minimus wrote:Do you know WHY so many people are leaving the "truth"? It's because they all figured out that they really were going to die.
You're really implying they "all" really figured out they really were going to cease to exist because there is no God, is that correctly reading between the lines?
FYI, anyone who would allow the possibility of dying of old age to cause them to abandon their faith in God's promise of everlasting life, is very similar to Esau in the Bible. They are implying that if their physical body doesn't live on, and they have to go through the process of death in order to live forever, that it's just not worth the trouble to live a Christian life.
Technically, depending on your definition of death, it is true that millions now living will never die. Rutherford used a clever word play in that he could also have said truthfully that millions who ever lived, in fact billions who ever lived, will never die! That is because the soul never dies according to the Bible. It is the physical body that dies. For example, a piece of computer software never "dies" or ceases to exist if the computer it is running on is destroyed in a disaster such as a fire. That software is simply installed onto another computer.
In like manner, everything that constitutes our consciousness and very essence of our souls is resurrected into a new body after our physical deaths. The old body returns decays into dust over time, or turns to ashes if cremated. That doesn't mean that the person whose body decays in a coffin under the ground or was cremated is really dead in the spiritual sense. They will live again in a new physical or maybe angelic body after their resurrection. In the meantime their transition might mean a period of unconsciousness; who knows, perhaps they dream? On the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, Hal asked Dave the question on every human's mind who has ever existed: Will I dream? Whether you dream or are in a state of unconscious "sleep" where the perception of time has no bearing, the end result is awakening in an immortal body and living a wonderful life forever.
Once a Witness understands that millions now living will indeed die, they begin to regress from the Witness spirituality.
Put another way, it looks like you're saying that once a Witness is duped into believing that this life is all there is, they regress into a state of hopelessness.
IMO, atheism is a deadly form of spiritual rot that eats the precious life force of the soul like dry rot eats away the foundation of a house if you let it. Atheism is indeed the ultimate excuse to do whatever one wants. In the end, if God turns out the exist, the atheist imagines he can plead ignorance, while smugly believing that in all likelihood he/she will simply cease to exist upon their death. This form of spiritual rot is similar to the physical rot that is unique to a corpse buried in the ground. However, it's worse because a body becomes a corpse after ceasing to function but the spirit returns to God.
Spiritual rot is when the very conscious entity that God has created to live forever simply cannot appreciate the true meaning of life and love. All that is left is immediate physical gratification that is fleeting as the body ages. Indeed, atheism is a testament to the depth of Satan's cruelty towards frail and aging human beings. It is the devil's most evil legacy upon mankind. IMO, atheism is a form of living death that dwarfs other amoral ideologies. It plunges victims of its ideology of hopelessness and purposelessness into deeper darkness than the darkness shrouding believers in fascism and communism combined.
They start becoming more self-centered, more materialistic. And slowly but surely, they leave. Do you agree?
Do I agree? Although technically this is true, it's important to add that Jesus Christ has a reason for his eventual separation of the wheat from the weeds. The latter thrown into the Lake of Fire to cease existence for all eternity to protect decent people who want to live peaceful and meaningful lives forever. Simple as that. Many who slowly but surely leave, however, will come to their senses before it is too late.
Perhaps they must see for themselves the truth of the saying: "All that glitters is not gold." They leave, go behind the veil and see the ugly rancid truth behind those who promised them freedom in many physical and material forms.
They discover that under the pile of riches are the rotting corpses of those who gave up on life, turned to materialism, drugs and sex, suffered tremendously as a result, and ultimately died in pitch black spiritual darkness. Yet their terrible suffering in this life does not simply end in death forever in a universe that eventually dies. Imagine their surprise to awaken with crystal clear consciousness on a sunny day, in the most comfortable bed in a beautiful house, to learn that the ancient world they left, the world we live in today, passed away centuries earlier.
Derrick
