Hi Butterfly, no offense taken. I'll try to respond to all your points:
>> "Rev. 7:9"
Ok, so you cited Rev 7:9 referring to the great crowd, but you offered nothing that puts this group on earth.
Why should I believe the great crowd is not a heavenly group? Simply because the WT$ says so? I've already established that the WT$ is a LIAR ORGANIZATION, so I don't take their word for anything.
I mentioned in a previous post that according to Revelation, the great crowd and the 144k are in the SAME PLACE: "before the throne". Also said to be "before the throne" are the angels, the seven spirits, the 24 elders, and the seven lamps - all heavenly things.
Rev 19:1 says "After these things I heard what was as a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven."
Can you offer any scriptural proof that the great crowd is on earth? If not, why don't you believe the great crowd is in heaven where Revelation clearly puts it?
>> "Luke 16:19-31 isn't literal."
Why, because you say it isn't? Or because the WT$ says it isn't? Please...
Regardless, I didn't say it was literal. All I said is that "the clearest teachings on hell in the Bible come from Jesus himself", and this is true.
I also asked you to tell me why Jesus taught people using such terms, which you didn't do.
>> "could all fit at the bosom of one man,..."
The fact that Jesus used a figure of speech doesn't mean his entire sermon was figurative. That is so simplistic and childish. I probably used several figures of speech in this post. Does that mean that I intended for nothing I wrote to be taken literally??
>> "The "rich man" represented the Pharisees..."
Really? Because the WT$ says so? Nothing and I mean nothing in the passage suggests this. This is just the WT$ looking for some - any - explanation other than the OBVIOUS one.
>> "And for one you are a putting words in peoples mouths JW do NOT beleive Son of God teaches his disciples Pagan concepts and doctrines!"
I'm sorry Butterfly, but if they believe the Bible and they believe the WT$, then yes jws *DO* believe that Jesus taught his disciples using Pagan concepts and doctrines. They may not realize it, but they do.
It's really not difficult to understand. According to the WT$ (and JWs), the concept of a fiery, burning hell where people are in torment is PAGAN and GOD-DISHONORING. Yet according to the Bible, Jesus taught his disciples using the concept of a fiery, burning hell where people are in torment.
Note again:
WT$: "the fiendish concepts associated with a hell of torment slander God"
Jesus: "In hell, where he was in torment"
Even if Jesus meant the words to be taken figuratively, that wouldn't change the fact that he used PAGAN, GOD-DISHONORING (according to the WT$) concepts when he taught. Personally, this just doesn't sit right with me so I believe it more likely that these concepts are NOT pagan and NOT God-dishonoring. If they were, as the WT$ (dogmatically) claims, then I believe Jesus WOULDN'T HAVE USED THEM IN TEACHING. He wouldn't have propagated them. He would have condemned or avoided them altogether. In actuality, he did neither. He used these concepts frequently in his teaching and he never condemned them.
peace