Would Jehovah be a "false prophet" if he destroys the earth by fire totally contradicting many old testament scriptures such as Eccl 1:4 Jehovah tells us explicitely that the earth is stand "forever". Jehovah tells us in Isaiah that the Lion and the Lamb will lay down together. How is this going to happen if Jehovah is going to burn up the earth? That would mean that Jehovah lied when he inspired Isaiah to write this verse.Many Born-Agains argue that a "new" earth is what Jehovah is talking about and not this earth that is reserved for fire and judgement. They continue by saying that is why Peter talks about a "new heavens and "new earth" in which righteousness is to dwell. Help me out posters I am kind of confused on this one.
Is Jehovah a "false prophet" if he burns the earth up?
by booker-t 1 Replies latest jw friends
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Narkissos
Your question relies on the dubious fundamentalistic assumption that there is one author behind all the wild diversity of texts which happened to be gathered into what we call "the Bible".
It also implies, at least, questionable exegesis of the texts which describe some "permanence of the earth". For each one of those texts, you might first wonder (1) whether those texts refer to the earth as a whole or the "land" of Israel (two possible meanings for 'ereç) and (2) whether the statements are about a relative permanence (e.g. vs. the successive "generations" coming and going, see the context of Ecclesiastes) or really imply eternity (only in that case ruling out the prospect of an "end of the world").
In any case, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that some texts imply a literal destruction of the world, especially 2 Peter which relies heavily on the Stoic concept of ekpurôsis (destruction and renewal of the cosmos by fire).