{"id":1104,"date":"2006-04-04T16:41:59","date_gmt":"2006-04-04T21:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2006\/04\/04\/jws-and-armageddon-christian-courier\/"},"modified":"2006-07-05T14:22:06","modified_gmt":"2006-07-05T18:22:06","slug":"jws-and-armageddon-christian-courier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2006\/04\/jws-and-armageddon-christian-courier\/","title":{"rendered":"JWs and Armageddon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wayne Jackson has an interesting biblical analysis of the JW position on Armadeddon<\/a> at Christian Courier.<\/p>\n

A sample:<\/p>\n

In Matthew 24:5ff, Christ set forth a number of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153signs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that would herald the impending destruction of Jerusalem. He plainly declared: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (v. 34). Of special interest are the expressions \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this generation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153generation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (genea) refers to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded to include all those living at a given time and freq[uently] defined in terms of specific characteristics, generation, contemporaries\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (F.W. Danker, et al., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000, p. 191).<\/p>\n

The expression \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this generation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (he-genea-aute) is found five times in Matthew\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gospel record, and never is it employed in any sense other than that of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153generation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d contemporary with Jesus Christ (cf. 11:16; 12:41-42; 23:36).<\/p>\n

The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Witnesses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d however, assign a most strange interpretation to the phrase. They contend: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is the generation of people who saw the catastrophic events that broke forth in connection with World War I from 1914 onward\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Watchtower, op. cit., p. 31).<\/p>\n

The fact of the matter is, however, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Watchtower\u00e2\u20ac\u009d folks concede that Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s application was to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[Christ] outlined things that would befall the Jewish nation during the execution of Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s judgment upon Jerusalem at the hands of the Roman general Titus (Dan. 9:26)\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Aid to Bible Understanding, Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Society, 1971, p. 642).<\/p>\n

Incredibly, however, they manipulate the expression \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this generation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d across more than 2,000 years of history to embrace the modern era. Further, they totally ignore the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s declaration that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the signs of Matthew 24:5-33 were to be fulfilled in the A.D. 70 event. The common-sense rules of responsible exegesis are thrust aside with reckless abandon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have one quibble with the piece. Anyone who refers to the JWs as a “non-prophet” enterprise is correct only in the literal sense. Lack of prophetic vision, yes. <\/p>\n

But it’s no fun without the pun, and JWs are not non-profit – far from it<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Note for researchers – “Watchtower” is written as a single word in the name of the sect’s New York corporation, but as two words in the name of the Pennsylvania parent corporation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wayne Jackson has an interesting biblical analysis of the JW position on Armadeddon at Christian Courier. A sample: In Matthew 24:5ff, Christ set forth a number of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153signs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that would herald the impending destruction of Jerusalem. He plainly declared: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (v. 34). Of special interest are the expressions \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this generation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153generation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (genea) refers to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[1634,1058,1806,1807,6160,291,1756,78,1630,1418,394],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jehovahs-witnesses","category-religion","tag-armageddon","tag-bible","tag-generation","tag-interpretation","tag-jehovahs-witnesses","tag-jws","tag-prophecy","tag-religious","tag-usa-patriot-act","tag-watch-tower","tag-watchtower-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}