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For debate:JehovahsWitness wrote: From speaking with my brothers and sister, far from undermining our faith and causing confusion, the impact of coronavirus only serves to strengthen our conviction we are living in the last days and our resolve to preach the good news of the kingdom before the Lord tells us the work is complete.
Spoiler alert: it won't.otseng wrote:A passage that describes the beginning of the last days is Matt 24:7.
Mat 24:7 NIV - Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
We shall see if this plays out.
Perhaps people's fear is driven by the much higher availability of dramatic news. When you look at the actual data, the reality is very different.Annual deaths from natural disasters have decreased by 75 percent over the past 100 years, according to EM-DAT.
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In the last ten years (2007–2016), on average 80,386 people were killed by natural disasters per year. This is 25 percent of the number 100 years earlier (1907–1916), when it was 325,742 deaths per year.
The huge decline in disaster deaths would be even more striking if two other major global changes were also taken into account. First, the number of people has increased by four, which calls for counting disaster deaths per capita. 1907–1916, there were 181 disaster deaths per million people. 2007–2016, the number was 11. The relative number has dropped to 6 percent of what it was 100 years ago. Second, 100 years ago the communication technologies for reporting disasters were very primitive, compared to the monitoring of today, which means that many catastrophes must have gone unrecorded or been underreported.
While the United States is in the unfortunate position of having an utterly incompetent 'leader' who only acts in his own interest, the rest of the world is genuinely trying to come together and manage the pandemic properly.The general trend toward less violence is not just one more improvement. It is the most beautiful trend there is. The spread of peace over the last decades has enabled all the other improvements we have seen. We must take care of this fragile gift if we hope to achieve our other noble goals, such as collaboration toward a sustainable future.
Really? Does anyone take this seriously?otseng wrote: Rev 9:16 NLT - I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.
Shall we be watching for this in the future?Revelation 9 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
<bolding mine>Goose wrote:Revelations 9:16ff also says that army will be on horses that have heads of lions and tales like serpents. They will breath smoke, fire, and brimstone. Their riders had red, blue, and yellow breastplates. What makes you think this is most likely China?
The problem here is that according to Peter's understanding of Joel in his sermon delivered on the Day of Pentecost, we've been in the last days since that day:otseng wrote:
A passage that describes the beginning of the last days is Matt 24:7.
Mat 24:7 NIV - Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
We shall see if this plays out.
To learn more please go to other posts related to
THE LAST DAYS , MESSIANIC PROPHECY and ... THE BOOK OF REVELATION
You can state it confidently, but you can't possibly know it is true. You can't possibly have interviewed 8 million people. Even if you had, you can't possibly know if they all told you the truth.
Really? Locusts that 'not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads'?JehovahsWitness wrote:I do. And I can confidently state at least 8 million others do too.
Do you have anything better than an 'ad populum' argument?
Zzyzx wrote:
Really? Locusts that 'not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads'?
Yes, I’m familiar with the concept, but not very experienced in using it.JehovahsWitness wrote:Are you familiar with the concept of symbolism?
