One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that most people in mainline denominations are, in general, not hung up on doctrinal arguments. It helped me to revise the importance of doctrine in my life…a bad habit I learned from my being a JW. Sometimes it is refreshing to just to embrace the possibilities of various interpretations.
Many christian faiths have an EARTHLY resurrection belief.....
by EndofMysteries 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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DS211
This is such bullshit...the bible isnt specific about cremation but we know its pagan in origin...birthdays are not openly condemned in the Bible and may be pagan in origin yet you cannot do this....absolute hypocrisy.
An elder once challenged my challenge of saying wjnd chimes, dogs, wedding stuff, were steeped in paganism and yet he said "well some of those we are not completely sure originated with oaganism so its conscience matter, but bdays are proveN paganistic so you cannot celebrate it".
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James Mixon
I personally have never talked to a believer that believed in a
earthly resurrection except JW's. Most people can't wait to fly
around in heaven, meet their love ones and sing praises all day.
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FayeDunaway
Many Protestant denominations believe in an eventual 'new earth', and that when you die your soul goes to heaven, but eventually there will be a physical resurrection and earth would be restored and Jesus would actually reside with his people on this earth. They don't talk and speculate about it much, it is a hope for an uncertain time in the future. -
leaving_quietly
OFF TOPIC...
@Crazyguy, thanks for that link. Don't know who the author(s) are of the site, but they are very careful not to name names / religions. The style strikes me as an ex-(name your favorite religion here). I would almost say ex-JW because of the litany of topics that are typically unique to JWs, and the author(s) target certain practices of JWs (e.g. "Today, all religions claim that their teachings are the truth. Why, some of them even dare to refer to themselves as 'the Truth.'")
BACK TO THE TOPIC...
It's interesting to see what other religions believe on about this. The Bible doesn't outrightly say whether the resurrection is bodily or in spirit, though it alludes to it in a few places: Matt 22:29, Mark 12:26, 1 Cor 15:42-44 (the latter is strong allusion to a spiritual resurrection). Does that mean heavenly life indefinitely? The indication is no. We're all familiar with Rev 21:3,4, which JWs use so often. However, these verses are preceded by what's written in Rev 21:1,2, where it describes New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven.
My take on it, for what it's worth, is that the first resurrection is to heavenly life for the duration of 1000 years, then back to earth. The second / general resurrection is likely earthly and occurs after the thousand years. That seems to match the timing in Revelation 20.
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Alive!
Before I studied the bible with witnesses over 20 years ago - I had zero knowledge of the bible.
My understanding was that mainstream churches taught heaven and hell - and my understanding of the trinity was the version explained by the WBTS. Three headed God etc. You know how it all goes.
Last year I went to a local Baptist church and listened to the pastor talk about a glorified earthly resurrection onto a glorified earth...
WHAT? He asked the congregation to "bear with him" as he recognised that there were some listeners who would have imagined an eternity in heaven.
He joked - "I'm expecting a full inbox of emails after this".
Researching, I have found that a hope for universal reconciliation and glorified physical life has been understood throughout the centuries.
When I studied with the witnesses, pre-Internet, I thought they were the only ones who had pulled up this understanding from the scriptures. NO!
Absolutely NO.
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Crazyguy
I have discovered that the idea of your spirit going to heaven having an earthly resurrection after having your heart weighed and judged all comes from the Egyptian book of the Dead. Christianity is a copy of older religious ideas. -
barry
The resurrection of the body is found both in the Apostles creed and the Nicean creed that are said by all in christian churches.
Also most graves face east awaiting our Lords return in the hope of the resurrection.
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Village Idiot
My understanding was that most of 'Christendom' taught the bodily resurrection would be in heaven with, depending on the denomination, an earthly habitation during the Millennium consisting of Israelites. Depending on the theology the resurrected were understood to be dwelling in heaven with their "glorified bodies".
In judgment day the wicked were to be damned to hell in their resurrected bodies.
There seems to be a variety of contradictory teachings on this matter.