by M.J. 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Blondie,
Would you agree with my suggestion that this doctrine (no resurrection for those who die in the "great tribulation"), although not denied, was not clearly asserted again in the WT literature during the last 30 years or so? Or have I missed something?
Just found this, right after I figured out you can spell judgment without an "e".
*** re chap. 41 p. 297 God’s Day of Judgment—Its Joyful Outcome! ***
8
There are, of course, an unknown number who will not be resurrected. Among these would be the unrepentant scribes and Pharisees who rejected Jesus and the apostles, the religious "man of lawlessness," and anointed Christians "who have fallen away." (2 Thessalonians 2:3; Hebrews 6:4-6; Matthew 23:29-33) Jesus also spoke of goatlike people at the world’s end who go into "the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels," namely, "everlasting cutting-off." (Matthew 25:41, 46) No resurrection for these!9
On the other hand, some will be specially favored in the resurrection. The apostle Paul indicated this when he said: "I have hope toward God . . . that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous." (Acts 24:15) With regard to the earthly resurrection, "the righteous" will include faithful men and women of old—Abraham, Rahab, and many others—who were declared righteous as to friendship with God. (James 2:21, 23, 25) In this same group will be those righteous other sheep who died faithful to Jehovah in modern times. Likely, all such integrity keepers will be resurrected early in Jesus’ Millennial Reign. (Job 14:13-15; 27:5; Daniel 12:13; Hebrews 11:35, 39, 40) No doubt many of these resurrected righteous ones will be assigned special privileges in overseeing the tremendous work of restoration in Paradise.—Psalm 45:16; compare Isaiah 32:1, 16-18; 61:5; 65:21-23.10
Who, though, are "the unrighteous" mentioned at Acts 24:15? These would include the great masses of mankind who have died throughout history, particularly those who lived in ‘times of ignorance.’ (Acts 17:30) These, because of where they were born or when they lived, had no opportunity to learn obedience to Jehovah’s will. Additionally, there may be some who did hear the message of salvation but who did not respond fully at that time or who died before they had progressed to dedication and baptism. In the resurrection such ones will have to make further adjustments in their thinking and life course if they are going to benefit from this opportunity for gaining everlasting life.So there you have it, a summary of who's going to make it and who aint, according to the the WTS.
So those that have been judged in a judgment period are permanent history. Then in addition to all those judgment periods there's the "Great white throne" judgment, where the resurrected people are judged...not judged by the past life but the new life in the new system.
whole lotta judgin goin on.
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w67 9/1 pp. 522-523 Will You See Your Dead Loved Ones Again? ***The "great crowd" of unspecified number who have survived the destruction of this old system of things will be there to welcome the resurrected ones, but all, including this "great crowd," will have to stand before the throne of judgment. Why? Because none of them are yet perfect. The "great crowd" have been following Jehovah’s principles in order to make over their minds and personalities. Those resurrected will not experience a resurrection of the aforetime human body, for God gives the ones resurrected to earth a fleshly body to suit his purpose, but it is the personality that is resurrected, the soul—you. Now, we know that the personalities we have are imperfect, because we have inherited death from our first human father, sinful Adam, so that we all have been born sinful. (Rom. 5:12) Even the "great crowd," if left to themselves and not relieved of this condemnation to death, would all die off in time and need a burial.
From this standpoint those before the throne will still be in death or under a liability of death as inherited from sinful Adam, and they will need to be brought out of this condition. How will they get rid of this death-dealing state? By the priestly work of the great King, Jesus Christ. Christ is a priest, like Melchizedek of ancient Salem. (Ps. 110:1-4; Heb. 5:5, 6, 10; 6:20 to 7:17) He is Jehovah’s High Priest, and the 144,000 are underpriests, which fact is why it is said that "they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years."—Rev. 20:6.
The procedure of Jehovah’s High Priest now corresponds with that of Israel’s high priest Aaron on the annual Day of Atonement. We remember that he entered into the Most Holy of the sacred tabernacle to present to God, not only the blood of the bull for the priestly tribe, but afterward the blood of the sacrificial goat that was shed for all the other twelve tribes of Israel.—Lev. 16:15; Heb. 13:11, 12.
JUDGED
ON WHAT BASIS?What are the scrolls that will be opened during that thousand years? They are not the record of the past earthly life of the ones being judged. There would be no sense in bringing forth this record, for, since no one is righteous in his own works, it would only condemn him. It is this imperfection that they are trying to get rid of. The "scrolls" are the law books of Jehovah, publications setting forth his will for all people on earth during Christ’s millennial reign. Under the full rule of the Kingdom arrangement there will be many new additions and many things to be done, requiring these books of instruction that will come from Jehovah through his Kingdom government under Christ. Depending on the way that those facing judgment obey what is written in these scrolls, according to these deeds, they will be judged.
With the government in the hands of Jesus Christ, and assisted by his 144,000 subordinate kings and priests, people will be able successfully to make over their personalities and to practice complete righteousness. (Isa. 26:9) While those resurrected will likely not be brought back all at the same time, they will be received from the dead as the educational and judgment program progresses and as those living are able to equip themselves to care for the greater numbers of those coming back from the graves.
... At the end of the thousand years, with all living mankind perfected and having the complete ability to obey God’s law perfectly, they will be put through their final and decisive test. If anyone lets the Devil mislead him because he lets a bad heart condition develop in him, even as Adam did in Eden, he will be hurled into the lake of fire, which means everlasting wiping out of existence, endless destruction. He will have committed the sin against the holy spirit of God, the sin that incurs destruction, and his name will not be "found written in the book of life." (Rev. 20:15) Those, however, who hold on to their integrity through the final test will show that it is an integrity of the unbreakable type, qualifying them to have their names written indelibly, as it were, into Jehovah’s scroll of life, being declared righteous, justified to everlasting life, with certainty of living forever.—Matt. 12:31, 32; 1 John 5:16, 17; Rom. 8:33.
The words of Jesus will then be completely fulfilled. Viewing all those to be resurrected, both those to heaven and those to the earth, he said: "All those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment." Here Jesus was speaking from the standpoint of the end of his thousand-year rule and looking back to the judgment, first of the 144,000 and then of the rest of mankind. The resurrection of all, by the thousand years’ end, has turned out to be one of life or one of judgment to destruction, according to their practice of either good or vile things.—John 5:28, 29.
Lets hope CT Russell gets resurrected.....so they can promptly disfellowship himfor his apostate teachings and beard!! LOL
I believe that officially, King Solomon will be resurrected.
Wait a minute, no he won't be. He became an apostate and worshiped other gods.
On the other hand, he probably will be. He died prior to Armegeddon.
But no, he had no excuse to for his actions, being the wisest man on earth. So no, he won't be resurrected.
However, he wasn't executed by God so yes, he will be resurrected.
I think this is the offical teaching this week.
Rub a Dub
When I think of the resurrection, I think of no errection....lol
Cause the resurrected ones won't get married, says the Watchtower.
But if you're in the GC and you're married ALREADY you can still have kids in the new system, according to the above Revelation Climax (no pun intended) article I quoted.
Yes if you're in the Great crowd, but what % of all human beings will be?
If 6 million are among the great crowd out of the billions that will be resurrected, thats only a small percentage of people who will be able to live normally, and have a family and a house full of poeple, called family.
And with the new system being pushed away, year after year, we are getting old, and our chances of seeing and living through Armageddon are getting slimmer every day.
It's not only a question of having kids, its a question of having love and a spouse and a house full of loved ones called family.
All have been decieved, and are dead in Christ, so all who listen and follow the Messiah will be resurrected by a new system. The physically dead bodies will not be coming back, but the souls will all return in new bodies as they are born again through the womb. Its a continuous cycle and a new world that all are reborn into.
According to WTS doctrine, Russell was resurrected in 1918 as a spirit creature and is heaven with Jesus. Rutherford supposedly would have gone straight to heaven when he died in 1942.
And current WTS understanding is that Solomon will be resurrected?
What about Ananias and Sapphira? Will they have a resurrection since they sinned against the holy spirit and were executed by holy spirit?
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w65 8/15 p. 511 Questions from Readers • Considering what is said at 1 Chronicles 28:9, how can it be said that Solomon will be resurrected?—B.M., U.S.A.In order to determine what the Bible indicates about the possibility of a resurrection for Solomon, it is helpful to compare what is said about him with what the Scriptures say happened at death to certain other men who lived before Christ.
Abraham, Moses and David pleased Jehovah. Consequently, they were listed as men of faith who believed in and will receive a resurrection. (Heb. 11:17-19, 23-28, 32-35, 39, 40) This means that at death they went to Sheol or Ha´des, the common earthly grave of mankind, since it is from there that the dead are resurrected. (Rev. 20:13) We have no reason to doubt Jehovah’s determination in their regard. Interestingly, the Bible used similar expressions in explaining what happened to all these men when they died. Abraham, upon his death, went "to [his] forefathers in peace." (Gen. 15:15) At death Moses ‘lay down with his forefathers.’ (Deut. 31:16) And David is spoken of as being "with his forefathers and . . . buried in the city of David."—1 Ki. 2:10; Acts 13:36.
So all three men, Abraham, Moses and David, pleased God, went to Sheol, and are mentioned as being buried with or gathered to their forefathers. The use of the similar expression ‘buried with his forefathers’ could not mean that they all shared the same grave, since these men were not buried at the same place. In fact, Jehovah buried Moses, and "nobody has come to know his grave down to this day."—Deut. 34:5, 6.
Jehovah also included in the inspired record the statement that at death Solomon "lay down [slept, AV, AS, RS] with his forefathers." (1 Ki. 11:43; 2 Chron. 9:31) So, using the Bible’s parallelism, we can reasonably conclude that Solomon, along with his forefathers Abraham, Moses and David, is in Sheol or Ha´des, from which he will be resurrected. Although some may feel that, in view of Solomon’s great wisdom, he was fully accountable when he turned to false worship, all the factors are known by Jehovah, a God of perfect justice and mercy, and this seems to be his decision on the matter.
Before David died he had admonished Solomon: "If you search for [Jehovah], he will let himself be found by you; but if you leave him, he will cast you off forever." (1 Chron. 28:9) In view of what has already been established, what can we conclude that David here meant? It appears that David had reference to this present life and did not have in mind the matter of whether Solomon would have a resurrection or not if he fell away from true worship. If Solomon, as king of Israel, left Jehovah, God would reject him or cast him off. That is what happened. (1 Ki. 11:9-13) Nonetheless, the Scriptures indicate that Solomon apparently will receive a resurrection.—John 5:28, 29; Matt. 6:29; 12:42; Acts 7:47.
Of course, the Bible does not make a definite statement on the resurrection possibilities of each and every person it names. But if we individually prove our own integrity to God now, it will be our privilege to be on hand when the resurrection occurs or to be among those raised from the dead. Then we will know definitely which individuals have been favored by God with a resurrection.
Narkissos,
Rather than saying those who are executed at Armageddon or during the great tribulation, the WTS tends to say they will be destroyed forever.
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w99 3/1 p. 21 Jehovah’s Blessing on Our "Land" ***At Armageddon, all of those who have chosen to remain in a spiritually lifeless and sick condition will be given to salt, that is, destroyed forever. (Revelation 19:11-21
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Worship God (2002) chap. 10 p. 95 A Kingdom "That Will Never Be Brought to Ruin" ***Soon now, at his appointed time, Jehovah will send his executional forces into action to cleanse the earth. They will destroy forever those humans who of their own choice refuse to acknowledge his sovereignty and who treat with scorn the loving provisions that he makes through Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)
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w94 1/1 p. 3 When East Meets West ***When judgment is executed soon at the great tribulation, the disobedient goatlike people "will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones [the obedient sheeplike ones] into everlasting life."—Matthew 25:31-33, 46; Revelation 16:14-16.
*** Worship God (2002) chap. 9 pp. 87-88 The Power of the Resurrection Hope ***
However, not all who have ever lived and died will be resurrected. Some committed sins for which no forgiveness is possible. Such ones are, not in Hades, but in Gehenna, where they experience everlasting destruction. Included among these will also be those executed in the "great tribulation," now near. (Matthew 12:31, 32; 23:33; 24:21, 22; 25:41, 46; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)
