If Jehovah's Witnesses, distinctly believe that only 144,000 people are going to heaven?

Question

It is believed that the 144,000 have been selected by God from the time of Jesus' apostles through to today

Then why are they still coming to my door. Their official membership currently stands at over 6.6 million. With those numbers it would seems that the ratio of getting in would be strongly against you.

Answer 1

The preaching work is performed because Jesus commanded it, not because it benefits Jehovah's Witnesses personally or as a religion. As a side point, the vast majority of Witnesses hope to enjoy life ON EARTH forever, rather than in heaven.

Jehovah's Witnesses understand heaven to refer to the dwelling place of spirit creatures such as Jesus and the angels. They understand the Scriptures to teach that exactly 144,000 humans will join Christ Jesus as kings and priests to administer God's Kingdom (which will soon replace all earthly governments).
(Daniel 2:44) God of heaven will set up a kingdom... It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite
(Revelation 14:1) Lamb [Jesus] standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand
(Revelation 20:6) they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him

Over whom will they rule? Over the vast majority of mankind, most of whom will have been raised from the dead after Armageddon.
(John 11:23,24) Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”

Hell is NOT someplace/something mankind needs to fear; there is no suffering in the grave. Sometime after the resurrection, death and "hell" will themselves be destroyed.
(Ecclesiastes 9:5) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all
(Ecclesiastes 9:10) there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol ["hell"]
(Revelation 20:14) And death and Hades ["hell"] were hurled into the lake of fire


Almighty Jehovah God selects those few who have the heavenly calling. Each person "feels" his own hope and each person's hope remains unquestioned by his fellow Christians. Still the vast majority (literally more than 99.9%*) of Jehovah's Witnesses expect an EARTHLY hope, the same hope given to Adam and Eve.
(Genesis 1:28) God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill THE EARTH and subdue it [caps added]
(Genesis 2:17) You must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die [so never eating from that tree means never dying]

Learn more:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2000/10/1/article_02.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2000/10/1/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/library/jt/index.htm

Answer 2

They aren't in competition with anyone to get in heaven. Most of them are planning to live on the earth forever. They believe that only 144,000 specially selected people will go to heaven. In Romans 8:16 it says that "the spirit bears witness that we are God's children. So they believe that the 144,000 are the only ones that have that witness of the spirit - they know who they are - and everyone else receiving salvation will live on earth.

This raises a quite a few problems, but I'll just mention two:

1. The context of this Scripture shows there are two classes of people - those of the spirit and those who aren't. If you don't have the witness of God's spirit, Paul says in verse 9, then you don't belong to God. So logically if only 144,000 can be spiritual sons and everyone else doesn't "belong to God", where does that leave the rest of us? If we aren't in the "spirit" group, then obviously we are "of the flesh" and he says in verse 6 that that means death. No mention of a third group.

2. This is a problem of logistics. In the early centuries BEFORE the time of Constantine, according to their Watchtower journal, there were close to a million or more Christians suffering persecution and martyrdom for no reason other than confessing Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6:10 says that God is not unrighteous and will not forget the love we show for his name, so surely those people would be included in the 144,000. So how could there be any spots left to fill during this last 1700 years?

Originally, the Watchtower taught that this "high calling" ended in the year 1881. (2) It has since been changed to 1935.

EDITED: In response to Achtung's comment that each person "feels" his own hope and is unquestioned by fellow Christians, I would like to quote the Watchtower magazine of March 15, 1991.
This article was necessary because theoretically, the remaining ones of the 144,000 are very aged (being sealed before or by 1935), so the numbers should be rapidly decreasing. That is not necessarily the case, for example:

In 1988, 8808 claimed this hope
In 1992, the number had risen to 8850

This is the quote: " A person may mistakenly assume that he has the heavenly calling because of strong emotion arising from severe problems. Death of a mate or another tragedy might cause a person to lose interest in life on earth."

Answer 3

Yes, we believe that that there are 144,000 (Revelation 14) selected and righteous people that will rule with Jesus Christ as corulers in his Heavenly Kingdom. These are refered to as the "little flock:

The rest of humankind will live in a paradise Earth, which was the original intention of Jehovah God until sin came into this world from Adam and Eve. The official membership currnetly stands at over 6.6 million, true, and Jehovah's Witnesses don't knock on your door because they want to be among the 144,000. They knock on your door hoping that they can share the truth with you from the Bible. They hope to live in a paradise Earth, and they want to share the knowledge with you so you can join too.

For more, click here:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2004/10/1/article_02.htm

Answer 4

Revelation 7:9 says, "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." This signifies a second group, not part of the 144,000. These ones will be earthly subjects of God's Kingdom, with Christ as king and the 144,000 as co-rulers. Ps. 37:11 says, "But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace." Also, Revelation 21:3,4 says that the "tent of God will be with mankind. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away." So God's kingdom will wipe out death and pain forever. Those who inherit the earth will be perfect and will live forever in paradise, the way it was originally meant to be.

Answer 5

Anyone can see that 144,000 were chosen out of the earth to go to heaven. The book of Revelation (Chapter 14) plainly states so. All you have to do is read for yourself. The book of revelation also mentions another group, which will inherit the earth. So no, the earth is not going to blow up, it's not going anywhere. Remember the book of Genesis, with Adam and Eve in paradise? God's purpose for mankind in general was to live on paradise earth. The evil ones are the ones that will go away.

Answer 6

Many people believe that the only means of salvation is going to heaven. However, this view is not taught in the Bible. In fact, God's purpose for humans is to live on the earth, as when he created Adam and Eve to live on the earth, not in heaven. Please note the following Scriptures which show this.

Psalms 37:9, 11, 29: “Evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the EARTH . . . The meek ones themselves will possess the EARTH, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. The righteous themselves will possess the EARTH, and they will reside forever upon it.”

Must a person go to heaven to have a truly happy future?

Psalms 37:11: “The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

Revelation 21:1-4: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’”

Micah 4:3, 4: “They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it.”

Matthew 5:5: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the EARTH.”

Matthew 6:9, 10: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon EARTH.” (What is God’s will regarding the earth? What do Genesis 1:28 and Isaiah 45:18 indicate?)

"For this is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited: “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else." (Isaiah 45:18.)

If you would like further information, I encourage you to contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. They will be more than happy to answer your questions. Or visit http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 7

I'm not a JW but my husband used to be. It is my understanding that they believe that only 144,000 chosen people will go to heaven. And the rest will be resurrected at the end of days and will live forever on a perfect earth.

Answer 8

There are 144,000 chosen people who will actually get to go to heaven (the New Jerusalem).
The rest of the saved live on the New Earth for eternity. The 144,000 are the only ones who are called "born again" and only they may take communion. However, the 144,000 still must do works to attain their salvation.

Answer 9

If you read Revelations who will see that the 144,000 are JEWS that are chosen from the 12 tribes. This number has NOTHING to do with how many will be Heaven.

Answer 10

If you don't know for sure that you will be with Christ in Heaven when you leave this life you are NOT saved. I don't care what religion says the Bible is very clear.
1John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
If you hpe so or think so Turn to Jesus and KNOW so..

Answer 11

It's funny because the the JW's got the whole 144,000 number so wrong. It is talking about 144,00 Jews that will accept Christ during the great tribulation.
The 144,000 Jews / Israelites who are sealed in Revelation 7:4-8 are sealed for the specific purpose of being “evangelists” during the Tribulation period.
Add it all up 144,000.

4And I heard the (L)number of those who were sealed, (M)one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

6from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

7from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

8from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.