JW's: Eternity?

Question

As I understand your beliefs. You do not believe in Hell. You basically believe 144,000 will go to Heaven and the rest will spend eternity on Earth. However if I understand correctly many who are not even JW's will be resurrected to life. The only ones who will be destroyed are the truly evil and even they will just cease to exist.

So according to your beliefs I have no chance of Heaven and neither do most of you. However odds are since I am a decent person I will be resurrected anyway. And even if I am not resurrected I will just cease to exist and not know it anyway. So I guess my question is where is the incentive to join your religion? Whether I join or not I will likely spend an eternity on Earth. Right? And if not I will never know it anyway.

Answer 1

It's called love for Jehovah, his Son Jesus, and our fellow man.

If you don't serve Jehovah because of love, you are not saved.

1 Cor 13:1If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Matt 22:36"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

37And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

38"This is the great and foremost commandment.

39"The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'

40"On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

.

Answer 2

Deuteronomy 30:19

"I do take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against YOU today, that I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the malediction; and *YOU* must choose life in order that you may keep alive, you and your offspring."

Those who reject the truth and oppose God's people, can't expect to survive the destruction of this wicked system. Those who are a part of Babylon the Great (false religion) will be destroyed with her. (Rev. 18:4) Do you think these people will be worthy of a resurrection? Otherwise, why would God destroy them in the first place?
John 5:28,29 says that there will be a resurrection of "both the righteous and the unrighteous." So, who are the unrighteous? They are those who never had the chance to hear the message of the good news of God's Kingdom and of Christ. Case in point: Jehovah will make SURE everybody gets a chance to hear the message and will judge them based on how they react to it. Whether they accept it or not.

And you're correct, if one ceases to exist, they will no longer be conscious. Psalms 37:10 says "just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be."
verse 20 says "the wicked themselves will perish."
verse 28 says "the offspring of the wicked ones will indeed be cut off." You get the drift.....

For more on the condition of the dead Ecclesiastes chapter 9 is interesting. Verse 10 says "there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She'ol (grave) the place to which you are going." Isn't that pretty convincing of what happens at death?

So...as my introductory scripture said, what you want is your choice. Either eternal life on earth or eternal nonexistence.

Answer 3

"This will be in the day when God through Christ Jesus judges the secret things of mankind, according to the good news I declare."

Judgment Day for mankind is the 1,000 year long "day," during which time the general resurrection of the dead takes place. The good news that Paul was declaring was that there is to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

Those who lived in accord with their consciences, even though not having faith or knowledge of God, while they could not be considered righteous in God's sight, would nonetheless have their reward for having lived a principled life. But, Paul was not saying that a person without faith might survive the end of the world.

Answer 4

Edge,

How is it people can read the bible and not know what you have just described?
Rev.14:1-6,7 [ 144,000 ]; Heb.12:22-24; How does this fit in all world religions? The bible tell us this.

Rev.1:1-3; 3:14 [ Jesus a witness ]; Heb.11:1-40 [ a great croud of witnesses ]; Acts 7:1-60; Who do these people know? Stephen knows the WORD.

What about this as to resurrection? Job 19:25,26; 33:4,22; 34:14,15; Psm. 104:29,30; Isa.26:19; Eze.37:12-14; Dan.12:2; John 5:26-29; Acts 17:31; 24:15; Acts 2:27-35; Rom.14:9-12; 1Cor.15:[ firstfruits first ], 22-28,51-53; 2Cor. 5:10; Philip.2:5,9-12; Heb.9:27;
and
Rev.20:1-6 [ special firstfruits first resurrected heavenly ], 12,13; No Satan 1000 years.

Rev.20:1-6; The heavenly are with Jesus at his 2nd coming. Rev.3:12;
Rev.20:12,13; to resurrect the earthly from where ever? John 12:47,48; The judgement day of 1000 years. Matt.19:28; Judges [ and Eze.37:12-14 ];

THE FIRST COMING OF JESUS Luke 24:44-46,47;

John 3:13-17; No one had gone to heaven but Jesus who came down.
John 17:1-26; 20:17;
Acts 2:27-35; Jesus will be at God's right hand [ for how long until power ]?
Acts 7:55,56; Matt.22:42-44; Psm.110:1; Mark 16:19; Rom.8:34; Col.3:1; Heb.1:1-13 [ all this prophecy for Jesus at God's right hand, how long to his power in heaven and on earth Matt.28:18 ]; WHEN DOES HIS HEAVENLY GO TO HEAVEN? Study reveals they go in the time of the end back to Pentecost, after Satan is cast down to have his short time in the time of the end? Dan.12:1-13 [ time of the end ]; Rev.12:3,4,6-11,12 [ time of the end ];

ANGELS AND JUDGEMENT DAY

Jude 6; 1Pet.3:18-20; 2Pet.2:4; Judges These angel in tartarus prison hell, where Jesus went to visit them, they sinned before the flood, Luke 20:34-36; angels do not die, 1Cor.6:3,4; Saints. Angels and man to be judged Heb. 9: 27;
Tophet, Gehenna or valley of the Son of Hinnom hell, Jer.7:30,31; 19:2-5;
Josiah in his 18th yr, in the days of Jeremiah turned this into Jerusalem's city dump Mark 9:42-48;
Acts 2:27-31 [ Sepulchre or hell, John 19:38-42; cave or pit, tomb or grave, burial ground and cemeteries.
Rich man and Lazarus hell, the Pharisee's imagination Gen.8:21; 3:19;
For truth, Luke 16:16,17, 29, 31; Go to Law and the Prophets, it's not there.

Answer 5

Yes, you are correct in saying that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous and these, (along with the great tribulation's survivors), will be brought to perfection in the 1000 years following Armageddon--Yahwah God's DAY--then,
after the 1000 years have ended, Satan and his demons will be let out of the abyss to swarm over the earth--population--and then these ones that go after wickedness will be destroyed along with Satan and the demons--this is the SECOND death from which there is no return.
Then comes eternal peace and perfection in the real system to come that not even fairy tales can match.

Answer 6

To acquire an accurate knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, please welcome a home Bible study with Jehovah's Witnesses. They could help you to appreciate what the Scriptures says. In the Bible book of Acts 8:26-31, Philip asked the Ethiopian eunuch, "Do you actually know what you are reading?" And the eunuch responded, "Really, how can I do so, unless someone guided me?" So we all need help to fully understand the Scriptures. Just by answering your question, you may still have other questions of concern. So by having a home Bible study, you could discuss Bible issues that are on your mind. It's truly best to talk personally to the source, Jehovah's Witnesses, if you are really concerned to get to the truth of the matter.