144 year-old mystery finally solved

by Tahoe 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Vanderhoven7

  Yes, try Revelation 21

  The New Heaven and Earth

  1¶And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

  2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

  3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

  4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

  5¶And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

  
  

  2 Peter 3:13 KJV — Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

  
  
• 

  Earnest

  NotFormer : prove ... that anyone before the 19th century believed that they were going to a paradise earth to the exclusion of heaven.

  Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, Chaper XXXII:

  Thus, then, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains stedfast...Thus, then, they who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham, and these are the children of Abraham. Now God made promise of the earth to Abraham and his seed; yet neither Abraham nor his seed, that is, those who are justified by faith, do now receive any inheritance in it; but they shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For God is true and faithful; and on this account He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

  Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, Chaper XXXIII:

  Thus, then, He will Himself renew the inheritance of the earth, and will re-organize the mystery of the glory of [His] sons; as David says, “He who hath renewed the face of the earth.” He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples, thus indicating both these points: the inheritance of the earth in which the new fruit of the vine is drunk, and the resurrection of His disciples in the flesh. For the new flesh which rises again is the same which also received the new cup. And He cannot by any means be understood as drinking of the fruit of the vine when settled down with his [disciples] above in a super-celestial place; nor, again, are they who drink it devoid of flesh, for to drink of that which flows from the vine pertains to flesh, and not spirit.
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  NotFormer

  I said "... to the exclusion of heaven". The Beatitudes mention earth once and heaven three times. Irenaus is quoting the Beatitudes.
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  NotFormer

  I said non-WT quotes, which you provided, but I assume you only know the references from having read WT literature, so reference the articles, please.
• 

  Vanderhoven7

  Duh! Where else will we play golf?
• 

  TTWSYF

  So Irenaeus was a JW? Or has JW beliefs?

  Not likely...........if you read 'against heresies' you'd see that he was 100% Catholic.....just like the bible is 100% a Catholic book.

  Just saying,,,because it's true

  TTWSYF
• 

  Earnest

  TTWSYF : Irenaeus ... was 100% Catholic

  Of course Irenaeus was neither JW nor Catholic, in the sense of belonging to a religion. He lived in the late second century when the Council of Nicaea was still 150 years in the future. His books Against Heresies are predominantly against gnosticism, with the original title being On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis. The gnostics believed that resurrection was purely spiritual so in Book V (from which I've quoted two excerpts but is worth reading in its entirety) Irenaeus defends the scriptural support for a physical resurrection.

  I am not claiming Irenaeus was right about everything, or that JWs are right about everything. Only that JWs are not the first to believe in a physical resurrection.
  
• 

  TTWSYF

  Sorry Earnest,

  but the facts according to recorded history state that Irenaeus was a student of St Polycarp (who was taught under St John) and was the bishop of Gaul (modern day Lyon, France).

  He was 100% Catholic

  easily proven with our handheld computing devices (modern day smart phones)

  ttwsyf

  The

  Truth

  Will

  Set

  You

  Free
• 

  punkofnice

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Sdh239AII