Examinng Watchtower Basic Teaching - #3 What is God's Purpose for the Earth?

What Does the Bible Really Teach?  (according to Jehovah's Witnesses)

Chapter 3 -- What is God’s Purpose for the Earth?
The book says:

God wants the whole earth to be like the Garden of Eden, filled with happy, healthy people. That was God’s purpose from the beginning. If you doubt that, be assured it is promised in the Bible.  

The earth is not perfect today because an angel, Satan, rebelled against God. God did not make the Devil. He became the Devil by his defiance of God. Satan is the serpent person who talked to Eve. As a result of disobeying God, Adam and Eve died, but not before having children who were born into sin, passing on death and imperfection. 

Satan started a rebellion in heaven, but God did not kill the rebels at once. He wanted everyone to see that life without God’s rule can only be unhappy. So, in His perfect justice and wisdom, He has allowed Satan to rule the earth these last 6,000 years. That’s why we have disease, wars, injustice, death, crime, violence, poverty, starvation, global disasters and so on. It’s all about “God’s name” being vindicated. 

You have a choice now; you can take “Jehovah’s side in answer to Satan‘s challenge” showing that you prefer His rule.   

Satan is “the ruler of the world”. That’s why it is full of evil. If he was not, how could he offer Jesus all its kingdoms in return for an act of worship? 

The world is getting more wicked every day. It is beyond reform. “The time is near when God will eliminate the wicked world during his war of Armageddon. This will make way for a righteous new world” ruled by Jesus. “Soon, God’s kingdom will remove all the governments of this world”, then there will be a paradise. 

We have to “qualify” for life in the “new earth”, which is a society of Jehovah’s worshippers. Everything will be wonderful - all the horrors of this world will be gone and there will be an abundance of food and peace between all people and animals. There will be a resurrection to life of our dead loved ones. You will be there too, if “you choose to learn about Jehovah”.  

“It was to the coming paradise on earth that Jesus pointed when he promised the criminal who died alongside him, “You will be with me in Paradise” , so “it is vital that we learn more about Jesus”.

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If the Genesis account is literally true, then we have answers to our origins. We also have someone to blame for all the problems of this world. That gives us a convenient, black and white explanation for everything. The Genesis account has also given men throughout history “permission” to treat women as inferior because Eve was deceived. 

Many people question why a loving, all-powerful, all-wise, just God would allow humankind to suffer, as it has done for thousands of years. This is “the problem of evil”, a huge philosophical question which it is impossible to answer satisfactorily. 

Some people would say it’s okay - God made us, so He can do as He pleases, but Christian philosophers and thinkers ask, “How can any reasoning, compassionate person justify 6,000 years of “short, brutish life” on earth?” If they were told by Jehovah’s Witnesses that it’s about vindicating God’s name, would they consider that a satisfactory answer? 

As proof that Satan rules this world, the Watchtower says that he offered Jesus Christ the kingdoms of this world. Satan was a liar in the beginning. So, were the kingdoms his to offer? 

All the problems of the world will be solved “soon” at Armageddon. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been preaching “Armageddon soon” for over 130 years. They instil in their followers a sense of urgency, keeping them busy, attending meetings, studying, preaching. Time passes and the promised end does not come.  

It is a carrot on a stick and the carrot has been offered to you already. IF you keep learning, you will survive Armageddon with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Only “Jehovah’s worshippers” will be there. 

This “paradise earth” comes at a price which is glossed over somewhat by the Watchtower teachers. As a new disciple, you are not quite ready for the whole, brutal truth.  

If you are to enjoy a wonderful life on a paradise earth, how will that be achieved exactly? Well, ask yourself, how many of “Jehovah’s worshippers” are there on earth today? And what is the population of our planet? So, what will happen to seven billion people so that you can have your paradise? It would appear that the “loving God” will massacre them to “save his people”, just as he slaughtered millions of people and animals in “a global flood”, if Genesis is literally true. 

Finally, another scripture is quoted as a proof text, but notice what the Bible actually says in Luke 23:42-43 (reading from the literal Greek) –

“And he was saying Jesus remember me whenever you might come into the kingdom of you [43] And he said to him Amen to you I am saying today with me you will be in the paradise”.

 

“Amen to you” is written “Truly I tell you” in modern language Bibles. This expression is used many times by Jesus. In every case in the New World Translation, there is a comma after “you”, but in this one instance, they do not insert the comma until after “today“, so that it is included in the phrase i.e. “Truly I tell you today (comma).....”. Why?  

If you remove the comma (which would not be in Greek text) how does it change the meaning? Ask yourself “Where was Jesus that very day, when he died?”. You will find out more of this in our discussion of Chapter 4.

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