Earthly Hope-No walk in the Park!

by cyrano 14 Replies latest jw friends

  • cyrano
    cyrano

    It seems lately, there are some young JWs that have decided the 'earthly' prospect is not for them. Well, after reviewing what the 'earthly' survivors of armageddon have to look forward to, I can see why they'd rather go to heaven:

    (1) Removing and disposing of the wreckage. The survivors of Armageddon will not have power tools at their disposal, for it is unreasonable to expect that in the midst of such destruction there will be any kind of power source to operate these devices. Clearing this wreckage away will require bulldozers, wrecking cranes, jackhammers, and other fuel-powered vehicles and tools, but it is likewise unreasonable to expect that the supply network to safely provide such fuel to the millions of worksites around the world will be intact. Parts will need to be manufactured to repair damaged vehicles, and electricity and tools will be needed to install these parts. And where will the unburnable plastic and metal wreckage go - into the ocean? What is worse, chemical and nuclear waste will have to be safely handled and disposed of. Already the task is looking quite complicated.

    (2) Handling and disposing of corpses. An unpleasant task. The WTS teaches that the only survivors of Armageddon will initially be composed of the Jehovah's Witnesses. However, the current world population numbers into the billions. Thus, there will be mountains of billions of dead people littering the landscape. The corpses would likewise rot within a few short days, and the stench would become intolerable. Without proper burial or cremation of these bodies, disease would run rampant, with rat and maggot infestation becoming commonplace. The WTS teaches that the Witnesses will take care of this gruesome task. (See You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, page 159, paragraph 6.)

    (3) Finding food and fresh water to survive. The WTS shows that people will be farming and eating after Armageddon is over. (See the picture in the book Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life, p. 188,189 for but one example.) The question is: do they need to do this to survive? Apparently the WTS feels that they do, for they have not yet inherited "perfect" bodies. There would be no point in going to the trouble of farming, harvesting, and eating if it was unnecessary for survival! This being the case, just where will they get this food and fresh water? The WTS frequently quotes from such Scriptures as Isa 25:6 to demonstrate that food will somehow become plentiful after Armageddon is over. Just how this will occur, however, is not discussed.

    (4) Cultivating, irrigating and farming. It is not unreasonable to comment that many Jehovah's Witnesses alive today have never had the experience of actually gathering or hunting for their own food, much less farming on a scale large enough to support a community. In present-day terms, this task alone would require nearly an entire day's work on an ongoing basis for most of the Witnesses, and it is doubtful that they could do it in only a few days' training with no previous experience. Perhaps the 144,000 in heaven might help them or give them instruction? That is possible. In this case, at present calculations there would be one member of the "anointed" in heaven per 37 survivors on earth (the size of a large classroom) to teach them all the basics of finding and gathering food, preparing and storing it safely so as to avoid spoilage or contamination from bacterial viruses (there will be no refrigerators, microwave ovens, or anything of the sort to help out here!), tilling the soil, developing an irrigation system and cultivating a farm to provide for the next year's harvest, and so on. Perhaps we shall need to call in the angels, too...?

    Yep, 1000 years of hard labor... JOY.

  • cyrano
    cyrano

    so much for sex...

    Sadly, one serious social problem which arises with the Watch Tower's scenario is: marriage, sexuality and reproduction. The Witnesses officially teach that only the "great crowd" who survive Armageddon will be able to maintain their reproductive powers. This leads us to conclude that everyone who is resurrected during the Millennium will be celibate and unable to reproduce. (The Society bases its reasoning for this on Jesus' teachings in Lu 20:34-36. The comparison proves false, as this passage is not referring to people resurrected in physical, earthly bodies, but to the resurrected people being "as angels.") In other words, married Witness couples who survive Armageddon will be able to keep their marriage; but if they do not live to see Armageddon, they will become celibate and unmarried in the resurrection. But what will happen when the Millennium ends? The Society teaches that procreation will eventually cease, as the world's population reaches the comfortable limit assigned by Jehovah God.

    Married couples nowadays who try hard to have children, yet cannot, often experience frustration. If Jehovah decided to put a stop to procreation, how would He handle this? Would He send an angel to tell the anxious couple, "Sorry, but the world's population limit is almost filled, so we will have to take your procreative powers away" ? Or would He gradually cause a decrease in the desire to have sexual relations and procreate, so that eventually everyone will be celibate? In that case, differences in gender, not to mention marriages and family ties, would become meaningless. In addition, while people of the "other sheep" (apart from the "great crowd"of Jehovah's Witnesses) who are resurrected will be supposedly able to meet their dead loved ones and exchange tearful, fond embraces as the Society's publications show, according to the WTS they will not be able to enjoy their former married state. While they watch the happily married Witness couples and note their ability to enjoy sexual relations and procreate, they themselves can only look forward to an eternity of celibacy (or impotency), never experiencing the wonder of childbirth again. This scenario which the WTS has produced is unfair, something which only poorly reflects God's justness, His righteousness and kindness.

    The above 'post armageddon speculation' was gathered from:

    http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/8795/144000-4.htm#paradise

    check it out... pretty interesting stuff.

    Edited by - cyrano on 19 July 2002 19:10:45

  • StinkyPantz
    StinkyPantz

    I think we've all thought about this stuff before and after we were Witnessess. Try asking a JW about these things and they just say,"We'll wait on Jehovah he'll take of everything." That's the easiest way out of thinking for oneself.

  • Francois
    Francois

    A thousand years with Jehovah's Witnesses? I'd rather be dead.

    Who was it here that used to write stuff like it was taken from the Watchtower, and he was soooo good at it? He did a story one time that, in essence, said that faithful JWs now had new light they were to go out and actually KILL apostates. He really had me going there for a minute. I was secretly happy because I'm VERY armed, and a very good shot. I figured, "Hey, it's open season on JWs. What do I win if I get more than anyone else."

    Anyway, he was really good. Who was that, and where is he?

    Frank

  • refiners fire
    refiners fire

    1000 years of burying bodies and knocking down unwanted buildings isny my idea of fun. Neither is being married to the same woman for a thousand years to the exclusion of all others. 40 years is quite enough I reckon.

  • cyrano
    cyrano

    I remember being told by an elder that right before armageddon we would have to go door-to-door telling people they were going to die and that salvation was too late.

    Has anyone else heard of this?

  • refiners fire
    refiners fire

    Rings a bell Cyrano. I seem to recall in the 70s being told that we would go forth with a message of condemnation immediately prior to the Big A.Ive read most of the WTs from that period and I dont recall it being in a mag. Maybe it was one of those personal interpretation things that got around on the grapevine and came across in a Public Talk.The Public Talks were a bit more personal in those days, more leway than there is today.

  • Double Edge
    Double Edge
    Re: Earthly Hope-No walk in the Park! Jul 19, 2002 19:31

    I remember being told by an elder that right before armageddon we would have to go door-to-door telling people they were going to die and that salvation was too late.

    Well, now isn't that going to be a pleasant message to deliver...in fact, when you think about it, what's the point...sounds like "buzy work" to me.

  • SYN
    SYN

    Imagine your Elders coming up to you and saying: "Brother, since you were inactive and stuff in the Old System, we've assigned you to nuclear waste cleanup duty. Prepare to lose your reproductive power, you lazy git. Now HUSTLE!"

    On the "bright" side, at least they will be able to see where they are going in the dark by the light of their own bodies. This will be important in a world without electricity of any kind. Also, this will be a world without intelligence of any kind, unless you count creating policies that murder people as intelligence.

  • refiners fire
    refiners fire

    ..."Or would He gradually cause a decrease in the desire to have sexual relations and procreate, so that eventually everyone will be celibate? In that case, differences in gender, not to mention marriages and family ties, would become meaningless."....End Quote.

    Gradually we would become disinterested in the base exercize of the sex act, and our bodies would become neuter with no visible difference between the male and female. Looks like the Leader of the "Heavens Gate" cult was on the right track after all!

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