Question for the Jehovah's Witnesses. When is the world supposed to end?

Question

You have to look back in your Watchtower booklets and realize that your society has predicted the world would end at least 3-4 times in the past 100 years. How come they haven't got it right yet? Doesn't the Bible warn us about false prophecy? Also where in the Bible does it mention that we should reject our family and friends if they leave the faith?

Answer 1

Since so many Jehovah Witnesses here claim that the Watchtower never predicted the "end" in 1975, lets set the record straight.

"There are only about ninety months left before 6,000 years of man's existence on earth is completed....The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out."---Our Kingdom Ministry, March 1968 pg 4

What about 1925? Well lets look at the record.

"..1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the faithful prophets of old".---Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1920), pp 88_89

"There will be NO SLIP-UP...Abraham should enter upon the actual possession of his promised inheritance in the year 1925 A.D. (Caps added)---The Watchtower, Oct 15, 1917 pg. 6157

Now Achtung above says that all of that doesnt matter because the Watchtower has never claimed to be infallible like the Prophets of old. Really? Lets "look at the record". (Man, I love that phrase).

"..the 'prophet' whom Jehovah has raised up has been, not an individual man as in the case of Jeremiah, but a class"...& The Watchtower is Gods "prophetlike organization---The Watchtower Oct 1, 1982 pg 27 & Oct 1, 1964 pg 601

Now I COULD go on an on with the Quotations. The truth is that the Watchtower has claimed to be Gods Prophet on Earth, and has gotten ALL of their prophecies WRONG.

Achtung SHOULD know this. After all, he is the JW, not ME.
But I'm starting to believe that I know his religion better than HE does.

This is probably due to the fact that I actually RESEARCH my answers, and he doesnt. He just looks something up in the Watchtower. (But never the stuff that contradicts his point).

Have a good day. Dont get sunstroke knocking on too many doors. And make sure you point out the above to everyone you talk to. (Yeah Right. Fat Chance).

...theBerean

Answer 2

You are not flaming as some would accuse. You have a very valid question. Sadly the Watchtower society has made false predictions in the past and most of the JWs don't care about such things - as least the ones I have met do not care about the false dates.

Answer 3

I am not a JW, but I am a Christian.

This may not actually answer your question, but after reading other responses, I would like to point out some things.

The one thing I know is that if all the Christian faiths went door to door like the witnesses do, the Christian faith would be more numerous than it is. Also, I think the decline of Christianity is the idea that there are so many disagreements about little things. Satin is just using divide and conquer.

It would be nice when a JW came to my door that they would leave me alone when I tell them I am a Christian and not try to continue to get in and sway me to their point of view.

Answer 4

No one knows the day or the hour that the end will come, but Jesus told us to keep on the watch (Matthew 25:13) Have you looked outside your door at the crazy weather lately, turned on the evening news or picked up a newspaper and read about the things that are going on in the world right now?

If these aren't the last days, then I don't see how much longer this world and it's occupants could survive let me give you some examples:

Even if we don't count all of the crime ,violence, terrorism, and wars...there are so many other things that are endagering our lives.

With all of the medical advancements, you would think we would be living a lot longer, but as we look around there is so much sickness and disease. It seems as if every one is poisoned in some way with cancer or pesticides, not to mention diseases that Doctors thought they had erradicated. Even the food we eat hardly has the nutrients we need to be healthy...as you know the list goes on.

Let's move on to the ruining of the earth. Scientist keep pointing to all of the natural disasters( like hurricanes) and saying it is man's doing. Global warming, deforestation, pollution, the ocean is dying, the ozone is depleating...
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2005/7/22/article_02.htm

Jesus foretold a sign for us to look for that would indicate we are living in the last days.“The sign” is a composite one made up of many evidences; its fulfillment requires that all aspects of the sign be clearly in evidence during one generation. The various aspects of the sign are recorded at Matthew chapters 24, 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21; there are further details at 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Peter 3:3, 4, and Revelation 6:1-8

The wars, food shortages, earthquakes, sicknesses, lawlessness, lack of love among people are all part of that sign and never before in history have all of these signs been seen as greatly intensified and on a global scale as we are seeing now.

We don't know when the end will come, but we do know that every day brings us closer to our salvation. Romans 13:11

Answer 5

Dear Johnthree,

Thank you for asking this question on an extremely important topic.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 tells us how to determine whether or not a person or an organization is speaking God's Word or not. This is not just a "Long ago and far away" type of thing. It is equally applicable in 2007.

The Watchtower has published specific dates in the past for Armageddon and those dates passed without the end of the world taking place. My own mother told me it would take place on February 3, 1962 and that date passed without incident as well.

When I talk to jws about this I get the line "Well everybody makes mistakes ..." and I stop them right there. God does NOT make mistakes. Ever!

The organization no longer sets specific dates however that has absolutely no relevance to anything. Have you ever seen the teams that lose in the Sweet Sixteen NCAA Championship games suit up for the Elite 8 or the Final 4?
It is the same idea. The organization was proved by God to be a FALSE prophet.

For His glory,
JOYfilled

Answer 6

If anyone can answer that question, they don't know God. No one can predict when the world will end. Only God can and He will come to us like a thief in the night, so be prepared. That means He's not going to let us know because He wants us to live the right kind of life so that we'll be ready when He comes to be taken to heaven.

Answer 7

The world does not end. Only the wicked upon the Earth.

Only Jehovah God, the father of Jesus knows when he will send his son to remove them. If Jesus does not know, then he can not be apart of some kind of God-head. Hence no Trinity or Duality.

Mar 13:32 But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Answer 8

538 BCE+70=608 (Jeremiah 25:11,12)
7x360=2520-607=1913 (Daniel 4)

1914+33.5=1948

7x365=2555-607=1948 (Jeremiah 30:18,21)
1949+70=2019 (Isaiah 23:15)

607+11=618 (2 Kings 25:2,18)
617-2555=1938 (Daniel 2:1)

1939+70=2009

2019-2009=10 (Daniel 12:7,11,12)

Behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation 10 days. (Revelation 2:10)

(a day for a year-Ezekiel 4:6)

REVELATION 3:3

Answer 9

Christ Jesus was definite that nobody on earth knows the predetermined day and hour of the start of that crucial event. (Matthew 24:36) On another occasion he told his eager apostles: “It does not belong to you to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction.” (Acts 1:7) Yes, the outcome is clear, but all the details are simply not ours to know.

The apostle Paul had the right attitude of urgency. Perhaps he had Jesus’ words in mind when he wrote to the Thessalonians about Christ’s presence: “Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1) He wrote this letter some 17 years after Jesus had said: “You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) At that time no more could be written because no more had been revealed. Even so they could be confident that Jehovah’s day would definitely come “as a thief in the night” when Christians would still be urgently preaching.—1 Thessalonians 5:2.

It would seem unlikely that with these words in mind, first-century Christians thought that Jehovah’s day was centuries off. True, they knew of Jesus’ parables about the king who went to a distant land and about the man who traveled abroad. They knew, too, that the parables showed that the king would return “eventually” and the traveler “after a long time.” But undoubtedly they puzzled over such questions as, When is “eventually”? And what is meant by “after a long time”? Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty years? Or longer? (Luke 19:12, 15; Matthew 25:14, 19) Jesus’ words would continue to ring in their ears: “You also, keep ready, because at an hour that you do not think likely the Son of man is coming.”—Luke 12:40.

Answer 10

1) No one knows the day or hour.

In the early days of our faith, very diligent bible students got excited about world events and how that would play out with bible prophecy. They got their numbers wrong.

Imagine waiting for a package to arrive -during christmas time especially- you are told 10-14 days. Every day you say"it's coming today" and yet everyday it is not there. On the 14th day, if it does not arrive, does that mean it is NEVER coming? No just that it is taking longer than you expected and it is actually one day closer to arriving than it was the day before.

We don't even try to figure it out anymore. LET IT GO!!!!

2) You call it false prophecy. . . I call it over- anxious and excited.

3) I personally am tired of hearing the whining about disfellowshipping.

We don't reject them. . .they reject us. Anyone who gets baptized KNOWS in advance what they are getting into. We don't baptize babies. You have to study first, you have to go door-to-door first, you have to dedicate yourself to God first, and then after going through a number of questions regarding the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses that you proclaim to agree with, then and only then can you be baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Once baptized you can be disfellowshipped for commiting sins like: fornication, adultery, lying, smoking, etc. Notice I said can. You go before a committe once your sin in made known. After conversing with the brohers on the committee, going over scriptures that apply to your committed sin, the brothers then discuss your demeanor, your attitude towards your actions, and whether or not it is apparent you will deliberately continue on your sinful path, it is taken to Jehovah in prayer and decided if you should be brought into the congregation for encouragement because your sin was out of weakness or if you should be removed from the congregation because of an unrepentant attitude that could harm the congregation.

As for leaving the faith, you cannot belong to two religions. You would be disfellowshipped if you joined another religion. You would be disfellowshipped if it became your mission in life to tell all your witness friends and family your negative opinion of Jehovah's organization.

If you just stop coming, you are not disfellowshipped.

Family members decide for themselves how to treat disfellowshipped family members.