Fisherman,
You seem to imply that one can choose to deliberately mock Jehovah
without punishment or cause harm to others without paying a price. It
seems to me that Jehovah will fulfill my desire for justice.
Not at all. Sinners die don't they? :-)
To be clear, my interest on this thread is only in the theology of the JW faith and its internal agreement and continuity. (Or the lack thereof) I'm not promoting a personal viewpoint here.
With that in mind, the Bible Student / JW movement has from its earliest beginnings rejected both the doctrine of hell fire as well as its attendant ideological precepts. This includes the idea that any further payment for sin is required beyond the death of the sinner. The have never taught anything even remotely resembling the notion you have floated on this thread - That the resurrected will face God's "Vengeance" in a "Universal Court of Justice" for the sins they they committed prior to their death.
-From the JW publication, Reasoning From The Scriptures:
"Both those who formerly did good things and those who formerly practiced bad things will be “judged individually according to their deeds.” What deeds? If we were to take the view that people were going to be condemned on the basis of deeds in their past life, that would be inconsistent with Romans 6:7: “He who has died has been acquitted from his sin.” It would also be unreasonable to resurrect people simply for them to be destroyed. So, at John 5:28, 29a, Jesus was pointing ahead to the resurrection; then, in the remainder of verse 29, he was expressing the outcome after they had been uplifted to human perfection and been put on judgment." (p. 338)
Acquittal of past sin is the "Clean slate" of which I spoke and this is indeed what JW's teach.
-From the JW Bible Encyclopedia, Insight On The Scriptures:
"Jesus was therefore
evidently taking a similar position in time in speaking of “those who did good
things” and “those who practiced vile things,” namely, a position at the end of
the period of judgment, as looking back in retrospect or in review of the
actions of these resurrected persons after they had opportunity to obey
or disobey the “things written in the scrolls.” Only at the end of the judgment
period would it be demonstrated who had done good or bad. The outcome to “those
who did good things” (according to “those things written in the scrolls”) would
be the reward of life; to “those who practiced vile things,” a judgment of
condemnation. The resurrection would have turned out to be either to life or to
condemnation." (Volume II, p. 789)
-From the April, 1st 1982 Watchtower:
"Both “those who did good things” and “those who practiced vile things” will be among “those dead” who will be “judged individually according to their deeds” performed after their resurrection. (Revelation 20:13) When contrasting “resurrection of life” with “resurrection of judgment [Greek, a·na´sta·sis kri´seos],” Jesus was referring to the end result of such resurrections."
I tell you that after a while, you take these things for granted as
sight and sound and taste and these blessings coexist with personal
sufferings that God does not shield one from and one must live a life
obeying Christian rules and like in Paul's case, persecution.
-Again, I'm not trying to promote my own personal viewpoint at the expense of yours. I'm simply pointing out what the JW's have taught vis-à-vis the Great Crowd and how that has become problematic over the passage of time.
You have already been given a quote where it was very clearly stated that the generation of the "Great Crowd" (i.e. Those adults standing up in 1935 and being recognized as such) would be "most to be pitied" if their hopes were dashed. A twenty-five year old living in 1935 would be 106 today and the clock continues to tick.
Redefining the term, "Generation" doesn't fix this. It doesn't even put a scratch in the real problem, which is that the "Great Crowd" doctrine itself is dependent upon the length of a human lifespan.
