Paradise on Earth

[onewithhim]

When I learned that the Bible speaks of a restored Garden of Eden and the restoration of mankind to the perfection and endless life that Adam forfeited, I was thrilled. Who doesn't want to keep living on this beautiful earth, with our loved ones, and being able to do all the things we love to do---endlessly?

If God said to you today, "When do you want to die?" would you say "now!!"? I don't think very many people would say that.

We CAN live forever here on Earth. The Bible tells us that we can.

Matthew 5:5
Psalm 37:9-11,29

[marco]

The "horrible picture" of Jehovah is in one's own mind.

No, no onewithhim. I have painted NO picture. You said that after Adam's sin we got catastrophes. Adam did not have the ability to make a hurricane or an earthquake - God did. So you are saying Jehovah acted cruelly. And so it seems, if your interpretation is good.

You are bound to decimate Jehovah's reputation, no matter what is said.

To decimate means to kill every tenth person, onewithhim. I don't see how I am managing to do this with God's reputation. It is YOU who ascribe the faults, not I.

What you failed to understand is that the "nation rising against nation" was not ordinary. Never before WWI was there any kind of "world war." WWI, started in 1914, was unique up to that time. That is the kind of war that Jesus was obviously talking about. Then you COMBINE that with all the other factors, and you get the composite sign. No one can argue that we are not seeing unprecedented levels of world-over famine, lawlessness, earthquakes and other natural disasters, not to mention pollution and strange diseases that kill millions. The world is definitely in the throes of unprecedented woes, and there's not much more damage that can be done. If one opens their eyes, they can see that it is obvious.

I just love it when I am told "I failed to understand." There are remarkably abstruse concepts in some mathematics that I found hard but the sentences we've exchanged wouldn't count as difficulties for my admittedly poor brain. World War 1, that Jesus talked about, happened a hundred years ago, so those alert then to Christ's warning are all gone. And we are still waiting! When do you concede Christ was just making a mistake or guessing? Luckily he didn't say these things would happen in July, 2017. Phew! That was good of him.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 481 by marco]

You comment on parts of my posts but conveniently skip over the parts where I have explained your on-going questions. Re-read my post and you will see that I explained that when Jesus spoke to his disciples about the "sign" he would have been referring to the disciples that would be alive AT THAT TIME. That means "the harvest time" (Matthew 13), or, "the last days" (Daniel 12), or, "the end of the age" (Matt.28:20). He had disciples in the first century, and he has disciples now.

[marco]

You comment on parts of my posts but conveniently skip over the parts where I have explained your on-going questions.

He had disciples in the first century, and he has disciples now.

I skipped nothing out of convenience. When a point overwhelms me, I will express my shock.

Are required to learn the names of modern disciples of Christ? I didn't realise the harmless word "disciple" could be extended elastically to make sense of some theory. But there you go. Disco, in Latin, whence we get disciple, means "I learn" and so I do.

[onewithhim]

You comment on parts of my posts but conveniently skip over the parts where I have explained your on-going questions.

He had disciples in the first century, and he has disciples now.

I skipped nothing out of convenience. When a point overwhelms me, I will express my shock.

Are required to learn the names of modern disciples of Christ? I didn't realise the harmless word "disciple" could be extended elastically to make sense of some theory. But there you go. Disco, in Latin, whence we get disciple, means "I learn" and so I do.

Jesus had MANY disciples in the first century. He had, however, only TWELVE APOSTLES. He has had more "disciples" down through the centuries, right up to today (though always only TWELVE Apostles). I am a disciple, as are over 8 million other people on Earth today. Jesus was speaking to those alive today who would see the sign of his coming.


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[William]

In revisiting this thread and further witnessing the atrocious manner in which argument is coming from the theists identifying as Jehovah's Witnesses, I stand by the words of my last post, as not a 'rant' against members of a religious organisation, but a rebuke against the blatant dishonesty the members of the organisation use as a form of argument, which any honest person would take a stand against. Well done Marco for making a consistent effort to try an inject sensibility through honesty against such blatant dishonesty.

When next, Jehovah's Witnesses knock upon my door, I will have much to say to them about their dishonesty and generally deceptive belief systems, of which I have learned a great deal about simply reading the comments in this thread.

[Monta]

When I learned that the Bible speaks of a restored Garden of Eden and the restoration of mankind to the perfection and endless life that Adam forfeited, I was thrilled. Who doesn't want to keep living on this beautiful earth, with our loved ones, and being able to do all the things we love to do---endlessly?

If God said to you today, "When do you want to die?" would you say "now!!"? I don't think very many people would say that.

We CAN live forever here on Earth. The Bible tells us that we can.

Matthew 5:5
Psalm 37:9-11,29

We live forever in heavenely eternity and if our family and anyboidy else aligns with our states of love, we remain togsther.
To want to remain on earth forever would be boring.
There are places to see, people we know nothing about, also what the Lord had said - no eye has seen what the Lord has prepared for those who come into heaven.

[JehovahsWitness]

To want to remain on earth forever would be boring.

I think God understands what you feel, this is why He promises.

PROVERBS 2:21
For only the upright will reside in the earth, and the blameless will remain in it.
As for the wicked, they will be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous will be torn away from it.

"The meek shall inherit the earth" - Jesus Christ

God knows the kind of people to leave on the earth ant those to take away from it (see scriptures above). We must leave the choice in his hands confident that if we are left on the earth, we'll be happy.




PARADISE: My earlier explanation
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 115#836115

Further reading
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/maga ... -paradise/[/quote]


JW

[JehovahsWitness]

We live forever in heavenely eternity and if our family and anybody else aligns with our states of love, we remain togsther.

I have a question, what if God pronounces some of your family as one of the meek that will inherit the earth? Will that not represent not being with them, at least literally in a physical sense?

[onewithhim]

In revisiting this thread and further witnessing the atrocious manner in which argument is coming from the theists identifying as Jehovah's Witnesses, I stand by the words of my last post, as not a 'rant' against members of a religious organisation, but a rebuke against the blatant dishonesty the members of the organisation use as a form of argument, which any honest person would take a stand against. Well done Marco for making a consistent effort to try an inject sensibility through honesty against such blatant dishonesty.

When next, Jehovah's Witnesses knock upon my door, I will have much to say to them about their dishonesty and generally deceptive belief systems, of which I have learned a great deal about simply reading the comments in this thread.

Will you kindly explain just how we are being "dishonest"?

[onewithhim]

When I learned that the Bible speaks of a restored Garden of Eden and the restoration of mankind to the perfection and endless life that Adam forfeited, I was thrilled. Who doesn't want to keep living on this beautiful earth, with our loved ones, and being able to do all the things we love to do---endlessly?

If God said to you today, "When do you want to die?" would you say "now!!"? I don't think very many people would say that.

We CAN live forever here on Earth. The Bible tells us that we can.

Matthew 5:5
Psalm 37:9-11,29

We live forever in heavenely eternity and if our family and anyboidy else aligns with our states of love, we remain togsther.
To want to remain on earth forever would be boring.
There are places to see, people we know nothing about, also what the Lord had said - no eye has seen what the Lord has prepared for those who come into heaven.

So you're really serious? How could life on earth possibly be boring? Have you seen everything there is to see here? Have you learned everything there is to learn? (The scripture you cite also applies to the earth.) Have you chosen to not consider the scriptures that tell us of eternal life on Earth? What do you say about Matt.5:5 and Psalm 37:9-11,29?




(It is here that you will meet all the people that you nothing about now, and all of your ancestors down to Adam.)

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