The Search for a Paradise Earth
The One Constant In Life
There is only one significant constant in life and that constant is simply: we all die. No matter how successful we become, we will die. No matter how rich or powerful we become, we will die. No matter how much fantastic health we enjoy, we will die. Death is immutable. There have not been and there are not now any exceptions. None.
The Seductive Promise
That being said, the most seductive words for any human to be told are "You will never die. You will live in perfect health on a perfect earth for all of eternity. Lions will eat straw, too."
This is the promise of the Watchtower Society, and since this promise is indeed remarkable, it deserves some careful scrutiny. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and this is the most extraordinary claim for humans that has ever been made.
That promise is the heart and cornerstone of the Jehovah?s Witnesses faith. Without that promise, how many people would join the religion? How many of those in the religion would stay in it? Be honest. I?d speculate there wouldn?t be enough dubs left to be able to pay for Governing Body members to ever fly and stay in first class hotels again. The Governing Body wouldn?t have anything worthwhile left to sell and normal people wouldn?t see enough left in the religion to join it. Because of the drawing power of this promise, it doesn?t take much logic to deduce that the WT religion is not based primarily on doing good for others, or building moral character; it is based upon having the members in this endless treadmill of religious disappointment to live their lives guided only with this "moral" thought: "I?m trying to save my own ass so I can live forever." Nothing could be more selfish than that.
Only a dub who had less common sense than your average gravel driveway would want to stay in the religion if the WTS took away this most seductive carrot. Think about it. What made you put up with all those massively boring meetings day-after-day, week-after-week, year-after-year and decade-after-decade? What made you force yourself to get dressed up, traipse around neighborhoods banging on doors and facing massive rejection trying to sell books year-after-year? What made you read all that boring and repetitious literature for years? It was that seductive promise: "You will never die. You will live forever in a Paradise Earth? having picnics and petting lions."
What dub would make those personal sacrifices if that promise was suddenly yanked away? What dub would be motivated to help his/her common man through charity and good works if that promise was suddenly yanked away? Oops. I forgot. Dubs don?t do charity for their fellow humans (and rarely even for their own members) even WITH that promise! So you see, that promise IS about dubs saving their own asses and doing good to others is only a byproduct of it, if at all.
The Search For Evidence
The only evidence the WTS can offer for this promise is supposedly found in the Bible. Since no promise that can be made to humans is more appealing and since the WTS claims to speak exclusively for God himself and since all the promises made by God are to be found in the Bible, one would expect the evidence for this promise to be abundant in the Bible. It is not. In fact, there is virtually NO incontrovertible evidence this promise is even made in the Bible. Remember, I?m not talking about a promise involving some sort of eternal salvation. I?m talking about a promise involving eternal salvation of life ON EARTH.
The Bible consists of thousands upon thousands of verses, so how many of those verses will clearly point to God?s promise that those living in the end time and thereafter will never die and march into an earthly paradise?
The words "Paradise Earth?, "New World?, New Order?, "Earthly Kingdom?and various similar expressions are so common in dub speak and in WTS publications that dubs take their truthfulness for granted.
So did I when I was a dubbie. But now, about thirty years after I left the religion and out of curiosity (and in desperate need of a real life so I could quit writing this stuff!), I decided to research this seductive promise for myself. I did a search of WTS publications using the expression "paradise earth" and quickly found 3,734 matches in just the Watchtower magazines alone from 1950 through 1999. If one also did a search on all WTS publications, I would not be surprised if the number of matches exceeded 10,000 over the last half-century. I then checked out all contextual Watchtower material surrounding that expression over a representative10 year sampling. I was quite surprised to see the expressions "paradise earth" and "earthly paradise" more often used without ANY scriptural references in its quoted paragraphs than with. I guess when the WTS has dubs repeating and believing the "paradise earth" mantra so often, it no longer becomes necessary to offer any proof.
In the huge two-volume WTS reference work "Onslaught on the Scriptures" the term is only used eleven times. Oftentimes the Watchtower magazine will use the term "paradise earth" and cite several verses as references at the end of the same sentence or paragraph. I looked up those references and with only three exceptions, none of them were discussing any such notion of a "paradise earth."
Side Note: The "Onslaught" book was the successor to the somewhat more honest book, "Aid to Bible Dunderstanding" which was no doubt replaced because the WTS leaders wanted to erase the memories of Ray Franz and Ed Dunlap from the minds of their flock and for no other reason. It didn?t occur to WT leaders that Franz and Dunlap wrote their portions of the book BEFORE they became nasty old apostates. If they were not apostates when they wrote it, according to WTS dogma, they must have had God?s approval when they penned that material. If they actually WERE nasty old apostates when they wrote it, then God?s spirit was not working at world headquarters and it was the WT headquarters that had lost God?s spirit, not just Franz and Dunlap. Conclusion? Politics and damage control were what caused the demise of the Aid book. It had nothing to do with God.
Isaiah the Nut Ball
What DID I find about the Bible-Based? (hahahahaha!) expression "paradise earth"? Nearly nothing, that?s what. First we have two excerpts from the book of Isaiah which was written by a mad man who starts his book by bragging he has "visions." I get uneasy when people say they have "visions." Visions are not good. Only wackos have them, you know. Most of the book of Isaiah is devoted to rants about how God will screw up the Israelites for their wickedness and how God will also screw up the Babylonians for their wickedness, these being the same Babylonians who had recently screwed up Israel because Israel was wicked and screwed up, thus saving God the trouble of screwing up the Israelites in the first place. So for some strange reason God was then going to screw up the Babylonians who only did God a favor by screwing up the Israelites God wanted to screw up before those Babylonians beat God to screwing up the Israelites God wanted to personally screw up himself. He IS a jealous God. Especially when it comes to Him not being able to be the first to screw up people when other people do the screwing up for Him. Bible God makes sure that no good deed goes unpunished. Sigh.
But in order to keep things from being so depressing all the time, Isaiah does give us some comic relief. He states what God will do for the Israelites if they quit screwing up so much. This brings us to Isaiah chapter 11. It tells us in the first verse that a "rod" will come out of the "stem" of Jesse, and that a "branch" will grow out of his "roots." I guess Jesse was quite the stud-muffin in his day! Isaiah tells us that the "rod" from Jesse would be "righteous." That?s not news. Most men feel that way about their "rods" and "roots." Isaiah also tells us about wolves and lambs and leopards and goats and lions and fatlings and bears and cows cohabitating in peace. He tells us that little kids would play over the lair of the asp. So far this sounds like the plot in a typical Disney or Warner Bros. Cartoon. Lastly, Isaiah just HAS to mention those straw-eating lions. Does this chapter point to a future "paradise earth?" Hardly. Isaiah just couldn?t finish this chapter 11 on a good note. No. He has to end it by saying that after all of this warm and fuzzy stuff happened, God would then step in and totally screw up all the adversaries of Judah, including Babylon and Egypt. If Bible God does anything well, its screwing up people. And he is very good at it, according to the Bible.
Therefore, this chapter clearly does not portend the future "paradise earth" as believed by Jehovah?s Witnesses. It only points to some relative peace and prosperity in ancient times using warm and fuzzy metaphors to describe that short period of peace. Even so, snakes never did quit biting kids who played over their lairs, you know. And lions never did start eating straw, even when they got fat and on the advice of their doctor, went on strict diets.
Scratch Isaiah 11 as proof of anything other than Isaiah?s active imagination during his "visions." Next we come to Isaiah 65 (same mad man, different chapter). After starting the chapter with his usual rants about how God is going to screw up everyone by slaughtering them, making them starve to death and die of thirst (yawn) Isaiah states this in verses 17 and 19: "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind?And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more in her, nor the voice of crying."
Of course, this never happened. The Israelites never stopped killing people and the people never stopped killing the Israelites. This is true thousands of years later, to this very day. Isaiah also concludes this chapter by repeating his popular straw-eating lions routine, but he has to spoil that and be a jerk and stick it to the poor snakes by stating that the serpents would have to have dirt for their "meat." He was obviously repeating the Genesis verse where God screwed up snakes, whacked off their legs and forced them to eat dirt because a superhuman being manipulated a simple and helpless snake who was just trying to mind his own business and make a snake living. Of course, no snake eats dirt, so it?s all bullshit. I?ll tell you what: if I was a snake and God made me eat dirt and some kid started playing around MY lair, I?d bite the shit out of him!
John the Revelator, Nut Ball #2
So much for Isaiah in our search for proof of the "paradise earth." At this point, the only evidence we have left from the WTS for their most significant promise to their membership is their old standby:
Revelation 21:3, 4. The classic dub verse! Even the most braindead of the braindead dubs know this one!
While Isaiah had "visions", John the Revelator had a "revelation." I guess that?s how that he got his name, huh? "Visions" and "Revelations" are the same thing though, and both are just as goofy. One only needs to read the first twenty chapters of Revelation before we get to the twenty-first chapter to conclude that old John the Revelator just wasn?t "right." In fact, he was just plain wacko. Beasts and painted horses and scourges and rivers running with blood and "seals" being opened and harlots riding beasts and dragons and women in scarlet and dragons in solitary confinement for a thousand years and God?s wrath (as usual) all fill up the chapters preceding chapter twenty-one.
I say all of it is the dreamy or drug-induced ravings of a mad man. Others say it is allegory. Still others say it is all FACT. The latter group are even more insane than the author. But if we assume all those chapters are allegory, then would it not be logical to assume chapter twenty-one is also allegory? Sure it would be logical to assume that, but dubs aren?t any more logical than Isaiah or the author of the Revelation. Or a sack of flour, for that matter.
Note that the Revelator is likely quoting Isaiah 65 in chapter 21 of Revelation:
Revelation 21:1: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;?"
Isaiah 65:17: "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind."
Do these scriptures point to a literal NEW heaven and earth, or to the SAME heaven and earth populated by NEW and better creatures who won?t screw up so much like the old and more crappy creatures who occupied the old and more crappy heaven and earth?
Dubs are taught to believe that the earth and heavens themselves won?t be destroyed, only the crappy creatures who disagree with them will be destroyed.
Yet, the last part of Revelation 21:1 tells us God is going to mess around with the earth itself: "And there was no more sea." No more sea on the "new" and better earth? What will the whales and fishes do? Where will our fresh water come from? Where can we go sailing and water skiing, then? It?s a long stretch to say almost ALL of Revelation is allegorical and only the last PART of Revelation 21 verse 1 is also allegorical, but the first part of the same verse is literal, is it not?
Verses 2 and 3 of chapter 21 tells us about a holy city coming down from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. It also tells us God is going to dwell with mankind. (He won?t be able to go water skiing without any sea, though.) Even the WTS doesn?t believe this is to be a literal event.
Let?s summarize where we are at this point about the book of Revelation: "dragons" doesn?t mean real dragons. "Colored beasts" doesn?t mean real colored beasts. "Harlots" doesn?t mean real harlots. "Colored horses" doesn?t mean real colored horses. "No more sea" doesn?t mean no more sea. The "holy city coming down" doesn?t mean a real city coming down. "God dwelling with mankind" doesn?t mean God actually dwelling with mankind. "New Heavens" replacing existing heavens doesn?t really mean literal new heavens. A "New Earth" replacing the existing earth doesn?t mean a literal new earth. All the gory slaughter to be done by God really DOES mean all the gory slaughter to be done by God, though.
Yet despite all of this, dubs DO believe what is said in verses 3 and 4 of the same chapter 21 to be a LITERAL future event:
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
This verse is nearly identical to Isaiah 65:17 and 19, except that it adds that death will be no more. But as far as lunacy goes, it?s no more of a lunacy than it is for Isaiah to say lions will eat straw.
(It?s only 4 more short verses later in Revelation 21 before God gets back to killing and burning and putting plagues on everyone, by the way.)
Verses 3 and 4 of Revelation 21 are the lynchpin verses used by the WTS as "evidence" for their entire "paradise earth" doctrine. The problem is, this verse doesn?t clearly indicate that these blessings will be vested upon those actually living on earth. Even though it does say there would be a "new" heaven and a "new" earth (except for the sea that gets wiped out), it doesn?t say or even indicate that the no death, no tears existence would be on earth. It could just as easily mean the good life would be in heaven and the new earth would be left for the other new people on that new earth to become crappy again just as they did in Adam?s time and Noah?s time. Without crappy human subjects to massacre and screw up, God would have nothing to do, you know.
What Jesus Said
When Jesus told the guy on his execution instrument that the guy would be joining Jesus, he used the words "in paradise." But where was that paradise to be? Did Jesus say (as most Christians believe) "truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise," (immediately upon death) or did he say (as only dubs believe) "truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise?" The dub version doesn?t make any sense. It involves using a clever manipulation by moving the comma in that verse from where it makes perfect sense to where it makes no sense but does support dub doctrine. If you say something to someone, on what day are you saying it other than the day you are saying it? To state, "I?m telling you something now, and this something I?m telling you now, I?m telling you today" is redundant and even stupid. Furthermore, Jesus said the thief would be WITH Jesus himself in paradise. Dubs teach that the thief was not anointed and therefore could only expect to be resurrected on earth later, so he could never be WITH Jesus if the thief was to live again on earth. If Jesus had said "I will be with YOU (not YOU being with ME) when I?m in paradise", then one could suppose the guidance and spirit of Jesus would always be with the thief no matter where he was. But he didn?t say that.
This is even more ironic because Koine Greek didn?t HAVE any commas or any other punctuation! Furthermore, all Jesus ever preached and talked about was a heavenly reward. You never heard Jesus mention any "paradise earth." Ever.
The Eden Argument
Finally, the WTS often uses the Eden story as "proof" that God will somehow restore the earth to a perfect paradise where man will never die. WTS publications abound with this idea. But that argument also falls. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever state or even imply that man was originally made to live forever. It only states that the first couple would "surely die" on the "day" they ate the forbidden fruit. It doesn?t state they wouldn?t die otherwise, even if a long time later. Nor does it say that Adam was "perfect," only that all of God?s creation was "good." Good is good, but it ain?t perfect. The animals died back then, you know. They couldn?t have possibly been "perfect" because they got old and died. Perfect creatures would have no malfunctions, like cell aging and eventual death. By having such malfunctions and dying as the WTS teaches, the animals could not be perfect by any definition. Something perfect does not malfunction. If the Bible clearly stated Adam WAS perfect and/or the Bible stated Adam was made to live forever, I would not argue this point, but the Bible doesn?t ever say this. Besides that, perfect people don?t eat forbidden fruit and thus screw up themselves and all of mankind after them. Only stupid idiots do that. Supid idiots aren?t perfect by anyone?s definition.
The Disappointing Conclusion
It?s sad to think that millions of dubs hitch themselves to an organization which says, "You will live forever on a paradise earth and you won?t even have to die to get there," when that same organization is unable to even use their own Bible to provide proof for that claim. Check it out for yourself. I did.
So my search for any concrete Biblical evidence of a "Paradise Earth" populated by humans living for eternity comes to an end. There just isn?t any such evidence. It?s either a secret God keeps to himself or it?s a bunch of bull droppings promised without Biblical foundation by religious leaders who specialize in bull droppings. Yeah. That?s what it is.
You?re gonna die, dubbies. Get used to it and quit wasting time selling books that deny that simple and immutable fact. The only ones who profit from that enterprise are your religious leaders, and they?ll die too!
I hope that if there is an afterlife we can all get together (dubs included), enjoy a beer and laugh at what idiots we were for believing all that nonsense in the first place.
"Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living." - Buddha
Farkel