Jehovah's Winesses, when the Bible refers to Paradise?

Question

Your religion believes that paradise when mentioned in the Bible refers to here on earth eventually right? Well, when Jesus was on the cross or rather tree and he said to the man next to him..You will be with me in Paradise..do you believe that means here on earth? But, I don't understand than since Jesus will be in Heaven and not on earth..so does that mean that the man would be with him in Heaven?

To JP..With all due respect..I am not applying a timeline to the divine. That is what the scripture says and the question is one that Jehovah's Witnesses will understand due to their beliefs..but thank you for your comment anyway..

JW's believe that this earth that we live on NOW will become paradise again..so others believe that God is going to create a NEW one..(like the Bible says)..?

Answer 1

The bible makes it absolutely certain that Jesus and the evildoer did not reunite in any heavenly paradise within one day of their impalement.

Ancient Greek (the language of the Gospels) did not have punctuation as modern English does, so the sequence of words alluded to in this question can be translated in two different ways:

(Luke 23:43, NWT) [Jesus] said to him: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.”

(Luke 23:43, KJV) Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.


So, did Jesus use the word "today" to emphasize that he was then and there making a promise, or did Jesus use the word "today" to describe the immediately subsequent 24-hour period during which he and the evildoer would be reunited in paradise? The NWT and KJV seem to disagree, but which rendering is more consistent with the rest of the bible?

Jesus already knew that he would be completely incapacitated for three days following his human death, so it would be entirely inconsistent for him to pretend that he would be reunited with anyone within one day of his impalement.

(Matthew 12:40, NWT) just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

(Matthew 12:40, KJV) For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.


(Luke 24:46, NWT) In this way it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from among the dead on the third day

(Luke 24:46, KJV) Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day


So clearly, Jesus could not have intended to imply that he and the evildoer would be reunited anywhere within 24 hours of speaking this reassuring promise. Instead, Jesus was referring to an earthly paradise, into which that evildoer is assured a resurrection sometime following Armageddon.

(Acts 17:30-31) God... is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent. Because he has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.

(John 11:23-27) Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”


Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20010315/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20041115/article_02.htm

Answer 2

I'm not a Jehovah's Witness.

I do believe, however, that we are going to be spending eternity on the new earth. It's pretty clear from the book of Revelation. It speaks of the New Jerusalem coming down to the New Earth, and God dwelling there with His people.

I just read an interesting commentary that points out there is no such thing as commas in the original language. If you place the comma in the translation before the 'today' in that verse, instead of after, you end up with the thief being with Jesus in paradise at some undetermined point in the future.

Yes, the new Earth will be paradise, just like the Garden of Eden was before sin came in.

Answer 3

When God first created humans it was for them to live forever on a paradise earth. Because of Adam's and Eve's sin that is why we all grow old, get sick, and die(Romans 5:12) Now, the Bible does not agree that all good people go to heaven?(Acts 2:34) And with that being the case, the evildoer dying next to Jesus, certainly did not qualify for heavenly life. Jesus was referring to the paradise earth that God is going to restore by means of his Kingdom Government that Jesus taught his followers to pray for.

Answer 4

The Bible is all it relatively is ever mandatory, apart from somebody to teach. pastime 33:33; playstation 25:4, 25:9,ninety 4:12; Jer 31:34; Ro 12:7; 2Tim 2:2,24; a million Tim2:7; and Sooo many greater. notably for people who don't be responsive to the single authentic God. those are of a extensive help, gathering proper textile, then supplies the Scriptures, for us to examine, on the top of an editorial. each and all of the pubs are Bible based. I did the study myself, each little thing it relatively is taught is Bible based. You your self blanketed the text textile "the devoted and discreet slave" because it says interior the Bible... so who's that this "devoted and discreet slave" I ask? i be responsive to who it relatively is. (btw- the Bible wasn't written on the time Jesus walked the earth. The Hebrew Scrolls have been.)

Answer 5

If you read the book of Revelation in any translation, it clearly states that the City of God will descend from heaven to the New Earth where the resurrected will live. This is in keeping with the entire history of Jewish belief and is reflected in many places, such as the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the Earth."

Answer 6

Remember that Jesus himself did not go to heaven that very day. According to the Bible, Jesus went to Sheol, or Hades, when he died, not to heaven. He was dead for three days, unconscious in the common grave of humankind. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) So he could not have gone to heaven. The Bible says that Jesus returned to heaven 40 days after his resurrection.—Acts 1:3, 6-11.

Clearly, Jesus was promising the criminal simply that he would be resurrected into Paradise; Jesus was not saying he would live in Paradise that very day. Therefore the correct translation of Jesus’ words is: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.”
When we read Jesus’ promise of Paradise made, we should picture in our minds this entire earth made into a beautiful place in which to live, like a fruitful garden, for that is what the word “paradise” means. Will Jesus be right here on earth with the former evildoer in Paradise? No, Jesus will be in heaven ruling as King over the earthly Paradise. He will be with that man in the sense that He will raise him from the dead and care for his needs, both physical and spiritual.
The criminal put to death with Jesus, obviously was not a faithful Christian conqueror who qualified for life as a co-ruler in heaven with Christ. He did wicked things, even as did millions of other people whom Jesus will resurrect. (Acts 24:15)
But they did these wicked things because they were ignorant of God’s will. So in Paradise they will be taught what God’s will is, and they will have the opportunity to prove that they really do love God by doing his will and by doing so, they
will have earned the right to live here on earth forever, along with millions of meek ones who Jesus said would inherit it.
LOBT

Answer 7

Okay, I'm not a Christian, but even *I* am going to call you on this one.

Why, pray tell, are you applying a timeline to the divine?

Yes, Jesus said, "Today." But guess how God would see the timeline of our universe -- he'd see the whole thing. If He took the thief and brought him to the day of paradise, then Jesus's promise would have been kept, even though within the timeline, millenia would have passed.

If you really, REALLY have faith in the omnipotence of your deity... why place the limitations on him?

Answer 8

Ginger:
Was the Paradise of Luke 23:43 heaven or some part of heaven?

The Bible does not agree with the view that Jesus and the evildoer went to heaven on the day that Jesus spoke to him. Jesus had foretold that, after his being killed, he would not be raised up until the third day. (Luke 9:22) During that three-day period he was not in heaven, because following his resurrection he told Mary Magdalene: “I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (John 20:17) It was 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection that his disciples saw him lifted up from the earth and out of their sight as he began his ascent to heaven.—Acts 1:3, 6-11.

The evildoer did not meet the requirements to go to heaven even at some later time. He was not “born again”—being neither baptized in water nor begotten by God’s spirit. Holy spirit was not poured out upon Jesus’ disciples until more than 50 days after the evildoer’s death. (John 3:3, 5 - Acts 2:1-4) On the day of his death, Jesus had made with those ‘who had stuck with him in his trials’ a covenant for a heavenly kingdom. The evildoer had no such record of faithfulness and was not included.—Luke 22:28-30.
What points to this Paradise as being earthly?

The Hebrew Scriptures had never led faithful Jews to expect a reward of heavenly life. Those Scriptures pointed to the restoration of Paradise here on earth. Daniel 7:13, 14 had foretold that when “rulership and dignity and kingdom” would be given to the Messiah, “the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him.” Those subjects of the Kingdom would be here on the earth. By what he said to Jesus, the evildoer was evidently expressing the hope that Jesus would remember him when that time came.

How, then, would Jesus be with the evildoer? By raising him from the dead, making provision for his physical needs, and extending to him the opportunity to learn and conform to Jehovah’s requirements for eternal life. (John 5:28, 29) Jesus saw in the evildoer’s repentant and respectful attitude a basis for including him among the billions who will be resurrected to earthly life and the opportunity to prove their worthiness to live forever in Paradise.
When will the evildoer be in Paradise?

One’s understanding of Luke 23:43 is influenced by the punctuation used by the translator. There was no punctuation in the original Greek Bible manuscripts. 'The Encyclopedia Americana' (1956, Vol. XXIII, p. 16) states: “No attempt to punctuate is apparent in the earlier manuscripts and inscriptions of the Greeks.” Not until the 9th century C.E. did such punctuation come into use. Should Luke 23:43 read, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Revised Standard Version), or should it be, ‘Truly I say to you today, You will be with me in Paradise’? The teachings of Christ and the rest of the Bible must be the basis for determination, and not a comma inserted in the text centuries after Jesus said those words.

'The Emphasised Bible' translated by J. B. Rotherham agrees with the punctuation in the New World Translation. In a footnote on Luke 23:43, German Bible translator L. Reinhardt says: “The punctuation presently used (by most translators) in this verse is undoubtedly false and contradictory to the entire way of thinking of Christ and the evildoer. . . . (Christ) certainly did not understand paradise to be a subdivision of the realm of the dead, but rather the restoration of a paradise on earth.”
When would Jesus ‘get into his kingdom’ and fulfill his Father’s purpose to make the earth a paradise? The book of Revelation, written about 63 years after the statements recorded at Luke 23:42, 43 were made, indicates that these events were still in the future.

If you would like further information or a free home Bible study, please get in touch with Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit their official web site - http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 9

I do not believe in religion it will not get you in to heaven .Receiving Jesus in your heart and loving everyone just like I love You will.

Answer 10

actually, the final resting place for God himself is in a palace where jerusalem is today. So he will dwell with us right here on earth.