Jehovah's Witnesses: Is Jesus preparing a place for us in Heaven or on Earth?

Question

John 14:2-4,6
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.*** I go to prepare a place for you.*** And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that *where I am, there ye may be also*. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

He said "I go to a prepare a place for you." Where did Jesus go? Funny, seems He went up to Heaven shortly after this conversation. He didn't put any limits on how many people could go. Just that you cannot get to the Father,(in the Father's house which is in fact in heaven), except through Him.

Isn't Jesus saying He is the Way to Heaven?

See now, the Holy Spirit that helps me read these verses made me feel like God is my Father and we are all brothers and sisters going home to His house. A family.

You make it sound like your Father who loves you will never have you in His presence if you are not 'bought from the earth'. And that you have to be 'bought from the earth' in order to follow Jesus' light and way.....to the Father.

But..... Jesus did not say that....

Is not the goal to get to Our Father in Heaven?

kazmania -

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Jesus said "a man".... not "a disciple"......

Foxtrot-

slander = lies and deception... Have I told lies and deception? Um, no.

Answer 1

You are correct, but he spoke this privately to the 12.

Answer 2

Hi Anna,

May I make a respectful comment here? I do not feel that your challenge to the Jehovah's Witnesses was very thorough. If you're going to bring Bible verse against them you must realize that the burdern of proof is upon you, and you very obviously don't have proof to the point you were trying to make. Please don't be mad that I am saying this. The reverse (the Jehovah's Witnesses quote attempting to prove you wrong) also lack proof. However, you made the challenge, so the burden is on you not them.

It not hard to see that if one believes that only 144,000 are going to go to heaven but all else will receive salvation on earth that what you quote can very easily be seen as being part of the 144,000. Also, I can't say that I see anything particularly offensive about the idea that God will save many but reward in different degrees. I'm not sure what religion you are, but I'd bet dime to dollar that your religion accepts this idea of mulitiple rewards. Since the Bible does say specifically how God will do this, why would you assume that a particular point of view about this is wrong? If you really believe the Bible to be the sole word of God, shouldn't you just admit that you don't know and stay silent on this issue, while truthing that God will do it wisely and justly?

Answer 3

I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, but the way I read the Bible it says basically, what you said. We have to be enlighten to see the we and everyone are sinners, God sent Jesus to die for our sins and to cover them with his blood on the cross (forgiven and forgotten Heb. 10:17) If we believe this and profess it with our mouth's, the gates of heaven are opened for us and God has left a comforter to be with us(The Holy Spirit). At some time the Earth will be cleansed by fire or purged and Heaven and all the Saints that went before us will come to Earth.

Answer 4

it is going to be luxurious for the a hundred and forty four,000 kings and rulers in heaven jointly as something of the rabble rebuild the international that has been destroyed, they could desire to construct their own properties, sewerage device and paintings interior the sewers, metallic paintings shops etc. the finished international must be back to because it became in eden, polar caps besides. In heaven they could have it extremely hassle-free, all they could desire to do is to order the rabble on earth around, tell the place to flow and what to do. and in basic terms as now, they are going to could desire to obey. subsequently, i could assume that there could be a hundred and forty four,000 properties and each and each could have approximately one thousand angels finding after the elite type JW jointly as the rabble slave on earth. sure a hundred and forty four,000 palaces for those heavenly kings, Christ reported as them rooms yet those a hundred and forty four,000 deserve extra functional so they're going to tell Christ/Michael to take action lots extra functional than rooms. WOW Matthew 20 :23 , what a great answer to what???

Answer 5

Both.. The verses you cite, Jesus was talking to those who had been 'bought from the earth' (read Revelations). If as you so incorrectly assume, that God, and his son Jesus' purpose is for everyone to go to heaven, then, God's purpose for the earth has been thwarted by Satan, calling into question, whether or not God is actually almighty.
Ask yourself this, if God created the earth for humans to live on, and now you are saying that all believers are to go to heaven, then how is it God is almighty?

Check out this viewpoint form the scriptures:
Has God’s original purpose for the earth changed?

Gen. 1:27, 28: “God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. Further, God blessed them and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.’” (Thus God indicated his purpose to have the earth filled with the offspring of Adam and Eve as caretakers of a global paradise. After God had magnificently designed this earth for human habitation, making it unique among all the planets that man has examined with his telescopes and spaceships, did the Creator simply abandon his purpose, leaving it forever unfulfilled because of Adam’s sin?)

Isa. 45:18: “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.’” (See also Isaiah 55:10, 11.)

Also, check Revelation for the # of persons bought from the earth. It is clearly stated that the total of persons going to heaven from the earth are indeed 144,000.
Notice also that the reference to the tribes of Israel listed in Revelation are not the same as the literal tribes of Israel.
In Romans 2:28 the writer clearly shows that the Jew (member of God's Kingdom,those that have the covenant relationship with Jesus), is not necessalily a literal Jew but one of the Messianic covenant.
Jesus also called his disciples the 'little flock', yet spoke of those of another fold that he was to bring in together as 'one fold, one flock'.
Your viewpoint also creates this other problem that anti JW's seem to always gloss over. What might that be you ask?
This fact. That, if everyone is to go to heaven after placing their faith in Jesus Christ, that would mean by default that all of the faithful who had lived and died before Jesus came to the earth and offered his life as a ransom, would by default be doomed to your version of hell. How so? Because the fact that salvation relies upon faith in Jesus even Abraham( where it says in Hebrews 11 he did not realize the fulfillment of prophecy) would be condemned to hell as it would be impossible for him to have put faith in the ransom sacrifice that came many centuries after he laid down in death.

Answer 6

Interesting point, you know I am very proud one fact about this whole web blog thing is that it shows me that people do read there Bible.

Great job, I am proud!

Now on to the question, I want to ask you one thing, Who was Jesus talking to when he was saying those words? No doubt he was speaking to his followers, Peter, John, Matthew, etc. up to 400 followers, right? Earlier in his ministry he was speaking about this heavenly reward and keep in mind all the while that he is speaking about this reward he was talking to his followers. Now in one occasion he tells his followers that his Father was approving of giving them the Kingdom (Heaven)

But Notice what he says taken from Luke 12:32 (KJ) " Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Jesus here tells his followers that his Father is going to award them heavenly life with him. So if you notice he mentions little flock, not everyone. But Why? As you mentioned he has many abodes or mansions that he has prepared for his followers. But how many?

Before I answer that question lets go to the beginning... Genesis.

Adam and Eve are created and put in a garden of pleasure or an Eden. There God commisioned them to take care of the garden and spread it globaly, take care of the animals, and fill the earth with humans. One rule though they were to obey him as surpreme sovreignty. By doing that he set a rule to have them not eat from the tree that was in the middle of the garden.

What did God say to Adam regarding the tree? Genesis 2:16,17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

What if Adam and Eve did not disobey? They would not have died! In essence they would be alive even today! How can I say that with certainty? Here let me show you Genesis 5:4,5 "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died."

Interesting he lived to be 930 years old, who lives that long today, we can't even get to 200 years not even close! Maybe 120 years but how often is that...

Well in any case here is my point, if man was ment to die in the beginning don't you think that Adam would lived as long as we live today 70 or 80 years? There is a bigger picture here than what meets the eye!

If Adam did not eat from the tree then he would not have died thus no one really would be going to heaven, nor the biggest and most loving thing would not been necessary.....

Jesus would not have came down to give his life in behalf of mankind!

So really why do we believe that only a few are going to heaven while the rest of faithful servant remain here on earth? Because as stated before; that was God's original purpose for the earth and keep close in mind God does not change his purposes especially if they did not get the chance to be fulfilled!

Follow along here what is says in Isaiah 55:10,11 "For just as the pouring rain descends, and the snow, from the heavens and does not return to that place, unless it actually saturates the earth and makes it produce and sprout, and seed is actually given to the sower and bread to the eater, so my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results, but it wil certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it."

God does not change his purpose until the purpose has been fulfilled and the results of it being fulfilled returns to him. Since Adam and Eve did sin, so in that case it basically threw a monkey wrench in the whole thing, so now God needed to correct the situation and of course through Jesus' sacrifice.

Even Jesus support the idea of people inhabiting the earth like they were suppose to in the beginning.

Matthew 5:5 "Happy are the mild tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth."

Now the people that are staying here on the earth, according to the scriptures are not going to be living life the way it is now, No! They are going to live the life that Adam and Eve ruined for us, a global paradise, or Eden earth.
For the scripture to show how the earth will be after Armaggedon check out Isaiah 11:6-9.

Now as for the people going to heaven, let me ask you a question and that goes to all who reads my comment....

What are people going to do when they go to heaven?

Please I encourage those who disagree or can prove other wise...Please feel free to email me so that I may respond to your comment or come to a reasonable agreement...

Peace

Answer 7

He is the Way to heaven.
However when He returns to Earth to set up His 1000 year Kingdom, He will bring His saints with Him:
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean."
Revelation 19:11-14

Then will be fulfilled the saying of Jesus:
"Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth."
Matthew 5:5

Answer 8

The Bible says that it is in heaven not on earth. The Bible also says "Whosoever will may come". That means that there is no limit to the number of people who may enter.
What the Watchtower says may not fall in line with that.

Answer 9

So you're confirming what that the Atheists are right, that the Bible does contradict itself, and thus the meek will not inherit the Earth? They must be cheering you on.

Answer 10

JWs use the New World translation (if it could be called that) so to quote from any other just doesn't ring true for them. You gotta use the right book.