Jehovah's Witnesses spooked?

Now, I don't really want to be spreading gossip but..... Are there any Jehovah's Witnesses on here that can confirm this?

My wife used to be a Jehovah's Witness and her family still is. Last night her mother, who is still an active member, informed her that the church thinks that the time for witnessing has passed. Meaning that they think that the end times are really upon us.

Now, I know that they are usually a fairly apocalyptic bunch, but this seems like a pretty serious shift in belief. I am curious if there are any members of the church on here that would be able to verify this.

Thanks

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have used that last edition of "The Watchtower" for toilet paper...it's just that times are so hard and they keep leaving their little magazine in my letter box.

But seriously, I think they go through these "End Times" events every decade or so. I can remember about 10 years ago some neighbors across the road were JW's and they were having mass prayer meetings in the bomb shelter they built in their back yard because they thought the end was upon them.

They invited me in but after about 10 minutes my eyes turned white and my head twisted around 360 degrees...or so it seemed to them when I started asking too many questions...

[edit on 29/9/08 by WatchNLearn]

I am resigned to the fact that the bottom is falling out for our Country, our environment, and global affairs.

There really is nothing to keep this black train off the rails. She is chugging along.

HI i dont think that there witnessing is at a near it goes like this Jesus deciple asked him lord when will we know of your return this was his answer

there wil war for nation will rise against nation, disobiedant children, men will be lovers of money rather than lovers of god, witnessing will be done through out the nations, you will be persucuted in my name, peace and truce will be preached through out the world and then the end will come.

Now it may not go in that order but basically to answer your question, the time to get scared is when you hear the governemets talking about 1 world religion and they start talking about peace throught out the world thats when you know that the end is near. And its not the end of the world its the end of this wicked system. Its when Jesus rules earth and not the devil. JW's are good people and they are not a cult, and they do believe in jesus they just dont believe that Jesus and God are the same person. I think that every congregation is different my wifes congregation is real laid back. But they welcome death to openly and tell you not that this is not the important life and me personally i dont welcome death i am afraid of it go to watchtower.org its very interesting to learn and we could all know a little more about god

There are actually two articles on the Jehovah's Witnesses official website entitled 'Are We Living in “the Last Days”?

www.watchtower.org...

www.watchtower.org...

There is no doubt about it. The end of Satan’s system is close at hand. Those who ignore the evidence that we are living in the last days will be caught off guard when the end comes. (Matthew 24:37-39; 1 Thessalonians 5:2) Therefore, Jesus said to his listeners: “Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of all the earth. Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and in standing before the Son of man.”—Luke 21:34-36.

That's pretty much conclusive - they believe it.

reply to post by WatchNLearn


Yeah, normally I would write it off as such. I have heard many different doomsday prophecies and I have never really viewed them as much more than a curiosity. I don't feel the same anymore though. I feel like something big is about to happen. I don't really think it is the apocalypse (mainly because I don't believe in that) but I can't get over the feeling that bad times are on the horizon.

i have relatives that are witnesses,

Yes at the moment they do believe they are living in the end times,

but remember they have also believed this twice before and no 'end' came to pass, infact the witnesses are running out of time for their prophecy to pass period

reply to post by Evasius


Interesting. Thank you for providing the links.

AGHHHHHH......

[edit on 29-9-2008 by nuts!]

There was only one 'Witness I knew - my great grandmother, who, as old people do, died several years ago.

She went to the grave believing the world was about to end.

I remember at the funeral her pastor said something along the lines of "we know death is not natural, science has proved that, and so we wait to be resurrected..."

That was just one more little notch that made me ignore just about everything religion has to say.

No feelings of impending doom here.

I do not want to bash anyone's religion but I would like to present a general concept about organized religion. Once any kind of institution is created, the job of that institution becomes self perpetuation. I would say that another apparent truth would be that an established institution will attract people who will use it for some sort of gain, even if it is the ultimate goal of perpetuating a different, longer established institution. Eventually, you end up with every institution being infiltrated and compromised.
If you accept that premise, your next question would have to be, what sort of use you could get from something like the JW's? My guess is that you could make use of an already present level of paranoia. If there was a call for injecting some mass hysteria into the general population, they would be ready, in reserve, to be put to use. I try to be independent and do not go for collective thinking. Maybe I am too paranoid to even be a JW, if that is possible.

[edit on 29-9-2008 by jmdewey60]

I have two very good JW friends, but I haven't talked to them since last week. I'll see what they believe about us living in the end times and report back later.

...And just to be clear: they're both very stable, sensible people who rarely ever panic or lose their cool over something. It would be surprising if they both thought that the end of the world was upon us.