Tribe, Nation, Tongue!

by whyamihere 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  whyamihere

  I was just reading on the Watchtower.org and I was thinking of the Scripture in Revelation where it states Tribe, Nation and, Tongue. here it States as followed:

  Does God really care about us?

  Part 11

  That prophecy is now being fulfilled among those who submit to 'God's ways and walk in his paths.' The last book of the Bible speaks of this peace-loving international society of people as "a great crowd . . . out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues," a true global brotherhood serving God unitedly. And the Bible also says: "These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation." That is, they will survive the end of this evil system of things

  Tribe:

  Entry:	association
  Part of Speech:	noun
  Definition:	group
  Synonyms:	affiliation, alliance, band, brotherhood, bunch, circle, clan, clique, club, coalition, combination, combo, company, confederacy, confederation, congress, cooperative, corporation, crew, crowd, family, federation, fellowship, fraternity, gang, guild, hookup, league, mob, order, organization, outfit, partnership, pool, rat pack, ring, society, syndicate, tie-in, tie-up, Tribe, troops, troupe, union, zoo

  Nation:

  Entry:	Nation
  Part of Speech:	noun
  Definition:	country
  Synonyms:	body politic, colony, commonwealth, community, democracy, domain, dominion, empire, kingdom, land, monarchy, people, populace, population, principality, public, race, realm, republic, society, sovereignty, state, tribe

  Tongue:

  Entry:	Tongue
  Part of Speech:	noun
  Definition:	language
  Synonyms:	argot, articulation, dialect, discourse, expression, idiom, language, lingo, parlance, patois, speech, talk, utterance, vernacular, voice

  Using the JW Bible "The New World Translation of the Hole Scriptures" (en shit)

  Says in Revelation 7:9.....After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands.

  Wouldn't Tribe, Nation and, Tongue mean everyone? Every person from every religion? It doesn't make sense to me. What do you think?

  Brooke WI
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  ohmaryjane

  I see what you're saying Brooke. It says "out of" all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. And it doesn't say anything about religion. If you don't believe in Jesus.You don't get a palm branch.
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  Kenneson

  Since this great crowd is before the throne, wouldn't they be in heaven rather than on earth? The throne is certainly not on earth today, unless it is located incognito at 124 Columbia Heights. And unless there are white robes and palm branches in heaven, all this is but symbolic talk of everyone who will be with Jesus. There will be no visible throne, robes, palm branches either in heaven or on earth.
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  Carmel

  When Revelations was written (revealed?) there were tribes, tongues, (different languages) but nothing that resembled "nations" by contemporary definitions. Some bible scholars suggest the term refered to the varried religions as "large groups of people with similiar beliefs, codes of law, mores or idioncyncries". If that be the case, then "in my fathers house are many rooms" could also refer to other religions founded by other "Christs".

  carmel
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  bebu

  When Revelations was written (revealed?) there were tribes, tongues, (different languages) but nothing that resembled "nations" by contemporary definitions.

  ?? I don't think this can be supported. There were plenty of nations, separately governed, at that time.

  What I always found interesting about this verse is that it clearly means that even people living in places or times which never intersected the Judean/Christian gospel are not left out of God's grace merely by their unfortunate timing/placement. Good to think on.

  The JWs like to pride themselves on their technically 'reaching' so many nations... but they have barely scratched the surface when it comes to languages and tribes (family/cultural groups). Those pioneers will have to work harder!

  bebu