JWs are really into the apocolyptic vision in Revelations and believe that there are 144,000 annointed ones that will be saved and be placed on the right hand of God, along with Jesus. They are also apparently really big into thinking that unless you are one of the 144,000, you are an observer and will not (or should not) partake in the feast.
Okay then, so who in the JW camp is the all-knowing eye that knows when God enthroned Christ? Well, they explained their calculations based on Bible prophecy. Sure, I read it, and yeah, I am a numbers person, but I am not a mathemetician. Math mumbo-jumbo to me.
So, I thought, is there some cable link between the JW camp and God that captured this significant moment? How do they know and not the Catholics, or the Lutherans, or Anglicans? And what does 1914 have to do with anything today?
[reflection] I have wondered and thought that the end times Jesus spoke of are a more personal echo of the foreseen end times for the world. We all are physically born and we all will likely physically die. Spiritually, we are coming to the end times in our self daily. Each breath marks a breath closer to the end times. Each trial, each struggle marks a strife toward the end time in each of our lives. Our own personal battles and achievements in some way echo the battles and achievements that may be (or have been) met on a worldly scale. [/reflection]
Okay, first of all, there is a possibility that we may be living in the so-called "end times", but no irrefutable proof. So, JWs may think that the end times began in 1914. Maybe. What happened then?
It seems that all the major events listed in Wikipedia could spark the thought of the end of times. Sure, a couple of events stand out:
- Ford Motor Company creates the standard for the work day at 8 hours
- Mexican Revolution on January 10th
- ASCAP is established in February
- The first successful non-direct blood transfusion
- Irving, TX incorporated in April
- Mothers Day proclamation
- July and August see a lot of Countries bickering--must be PMSing
- Pope Benedict XV (yeah, you seeing something familiar there?!) succeeds Pope Pius X in September
- Diamond capital Antwerp, Belgium falls to Germany (must be those Belgian waffles they were after)
- Speaking of diamonds, the Boston Braves (aren't they in Atlanta) defeat the Philadelphia Athletics (wait... what's up here? The As are in Oakland) in the World Series
- The Fed (er the Federal Reserve Bank) opens in November, just before the New York Stock Exchange reopens for bond trading after a war-induced closure in July
- German and British troops stop fighting for Christmas
Yeah, all of those events are kind of crazy. What was up with these folks back in 1914? Were they poisoned by something? Did they have some psychosomatic illness? C'mon, we all know that the Braves belong in Atlanta and the As in Oakland. I do admit that Belgian waffles are worth fighting for, they're that good, but did the whole world have to get into it? Yup. It was the Belgian waffles.
However, I found another info website that states in 1914 that the Federal Trade Commission was set up, Army was the NCAA football champions, and the world's first red-green traffic light was installed in Cleveland. Okay, combine the Belgian waffles and the traffic light, and I think I am beginning to see the light. Yeah. The end of times began in 1914.
jenniemeyer
7 Comments
How effective is the message, "Did you know the world is pretty terrible?" to bringing new sheep into the fold?
Apocalyptic prophecy is a cheap excuse for morality. It appears easy to do what your religious leaders tell you is "the right thing" when (you believe) you know "then end is near." It's much harder to make morally and ethically justifiable decisions when you don't know the hour and the day.
Oh right end of time.... lost track there... well end of times or not live now in the moment! don't live in what might be or you'll never enjoy LIVING NOW! If it comes when it comes what can you do to stop it any way so why spend time worrying if it really is that close get your ass out and have some fun while you still can! or you may just find yourself too old one day and no longer able to enjoy life since you spent it contemplating the end of the word...
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the word YOU in that is the generic form of YOU not specific to any person or prior post. We now return you to your regularly scheduled ranting....
Right around Halloween several years ago, all of us kids were outside making decorations. We had concrete steps up to our front door, and a giant trampoline out in the yard.
We decided to make a giant spider from trashbags to put on the trampoline and a dead body to lounge on the steps, with blood and everything.
We had already done the spider, made the blood, and were covering the bright white sweater of our dead child with a mixture of red food coloring and corn syrup. We saw the JW's coming, so we threw the body under the trampoline, leaving a pool of red on the porch, and ran inside to clean up.
My sister was waiting to wash her arms and hands, because the 'blod' was quite messy, when the JW's knocked.
My sister answered the door with blood covering her, and they decided the would come back later.
We have yet to see them since.
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)