand years from the start of human existence is one thing. Advancing six thousand years into God's seventh creative "day" is quite another. And we do not know just how far along in the stream of time we are in this regard. -
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Pickled
Yes, and I'll even let you read all of my posts if you make me a ham sandwich.
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hello there
by applejuice inmy name is brian, i am still a little confused, am looking for friends and guidance in this difficult time, can anyone connect ?
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Pickled
Brian, what has left you feeling confused, and what are the difficult parts?
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It looks like I will become an elder this week!
by outofthebox inthat's right guys.
as i told you before, they boe have been considering me for the eldership.
which i don't care for, but since my family is stuck in this cult, i guess i can use the new position to help them see that the holy spirit has nothing to do with me being an elder.
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Pickled
Just a final comment...
If you ever have the opportunity to speak to survivors of the Holocaust, ask them who they despised more as the weaker one... The one who beat them believing it was their just duty, or the one who beat them with tears in their eyes?
Pickled -
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It looks like I will become an elder this week!
by outofthebox inthat's right guys.
as i told you before, they boe have been considering me for the eldership.
which i don't care for, but since my family is stuck in this cult, i guess i can use the new position to help them see that the holy spirit has nothing to do with me being an elder.
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Pickled
I know this is not exactly the same thing, but in a hostage situation the best way to help the hostages is to arrange a method of escape, not to pretend like you are one of the kidnappers in order to help them. Any negotiator knows that posing as a fellow hostage is a ridiculous notion because you will only be found out and eliminated by the kidnappers, and any hostages who remain who had any close association with you will be punished or eliminated for siding with the operative.
It seems that anyone sitting in that Kingdom Hall who even has a thought of wanting to leave is going to want to handle their doubts the same way you have handled yours. Right? Aren't they going to want to be in complete control of their own decisions about leaving or staying in the same way you have been about yours? That means that the LAST person they are going to want to admit anything to is the very person that can decide their exit date for them. If this religion is as much of a cult as it looks to be, then what you will be doing will look like a trap to anyone who happens to notice your behavior. "Is this elder testing me?" I am not passing judgment OOTB, it just appears to me that in your list of things that you feel you are doing to make some sort of statement already, only one of them, presenting "hard truths" to your family and elders, seems to be something that cannot be done in secret and apart from risking getting in trouble. In addition, those truths that you are sharing now that are hard, in your words, have obviously not been to hard for them to ignore. So what will you do for anyone at all as an elder that can't also be ignored? Hasn't there been anything you could have already been doing up to this point?
I think anyone who has doubts needs more desperately than anything to know that they have someone to comfort them or somewhere to go when they finally get up the courage to do what you yourself have never done. Why not write them ALL a letter in the congregation, spell out your case in truth, and let them ALL know that you will be available should any of them decide to take the very difficult step that you have just taken yourself. -
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So -- who (or what) is this "Jehovah," anyway?
by Nathan Natas ini've been reading some of the posts here, and i notice a significant number of them make reference to "jehovah" or something called "jehovah's witnesses.
although i attended the kingdom hall services for more than 20 years, i can't say i'm familiar with the term.
could someone enlighten me?
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Pickled
Nomoreguilt, he is the one who controls the dimmer switch.
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So -- who (or what) is this "Jehovah," anyway?
by Nathan Natas ini've been reading some of the posts here, and i notice a significant number of them make reference to "jehovah" or something called "jehovah's witnesses.
although i attended the kingdom hall services for more than 20 years, i can't say i'm familiar with the term.
could someone enlighten me?
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Pickled
Satanus wrote: "I'm going to send some demons, and possibly, the devil himself to you. Also, several of my spirit helpers will visit you at some time during the day or night. Not only that, i will call for the dark light to totally surround you. Good health to you, and sleep well ;)"
I laughed so hard when I read that I had to wipe orange juice off of my keyboard. That was so funny. Thanks for that Satanus. LOL -
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The angst of dealing with family when they are still in and you are not...
by Layla33 ini don't think you ever truly make peace with it, somehow you learn to maneveur and swim in it like most things.
i have been out for so long, it's almost like a shadowy memory when i was in, but for my family it is all they have ever known and dared to know.. i feel for the people whose parents have cut them out completely, but mine never truly did that.
i guess we just loved each other a little too much to even think about losing the other completely.
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Pickled
Your personal experiences are so moving. Thank you for taking the time to share them.
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Still think the Society is not running out of cash? ...
by sir82 in...then check this out!.
(of course the society has $billions in real estate, but many have speculated that they are low on cash for day-day operations).. unfortunately i don't have a working scanner, but here is a summary of & a few quotations from a boe letter dated march 1, 2008:.
"for an number of years, an arrangement has been available to congregations to place funds on deposit with the branch office.
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Pickled
Are the building of the foreign Kingdom Halls paid for entirely by the society? Are the Kingdom Halls in the U.S. paid for by the individual congregations, like a mortgage? Do they get a mortgage from a bank?
Don't know how this works.