Everlasting life on a Paradise earth..myth or reality?

by shotgun 29 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  shotgun

  Everlasting life on a paradise earth. This hope permeates the very being of every JW. They talk about it, sing about it and pray for it every day without fail. What a glorious hope the bible holds out, or does it?

  JW’s look to and quote: Psalm 37:29

  29 The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.

  Seems to be pretty straight forward, JW’s often proudly read these verses to potential members who are stunned that they never heard this hope explained from the bible before.

  Most JW’s would be surprised to find out that most bible translations render the Hebrew word in Psalm 37 as land not earth. Taken in context King David would have been telling his people that they would take the land and always possess it displacing the wicked forever.

  Here is where loyal JW’s will step forward and say yes but we have the correct translation, god directs his true organization. They also point out that the context of the bible points to the hope of everlasting life on a paradise earth.

  Does the context point to this? Why did Jesus and the Apostles never mention the wonderful hope of everlasting life on a paradise earth? They consistently mentioned everlasting life but always with a heavenly hope in view.

  John 5:23-24 : 24 Most truly I say to YOU, He that hears my word and believes him that sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life.

  In fact

  *** Rbi8 Luke ***

  43 And he said to him: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in .

  *** Rbi8 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 ***

  . 2 I know a man in union with Christ who, fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows—was caught away as such to the third heaven…. 4 that he was caught away into paradise and heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak.

  *** Rbi8 Revelation 2:7 ***

  7 Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

  WT publications point to Luke as tangible proof that paradise was an earthly hope because the evildoer had not qualified for heavenly life.

  Does it, would Jesus have shared such a wonderful hope and prospect with only one man.

  He said he was here to minister, console and to comfort. If the prospect of life on a paradise earth were open to those who died before Jesus death in 33ce why would there be no mention of him or his disciples sharing this with the thousands that they came into contact with. The WT points out that those who died before Jesus ascension to heaven have an earthly hope, why would Jesus and his disciples conceal this hope from them. Jesus and his apostles had access to the scriptures, psalms seems easy enough to understand.

  It stands to reason that the hope was not there or he would have mentioned it, a lot.

  Should we be promoting a belief that neither Jesus nor his disciples even mentioned? Read what the WT states about promoting beliefs which Jesus did not.

  *** w57 5/15 pp. 313-317 Appreciating Basic Christian Publications ***

  17 At a home Bible study you meet a person who has been told that the measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza harmonize with Bible prophecy and that we should study it to learn God’s purposes. You do not know what to say about this, but know that long ago it was discussed in the Society’s publications. So you search back year by year through the volumes of The Watchtower until you come to the November 15 and , issues. There you learn what is wrong with this idea and decide to present these points to your questioner: First, Egypt was a Devil-ruled pagan country, not a place for divine revelation; second, God does not accomplish his work through the type of slave labor that built the pyramids; third, Christians are told that they must live by faith, not by sight; and fourth, if the Christian congregation was to be taught by the measurements of this ancient pile of stone either Jesus or some of the apostles would have said something about it; and they did not. A briefer account of this is found in the , issue of The Watchtower.

  Would that principle not apply to all teachings? If the hope was there would not Jesus have said something about it?

  Ones often say but it was Jehovah’s original purpose for man to live forever on a paradise earth. Was it?

  Genesis 1:28

  28 Further, God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.”

  Does it mention everlasting life on a paradise earth?

  This leads me to Galatians 1:8, 9

  8 However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said above, I also now say again, Whoever it is that is declaring to YOU as good news something beyond what YOU accepted, let him be accursed.

  The conclusion is this: The hope of everlasting life on a paradise earth was never part of the Good News spread by Jesus and his disciples. It’s a promise promoted by the WTBTS to lure millions into a false sense of security and dependency.

  It is the unattainable goal always just around the corner, waiting for those who remain faithful to Jehovah god which is only possible by doing obeisance to the WTBTS
• 

  stillajwexelder

  YEP -- MYTH
• 

  Jim_TX

  Myth - and misunderstood words from those who spoke them (I.E. Jesus).

  Regards,

  Jim TX
• 

  shotgun

  Having a little trouble posting I'll try picking up where it got cut off.

  In fact
• 

  franklin J

  Of all the #$%&^!@ I was taught as a child, what still offends me the most---was not all the xmas and birthday parties and fun I missed out on--it was that 1(one) BIG LIE. Having been raised as a JW, I was taught from as long as I can remember, that I was part of the generation that would not experience death, yes, I was going to survive armageddon and be one of the pioneers ( a pioneer not only in this old system) of the New Order here on earth!!

  I believed this until I left in my early 20s. In retrospect it is just ridiculus. What is more disturbing to me is that I believed it!

  Well, at any rate, I had great fun making up for all the "lost time" ( and I don't mean preaching door to door).

  Frank
• 

  Lutece

  You've got it Frank, that we actually were taught that and believed it is hard to acknowledge (I guess that's why I don't readily admit it to new people I meet, unless I want to shock them, lol). But, some people are taught that hell is real and they actually believe it, so, I guess we're all gullible when it comes from our parents first.
• 

  Gopher

  I vote: MYTH

  Psalms 37:9 applied to the Israelites of ancient days. It never explictly states (and never is it implictly stated either) that this scripture had/will have some future fulfillment. For all we know, it was probably fully fulfilled in the BCE era.

  If "life forever in paradise on earth" was reality -- then you'd have a population problem after a few milleniums, or somehow reproduction would have to discontinue. Sexual relations would be a capital offense!!

  There isn't enough room for life forever on this tiny planet. If you expand the scope to the entire heavens, then of course there's plenty of room.

  Speculation is fun, isn't it.
• 

  blondie

  I told the elders that I didn't want to live in paradise on earth if it was going to be the same as the KH all over the world. I would rather die at Armageddon.

  Blondie

  (Not that we shouldn't want the world to be a better place for people to live in and do what we can to make that come true.)
• 

  mizpah

  I have come to the conclusion that Christ and early Christians spoke of the "one hope" as a heavenly one. But how do we understand the promise of "a new heavens and a new EARTH?" (2 Peter 3:13, Rev. 21:1) While is doesn't specifically speak of a "paradise earth", does it not suggest a restoration of the earth? Bible believers: What are your thoughts on the "new earth.?

  The one scripture we often used as a key ("The meek shall inherit the earth") to the "earthly hope" was, in fact, not applied to this class at all. As far as I recall, the Watchtower said the "meek" were actually the annointed who would receive the earth as an inheritance when they ruled with Christ in the heavens. (Blondie: Can you find any references to this?)
• 

  Enishi

  The belief that I was going to live forever in a paradise that was just around the corner was one of the major things that kept me in thrall of the WTS for some time. I had a hard time letting go of it. I've come to realize as of late though that many places in the world are already a paradise. I mean, cmon, my standard of living is probably better than 99% of the people that have lived on the earth. Not only that, but I have access to mountains of knowledge through the computer that would have made ancient scholars go faint. Still, despite all of this, much of the industrailized world suffers from depression and other ailments of the spirit. So, for many people, life isn't a paradise yet.

  I do think that life on a paradise earth, a true paradise, is possible, though not 'everlasting life'.

  Think of it this way, if humanity continues to evolve, a couple thousand or hundred thousand years down the road the earth could very well become a paradise. It would become a beautiful place filled with loving people who put other's needs above their own, and truelly enlightened individuals who would no longer be a once in an eon occurence. Since we would continue to reincarnate (If you believe in this sort of thing), we would in a sense eventually be ressurected in that paradise. And, because of our increased level of consciousness, its quite likely that we would remember much of our past lives as well. We wouldn't live forever (in the body) of course, but it wouldn't matter.

  However, people will have to make the effort to change from the inside first. God coming down to save us, appealing though it might sound, wouldn't really solve any problems, in fact I'm certain it would make things worse. It's up to us to make the kingdom of heaven a reality within us before any sort of significant change can be made.

  I just hope a bunch of screwballs don't end up destroying the world before our race can get to that point...