What has the Spiritual Paradise of the WTS been over time

by blondie 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  Jeffro

  You May Survive Armageddon Into God's New World (1955), page 296:

  The spiritual remnant, the original part and those who have been added to them since 1919 and down to 1931, have done great spiritual reconstructive work, converting their once desolate-looking earthly estate into one that resembles the paradise of Eden. ... However, the restored remnant were not to enjoy this spiritual paradise to themselves.

  Pages 349-350:

  The desolations that Jehovah of armies will have wreaked on the enemy's visible organization may be everywhere visible on the earth, yet the Armageddon survivors will start out with a spiritual paradise in the fullest sense. ... That spiritual paradise will never disappear from the "new earth."
  
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  Jeffro

  Vindication, volume 2 (1932), page 275:

  The work of God's people will continue to increase and flourish even as it has since 1919. It is likened unto the garden of Eden; for tho hand of the Lord is upon it.

  The Watchtower, 15 June 1949, page 189:

  Thus Isaiah's prophecy showed that Jehovah's Theocratic organization Zion would come to a paradise condition as respects beauty and prosperity. That was already true in a measure in the apostle Paul's day. But in 1918, at the climax of World War I, the condition of Zion's spiritual children on earth was desolate because of oppression by her Babylonish enemies. Yet since 1919 a beauty and prosperity greater than what obtained with the Christian church in the first century has been bestowed upon them. ... Jehovah God has done this in our day, and the earthly state of Zion's children is now in a paradise condition spiritually, like the "garden of pleasure".
  
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  vienne

  My outsider's view is that Witness congregations are in constant turmoil. That's not a paradise.
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  TonusOH

  It's not hard to understand what they mean by the term. But the WTS uses it as a marketing term. Knowing that your eternal soul is safe in god's hands means less worry about the material world, the here and the now. Not surprisingly, this can lead to people being quite miserable in the here and now, because sweet spiritual release is just around the corner.
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  Jeffro

  Paradise is barely mentioned in the Bible (and never in the sense of a global paradise on earth), and ‘spiritual paradise’ isn’t in there at all.
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  peacefulpete

  It's propaganda. Repeat mantras/slogans that insist all is wonderful to prevent concerns about leadership. It's gaslighting. You are in a 'spiritual paradise', if you have a problem, the problem is you.
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  Vanderhoven7

  

  
  
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  blondie

  April 2024 pages 20-25 whole study article on spiritual paradise (phrase still in use)

  I wish I could find the scripture where the Israelites were to use a certain word to identify non-Israelites trying to sneak into Israel. I'll keep looking, but if a reader can find it that would be great. Israelites would pronounced it one way and outsiders another. Yes, there is "spiritual" vocabulary. A new one is "overlapping generation". Most jws who left or stopping associating before that time would use the old idea. Or even "congregation servant" that was changed to "congregation overseer" or presiding overseer, Chairman of the Body of Elders... Of course, if some one reads JWN or similar ex-jw website, they could keep up with the changing vocabulary.
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  a watcher

  Judges 12:6
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  NotFormer

  Shibboleth?

  It's an interesting point, Blondie. If the vocabulary keeps changing, it allows them to see who's current. And if someone uses jargon that was once current, it would possibly be a warning sign of an ex.