When You Were A Witness, Did You Ever Want To Go To Heaven?

by minimus 37 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Pleasuredome

  lv4fer

  that reminds me of a joke

  one day st peter came down from heaven and judas came up from hell, and they both met in the middle.

  peter say to judas, "how are you?"

  judas says, "good mate how are you?". "not bad, not bad. whats it like down there in hell then?" said peter.

  "well, its amazing i tell ya. there's bars everywhere people drinking 24/7, sex wherever you want it, women walk about naked, plenty of drugs and rock n roll, fantastic. so whats it's like in heaven then, pete?"

  "murder, i tell ya. i get up in the morning, make the beds, cook the breakfast, wash up, do the cleaning, i'm sick of it. "

  "why's that then pete?" asked judas.

  "because i'm the only git up here!"
• 

  JH

  Nope, There is no sex in heaven. No pizza, and especially no POUTINE...

  I love being a human being with 5 senses. I feel great and love life. A few things missing but, man I enjoy being physical. I was made to be here, not up there.
• 

  gumby

  Every picture I ever saw as a dub of angels consisted of all Arnold swartzneger looking men that all looked gay and so I didn't want to go. When I went to the baptist church they had pictures of some sweetie babe lookin angels that made me want to go there. I had to find out first if there were gay men or babes there. Then I found out that probably there isn't such a place...........damn!

  OK....I'll be serious. No...I never wanted to go there because there was never an explanation as to what I'd be doing there if I COULD go. The heavenly ones would RULE for a 1000years. OK .....and do what? What do they do AFTER that?

  My point is it's like asking someone to go on a vacation with you for eternity but won't tell you what the place is like. A paradise earth sounded nice and that's where I wanted to be. Also, I had the mindset that that hope was unattainable for me, so my mind never went there.

  Gumby

  Gumby
• 

  blondie

  It may just be semantics, but I always thought it was where God wanted us to go and that we would want to go wherever God sent us.

  That is what I see being mistaken about going to heaven. Humans were designed to live on earth. Adam and Eve were only given the choice of life on earth.

  Maybe the question could be, "While a JW, did you ever feel that God had chosen you to go to heaven."

  My personal desire has not been to go to heaven. I would have liked the cook's tour, met Jesus and God face to face along with some of the angels (200,000,000 would take too long), had a little chat and quizzed them on their lives in heaven. But then I would like to come back to earth. If I was convinced that God was asking me to stay permanently and work along those in heaven, I would like to say I would quickly say yes. But my selfish side would be hard to deny.

  Basically, would I do what God asked of me, whether it be living on earth or in heaven?

  Blondie (not necessarily making myself clear)
• 

  berylblue

  work. They make it seem like you were going to be fetching water and washing dishes by hand and doing laundry by hand and gardening. I don't really like any of that stuff so I just couldn't understand why when we have all the modern conveniences now we were going to go back to doing everything by hand. It just doesn't make any sense. How are you going to travel. Horse and buggy...great it will take months to go and visit someone

  One of the elders in our cong used to tell the women all the time, "You are going to have to do without all your modern conveniences. You are going to have to get used to that."

  He belabored the point so much one of the women finally said to him, "So what are you going to do without your electric razor?"

  Of course, that wouldn't propose much of a problem, because that was only one item as opposed to the many women use to do their housework. Yes, it is going to be a lot of fun if there's no electricity.

  However, many in our cong used to argue that there would be electricity, and that Jehovah could certainly show us how to use it properly without polluting everything. We wondered who would run the power plants, and the obvious conclusion was that the angels weren't do ing anything better, let them do it.

  Rosemarie
• 

  minimus

  A man that I know, always asked the question about who's going to run the power plants and water supplies and all the other things that we just take for granted.He can never get a good answer from a JW. The only answer he gets is, "Don't worry about it. Jehovah will take care of those things.".............Um, Blondie, what were you saying???
• 

  Robdar

  It's not that I wanted to go to heaven at first because I wanted to be with my family who said that they were of the earthly class. But I thought that I was going and had no choice. After I searched my heart and read scripture and let my imagination wander, I decided that I did want to go because there would be a way for the anointed to move back and forth between heaven and earth to visit their loved ones.

  Robyn
• 

  minimus

  I was just talking to my mother about the WT. Study and she said that a sister was expressing her awe at meeting a real anointed person. Another sister met a brother that professed to be of the anointed and she asked him if she could just touch him. My mother thought these people were pathetic.
• 

  AGuest

  I am SO glad you've asked this question, dear Minimus! Peace to you... and may I respond? Thank you!

  I had never thought of being with God as a matter of choosing between heaven and earth: most religions taught heaven only... and so that was my thinking. Before the WTBTS. Once there, I was introduced to the thought of two "hopes", one heavenly, one earthly. Unfortunately, for me, my hope was "with" God... so the "earthly" one was out. For me. Thus, started the drama of my life; what I professed simply could not be, not according to the WTBTS.

  Trouble is, I never considered it one way or the other: heaven OR earth. What I did take into consideration was when ones would state that they PREFERRED an earthly hope OVER a heavenly one: to me, how could ANYTHING less than a "heavenly" hope be MORE desireable? If a perfect earth was a GOOD hope, wouldn't a heavenly one be BETTER? How then could one prefer the former over the latter? Simple: the Society's false teaching that only a small number go to heaven, leaving behind dear loved ones. It NEVER made sense to me, that I would have to leave my children... and yet, could be happy in doing so.

  But patience won out and I have since learned that there is only ONE hope... which is indeed "heavenly" - however, it is NOT separate from the earth! The "heavenly" hope is simply the hope that results in entry into the kingdom of God... which means putting off the flesh with its blood (which cannot enter)... and putting on the "white robe" or SPIRIT body! And that hope... is what is held out to ALL... including our children! There is no "age limit" (as falsely taught by the WTBTS), for in all cases, when a righteous one was "saved", his or her ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD was saved!

  Acts 2:39

  Dear ones, with God, history shows that it is by means of ONE righteous person, that an entire household can be saved! Have you not read and have you not heard of Noah? Abraham? Joseph? Rahab? Cornelius? In each and every household, there is one who can act as "priest" for that family, just as dear Job did, offering up sacrifices "according to the number of ALL of them; for, said Job, "maybe my sons have sinned and have cursed God... in their hearts." Job, sought God's face, through Christ, on BEHALF of himself... AND his children!

  Once I learned this from my Lord, I learned, too, what such "heavenly" hope truly is: it is NOT separate from the earth! No, for New Jerusalem "comes down OUT of heaven," and rather than mankind only being with God, it says, "Look! The tent of God... IS WITH MANKIND!" Seeing as the earth has been given to mankind, and New Jersusalem comes down out of heaven, then what was true at the "beginning" will be true at the end:

  The paradise that God entrusted to Adam to spread over the ENTIRE earth... WILL be spread... over the entire earth! But such "paradise" is SPIRITUAL... NOT fleshly! The earth will not be inhabited by flesh with its blood... but SPIRIT BEINGS... citizens of the kingdom of God... the righteous and MEEK... who inherit... THE EARTH!

  Flesh with its blood, that holds within it sin and corruption, so that it ages, become ill, and dies... will be "done away with!" All who have residency in the City of God... the City of Double Peace... NEW Jerusalem... will have put OFF corruption... and put ON incorruption... so that within the walls of such City... righteousness is to dwell.

  But that City will not be in the sky... or out among the stars. No, it will be here, on earth, the City having REAL foundations, the builder and maker of which is God, by Christ, versus David and Solomon. The earth was not formed for nothing, dear ones... but to be INHABITED. But inhabited by WHOM? The WTBTS has deceitfully told you that it will be inhabited by flesh... with its blood... perfect flesh. True, the flesh WILL be perfect, but it will NOT be with ITS blood... but with the blood of God, HOLY SPIRIT, which blood Christ himself poured out.

  The citizens of the kingdom of the heavens will be persons of SPIRIT... whose flesh is of the sort that Adam FIRST possessed, so that it could go in AND out of the garden... and such that my Lord possessed, so that it could "transfigure"... also so as to go in and out. That is the very reason why there are angels posted at the gates of such City... to monitor who goes in... and out. Because, for a time, OUTSIDE that city, OUTSIDE that spiritually cleansed realm... will be the dogs, etc. But only for a time.

  Eventually, that City will encompass ALL the earth, so that IN the earth, by means of those who reside IN that City, which City will be EVERYWHERE... righteousness is to dwell.

  If you are putting your hope in your flesh... with its blood... that it will be 'saved' and made to live forever... you have been misled. Flesh... with ITS blood... will die. For the soul that is sinning... and it is IN flesh with its blood that sin exists... it itself WILL die. It is only flesh without ITS blood... but with the blood of God and Christ, holy spirit... that will live... forever.

  Such hope, dear ones... is for ALL. Christ died... and gave such blood, his PERFECT blood, which is NOT red hemoglobin... but HOLY SPIRIT... so that all who EXERCISE faith in him... may live by means of it. His red hemoglobin... along with water... was poured back into the earth. It was his SPIRITUAL blood, the life force and "living water" given him by God... that he took into heaven and offered up as a sacrifice... and later, at Pentecost 30 CE... poured out. For unless blood is poured out, no forgiveness of sins takes place.

  It is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh... the man you are on the OUTSIDE... that will result in life everlasting; rather, it is the putting away of the filth... of the SPIRIT... the man you are on the INSIDE... that will result in a true cleansing. And while water baptism, in the manner of John, may cleanse the outside of the cup (in the manner of Naama washing in the Jordan)... it is baptism with fire and SPIRIT, by means of Christ, that cleanses the INSIDE of the cup... so that you truly are clean.

  There is only one hope, dear ones (Ephesians 4:4): that which is heavenly... or, rather, celestial, which will come upon that which is earthly... or, rather, terrestrial. And that which is terrestial, even the earth itself... will be changed. For then, the curse will have been lifted... which curse of the earth by God corresponds to the curse of the flesh by Adam... the ENSLAVEMENT of the creation... to sin... and Death. Death... will be NO MORE. And flesh... with ITS blood... dies. It is the SPIRIT... that is life-giving.

  May you have ears... to hear. For the Spirit and the Bride KEEP saying:

  "Come! Take 'life's water'... which 'water' is the very spirit of God, poured out upon ANY who are thirsting... free!"

  A servant to the Household of God, Israel, and all those that go with them... and a slave of Christ,

  SJ
• 

  minimus

  A Guest, What you say makes pretty good sense to me and I didn't even have to re-read your post to try to make heads or tails of it!...But, I still am not sure about who's going where.