Terry, a reading of the collective works of the early Church Fathers is on my to-do-list.
I read one - can't recall if it was Irenaeus or Polycarp - and was impressed with his knowledge of the Old Testament.
Syl
The Paradise Earth Teaching Is Selfish and Narcissistic
by snowbird 41 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
moshe
as talk therapy probably won't work with people who like feeling special- who wants to give that up?
I was referring to those on the outside, not our esteemed senior members here- who are are 100% level mood certified normal individuals.
Just like royalty-
-
wasblind
"I was taught that there are two roads. One was narrow and the other broad. Doing all the stuff we did like meetings, field service etc. just meant we had made a choice to take the narrow road"
Hello there Amelia Ashton,
the bottom line is still having to "work" for your salvation
if you didn't turn in your field sevice time, that means
you didn't work.
-
snowbird
That's it, WasBlind.
No workee, no Paradisee.
LOL @ Moshe's picture of Prince Charles.
Syl
-
cult classic
I agree.
Everyone who isn't like us will be killed. Instead of being forced to segregate ourselves from everyone we don't like, we will inhabit the whole earth. We can then live forever with people just like us and nothing will never ever again go wrong.
-
Amelia Ashton
Obviously still gotta lot to learn.
-
wasblind
((((((( Amelia Ashton ))))))) we all have a lot to learn
-
sizemik
Not just a gift . . . but a "free" gift . . . no strings? . . . unconditional? . . . it's either free or not . . . can't have it both ways.
And what of "the wages sin pays is death" . . . why does this not apply to those who lose their life at the big A? . . . according to the Bible principle . . . they've paid the price . . . clean slate . . . like all those who have died . . . including some downright assholes.
Last question . . . how do you think the JW's would feel if the whole world converted at the last hour . . . disappointed? . . . cheated?
-
snowbird
It's a free gift, but in order for it to apply to us, we must accept it.
There is a judgment after death. Hebrews 9:27.
I do believe some JW's would feel downright cheated, same as Jonah.
Syl
-
Scully
I believe the notion of Living Forever In Paradise On Earth™ is selfish and narcissistic, but not exactly for the same reasons as you, Sylvia.
I believe that death is an inevitability for all beings - plants, animals, people, and even stars and the planets within the solar systems of those stars. Each has a fairly stable lifespan (and some people, you could say, have a Best Before Date ... but that's a whole nother topic ).
The premise of Living Forever In Paradise On Earth™, therefore, requires people who buy in to that notion to want something that is unnatural within the workings of the universe as we know it. It requires them to expect that they are entitled to millennia of life that they aren't entitled to have. They have no such entitlement, and even worse, no control over death, just like a star has no control over its rate of decay or when it burns itself out and goes supernova, taking all life around it at the same time.
It was a very humbling realization to come to the understanding that I was just the same as everyone else, that I had no business going to their doors and telling them that what Jehovah's Witnesses had to offer was better than whatever it was they believed. I mean, who the hell did I think I was, preaching to them?? I was nobody.