Paradise on Earth

onewithhim · Post by **onewithhim** » Fri Nov 18, 2016 12:25 am

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

2timothy316 · Post by **2timothy316** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:54 am

bluegreenearth wrote:
onewithhim wrote: I'm wondering why more people don't take to heart The many passages in the Bible that describe what life on Earth will be like after Jesus comes back. There is so much information in the Scriptures about a paradise Earth where people will live forever, yet it is basically ignored by most people. Can someone explain to me why these beautiful passages are ignored, even by clergy people?

Isaiah 9:6,7
Isaiah 11:6-9
Micah 4:4
Psalm 37:9-11 and 29
Daniel 2:44
Why would you want to live forever?

Better than the alternative. Why would you want to be dead forever?

Revelation 20:12 references 'scrolls' that are to be opened. We do not know what these scrolls contain. Apparently they will contain new instructions in a paradise world free from violence, sickness, famine, and death.

However, if a person prefers the current situation of the Earth and all of it's problems, there is the option to stick with it and pass away with it. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)

bluegreenearth · Post by **bluegreenearth** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:46 am

2timothy316 wrote:
bluegreenearth wrote:
onewithhim wrote: I'm wondering why more people don't take to heart The many passages in the Bible that describe what life on Earth will be like after Jesus comes back. There is so much information in the Scriptures about a paradise Earth where people will live forever, yet it is basically ignored by most people. Can someone explain to me why these beautiful passages are ignored, even by clergy people?

Isaiah 9:6,7
Isaiah 11:6-9
Micah 4:4
Psalm 37:9-11 and 29
Daniel 2:44
Why would you want to live forever?
Better than the alternative. Why would you want to be dead forever?

Revelation 20:12 references 'scrolls' that are to be opened. We do not know what these scrolls contain. Apparently they will contain new instructions in a paradise world free from violence, sickness, famine, and death.

However, if a person prefers the current situation of the Earth and all of it's problems, there is the option to stick with it and pass away with it. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)

Logic dictates that it would be impossible to sustain anyone's interest in anything for an eternity. For instance, how many revolutions around a roller coaster track would occur before you begin to lose interest in that experience? After every one of your questions about cosmology have been answered, how long before that subject is no longer of interest to you? How long will it be before you lose interest in your personal relationships with other people after you've learned everything there is to know about them and shared every desirable experience with them?

Sure, having an eternity to spend with the people we love is a romantic notion but unsustainable if we were to actually find ourselves in that situation. Be careful what you ask for. To desire an eternal afterlife in heaven is to desire a gilded cage from which there is no escape. For this reason, I find it more reasonable and satisfying to make the most of the one life I know I have now with the understanding that it is the prospect of non-existence after death that motivates me to better appreciate the people and experiences I love.

2timothy316 · Post by **2timothy316** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:59 am

bluegreenearth wrote:
2timothy316 wrote:
bluegreenearth wrote:
onewithhim wrote: I'm wondering why more people don't take to heart The many passages in the Bible that describe what life on Earth will be like after Jesus comes back. There is so much information in the Scriptures about a paradise Earth where people will live forever, yet it is basically ignored by most people. Can someone explain to me why these beautiful passages are ignored, even by clergy people?

Isaiah 9:6,7
Isaiah 11:6-9
Micah 4:4
Psalm 37:9-11 and 29
Daniel 2:44
Why would you want to live forever?
Better than the alternative. Why would you want to be dead forever?

Revelation 20:12 references 'scrolls' that are to be opened. We do not know what these scrolls contain. Apparently they will contain new instructions in a paradise world free from violence, sickness, famine, and death.

However, if a person prefers the current situation of the Earth and all of it's problems, there is the option to stick with it and pass away with it. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
Logic dictates that it would be impossible to sustain anyone's interest in anything for an eternity.

Argument from Personal Incredulity is a logical fallacy. Just because it's something you think is impossible isn't evidence that something is true, you have no real evidence for your argument other than your personal incredulity. So when you say, 'logic dictates' what you actually are saying is, "I dictate" because you can no more speak for me than I can speak for you.

I have yet to tire of life, all of it. To prove me wrong you'd have to wait an eternity to see if what you assert is true.

JehovahsWitness · Post by **JehovahsWitness** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:04 am

2timothy316 wrote: Better than the alternative. Why would you want to be dead forever?

As Steven Lett says, being dead would be so boring!

Seriously, I think people say they wouldn't like to live forever because they don't open their minds to the wonderful limitless possibilities life in the new world will have to offer. We are so limited now we can't even imagine how good "life in abundance" will be!

2timothy316 · Post by **2timothy316** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:14 am

JehovahsWitness wrote:
2timothy316 wrote: Better than the alternative. Why would you want to be dead forever?

As Steven Lett says, being dead would be so boring!

Seriously, I think people say they wouldn't like to live forever because they don't open their minds to the wonderful limitless possibilities life in the new world will have to offer. We are so limited now we can't even imagine what "life in abundance" will be!

Boring is relative to the person that says it. I had a job years ago that was boring and if I had to live an eternity doing that job, I still wouldn't chose death. Because my quality life is not defined by my job.

So the question I raise to those that wish to die, what defines their life?

bluegreenearth · Post by **bluegreenearth** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:24 am

2timothy316 wrote:
bluegreenearth wrote:
2timothy316 wrote:
bluegreenearth wrote:
onewithhim wrote: I'm wondering why more people don't take to heart The many passages in the Bible that describe what life on Earth will be like after Jesus comes back. There is so much information in the Scriptures about a paradise Earth where people will live forever, yet it is basically ignored by most people. Can someone explain to me why these beautiful passages are ignored, even by clergy people?

Isaiah 9:6,7
Isaiah 11:6-9
Micah 4:4
Psalm 37:9-11 and 29
Daniel 2:44
Why would you want to live forever?
Better than the alternative. Why would you want to be dead forever?

Revelation 20:12 references 'scrolls' that are to be opened. We do not know what these scrolls contain. Apparently they will contain new instructions in a paradise world free from violence, sickness, famine, and death.

However, if a person prefers the current situation of the Earth and all of it's problems, there is the option to stick with it and pass away with it. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
Logic dictates that it would be impossible to sustain anyone's interest in anything for an eternity.
Argument from Personal Incredulity is a logical fallacy. Just because it's something you think is impossible isn't evidence that something is true, you have no real evidence for your argument other than your personal incredulity. So when you say, 'logic dictates' what you actually are saying is, "I dictate" because you can no more speak for me than I can speak for you.

I have yet to tire of life, all of it. To prove me wrong you'd have to wait an eternity to see if what you assert is true.

Fair point, though, you can't demonstrate that anyone other than yourself will be perfectly content doing absolutely nothing for an eternity after having exhausted every possible intellectual, emotional, and physical point of interest.

2timothy316 · Post by **2timothy316** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:29 am

bluegreenearth wrote:
Fair point, though, you can't demonstrate that anyone other than yourself will be perfectly content doing absolutely nothing for an eternity after having exhausted every possible intellectual, emotional, and physical point of interest.

I have not lost interest in life. Have you? Have you tired of life?

onewithhim · Post by **onewithhim** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:21 pm

bluegreenearth wrote:
onewithhim wrote:
bluegreenearth wrote:
onewithhim wrote: I'm wondering why more people don't take to heart The many passages in the Bible that describe what life on Earth will be like after Jesus comes back. There is so much information in the Scriptures about a paradise Earth where people will live forever, yet it is basically ignored by most people. Can someone explain to me why these beautiful passages are ignored, even by clergy people?

Isaiah 9:6,7
Isaiah 11:6-9
Micah 4:4
Psalm 37:9-11 and 29
Daniel 2:44
Why would you want to live forever?
I find great delight in my family and being able to be with them and interact with them for all time is something I cherish. Why would anyone want that to end?

In addition to that, I love everything on this planet that God made for us to enjoy. All these things are endless. There is so much to learn.

Getting to know my ancestors will be quite a trip! I can hardly wait! And getting to know everybody that ever lived will be SO interesting. .....Rameses II, Attila the Hun, Montezuma, Noah, Elijah, King David, Rudolph Valentino, all the victims of the eruption of Vesuvius, passengers lost on the Titanic, Jack the Ripper's victims, and I could go on and on.
What are you going to do after you've completed all those things on your list?

Why do you think they will ever be completed? I want to enjoy my family forever. I'll never get tired of doing things with them.

I can't even imagine the end of getting to know everybody who ever lived. I don't think that will ever be completed. The world will be just one big happy family, never to have to worry about anything again. It will be as Jehovah wanted it to be in the beginning. A beautiful planet full of peaceful people who love God and each other. Never ending happiness.

Genesis 1:28
Genesis 2:15
Isaiah 45:18

onewithhim · Post by **onewithhim** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:04 pm

brunumb wrote: [Replying to post 1156 by onewithhim]

I find great delight in my family and being able to be with them and interact with them for all time is something I cherish.
Have you considered the logistics of the afterlife in heaven? What will you and your family look like? Will everyone still have those features you recognise and treasure? What use will there be for your excretory system or your reproductive organs? What age will everyone be? Will your parents want to be older than you but at the same time younger than their parents? And on it goes. There are so many issues that make the afterlife so complicated and, to me, an impossibility. Will you just brush all of them aside with a strong dose of God-magic? You mention all of the knowledge you could gain. Of what value will any of it be in a perfect world where you have no wants and needs?

I guess you missed the part where I said that I look forward to life on Earth forever, and not in heaven. The Bible says that God made the earth for humans, and He hasn't changed His mind.

"As for the heavens, they belong to Jehovah, but the earth he has given to the sons of men." (Psalm 115:16)

He didn't create it to throw it away. He created it "to be inhabited." (Isaiah 45:18)

Isaiah 11:6-9 doesn't sound like humans being in heaven. Partly it says (after describing the Messiah's rule): "The wolf will reside with the lamb, and with the young goat the leopard will lie down, and the calf and the lion will all be together; and a little boy will lead them....They will not cause any harm or any ruin in all my holy mountain, because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea."

I'm banking on seeing my family and everyone else with the features that I will recognize, just as they were before they died. God remembers every little thing about a person---how many hairs were on his head, how many cells made up his body, what his personality was like. When resurrected, people will be just as they were, and young again:

"Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor." (Job 33:25)

Now, who says that we will have no wants or needs? We certainly won't have a LACK of anything, but just because we will lack nothing does that mean we won't desire certain things (like a three-tiered waterfall in my rec room?) or need a set of horse shoes for my horse? We'll always have wants, and we will have our desires fulfilled, as long as it harmonizes with God's will. And he certainly wants us to be happy. To Jehovah it is said:

"You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:16)

"Find exquisite delight in Jehovah, and he will grant you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

bluegreenearth · Post by **bluegreenearth** » Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:15 am

2timothy316 wrote:
bluegreenearth wrote:
Fair point, though, you can't demonstrate that anyone other than yourself will be perfectly content doing absolutely nothing for an eternity after having exhausted every possible intellectual, emotional, and physical point of interest.
I have not lost interest in life. Have you? Have you tired of life?

Neither your question nor the answer to your question constitutes a justifiable response to my previous post. Please respond accordingly.