Posted by Friend [Friend] on November 01, 1999 at 18:23:13 {2gTL9dbN6khxaL3hj3H2OgnjR4Br/g}:
In Reply to: *******Discussion summaries posted by AF on November 01, 1999 at 14:42:36:
AF
…the Society was saying "the parable does not apply later than today". That includes tomorrow (from 1984’s timeframe), 1995 or during the Millennial reign.Why you avoid commenting on this simple point is beyond me.
I have not avoided commenting on that absurd notion. In 1984 the Society did for a fact teach that the parable in question would apply beyond 1984, an application "later than [1984]". For a fact they then taught that it would finally be fulfilled at the time of Armageddon at which time the judgment thereof would be complete and carried out. It is silly to construe that "the Society was saying ‘the parable does not apply later than today’", they did just that thing in 1984 when the supposed "serious mistake" was offered as such.
You cull out only the one meaning, i.e., "during the Millennial reign" but never justify or even attempt to argue that time periods before the Millennial reign must be excluded. You simply claim so. And you keep ignoring what we say about it.
How silly can you get, anyway? In 1984 (and today) the Society taught that the sheep/goat/judgment would only finally be fulfilled at Armageddon. Since Armageddon is considered the finale of "the conclusion of the system" then it is also immediately prior to the start of the Millennial rule of Christ. There is no unaccounted for time in betwixt. There is no time frame between Armageddon and the Millennial that could refer to the so called "later on". That is why I explained earlier that the term "later on" referred to anytime during the Millennial rule or beyond. The period of the Millennial rule was singled out as the "perhaps" because it is the most likely candidate for application versus beyond the Millennial rule. The paragraph in question, though, pointed out that the sheep/goat/judgment parable should find application only within "the conclusion of the system" period (not beyond) because it was for that period that it was included with Jesus’ answer for a sign. The Survival book and other Society publications include Armageddon in the period of "the conclusion of the system."
Friend