With the world collectively groaning from all the violence, is there anything positive we can deduce from this constant barrage of awfulness?
Yes!
These things were prophecied, indicating a marvelous future in the making. Is it not true that tragedy usually shows us that we need a or to change?
That is why you will probably enjoy the following article about a coming event. . . Judgement Day--Wait! Don't Stop Reading! ... It's good news :-)
"What is Judgment Day?
Why will judgment day be a happy time?
In Bible times, God used judges to save his people from injustice. (Judges 2:18) The Bible describes the future Judgment Day as a happy time when Jehovah, the Judge of all the earth, will save mankind from injustice.—Read please Psalm 96:12, 13; Isaiah 26:9.
God has appointed Jesus to grant justice to both the living and the dead. (Acts 10:42; 17:31) Many people have died without knowing God. During Judgment Day, Jesus will bring such people back to life so that they might know and love the true God.—Read Acts 24:15.
Why will Judgment Day last a thousand years?
The dead will be raised during the thousand years. (Revelation 20:4, 12) They will need time to learn God’s ways and obey him. Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible shows that people will be judged on the basis of what they do after their resurrection.—Read please Romans 6:7.
The Bible also describes a day of judgment that will occur suddenly before the thousand years begin. That day is also called the end. In that day, God will remove all ungodly, wicked people. (2 Peter 3:7) Therefore, future survivors need to seek God and then take care to prove whole-souled love and devotion to Him.—Read please 2 Peter 3:9, 13.
For about that day, Matthew 24:21 states:
""Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now."—Matt. 24:21.
What will signal the start of the great tribulation?
Jesus foretold: “When you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains.” (Matt. 24:15, 16)
In the first fulfillment, the “standing in a holy place” occurred in 66 C.E. when the Roman army (“the disgusting thing”) attacked Jerusalem and its temple (a place holy in the eyes of the Jews).
In the larger fulfillment, the “standing” will occur when the United Nations (the modern-day “disgusting thing”) attacks Christendom (which is holy in the eyes of nominal Christians) and the rest of Babylon the Great. The same attack is described at Revelation 17:16-18. That event will be the beginning of the great tribulation." w13 7/15 1:2, 6. (For more information on the subject go to www.JW.org.)
Does not today's news encourage us as to the nearness of this wonderful time? ... Just as with a pregnant woman, there are birth pangs. Yet, the joy of the arrival of a beautiful baby transcends the memory of the actual pain of birth.
Promised...
"For look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be called to mind,
Nor will they come up into the heart." Isa. 65:17.
Will this be true in your case too? ... You can ensure that it is.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102012174?q=former+things&p=par
