Jehovah’s Witness Expectations of “Eternity”

by Cold Steel 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Cold Steel

  If one asked a believing JW what his/her expectations of eternity are, what would they say?

  • More specifically, what would JW women say?
  • What would JW men say?

  Do they have expectations for growing in knowledge until they can visit other worlds in spaceships? Or do they believe they'll be able to visit other worlds without them? When resurrected, would they be able to walk through walls as Jesus did, or would they be able to create wormholes just by thinking about it and travel by their own power? And when they had visited every known place in the Universe, what would they do then?

  Then there's the anointed class, so called? What will they do during the eternities? In their view, spirit resurrection trumps physical resurrection any day? Why? What will they be able to do that physically resurrected people cannot do? Will they be able to travel at the speed of thought, appear in great glory to the terrestrials? Will they be able to hurl cosmic bolts at asteroids?

  Will the anointed class rule the earth and the physically resurrected? Why would the physically resurrected need ruling or governing? If they're perfect, why would they need spirit beings telling them what to do? The GB stripped them of their authority on Earth; how does anyone know if they'll be stripped of their authority in the afterlife?

  Eternity is one hell of a long time. Anything the human mind can conceive, even if it's trillions and trillions of years, is only going to be a blink on the road to the future. It's a long time to spend in a garden, painting and learning to play a musical instrument. And how many family reunions can you have before you begin to look for ways of doing them in?

  I know the above is facetious at best, but how do you think active, believing JWs would answer? How would YOU have answered when you were an active member?

  Did you ever think about it?

  . . .
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  earthfire

  I was told that new scrolls would be opened. Lol, I guess they'll get more New Light.
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  exwhyzee

  Most longtime JW's I knew didn't really talk about the New System with any kind of detail. Most just used it as a nice picture to hold in thier heads to get them through this life and blot out the thought of dying like everyone else who has ever lived.

  I did hear some on occasion who thought we'd go back to the horse and buggy, living off the land days. Others thought with perfect minds, we'd come up with things that we haven't even thought of yet and possibly populate other planets ( Well what else could Jehovah have made them for???)

  Most who talked a lot about the details with any intensity were gone in a short time, they were mostly talking outloud to reaffirm their own doubts . Long time JW's have stopped talking about it as they've heard it all before and it's too late to really matter to them now. Knowing how close it is, is the major thing rather than what it will be like.

  Now that I think about it, the Watchtower literature never really spoke in much detail about the New System but they did talk a lot about destruction, the end of this system and the tribulation then they let the paradise pictures in the publicatons do all the talking and by comparrison, living in one of those photos was a lot more attractive than having God kill you.
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  Julia Orwell

  What I couldn't get my head around about the Jw New system was how would art and literature flourish? Most art is born from religious devotion (think the beautiful cathedrals of Europe and the stunning golden pagodas of Asia with all their accompanying sculptures, paintings and what not) and suffering; likewise literature, it too being an exploration of the human condition with all its foibles and tragedies. Same can be said about music too, especially as a vehicle for expressing strong emotion.

  Now the Jw paradise will have no suffering, no need to explore the human condition as it will be perfect, no conflict, and no scope for imagination, as imagination takes you into the worlds of fantasy, which is considered 'demonic'. So there will be nothing to inspire creativity. Art will be reduced to painting pretty pictures. Literature will be the Watchtower style- no pathos, no depth, no intense emotion, no personal expression- boring.

  Jw life has very few strong emotions except for guilt and anxiety. Emotions are not to be trusted there's no release for them as you can't involve escapism, and music is,so subject to others' judgement, and dancing and sport is to be kept to a minimum.

  For these reasons, I came to see that the Jw paradise would have little of interest. Yes, human life is fraught with difficulties and we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but life isn't boring.
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  d

  This paradise seems a lot like Brave New world.
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  sarahsmile

  Ex JWs are so brilliant,
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  Julia Orwell

  Hey yes, it IS like Brave New World! Half gram holiday to beat those negative feelings, no thought deeper than a potato skin.
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  WTWizard

  Back to the Dark Ages. Science stifled. Going to worship joke-hova at least 6-7 times per day. Everything back the way it was during the First Dark Ages, this time with no hope of ever ending. And, when you have to stifle science, it gets pretty dull.
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  irondork

  Not looking to derail this thread, but...

  Earthfire: I was told that new scrolls would be opened. Lol, I guess they'll get more New Light.

  w10 4/15 Holy Spirits Role in the Outworking of Jehovah's Purpose p.11 par.17

  How will Jehovah use his holy spirit in the coming new world? That spirit will be the force behind the new scrolls that will be opened at that time. (Rev. 20:12) What will these contain? Evidently, Jehovah’s detailed requirements for us during the thousand years. Do you look forward to examining the contents of those scrolls?

  Take a close look at the scripture referenced. The scrolls being opened have to do with judgment. There is nothing about that scripture that sounds like a "new bible" of sorts.