I think this world is boring , the only way you can truly enjoy anything is if you have money , everything you do costs money and you have to slave for that ,at least the promise is that you will do for yourself and owe nothing to anybody . It's anybodies guess what heaven has going on but I'm sure it's gotta be pretty incredible .
Why a paradise earth is so appealing to JWs?
by Lady Lee 57 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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aligot ripounsous
Hei, Narkissos,
I think we exemplify the two terms of the alternative. You seem to accept the "nothing" solution, I don't, whether for lack of fortitude (that's where the old crutch becomes useful as some would say) or out of faith, I honestly don't know. I just prefer the second term of the alternative because, in a very utilitarian way, I think that feeling accountable for what we do to a supreme authority saves us, and our neighbours, much trouble. And if, on top of it, this authority rewards us, its all benefit as old Blaise Pascal said, if I remember well.
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thinker
The carrot that the WT dangles before the noses of JWs is eternal life in Paradise and I've found that individual JWs all have their own ideas about what this life will be like. Many JWs are quoted in the WT discussing how great it will be to be reunited with family, friends, and loved ones in the new system. But in the late 60's and early 70's it was expected that something special might happen in the year 1975. Suddenly, the fantasies of individual JWs smashed headlong into the reality of what the WT had been saying all along about life in Paradise. It was for this reason that the WT wrote:
"So no one really has any basis for being sure that he would not like the future provisions that God will make for the resurrected ones. Then, too, not all the details have been provided. This has really been a kindness on God’s part. Why, as imperfect humans, we might at first react unfavorably to things that would actually fill our life with joy in a perfect state. Such details therefore might be beyond our present ability to receive." (ts 20 p179 published in 1974)
I thought It might be helpful to remind active JWs that this is what Paradise will really be like, according to the WT:
1. You will be resurrected in a new perfect body. Not perfect according to what you desire, perfect according to what God wants for you:
"God will give them bodies just as it pleases him..." w63 4/15
2. This body may be a different nationality and race from the one you had before:
w74 1/15
"All religious, national, social and racial barriers will be things of the past, ..."
"ONE RACE, ONE LANGUAGE"
3. You will all speak one language, ancient Hebrew:
"...with one vocabulary all will be able to express their thoughts fully and be understood accurately." w74 1/15
4. You may not be resurrect to the same location as before:
w98 7/1 "...the Bible is silent. It does not spell out the details of how, when, or at what locations the resurrection of individuals will occur."
5. "It is quite possible you will be assigned a place to live rather than choose one for yourself." (w75 6/15)
6. You will be assigned work to do; work that will not be made easier with labor-saving devices:
No problem will arise over the question of employment because of modern-day labor-saving machines and so-called automation. The King will keep all his subjects fully occupied, and they will become perfect workmen. Work will be properly distributed among all, and there will never be cause for unemployment. The divine rule will be enforced: “If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat.” (2 Thess. 3:10) w63 10/15
7. You will need to have your mind re-adjusted through education:
"It will be a time of education for them. “Scrolls” containing instruction from God will be opened, and they will need to follow these in making their minds over in harmony with God’s will." w69 3/1
8. In addition to your assigned work you will continue to preach and teach.
w92 4/1
Continued teaching will be needed not only for survivors of the end of this old world and for children who may be born in the new world but also for the billions who come back to life in the resurrection. Eventually, every person who lives on earth will be taught to exercise his free will properly within the boundaries of God’s laws.
w55 5/1
It will not even change the need to continue preaching, as it will be necessary to praise God’s name by talking throughout eternity.
9. Your past relationships will be different. If you were married, you won't be any longer (unless you happen to survive Armageddon as a married couple). Dissolving the marriage relationship will also change your relationship to and as parents, brothers and sisters, children; your entire family. Your father will be Jesus, your mother will be his 'bride', the anointed. All will be brothers and sisters, no special family relationships will exist. You may be responsible for raising someone else's children:
"...we cannot be sure how we will feel about past relationships..." w87 6/1
"Nor can we state with certainty how Jehovah will work out such issues as the rearing and care of resurrected children" w98 7/1
"God will bring mankind as a whole back to the one family" ka 4 pg 49-50
"they are God’s children by being children of the resurrection." w87 6/1
"All will be brothers and sisters..." w75 10/15
10. Your sex life will be different. Those who are married and survive Armageddon will be permitted to procreate (in an approved manner, at the approved times) for a limited time. Those resurrected from the dead will not marry, but may be permitted to procreate with an approved mate in an approved manner at an approved time. (But keep in mind that no one knows how child care and rearing will be accomplished. You may not be raising your own children.):
w54 9/15
By the time they return from the dead through a resurrection paradise will have overspread the earth and the token fulfillment of the procreation mandate will have been effected by the Armageddon survivors and their offspring. (Gen. 9:1; Matt. 24:37; Luke 23:43) That work will have been accomplished by those of the “other sheep” class now living and who survive Armageddon. They are not precluded from marriage and childbirth by the words of Jesus at Luke 20:34-36, since they never die and hence are not children of the resurrection.
It is even reasonable and allowable to entertain the comforting thought that those of the other sheep who now die faithful will have an early resurrection and live during the time when the procreation mandate is being fulfilled and when paradise conditions are being spread earth-wide and that they will share in this divinely given service.
11. The government of the new system will be very organized. Jesus as king will hand out assignments to his 144,000 subordinate kings who will hand out assignments to the princes (former elders) on earth who will pass on those assignments to the rank and file of the great crowd:
"In this regard, it must be said that the Bible does not indicate what assignments of kingly responsibility will be given out by Jesus Christ to his 144,000 subordinate kings,..." w74 1/15
"19 It is comforting to know, too, that Jehovah God will see to the choosing of “princes” to serve and guide us. ...we will not be left on our own, but will have faithful, proved men who will look after our interests." w74 6/15
12. You may have dreamed of exploring the vastness of the Universe in the new system, but the WT indicates that you won't be leaving planet earth:
"They will enjoy living in Paradise, under the moon, not wanting to go to the moon." w62 10/15
So, to summarize, you will be resurrected in the body God gives you, the one He decides is perfect for you. It will likely be a different race since all will be of one race. You will speak and think in ancient Hebrew, living in your assigned house at an assigned location. You'll report to the princes of the earth for your assigned job. You will be a submissive, perfect workman. Then these princes will require you to attend education seminars where you'll learn what instructions have been transmitted from heaven and written in the sacred scrolls. You'll then be required to teach and preach this message to others (when you're not working), who are all your bothers and sisters. Whatever close relationships you had before you died will be just distant memories. If you're lucky you may get to procreate and occasionally experience a perfect orgasm in a perfect body; but this is a limited-time offer and is available only to those who are pre-approved.
You will live this way for eternity, with no hope of ever leaving planet Paradise. Enjoy!
thinker -
A Paduan
I think this world is boring , the only way you can truly enjoy anything is if you have money , everything you do costs money and you have to slave for that ,at least the promise is that you will do for yourself and owe nothing to anybody .
You must be referring to the immediate world around you - it ain't that way here
Why a paradise earth is so appealing to JWs? - they "live" according to the flesh
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vomit
"LOL@vomit , I don't think it's a cube tho since height doesn't match length and width.. It's a spirit city not a literal physical city so that people are changed into spirit beings to enter it . IMO The bible gives it's dimentions in cubits but nobody really knows what a cubit is anyway."
Heathen, as far as I remember... me being a child. I think I got the idea it was a cube because it had "perfect dimensions.
JWs love the numerology in the revelation book and 3 is a perfect number hence 3X3X3 would be the perfect dimension. Also even though it was a spirit city it gave a physical dimension. That is why the whole thing is ridiculous to me now.
666 777 etc. perfect numbers... -
Perry
I haven't read all the replies so my answer may have been already stated:
It is because JW's pride themselves on being different (and thus superior) and find enjoyment in thinking of Christians as ignorant. When, you tell them that as a Christian you also believe in a paradise earth, during the Thousand Year Rule of Christ, they just tune it out because they have been conditioned to believe that they are the only ones to believe that. People they meet in feild service talk about heaven because this is the place believers go to as they await Christ's return.... of which they will be a part.
When I told this to my father, he accused Christians of stealing this doctrine from JW's!
The sad part is that you can go to any Christian book store and thumb through most any book on theology and find out about the paradise earth.
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Lady Lee
Thinker
What an excellent list of things JWs don't want to know or think about. But the WT says it.
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Narkissos
vomit / heathen, Revelation 21:16: "The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles (a stupid translation by the NRSV, btw, since what matters is the figure: twelve thousand furlongs); its length and width and height are equal."
(Although the description and measurements are not entirely consistent, at least here it suits a cube... or perhaps a pyramid? )
truthseeker, I do agree that subjective and objective appraisal of death simply do not match. The idea that "death" is somehow "good for our genome," however true, will hardly be of any comfort when we grieve for the loss of loved ones. Being humans, imo, is accepting to be torn by this painful contradiction rather than trying to solve it, either in the Stoic way, through emotional denial, or in the religious way, through the construction of an alternative reality which would suit our emotions.
aligot, "fortitude" can be claimed or disclaimed on both sides of the issue I guess. I probably lack the "fortitude" to keep on creating "meaning" where I perceive none. It can certainly be construed as a "weakness," although it can also be traced back, ironically, to our Jewish and Christian religious background and its constant criticism of "idolatry": any "God" we canposit is definitely not "God". That is, imho, one big theological flaw in Pascal's "wager" -- which he never intended to be published, btw... there are so many deeper thoughts than this one from that other great Auvergnat's mind.
Back to the topic: I wouldn't want to live in a deathless society because I wouldn't want to live in a childless society. There is something creepy to a world of century-old people with 30-year-old bodies, with no children around. I find it amazing that the vast majority of JWs never think of that.
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Anti-Christ
So, to summarize, you will be resurrected in the body God gives you, the one He decides is perfect for you. It will likely be a different race since all will be of one race. You will speak and think in ancient Hebrew, living in your assigned house at an assigned location. You'll report to the princes of the earth for your assigned job. You will be a submissive, perfect workman. Then these princes will require you to attend education seminars where you'll learn what instructions have been transmitted from heaven and written in the sacred scrolls. You'll then be required to teach and preach this message to others (when you're not working), who are all your bothers and sisters. Whatever close relationships you had before you died will be just distant memories. If you're lucky you may get to procreate and occasionally experience a perfect orgasm in a perfect body; but this is a limited-time offer and is available only to those who are pre-approved.
You will live this way for eternity, with no hope of ever leaving planet Paradise. Enjoy!That's my definition of hell!!!!
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Nosferatu
The only reason I think Paradise Erf is so appealing is that JWs will get to see their dead loved ones again. Not only that, if their dead loved ones get resurrected, they have a good chance at becoming JWs because it will be the social norm in Paradise Erf. I remember hearing about how we'll have to teach the troof to the resurrected worldlings.
Other than that, there really isn't much appeal. The tame lions are the only selling point for children, and most kids couldn't give a damn about that. They'd rather play video games than pet lions! You can only pet a lion so long before the novelty wears off. The kids would probably have more fun shooting the lions for pooping in their watermelon garden.