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WHY DOOMSDAY CULTS ARE WRONG ABOUT
2
PETER 3:12
Doomsday Cults in the worst
sense are groups whose leadership does not just look forward to the end of the world or civilization as we now know it, but
who take action to help cause that End, also known as Armageddon, the tragic results of which are seen for example with the
mass suicides or murders such as with Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple at Jonestown, Guyana, (918 dead including over 270 children)
and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God group in Uganda, Africa (778 dead), and the Branch
Davidians (83 members dead, 4 of the ATF). The violent mind-set of such groups may be largely sparked by
their misapplication of 2 Peter 3:12.
For that verse,
the New International Version gives “as you look forward to the day of
God and speed its coming...” (NIV) In similar manner the New American Standard
Version (NASV) says you are “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of
God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
Thus some groups and individuals don’t just wait for or even
look forward to Armageddon but hold tight to the idea (which some see as a “commandment”) that they must be doing
things which, even if normally thought of as wrong are what God wants, that help to make it hurry up and happen.
However, other Bible translations read differently as when the King James version
says “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” and, similarly, Young’s Literal
Translation says “waiting for and hasting to the presence of the day of God,
by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements with burning heat shall melt.”
Of course that one verse, although sometimes likely to be critical as a lynch pin, does
not by itself cause Doomsday Cults to suicide. The Bible has other verses and sections speaking about The
End, especially so in the book of Revelation, which some groups think of as symbolic but others think of as literal. Also, for example, the Governing
Body of the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) has produced a Bible translation called the New World
Bible Translation (NWT) which has 2 Peter 3:12 sounding quite harmless. However, by means of repeated
emphasis about Armageddon in their weekly reading of Watchtower magazines along with the requirement of
strict obedience to their “Theocratic government” on earth, the danger of major tragedy remains just as strong,
besides which JWs also read and occasionally use other translations where the translation emphasizes taking action to end
the world.
Top leaders over JWs, such
as now deceased Frederick Franz, have been especially knowledgeable of other translations, and was the main person who produced
the NWT. Franz was the main person to make JWs think 1975 would be the year of the End. He
and after his death others on the Governing Body over JWs held fast to the idea that some members of the generation alive
in 1914 would see Armageddon, the misprediction not replaced until 2010 when it was printed that instead some JWs in an overlapping
generation would see The End.
Watchtower’s NWT simply
reads “awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah, through which the heavens
being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt!” In it the word/name
“Jehovah” is added even though neither in the original Greek nor as a referred to Hebrew/Aramaic scripture!
The original words for 2 Peter 3:12 as transcribed into the Roman
alphabet from the original Koine Greek reads as noted at http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/2pe3.pdf GREEK/KOINE prosdokOntas kai speundontas
tEn parousian tEs tou theou hEmeras di
hEn ouranoi puroumenoi luthEsontai kai stoicheia kausoumena tEketai | LITERAL MEANING hoping-for/toward-seeming and hurrying/being-diligent the presence/beside-being of-the of-the God day because-of/through which heavens being-fired/on-fire shall-be-being-loosed/dissolved and elements burning/by-combustion is-being-melted/is-being-decomposed | POSSIBLE RENDERING hoping for and hurrying the presence (or coming) of God’s day via which (the) heavens on
fire shall be dissolved and elements by combustion melted away. |
11 Since everything will be destroyed
in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.
(NIV) 11 Seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness
(KJ) 11All these, then, being dissolved, what
kind of persons doth it behove you to be in holy behaviours and pious acts? (YLT) 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought YOU to be in
holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, (NWT)
Therefore the emphasis for Christians
needs to instead be put upon living holy, godly lives with clean conversation, behaving and doing godly activities.
It is not Christian to sell everything that you use to support yourself, your marriage mate or your children and go
around alarming people that the End of the world is about to hit. Nor is it Christian when some groups
or sub-cultures within groups commit crimes such as stalking, wiretapping bedrooms and bathrooms, assaulting, murdering, inciting
mass suicides. Instead it is a better witness to the glory and love of God to care tenderly for your own
family, those who fellowship with you in Christ, the communities in which you live, etc. |
