How do the Jehovah's Witnesses explain Isaiah 51:6?

by insearchoftruth 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • insearchoftruth
    insearchoftruth

    How do the Jehovah's Witnesses explain Isaiah 51:6 with respect to the paradise earth doctrine?

    1 “Listen to me, YOU people who are pursuing after righteousness, YOU who are seeking to find Jehovah. Look to the rock from which YOU were hewn out, and to the hollow of the pit from which YOU were dug out. 2 Look to Abraham YOUR father and to Sarah who gradually brought YOU forth with childbirth pains. For he was one when I called him, and I proceeded to bless him and to make him many. 3 For Jehovah will certainly comfort Zion. He will for certain comfort all her devastated places, and he will make her wilderness like E´den and her desert plain like the garden of Jehovah. Exultation and rejoicing themselves will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

    4 “Pay attention to me, O my people; and you national group of mine, to me give ear. For from me a law itself will go forth, and my judicial decision I shall cause to repose even as a light to the peoples. 5 My righteousness is near. My salvation will certainly go forth, and my own arms will judge even the peoples. In me the islands themselves will hope, and for my arm they will wait.

    6 “Raise YOUR eyes to the heavens themselves, and look at the earth beneath. For the very heavens must be dispersed in fragments just like smoke, and like a garment the earth itself will wear out, and its inhabitants themselves will die like a mere gnat. But as for my salvation, it will prove to be even to time indefinite, and my own righteousness will not be shattered.

    7 “Listen to me, YOU the ones knowing righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Do not be afraid of the reproach of mortal men, and do not be struck with terror just because of their abusive words. 8 For the moth will eat them up just as if a garment, and the clothes moth will eat them up just as if wool. But as for my righteousness, it will prove to be even to time indefinite, and my salvation to unnumbered generations.”

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    Also quoted in Hebrews 1.

    The standard answer, believe it or not, is that the verses are talking about the metaphorical "heavens and earth" that are to be replaced by the new "heavens and earth".

  • insearchoftruth
    insearchoftruth

    And how does the 'live forever on paradise earth' belief stand up to the statement "and its inhabitants themselves will die like a mere gnat."

    So this is another case where they rely on metaphor?!?!

  • DoomVoyager
    DoomVoyager

    Everything in the bible that doesn't agree with JW dogma is dismissed as "symbolic language".

  • yknot
    yknot

    Well looking back at the older pubs listed next on the CD (but not found on the CD)...... As usual anyone who dies does so because they weren't obedient to Jehovah, it is the unworthy who die like gnats (or lice)

  • Caedes
    Caedes
    Everything in the bible that doesn't agree with JW dogma is dismissed as "symbolic language".

    You could extend that to say,

    'Everything in the bible that doesn't agree with (insert whichever brand of religion the reader happens to subscribe to) dogma is dismissed as "symbolic language". '

    Every theist seems to pick and choose which parts of their holy book they actually believe to be factual.

  • DoomVoyager
    DoomVoyager

    You could say that, caedes. Glad I'm atheist.

  • Shazard
    Shazard

    Caedes, that's why we have linguistics! Good stuff sometimes to find out what is and what is not symbolic and how much symbolic it is!

  • insearchoftruth
    insearchoftruth

    OK, probably too vague of a question, but is there any logic to the JWs making this scripture and Hebrews 1 symbolic, but some of their other 'forever earth' scriptures literal.....

  • Aculama
    Aculama

    2 Peter 1: 19-21 explains how prophesy is not of any private interpretation. When it comes to pass, it becomes evident not only what it means, but that it is accurate as well. Much of the prophesy in the Bible was fulfilled in later scriptures ( "a virgin shall consceive", ect ). The religious people of Jesus' time were expecting a king that would deliver them from the tirany of Rome, instead the got a carpenter. Their interpretation was wrong, not the prophesy. This is easy to see in retrospect. For a more up to date example you need only to look at the prophesies concerning Israel. No other country or people have ever been scattered throughout the world, into nearly every culture, for two thousand years only to return to their homeland, form a recognized government, and become a world power. Not only this, but they even revived their original language which had been considered a dead language for centuries. All of this was prophesied in the Bible. The founders and propigators of the J.W. organization, not to mention many other false religions and cults, will be judged for their false teaching and false prophesy. Read the book of Jude ( one page ) to see where they fall.

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