by BoogerMan 27 Replies latest watchtower bible
The latest Watchtower of August 2020 discusses on page 15, "HOW WILL THE RESURRECTION LIKELY TAKE PLACE?"
Since learning real truths as opposed to the org's version of truth, has your view of the resurrection changed significantly? Just one example - regardless of Psalm 37:9,11,29: Matthew 5:5 & Revelation 21:3,4, do you now believe that our destination is heaven rather than earth?
How does one verify what real truth is?
To truly know one has to understand both the Hebrew and Greek languages as well as the culture of the Israelites at the time of the writing of scripture. The Greeks influenced the Jews belief in the afterlife. The Gehenna mentioned in the Bible is direct proof of this. Just like the Christian doctrine of hellfire didn't come about until about 500 years after Jesus death.
The Israelites originally did not believe in an afterlife. They believed if you obeyed God's laws you would be blessed with a happy, full life. Later the idea that the souls of the dead just hung out underground eternally. Eventually they adopted a belief very similar to Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine of a resurrection on Earth.
The doctrine of the eternal soul most likely came from the Greeks influencing the Jews. As the Romans hijacked Christianity the idea of an eternal soul going to heaven was adopted by the Church.
My new belief is based on the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The Kingdom of God is within us. Paradise is here, but you only experience it if you practice Jesus teachings - love everyone as you would love yourself, do not judge, forgive everyone, care for the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, be content with just your basic material needs being met.
TRUTH---everyone has their own version of TRUTH but when a person's version of TRUTH is based on writings of men that are subject to wildly different interpretations---well!!!
just saying!
No one ever gets resurrected -- except in fairy tales
"Faith is the assured expectation........."
I have found nothing that assures me there will be any kind of resurrection of those who die. I wish there was, but I haven't seen it. Everyone I know that has died, appears to still be dead.
Well, there's this idea in the Bible of heaven and earth becoming one. In the garden of Eden, man, God, and the whole host of heaven lived together, but then got separated (exiled). And eventually we will all live together again. New Jerusalem is seen coming down from heaven onto the new earth. There's going to be a feast at some point, so that sounds cool, too. Exodus mentions a feast that Moses and a few others had with God on the mountain, so this speaks to that. It's really interesting! The Bible Project does these cute cartoon videos on various themes running throughout the Bible. I had not noticed them before!
But who knows?! We read the word, the promises made and we have hope. We see glimpses of realities to come (for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear). It makes life whimsical and full of wonder!
But, just a question for atheists:
Believers sometimes have doubts about their belief, and that's ok. Do atheists ever have doubts about their unbelief? Even for a second? Just wondering!
Jesus' own resurrection and word is the believer's assurance that there will be a resurrection of both the just (justified) and the unjust... to eternal life and judgment respectively.
I have come to believe there is NO resurrection, anywhere.
No heaven, no hell, nothing. Once you are dead you are gone. Live the best life you can now, this is all there is.
@ Irridle, personally speaking, never for a moment do I doubt, death is familiar but resurrection is unheard of.
@Anders, you have to laugh at the organisation's use of truth. There used to exist truth plain and simple but this looked a bit weak so real truth came along and then Watchtower Truth, the gold standard of real, truly true Truth. After all they own the rights on True Religion and have special knowledge of True Science which no one outside of the Watchtower knows anything about.
