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The Sacred Bible and Our Problem of SurvivalThe Watchtower—1961 | April 15
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until all these things occur.”—Matt. 24:21, 22, 34.
31. Why is this the generation there referred to by Jesus?
31 The foretold events having begun A.D. 1914, the generation of mankind that is still alive from that year is the generation meant by Jesus Christ. Till now we have seen fulfilled the world-shaking features of the “sign of [Christ’s invisible] presence and of the consummation of the system of things.” (Matt. 24:3) What features? World War I, which failed to be the “war to end all wars”; famines and food shortages; earthquakes; the persecution of Christ’s true, obedient followers; the rise of false religious prophets in Christendom; the disquieting increase of lawlessness; the flight of true Christians to the real place of safety and survival because they see and understand the foretold sign of coming desolation; and, in spite of all the persecution and all the bad times and bad news, the preaching of the good news of God’s own kingdom “in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:7-28) The occurrence of these things since 1914 is within the knowledge of millions of this generation. It is also a matter of published record for any questioners to examine.
32. Why is survival the problem of this generation?
32 We, then, are the generation that will not pass away till there is fulfilled that “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” Survival is the problem of us of this generation.
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Hope of Survival Faces the ProblemThe Watchtower—1961 | April 15
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Hope of Survival Faces the Problem
1. Why can no hope of survival be held out to this generation by worldly elements?
NO HOPE of survival can be held out to this generation by politics, militarism, capitalism, communism, socialism, or the religions of Christendom and pagandom. Their defensive measures for what these see coming will not be able to stand up under the execution of divine judgment upon the nations.
2. From a worldly standpoint, why would previous death be better than survival of another world war, and so why ought we to be thankful for having the Bible?
2 Back in 1952, the then eighty-year-old British author, philosopher, mathematician, Lord Bertrand Russell, was reported as saying: “I should like to live another ten years provided there is not another world war meanwhile. If there is, there will be something to be said for being dead.” To this British lord death beforehand was to be preferred to living on into another world war, the war with nuclear weapons and CBR war weapons. Say that remnants of nations did survive such a war. Yet the nations can offer no hope of there being afterward anything beautiful, uplifting and healthful for which to live on earth. How glad and thankful we ought to be, then, that we have the sacred Bible! It offers the true, reliable hope. With this hope we can face the problem of survival. Without the Bible we should truly be left without hope.
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