₦airaland Forum

I meant to say shave my head and post a picture of it on NL

Please go find yourself a bible and quote us the scipture where it says that Jesus was a practicing homosexual. When you have accomplished this I will shave off all my hair and post it on Nairaland.

Yes Elijah did ascend up to "the heavens" but not into heaven. Heaven is a spirit realm and one must die first and be resurrected in "spirit form" in order to enter into heaven.( 1Corinthians 15:50) The occurrence regarding Elijah was not him being taken to heaven but him being carried off to another place on earth. As it said in 2Kings 2:16 where it said the spirit of Jehovah may have picked him up and thrown him upon one of the mountains or valleys.

It even states later in 2 Chronicles 21:12- Eventually there came a writing to him from Elijah. If Elijah had been taken to heaven he would not have later been able to write a letter to Jehoram.

I realize that some Cristians believe that the rapture is sort of an escape plan that is going to happen to faithful Christians when the end comes however only a select few are going to be given the gift of spiritual bodies and life in heaven ruling with Jesus Christ as king and that is found at Revelation 14:1-3. This group is often referred to as the "little flock". It says -I saw and look! The lamb standing upon Mt Zion and with him a hundred and forty four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their forheads. And they are singing as if a new song but the hundred and forty four thousand who have been bought from the earth.

So what of the rest of the faithful Christians? Well they are going to inherit the earth. A earth that will be free of wicked people and people that refuse to  believe that God is the rightfull ruler of the earth and all humans on it. That scripture can be found at Psalms 37:9,11- It says For evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will posses the earth.10.And just a little while longer and the wicked on will be no more, and you will certainly give attention to his place and he will not be11. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.

Foretelling Our Immediate Future
WHEN discussing the future of man and the earth, the apostle Peter wrote: “There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his [God’s] promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Peter 3:13) A promise of “new heavens and a new earth” was originally given through the prophet Isaiah. (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22) By citing this prophecy, Peter showed that in his time it had not yet been completely fulfilled.

Later, about the year 96 C.E., the Revelation given through the apostle John associated that “new earth” with blessings under God’s Kingdom. (Revelation 21:1-4) Jesus’ words as well as those of the apostle Paul about world conditions just prior to the coming of God’s Kingdom are now being fulfilled. Therefore, we can expect that Kingdom will soon usher in the new world. What will that new world be like? The Bible book of Isaiah tells us.

Blessings in the New World
Worldwide Peace and United Worship. “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”—Isaiah 2:2-4.

Humans will be at peace with one another and with the animals
Peace Between Humans and Animals. “The wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. . . . They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”—Isaiah 11:6-9.


Abundant Food for All. “Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of wine kept on the dregs, filtered.”—Isaiah 25:6.

No More Death. “He [God] will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for Jehovah himself has spoken it.”—Isaiah 25:8.


The dead will live again
Dead Ones Resurrected. “Thy dead live, their bodies will rise again. They that sleep in the earth will awake and shout for joy . . . The earth will bring those long dead to birth again.”—Isaiah 26:19, The New English Bible.

Messiah a Righteous Judge. “He will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth.”—Isaiah 11:3, 4.

Blind and Deaf Healed. “The eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped.”—Isaiah 35:5.

Wasteland Becomes Productive. “The wilderness and the waterless region will exult, and the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron. Without fail it will blossom, and it will really be joyful with joyousness and with glad crying out.”—Isaiah 35:1, 2.

A New Earth. “I am creating new heavens [a new heavenly government] and a new earth [a righteous new human society]; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart. But exult, you people, and be joyful forever in what I am creating. . . . They [inhabitants of God’s promised new world] will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. They will not build and someone else have occupancy; they will not plant and someone else do the eating. For like the days of a tree will the days of my people be; and the work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full. They will not toil for nothing, nor will they bring to birth for disturbance; because they are the offspring made up of the blessed ones of Jehovah, and their descendants with them. And it will actually occur that before they call out I myself shall answer; while they are yet speaking, I myself shall hear.” “‘Just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making are standing before me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘so the offspring of you people and the name of you people will keep standing.’”—Isaiah 65:17-25; 66:22.

Foretelling a Grand Future
Isaiah is not the only Bible book that foretells blessings for the future. The Bible is filled with prophecies that describe the marvelous things that God will accomplish through his Kingdom under Christ.* Would you like to live under such paradisaic conditions? You can! Find out for yourself what the Bible really teaches about God’s good purposes for the future, and learn how you can be a part of them. Jehovah’s Witnesses would be happy to help you.


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* For further information about God’s Kingdom and what it will accomplish, What Does the Bible Really Teach? published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The whole earth will be a paradise

Jesus died a perfect human, the same way he was born. If he would have had relations with any woman other than a woman he was married to, he would have commited a sin and thus would have become imperfect just like his human counterparts. Thus he could not have been used as a ransom sacrifice. In order to fix the mistake that Adam made when he sinned and brought about human imperfection, another perfect human had to live and die perfect. How could Jesus accomplish this if he would have commited any sin while on earth.

I do not know why Jesus did not marry before he was baptized however after his baptism Jesus's memory of his pre earthly existence in heaven was restored. Once his memory was restored he knew his purpose for being on earth and spent the remainder of his life preaching about Gods kingdom. He did not need to marry becuase that is not what his father sent him to do.

I was trying to say I am also here and willing to discuss, using the bible, any questions that you may have about this topic as well as any other that may interest you as are many other Jehovahs witnesses that you can find in just about every place in the world.

If you saw that someone was about to fall to their deaths becuase of the wrong directions they were being given on a map would you inform them of their wrong direction or leave them to figure it out for themselves and possibly lose their life? They may be certain that the direction they are taking is right but from careful examination and research you have become aware that the map really is fualty.

But many may hask how can they know if the path they are following is really right? Well first look at the things you are being tuaght. Is it from men or Gods word the bible? For instance examine closely where the teachings of the trinity come from. Or how about the origins of christmas and other secular holidays. Once you have found that many pf these teachings and practices come from pagan religions of the past then ask yourself, is my religion still accepting and participating in these practices. If you do not believe this then google the origin of christmas and also other holidays that may interest you.

What to of Gods name? At Mathew 4:10 Jesus stated that it was written that it is Jehovah God you must worship and to him alone you must render sacred service. Is the organization you attend openly using Gods name and teaching you who Jehovah is , his qualities, and his purpose?

Do you know Jehovahs purpose for the world and the people that live in it. Did you know his purpose for mankind has not changed from the what he intended for Adam and Eve?

The bible has told us to be rich in fine works and to be eager to share in order that we may treasure up a fine foundation for the future in order that we may get a firm hold on the real life.(1Timothy 6:19) DAre you being tuaght what God really considers fine works and what exactly he wants us to be willing to share? And what is the real life that the scripture is talking about?

If you would like to find out the answers to these questions you can start by visiting www.watchtower.org. I am also here if you and willing to though the bible discuss these and other questions as are many witnesses in just about any area.

There cannot be unity amongst Christians because not all religions are acceptable and pleasing to God. In the bible at Ephesians 4:5 it says- One Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Notice the keywords One Faith. The bible is clear in that not all worship is pleasing to God at Mark 7:6.7. Jesus was talking to the Scribes and Pharisees when he said[b]-"Isaiah aptly prophesied about you hypocrites as it is written, This people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far removed from me.7-It is in vain that they keep worshiping me because they teach as doctrines commands of men."[/b]

Even though Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders of his day the same still applies to our day. Regardless of who the religion professes to worship if they hold to doctrines of men instead of what the bible teaches then their worship is in vain.

True worship of God requires accurate knowledge. If you do not have accurate knowledge then how can you truly do what God requires of you to worship him the way "he" finds acceptable. Romans 10:2 says-For I bear witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to accurate Knowledge.

Yes Jesus said he and his father were one, but not in a literal sense. Jesus was referring to the fact that he was always in complete harmony with his father. At John 8:28 Jesus himself clearly explained this when he said -"When once you have lifted up the son of manthen you will know that I am her and that I do nothing of my own initiative but just as the father taught me I speak these things."

If you also look at 1Corinthians 15:28 it talks about Jesus's role in heaven and how he is still in subjection to his father Jehovah. It says[b]-"But when all thing will have been subjected to him then the son himself will also subject himself to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone."[/b]

It says clearly that "the Son himself" will subject himself to God (the one who subjected all things to him). It also says "so that God may be all things to everyone" including his son Jesus Christ.

You are right that the basis of the Trinity is rooted in false religion doctorine, however a acurate understanding of the bible is clear in that there is One father (God), one figurative Son (Jesus), and Gods active force which is reffered to as Holy spirit.

I reffered to Jesus as a figurative son becuase of his relationship with God[b] (Collosions 1:15-17-He is the image of the invisable God, the firstborn of all creation.16-becuase by means of him all (other) things were created through him and for him.17-Also he is before all and by means of him all other things were made to exist.)[/b]

Imagine you have adopted a son. You have adopted him from birth and now he is a grown man. You have spent many, many, years together and have a close bond. You have not had sex with a woman who gave birth to this son but yet you still call him your son and he your father. It is the same with God and Jesus. God of course did not adopt Jesus but Jesus was Gods first creation in which he made with his own hand and through Jesus everything else was created. It is fitting then that God refers to Jesus as his son.


Second the Bible is clear in that Jesus and God are not the same. If you look at Collosians alone you wcan see that God and Jesus are not the same. It clearly states that Jesus was the firstborn of all creation. Second Jesus himself stated that he was not God when he said at John 8:42- If God were your father you would love me, for from God I came forth and am here. Neither have I come of my own initiative at all but that one that sent me forth. Here Jesus was clearly saying he was not God but was sent by God and was here to do Gods will not his own.

Lastly at Mathew 3:16 it shows that holy spirit is Gods active force nd not a person when it says- After being baptized Jesus immediately came up from the water and look the heavens were opened up and he saw descending like a dove Gods spirit coming apon him.

The bible is very clear and I hope these scriptures helped you to get some understanding.

"Although it was a struggle for me, I started to apply what I was learning from the Bible. I was able to break free from all my unclean practices. After studying for 14 months, I dedicated my life to Jehovah and was baptized. For the first time in my life, I had real friends. I have been able to help others learn the truth from the Bible, and I now serve as a ministerial servant in the Christian congregation. Jehovah has truly blessed me."

The above paragraph was quoted from a 1996 Awake article in which the young man was a homosexual. As you see this young man gained accurate knowledge of the bibles view on unclean practices and he turned his life around and became a true Christian.

God does not hate anyone but hates the wicked things that humans do [b](2 Peter 3:9 - Jehovah is not slow to act on his promises but is patient because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance)[/b]If God can forgive those who practice that sort of lifestyle if the seek repentance and turn away from such a lifestyle then who am I to judge these people when I cannot see into their heart and I am also a sinner seeking forgiveness?

I think the best approach is not to condemn these ones but to try to reason with them based on accurate knowledge of the bible for we are all sinners and can all benefit from Jesus ransom sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:14-How much more will the blood of Christ who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works that we may render sacred service to the living God)

I guess it all depends on how much you value your relationship with God. With him all things are possible as is forgiveness and acceptance. But he will only fortify those things in you if you go to him and ask him to do such.With prayer God could help you grow to accept and even love the child.

Abortion is murder any way you look at it and God is a God of rightousness and he does not lie. If he says that the taking of a life is murder and anyone doing such becomes bloodguilty then he will not change his mind based on circumstance.

As hard as it would be to keep a child that was concieved through such a brutal act, I would not want to then make things worse by then becoming bloodguilty in Gods eyes. Rape is a sinfull act but the rapist will be acountable to God for his actions.

And this is coming from a victim of rape.

Yes I am

What is false religion? Are you distressed about crimes committed in the name of religion? Do the warfare, terrorism, and corruption perpetrated by those who claim to serve God offend your sense of justice? Why does religion seem to be at the root of so many problems?

The fault lies, not with all religion, but with false religion. A widely respected religious figure, Jesus Christ, indicated that false religion produces bad works, just as a “rotten tree produces worthless fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-17) What fruit does false religion yield?
False Religion . . .
MEDDLES IN WAR AND POLITICS: “Across Asia and beyond,” says the journal Asiaweek, “power-hungry leaders are cynically manipulating people’s religious sentiments for their own needs.” As a result, the journal warns: “The world threatens to sink into madness.” A prominent religious leader in the United States declared: “You’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops.” His solution? “Blow them all away in the name of the Lord.” By contrast, the Bible says: “If anyone makes the statement: ‘I love God,’ and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4:20) Jesus even said: “Continue to love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44) How many religions can you think of whose members engage in war?

SPREADS FALSE DOCTRINE: Most religions teach that the soul or spirit is some invisible part of a human that survives the death of the physical body. By means of this teaching, many of these religions exploit their members, charging money to pray for departed souls. However, the Bible teaches a different doctrine. “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Ezekiel 18:4) “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Jesus taught that the dead will be resurrected—an unnecessary action if humans had an immortal soul. (John 11:11-25) Does your religion teach that the soul does not die?

TOLERATES IMMORAL SEX: In Western lands, church groups ordain gay and lesbian members of the clergy and urge governments to recognize same-sex marriages. Even churches that condemn immorality have tolerated religious leaders who have sexually abused children. What, though, does the Bible teach? It plainly states: “Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men . . . will inherit God’s kingdom.” (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10) Do you know of religions that condone immoral sex?

What does the future hold for religions that produce rotten fruit? Jesus warned: “Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:19) Yes, false religion will be chopped down and destroyed! But how and when will this happen? A prophetic vision recorded in the Bible book of Revelation, chapters 17 and 18, provides the answer.
False religion exerts influence “over the kings of the earth”


“Get out of her, my people”
How will false religion end?
Picture the scene. A harlot is sitting on the back of a fearsome beast. The beast has seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:1-4) Whom does the harlot represent? She exerts influence “over the kings of the earth.” She dresses in purple, uses incense, and is exceedingly wealthy. In addition, by means of her spiritistic practice, ‘all the nations are misled.’ (Revelation 17:18; 18:12, 13, 23) The Bible helps us to see that this harlot is a worldwide religious entity. She depicts, not any one religion, but all religions that produce rotten fruit.

The beast that the harlot rides pictures the world’s political powers.* (Revelation 17:10-13) False religion straddles the back of this political beast, attempting to influence its decisions and to control its direction.

Soon, though, an amazing event will take place. “The ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire.” (Revelation 17:16) In a sudden, shocking move, the world’s political powers will turn on false religion and completely destroy her! What will prompt this action? The Bible book of Revelation answers: “God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought.” (Revelation 17:17) Yes, God will call false religion to account for all the despicable acts she has committed in his name. In a stroke of perfect justice, he will use her political paramours as his instrument of execution.

What must you do if you do not want to share the fate of false religion? “Get out of her, my people,” urges God’s messenger. (Revelation 18:4) Indeed, now is the time to flee from false religion! But to where can you flee? Not into atheism, since its future is also bleak. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9) The only haven is within true religion. How can you identify true religion?

How to identify true religion
What good fruit should true religion produce?—Matthew 7:17.
True Religion . . .
PRACTICES LOVE: True worshippers are “no part of the world,” are not divided by race or culture, and display ‘love among themselves.’ (John 13:35; 17:16; Acts 10:34, 35) Rather than killing one another, they are willing to die for one another.—1 John 3:16.

TRUSTS GOD’S WORD: Instead of teaching “tradition” and “commands of men as doctrines,” true religion bases its doctrine on God’s Word, the Bible. (Matthew 15:6-9) Why? Because “all Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight.”—2 Timothy 3:16.

STRENGTHENS FAMILIES AND UPHOLDS HIGH MORAL STANDARDS: True religion trains husbands to ‘love their wives as their own bodies,’ helps wives to develop ‘deep respect for their husbands,’ and teaches children to ‘be obedient to their parents.’ (Ephesians 5:28, 33; 6:1) In addition, those entrusted with positions of authority must have exemplary morals.—1 Timothy 3:1-10.

Does any religion meet these standards? The book Holocaust Politics, published in 2001, says: “If more people practiced versions of what the Jehovah’s Witnesses preach and practice, the Holocaust could have been prevented and genocide would scourge the world no more.”

Indeed, in 235 lands, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not just preach the Bible’s moral standards—they live by them. We urge you to ask Jehovah’s Witnesses to help you learn what God requires of you so that you can worship him acceptably. Now is the time to act. Do not delay. The end of false religion is near!—Zephaniah 2:2, 3.

While I am in total agreement with what I posted above I am not the author. This was taken from an article regarding the question, "Was Jesus God".

There are other brilliant articles where this one came from. Articles on subjects that are on the minds of many people today, such as, family life,when will suffering end and what does God really expect of us. If anyone is interested they can find these articles and many others at www.watchtower.org

Has Evil Won?
THE idea of a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil has prompted endless speculation by writers and philosophers throughout history. There is a book, however, that contains the accurate history of the battle between God and the Devil. That book is the Bible. It sheds light on the issues involved in this conflict and provides the means of determining who has really won.

Soon after the creation of the first man and woman, an unseen spirit creature, Satan the Devil, challenged God's rulership. How? By subtly suggesting that God withheld good things from his creation and that humans would fare better independent of him.—Genesis 3:1-5; Revelation 12:9.

Later, in the days of the patriarch Job, Satan raised another issue. Seeking to break Job's integrity to God, Satan said: "Skin in behalf of skin, and everything that a man has he will give in behalf of his soul." (Job 2:4) What a sweeping claim that was! By using the general term "a man" instead of the name Job, Satan brought into the arena of doubt the integrity of every human. He, in effect, asserted: 'A man will do anything to save his life. Give me a chance, and I can turn anyone away from God.'

The victory in the battle between God and the Devil is determined by the answering of two questions: Is man successfully able to rule himself? Has the Devil managed to turn everyone away from the true God?

Can Humans Successfully Rule Themselves?
For thousands of years, humans have experimented with various types of rulership. Different forms of government, such as monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, autocracy, Fascism, and Communism, have been tried in the course of history. Does not the very fact that there has been an ever-present need to experiment indicate that these different ways of governing are inadequate?

"The Roman people found themselves engaged almost unawares in a vast administrative experiment," writes H. G. Wells in A History of the World, published in 1922. He continues: "It was always changing, it never attained to any fixity. In a sense the experiment failed. In a sense the experiment remains unfinished, and Europe and America today are still working out the riddles of the worldwide statecraft first confronted by the Roman people."

The experiment in government continued through the 20th century. That century ended with democratic rule gaining greater acceptance than ever before. Democracy theoretically reaches out to embrace everyone. But has democracy shown that man can rule successfully without God? Jawaharlal Nehru, former prime minister of India, called democracy good but added: "I say this because other systems are worse." Former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing said: "We are witnessing a crisis of representative democracy."

Even in the fifth century B.C.E., the Greek philosopher Plato detected a weakness in the democratic way of ruling. According to the book A History of Political Theory, he attacked "the ignorance and incompetence of politicians, which is the special curse of democracies." Many of today's politicians lament the difficulty in finding talented individuals who are qualified to serve in government. People "are annoyed by leaders who appear small at a time when the problems facing them are so big," said The Wall Street Journal. It continued: "They are disgusted with finding indecision and corruption when they look for direction."

Now consider the rulership of King Solomon of ancient Israel. Jehovah God gave Solomon outstanding wisdom. (1 Kings 4:29-34) How did the nation of Israel fare during Solomon's 40-year reign? "Judah and Israel were many," answers the Bible, "like the grains of sand that are by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing." The account also states: "Judah and Israel continued to dwell in security, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree, from Dan to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:20, 25) With a wise king ruling over them as the visible representative of the invisible Supreme Ruler, Jehovah God, the nation enjoyed unsurpassed stability, prosperity, and joy.

What a stark contrast between man's rulership and God's! Can anyone honestly say that Satan has won on the issue of rulership? No, for the prophet Jeremiah accurately declared: "I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step."—Jeremiah 10:23.

Can Satan Turn Everyone Away From God?
Has Satan been successful in his claim that he can turn everyone away from God? In chapter 11 of the Bible book of Hebrews, the apostle Paul names a number of faithful men and women of pre-Christian times. Then he declares: "The time will fail me if I go on to relate about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David as well as Samuel and the other prophets." (Hebrews 11:32) Paul simply refers to these loyal servants of God as a 'great cloud of witnesses.' (Hebrews 12:1) The Greek word used here for "cloud" means, not a detached, sharply outlined cloud with definite size and shape, but a huge formless cloud mass. This is appropriate because the faithful servants of God in the past have been so numerous that they are like a huge cloud mass. Yes, down through the centuries, unnumbered multitudes of people have exercised their free will and chosen to give their allegiance to Jehovah God.—Joshua 24:15.

What do we find in our time? The number of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide has increased to over six million despite the terrible persecution and opposition they experienced during the 20th century. An additional nine million or so associate with them, and many of these are taking decisive steps to enter into a close personal relationship with God.

The ultimate answer to Satan's claim that he can turn humans away from Jehovah came from God's own Son, Jesus Christ. Not even excruciating pain on a torture stake broke his integrity. As Jesus took his last breath, he cried out: "Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit."—Luke 23:46.

Satan uses everything in his power—from temptations to outright persecution—to try to keep humans under his control. Using "the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one's means of life" to tempt people, he seeks either to keep or to entice them away from Jehovah. (1 John 2:16) Satan has also 'blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ might not shine through.' (2 Corinthians 4:4) And Satan does not hesitate to resort to threats and to exploit fear of men to accomplish his aim.—Acts 5:40.

Those on God's side, however, are not overcome by the Devil. They have come to know Jehovah God and 'to love him with their whole heart and with their whole soul and with their whole mind.' (Matthew 22:37) Yes, the unwavering loyalty of Jesus Christ and of countless humans adds up to a colossal defeat for Satan the Devil.

What Does the Future Hold?
Will human experiments in government go on indefinitely? The prophet Daniel foretold: "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite." (Daniel 2:44) The Kingdom that the God of heaven sets up is a heavenly government in the hands of Jesus Christ. It is the same Kingdom that Jesus taught his followers to pray for. (Matthew 6:9, 10) That Kingdom will destroy all human governments at "the [upcoming] war of the great day of God the Almighty" and will affect the entire earth.—Revelation 16:14, 16.

What is in store for Satan? The Bible describes this future event: "[An angel of Jehovah] seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended." (Revelation 20:1-3) Only after Satan is hurled into the abyss of inactivity will the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ begin.

What a delightful place this earth will then be! Gone will be wickedness and those who cause it. The Bible promises: "Evildoers themselves will be cut off . . . But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace." (Psalm 37:9-11) Their peace will not be threatened from any source—human or animal. (Isaiah 11:6-9) Even millions who, out of ignorance and because of lack of opportunity to know Jehovah, sided with the Devil over the course of history will be brought back to life and given divine education.—Acts 24:15.

By the end of the Thousand Year Reign, the earth will be brought into a paradisaic condition, and mankind upon it will have been brought to human perfection. Then Satan will be let loose for "a little while," only to be destroyed forever along with all opposers of God's rulership.—Revelation 20:3, 7-10.


Whose Side Will You Take?
The 20th century was a time when Satan wreaked havoc upon the earth. Rather than indicating that he has won, however, the conditions on the earth constitute a sign that we are in the last days of this wicked world. (Matthew 24:3-14; Revelation 6:1- Neither the intensity of wickedness on earth nor the majority viewpoint is an issue in discerning who has won. The determining factors are whose way of ruling is best and whether anyone has served God out of love. On both counts, the victory belongs to Jehovah.

If the allowed time has already proved Satan wrong, why does God permit wickedness to continue? Jehovah is showing patience "because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God's will "is that all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth." (1 Timothy 2:4) May you use the remaining time to study the Bible and 'take in knowledge of the only true God and of the one whom he sent forth, Jesus Christ.' (John 17:3) Jehovah's Witnesses will be happy to help you gain that knowledge so that you too can join the millions standing firm on the victorious side.

Jehovah has many loyal ones on his side

God's Name and Bible Translators
EARLY in the second century, after the last of the apostles had died, the falling away from the Christian faith foretold by Jesus and his followers began in earnest. Pagan philosophies and doctrines infiltrated the congregation; sects and divisions arose, and the original purity of faith was corrupted. And God's name ceased to be used.

As this apostate Christianity spread, the need arose to translate the Bible from its original Hebrew and Greek into other languages. How did the translators render God's name in their translations? Usually, they used the equivalent of "Lord." A very influential version of that time was the Latin Vulgate, a translation of the Bible by Jerome into everyday Latin. Jerome rendered the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) by substituting Dominus, "Lord."

Eventually, new languages, such as French, English and Spanish, began to emerge in Europe. However, the Catholic Church discouraged the translating of the Bible into these new languages. Thus, while Jews, using the Bible in the original Hebrew language, refused to pronounce God's name when they saw it, most "Christians" heard the Bible read in Latin translations that did not use the name.

In time, God's name came back into use. In 1278 it appeared in Latin in the work Pugio fidei (Dagger of Faith), by Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk. Raymundus Martini used the spelling Yohoua.* Soon after, in 1303, Porchetus de Salvaticis completed a work entitled Victoria Porcheti adversus impios Hebraeos (Porchetus' Victory Against the Ungodly Hebrews). In this he, too, mentioned God's name, spelling it variously Iohouah, Iohoua and Ihouah. Then, in 1518, Petrus Galatinus published a work entitled De arcanis catholicae veritatis (Concerning Secrets of the Universal Truth) in which he spells God's name Iehoua.

The translators of the Authorized Version preserved God's name, Jehovah, in only four verses, substituting GOD and LORD everywhere else

The name first appeared in an English Bible in 1530, when William Tyndale published a translation of the first five books of the Bible. In this he included the name of God, usually spelled Iehouah, in several verses,# and in a note in this edition he wrote: "Iehovah is God's name . . . Moreover as oft as thou seist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew Iehovah." From this the practice arose of using Jehovah's name in just a few verses and writing "LORD" or "GOD" in most other places where the Tetragrammaton occurs in the Hebrew text.

In 1611 what became the most widely used English translation, the Authorized Version, was published. In this, the name appeared four times in the main text. (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4) "Jah," a poetic abbreviation of the name, appeared in Psalm 68:4. And the name appeared in full in place-names such as "Jehovah-jireh." (Genesis 22:14; Exodus 17:15; Judges 6:24) However, following the example of Tyndale, the translators in most instances substituted "LORD" or "GOD" for God's name. But if God's name could appear in four verses, why could it not appear in all the other thousands of verses that contain it in the original Hebrew?

Something similar was happening in the German language. In 1534 Martin Luther published his complete translation of the Bible, which he based on the original languages. For some reason he did not include the name of God but used substitutes, such as HERR ("LORD". However, he was aware of the divine name, since in a sermon on Jeremiah 23:1-8, which he delivered in 1526, he said: "This name Jehovah, Lord, belongs exclusively to the true God."

In 1543 Luther wrote with characteristic frankness: "That they [the Jews] now allege the name Jehovah to be unpronounceable, they do not know what they are talking about . . . If it can be written with pen and ink, why should it not be spoken, which is much better than being written with pen and ink? Why do they not also call it unwriteable, unreadable or unthinkable? All things considered, there is something foul." Nevertheless, Luther had not rectified matters in his translation of the Bible. In later years, however, other German Bibles did contain the name in the text of Exodus 6:3.

In succeeding centuries, Bible translators went in one of two directions. Some avoided any use of God's name, while others used it extensively in the Hebrew Scriptures, either in the form Jehovah or in the form Yahweh. Let us consider two translations that avoided the name and see why, according to their translators, this was done.

Why They Left It Out
When J. M. Powis Smith and Edgar J. Goodspeed produced a modern translation of the Bible in 1935, readers found that LORD and GOD had been used in most places as a substitution for God's name. The reason was explained in a preface: "In this translation we have followed the orthodox Jewish tradition and substituted 'the Lord' for the name 'Yahweh' and the phrase 'the Lord God' for the phrase 'the Lord Yahweh.' In all cases where 'Lord' or 'God' represents an original 'Yahweh' small capitals are employed."

Then, in an unusual reversal of the tradition of the Jews who read YHWH but pronounced it "Lord," the preface says: "Anyone, therefore, who desires to retain the flavor of the original text has but to read 'Yahweh' wherever he sees LORD or GOD"!

On reading this, the question immediately comes to mind: If reading "Yahweh" instead of "LORD" retains the "flavor of the original text," why did the translators not use "Yahweh" in their translation? Why did they, in their own word, 'substitute' the word "LORD" for God's name and thus mask the flavor of the original text?

The translators say that they were following orthodox Jewish tradition. Yet is that wise for a Christian? Remember, it was the Pharisees, the preservers of orthodox Jewish tradition, who rejected Jesus and were told by him: "You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition." (Matthew 15:6) Such substitution truly weakens the Word of God.

In 1952 the Revised Standard Version of the Hebrew Scriptures was published in English, and this Bible, too, used substitutions for God's name. This was noteworthy because the original American Standard Version, of which this was a revision, used the name Jehovah all through the Hebrew Scriptures. Hence, the omission of the name was an outstanding departure. Why was it done?

In the preface to the Revised Standard Version, we read: "For two reasons the Committee has returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version [that is, omitting the name of God]: (1) the word 'Jehovah' does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew; and (2) the use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom he had to be distinguished, was discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church."

Are these sound arguments? Well, as discussed earlier, the name Jesus does not accurately represent the original form of the name of God's Son used by his followers. Yet this did not persuade the Committee to avoid using that name and to use instead a title such as "Mediator" or "Christ." True, these titles are used, but in addition to the name Jesus, not instead of it.

As to the argument that there are no other gods from whom the true God had to be differentiated, that is simply not true. There are millions of gods worshiped by mankind. The apostle Paul noted: "There are many 'gods.'" (1 Corinthians 8:5; Philippians 3:19) Of course, there is only one true God, as Paul goes on to say. Hence, one great advantage of using the name of the true God is that it keeps him separate from all the false gods. Besides, if using the name of God is "entirely inappropriate," why does it appear almost 7,000 times in the original Hebrew Scriptures?

The truth is, many translators have not felt that the name, with its modern pronunciation, is out of place in the Bible. They have included it in their versions, and the result has always been a translation that gives more honor to the Bible's Author and hews more faithfully to the original text. Some widely used versions that include the name are the Valera translation (Spanish, published in 1602), the Almeida version (Portuguese, published in 1681), the original Elberfelder version (German, published in 1871), as well as the American Standard Version (English, published in 1901). Some translations, notably The Jerusalem Bible, also consistently use God's name but with the spelling Yahweh.

Read now the comments of some translators who included the name in their translations and compare their reasoning with that of those who omitted the name.

Why Others Include the Name
Here is the comment of the translators of the American Standard Version of 1901: "[The translators] were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament . . . This Memorial Name, explained in Ex. iii. 14, 15, and emphasized as such over and over in the original text of the Old Testament, designates God as the personal God, as the covenant God, the God of revelation, the Deliverer, the Friend of his people . . . This personal name, with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim."

If using the name of God is "entirely inappropriate," why does it appear almost 7,000 times in the original Hebrew text?

Similarly, in the preface to the original German Elberfelder Bibel we read: "Jehova. We have retained this name of the Covenant God of Israel because the reader has been accustomed to it for years."

Steven T. Byington, translator of The Bible in Living English, explains why he uses God's name: "The spelling and the pronunciation are not highly important. What is highly important is to keep it clear that this is a personal name. There are several texts that cannot be properly understood if we translate this name by a common noun like 'Lord,' or, much worse, by a substantivized adjective [for example, the Eternal]."

The case of another translation, by J. B. Rotherham, is interesting. He used God's name in his translation but preferred the form Yahweh. However, in a later work, Studies in the Psalms, published in 1911, he returned to the form Jehovah. Why? He explains: "JEHOVAH.—The employment of this English form of the Memorial name (Exo. 3:18) in the present version of the Psalter does not arise from any misgiving as to the more correct pronunciation, as being Yahwéh; but solely from practical evidence personally selected of the desirability of keeping in touch with the public ear and eye in a matter of this kind, in which the principal thing is the easy recognition of the Divine name intended."

In Psalm 34:3 worshipers of Jehovah are exhorted: "O magnify Jehovah with me, you people, and let us exalt his name together." How can readers of Bible translations that omit God's name respond fully to that exhortation? Christians are happy that at least some translators have had the courage to include God's name in their renderings of the Hebrew Scriptures, and thus preserve what Smith and Goodspeed call the "flavor of the original text."

However, most translations, even when they include God's name in the Hebrew Scriptures, omit it from the Christian Greek Scriptures, the "New Testament." What is the reason for this? Is there any justification for including God's name in this last portion of the Bible?





* Printings of this work dated some centuries later, however, have the divine name spelled Jehova.
# Genesis 15:2; Exodus 6:3; 15:3; 17:16; 23:17; 33:19; 34:23; Deuteronomy 3:24. Tyndale also included God's name in Ezekiel 18:23 and 36:23, in his translations that were added at the end of The New Testament, Antwerp, 1534.

Christians and the Name
NO ONE can say for sure exactly when orthodox Jews ceased to pronounce God's name out loud and instead substituted the Hebrew words for God and Sovereign Lord. Some believe that God's name passed out of everyday use well before Jesus' time. But there is strong evidence that the high priest continued to pronounce it at religious services at the temple—particularly on the day of Atonement—right up until the temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. Hence, when Jesus was on earth, the pronunciation of the name was known, although perhaps it was not widely used.

Why did the Jews cease to pronounce God's name? Probably, at least in part, because of misapplying the words of the third commandment: "You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way." (Exodus 20:7) Of course, this commandment did not prohibit the use of God's name. Otherwise, why did God's ancient servants such as David use it so freely and still enjoy Jehovah's blessing? And why did God pronounce it to Moses and tell Moses to explain to the Israelites who it was that had sent him?—Psalm 18:1-3, 6, 13; Exodus 6:2-8.

Nevertheless, by Jesus' time there was a strong tendency to take the reasonable commands of God and interpret them in a highly unreasonable way. For example, the fourth of the Ten Commandments obligated the Jews to observe the seventh day of each week as a day of rest, a Sabbath. (Exodus 20:8-11) Orthodox Jews took that command to ridiculous lengths, making innumerable rules to govern even the smallest act that could or could not be done on the Sabbath. It was doubtless in the same spirit that they took a reasonable command, that God's name must not be dishonored, to a most unreasonable extreme, saying that the name should not even be pronounced.*

Jesus and the Name
Would Jesus have followed such an unscriptural tradition? Hardly! He certainly did not hold back from doing works of healing on the Sabbath, even though this meant breaking the man-made rules of the Jews and even risking his life. (Matthew 12:9-14) In fact, Jesus condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites because their traditions went beyond God's inspired Word. (Matthew 15:1-9) Hence, it is unlikely that he would have held back from pronouncing God's name, especially in view of the fact that his own name, Jesus, meant "Jehovah is Salvation."

On one occasion, Jesus stood up in a synagogue and read a portion of the scroll of Isaiah. The section he read was what we today call Isaiah 61:1, 2, where God's name appears more than once. (Luke 4:16-21) Would he have refused to pronounce the divine name there, substituting "Lord" or "God"? Of course not. That would have meant following the unscriptural tradition of the Jewish religious leaders. Rather, we read: "He was teaching them as a person having authority, and not as their scribes."—Matthew 7:29.

As this 1805 German translation of the Bible indicates, when Jesus read in the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah, he pronounced God's name out loud.—Luke 4:18, 19

In fact, as we learned earlier, he taught his followers to pray to God: "Let your name be sanctified." (Matthew 6:9) And in prayer on the night before his execution, he said to his Father: "I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world . . . Holy Father, watch over them on account of your own name which you have given me."—John 17:6, 11.

Regarding these references by Jesus to God's name, the book Der Name Gottes (The Name of God) explains, on page 76: "We must appreciate the astonishing fact that the traditional Old Testament understanding of God's revelation is that it is a revelation of his name and that this is carried on through to the final parts of the Old Testament, yes, continues even into the last parts of the New Testament, where, for example at John 17:6, we read: 'I have made your name manifest.'"

Yes, it would be most unreasonable to think that Jesus held back from using God's name, especially when he quoted from those portions of the Hebrew Scriptures that contained it.

The Early Christians
Did Jesus' followers in the first century use God's name? They had been commanded by Jesus to make disciples of people of all nations. (Matthew 28:19, 20) Many of the people to be preached to had no conception of the God who had revealed himself to the Jews by the name Jehovah. How would the Christians be able to identify the true God to them? Would it be enough to call him God or Lord? No. The nations had their own gods and lords. (1 Corinthians 8:5) How could the Christians have made a clear difference between the true God and the false ones? Only by using the true God's name.

Peter and Paul used God's name when they quoted from Joel's prophecy.—Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13

Thus, the disciple James remarked during a conference of the elders at Jerusalem: "Symeon has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the Prophets agree." (Acts 15:14, 15) The apostle Peter, in his well-known speech at Pentecost, pointed out a vital part of the Christian message when he quoted the words of the prophet Joel: "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe."—Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21.

The apostle Paul leaves no doubt about the importance to him of God's name. In his letter to the Romans, he quotes the same words by the prophet Joel and goes on to encourage fellow Christians to show their faith in that statement by going out to preach about God's name to others in order that these, too, might be saved. (Romans 10:13-15) Later he wrote in his letter to Timothy: "Let everyone naming the name of Jehovah renounce unrighteousness." (2 Timothy 2:19) At the end of the first century, the apostle John used the divine name in his writings. The expression "Hallelujah," meaning "Praise Jah," appears repeatedly in the book of Revelation.—Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6.

However, Jesus and his followers had prophesied that an apostasy would occur in the Christian congregation. The apostle Peter had written: "There will also be false teachers among you." (2 Peter 2:1; see also Matthew 13:36-43; Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 John 2:18, 19.) These warnings were fulfilled. One result was that God's name was pushed into the background. It even got removed from copies and translations of the Bible! Let us see how that happened.




* Some suggest another reason: The Jews may have been influenced by Greek philosophy. For example, Philo, a Jewish philosopher of Alexandria who was approximately contemporary with Jesus, was greatly influenced by the Greek philosopher Plato, who he thought was divinely inspired. The Lexikon des Judentums (Lexicon of Judaism), under "Philo," states that Philo "united the language and ideas of Greek philosophy (Plato) with the revealed faith of the Jews" and that to begin with he "had a visible effect upon the Christian church fathers." Philo taught that God was indefinable and, hence, unnameable.

How Can You Keep a Balanced View of Money?


In this series:
Your Money or Your Life?
How Can You Keep a Balanced View of Money?

Related topics:
Can Riches Make You Happy?
Is It Wise to Invest in the Stock Market?
Why So Much Corruption?
Love of money and a desire for possessions are not new; nor is the Bible silent about them, as if they were some recent phenomena. They are very old. In the Law, God instructed the Israelites: "You must not desire your fellowman's house . . . nor anything that belongs to your fellowman."—Exodus 20:17.

LOVE of money and possessions was common in Jesus' day. Consider this report of an exchange between Jesus and a "very rich" young man. "Jesus said to him: 'There is yet one thing lacking about you: Sell all the things you have and distribute to poor people, and you will have treasure in the heavens; and come be my follower.' When he heard this, he became deeply grieved, for he was very rich."—Luke 18:18-23.

A Proper View of Money
It would be wrong, however, to conclude that the Bible condemns money itself or any of its basic uses. The Bible shows that money provides a practical defense against poverty and its attendant troubles, enabling people to procure necessities. King Solomon wrote: "Wisdom is for a protection the same as money is for a protection." And: "Bread is for the laughter of the workers, and wine itself makes life rejoice; but money is what meets a response in all things."—Ecclesiastes 7:12; 10:19.

The proper use of money is approved by God. For example, Jesus said: "Make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous riches." (Luke 16:9) This includes contributing toward the advancement of the true worship of God, for we definitely should want God as our Friend. Solomon himself, following the example of his father, David, contributed large amounts of money and valuables toward the building of Jehovah's temple. Another Christian mandate is to give material assistance to those in need. "Share with the holy ones according to their needs," said the apostle Paul. He added: "Follow the course of hospitality." (Romans 12:13) This often involves spending some money. However, what about the love of money?

'The Fondness of Silver'
Paul discussed extensively "the love of money"—or literally, "fondness of silver"—when he was writing to his younger fellow Christian Timothy. Paul's admonition can be found at 1 Timothy 6:6-19. He commented on "the love of money" as part of his broader consideration of material things. We do well to study carefully Paul's inspired comments, in view of the emphasis today's culture puts on money. Such an examination is definitely beneficial because it brings in the secret of how to "get a firm hold on the real life."

Paul warns: "The love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains." (1 Timothy 6:10) This text does not say that money itself is evil—nor does any other scripture. Neither does the apostle say that money is the fundamental cause of "injurious things" or that money lies at the root of every problem. Rather, the love of money can be a cause—even if not the only cause—of all kinds of "injurious things."

Guard Against Greed
The fact that money itself is not condemned in the Scriptures should not blunt Paul's warning. Christians who begin to love money are vulnerable to all kinds of problems, the worst of which is that of straying from the faith. This truth is reinforced by what Paul said to the Christians in Colossae: "Deaden, therefore, your body members that are upon the earth as respects . . . hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:5) How may covetousness, greed, or "love of money" amount to idolatry? Does this mean that it is wrong to want a bigger house, a newer car, a more profitable job? No, none of these things are evil in themselves. The question is: What is the heart attitude that makes one want any of these things, and are they really necessary?

The difference between normal desire and greed might be likened to the difference between the small campfire that cooks food and the blazing inferno that consumes a forest. Wholesome and well-placed desire can be constructive. It motivates us to work and to be productive. Proverbs 16:26 says: "The soul of the hard worker has worked hard for him, because his mouth has pressed him hard." But greed is dangerous and destructive. It is desire out of control.

Control is a core issue. Will the money we accumulate or the material things we want serve our needs, or will our needs serve money? That is why Paul says that being a "greedy person . . . means being an idolater." (Ephesians 5:5) To be greedy for something in reality means that we surrender our will to it—in effect, we make it our master, our god, the thing we serve. In contrast, God insists: "You must not have any other gods against my face."—Exodus 20:3.

Our being greedy also indicates that we do not trust that God will follow through on his promise to supply what we need. (Matthew 6:33) Greed, then, amounts to a turning away from God. In this sense too, it is "idolatry." No wonder Paul warns so clearly against it!

Jesus also gave a direct warning against greed. He commanded us to guard against longing for something that we do not have: "Keep your eyes open and guard against every sort of covetousness, because even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses." (Luke 12:15) According to this passage and Jesus' subsequent illustration, greed is based on the foolish belief that what matters in life is how much one has. It may be money, status, power, or related things. It is possible to be greedy for anything that can be acquired. The idea is that having that thing will make us content. But according to the Bible and human experience, only God can—and will—satisfy our real needs, as Jesus reasoned with his followers.—Luke 12:22-31.

Today's consumer-oriented culture excels at kindling the fires of greed. Influenced in subtle yet powerful ways, many come to believe that whatever they have is not enough. They need more, bigger, and better things. While we cannot hope to change the world around us, how can we personally resist this trend?

Contentment Versus Greed
Paul offers the alternative to greed, which is contentment. He says: "So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things." (1 Timothy 6: This description of all that we really need—"sustenance and covering"—may sound rather simplistic or naive. Many people are entertained by television programs where viewers visit celebrities who live in luxurious homes. That is no way to attain contentment.

Of course, servants of God are not required to live in self-imposed poverty. (Proverbs 30:8, 9) However, Paul does remind us what poverty really is: lack of food, clothing, and shelter adequate for survival where one lives. On the other hand, if we have those things, we have the basis for contentment.

Could Paul be serious about such a description of contentment? Is it really possible to be satisfied with merely the basics—food, clothing, and shelter? Paul should know. He experienced firsthand the wealth and privileges of high rank in the Jewish community and of Roman citizenship. (Acts 22:28; 23:6; Philippians 3:5) Paul also suffered severe hardships in his missionary activities. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28) Through it all, he learned a secret that helped him to maintain contentment. What was that?

"I Have Learned the Secret"
Paul explained in one of his letters: "I know indeed how to be low on provisions, I know indeed how to have an abundance. In everything and in all circumstances I have learned the secret of both how to be full and how to hunger, both how to have an abundance and how to suffer want." (Philippians 4:12) Paul sounds so confident, so optimistic! It would be easy to assume that his life was rosy when he wrote these words but not so. He was in prison in Rome!—Philippians 1:12-14.


Paul learned the secret of contentment
Given that sobering fact, this passage speaks powerfully on the issue of contentment not only with material possessions but with circumstances as well. Extremes of wealth or hardship can test our priorities. Paul spoke of spiritual resources that enabled him to be content regardless of material circumstances: "For all things I have the strength by virtue of [God] who imparts power to me." (Philippians 4:13) Rather than looking to his possessions, many or few, or to his circumstances, good or bad, Paul looked to God to satisfy his needs. The result was contentment.

Paul's example was especially important to Timothy. The apostle urged that young man to pursue a life-style that put godly devotion and a close relationship with God before wealth. Paul said: "However, you, O man of God, flee from these things. But pursue righteousness, godly devotion, faith, love, endurance, mildness of temper." (1 Timothy 6:11) Those words may have been addressed to Timothy, but they apply to anyone who wants to honor God and to have a really happy life.

Timothy needed to watch out for greed just like any other Christian. Apparently, there were wealthy believers in the congregation in Ephesus, where he was when Paul wrote to him. (1 Timothy 1:3) Paul had entered this prosperous commercial center with the good news of Christ, making many converts. No doubt, a number of these were wealthy people, as is true of some in the Christian congregation today.

The question, then, especially in the light of the teaching at 1 Timothy 6:6-10, is: What should people with more than the average amount of money do if they want to honor God? Paul says that they should start by examining their attitude. Money has a tendency to create feelings of self-sufficiency. Paul says: "Give orders to those who are rich in the present system of things not to be high-minded, and to rest their hope, not on uncertain riches, but on God, who furnishes us all things richly for our enjoyment." (1 Timothy 6:17) People of means have to learn to look beyond their money; they need to look to God, the original source of any wealth.

But attitude is only half the battle. Sooner or later, wealthy Christians need to use their wealth well. Paul admonishes: 'Work at good, be rich in fine works, be liberal, ready to share.'—1 Timothy 6:18.

"The Real Life"
The thrust of Paul's counsel is that we need to remind ourselves of the relative worth of material things. God's Word says: "The valuable things of the rich are his strong town, and they are like a protective wall in his imagination." (Proverbs 18:11) Yes, the security that riches can provide is in the end only imagined and is actually deceptive. It is wrong to center our lives on them rather than on gaining God's approval.

We can be happy and content with what we have

The uncertainty of material wealth makes it far too fragile to fix our hope on. Genuine hope must be moored to something strong, meaningful, and lasting. Christian hope is fixed on our Creator, Jehovah God, and his promise of everlasting life. While it is true that money cannot buy happiness, it is even more true that money cannot buy salvation. Only our faith in God can give us such hope.

So whether we are wealthy or poor, let us pursue a course in life that will make us "rich toward God." (Luke 12:21) Nothing is more valuable than an approved standing with the Creator. All efforts to maintain it contribute to our 'treasuring up for ourselves a fine foundation for the future, in order that we may get a firm hold on the real life.'—1 Timothy 6:19.


Appeared in The Watchtower June 15, 2001

I dont wish to argue with anyone regarding my views. Gods word the bible is alive and if you have doubts about what is written here then take a close look at the scriptures and go look them up for yourselves. I hope you will take the time to really look at your bible and the scriptures listed and discover the wonderful promises that Jehovah God has in store for us, Mankind!

Will God Overlook
Our Weaknesses?

'I am not wicked! I have tried very hard to give up my bad ways, but I am just too weak!'


DO THESE sentiments echo the way you or someone you know feels? Many conclude that it is virtually impossible for ingrained moral weaknesses to be conquered. Some people are dependent on alcohol, tobacco, or drugs. Greed dominates the lives of many others. And there are those who have given in to sexual misconduct, alleging that they are hopelessly addicted to sex.

As indicated at Matthew 26:41, Jesus kindly expressed his understanding of human weaknesses.* In fact, the entire Bible record clearly establishes that both Jehovah God and Jesus are indeed merciful toward humans. (Psalm 103:8, 9) But can we expect God to ignore all our defects?

Moses and David
Consider the account of Moses. He was known as "by far the meekest of all the men who were upon the surface of the ground," and he strove to conserve that good quality. (Numbers 12:3) As the Israelites trekked through the wilderness, they often acted unreasonably and showed disrespect for God and his representatives. Through it all, Moses humbly looked for divine direction.—Numbers 16:12-14, 28-30.

Just as the long, tiring journey was ending, however, he lost his temper before the entire nation and disobeyed God's instructions. God forgave him, but did He overlook that incident? No. He told Moses: "Because you did not show faith in me . . . , you will not bring this congregation into the land that I shall certainly give them." Moses would not enter the Promised Land. After a 40-year struggle for that splendid privilege, a serious human failing caused him to lose out.—Numbers 20:7-12.

King David was another godly man with a weakness. On one occasion he gave in to passion and had sexual relations with another man's wife. He then attempted a cover-up by having her husband killed. (2 Samuel 11:2-27) Afterward, he deeply regretted his crimes, and God forgave him. But David had destroyed a family, and Jehovah did not shield him from the devastating calamities that followed. David's baby boy got very sick, and Jehovah did not intervene, despite David's prayers in behalf of his child. The boy died, and thence followed a string of tragedies in David's household. (2 Samuel 12:13-18; 18:33) David paid a very high price for yielding to moral weakness.

These examples show that God holds humans responsible for their conduct. Those who want to serve him must shore up weak areas in their spirituality and become better Christians. In the first century, many did that.

The Fight to Throw Off Sin
The apostle Paul is rightly considered a model of Christian living. But did you know that he had a constant fight against his weaknesses? Romans 7:18-25 vividly describes this conflict, or, according to verse 23, this "warring." Paul fought without letup, for he knew that sin is unrelenting.—1 Corinthians 9:26, 27.

Some members of the Christian congregation of ancient Corinth had formerly been habitual wrongdoers. The Bible says that they had been 'fornicators, adulterers, men who lie with men, thieves, greedy persons, drunkards.' But it also says that they were "washed clean." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) How? They were strengthened to stop their wicked practices by accurate knowledge, Christian association, and God's spirit. Eventually, they were declared righteous by God in Christ's name. Yes, God extended forgiveness, thus giving them a clean conscience.—Acts 2:38; 3:19.

Paul and the Christians of Corinth did not minimize their sinful tendencies. Instead, they battled them, and with God's help they triumphed. Those first-century worshipers became morally beautiful, despite their surroundings and imperfect inclinations. What about us?

God Expects Us to Fight Our Weaknesses
Battling a weakness may not result in eliminating it completely. While we need not surrender to our imperfection, we cannot destroy it. It spawns weaknesses that may be very persistent. Yet, we should not give in to our weaknesses. (Psalm 119:11) Why is this so important?


Because God does not allow imperfection to be a constant excuse for bad conduct. (Jude 4) Jehovah wants humans to clean up, to get their lives in good moral order. The Bible says: "Abhor what is wicked." (Romans 12:9) Why does God take such a strong stand?

One reason is that yielding to weakness is harmful. "Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap," says the Bible at Galatians 6:7. Those giving in to addictions, greed, and promiscuity often reap a terrible harvest in their lives. But there is a more important reason.

Sin offends God. It causes "division" between us and Jehovah. (Isaiah 59:2) Since those practicing sin cannot gain his favor, he exhorts such ones: "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; . . . cease to do bad."—Isaiah 1:16.

Our Creator is loving and merciful. "He does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) Constantly giving in to weakness hinders us from attaining God's favor. Since God does not ignore our weaknesses, neither should we

A Godly View of Life

CHAPTERS

Is This What God Purposed?
1.What Is the Truth About God?
2.The Bible—A Book From God
3.What Is God’s Purpose for the Earth?
4.Who Is Jesus Christ?
5.The Ransom—God’s Greatest Gift
6.Where Are the Dead?
7.Real Hope for Your Loved Ones Who Have Died
8.What Is God’s Kingdom?
9.Are We Living in “the Last Days”?
10.Spirit Creatures—How They Affect Us
11.Why Does God Allow Suffering?
12.Living in a Way That Pleases God
13.A Godly View of Life
14.How to Make Your Family Life Happy
15.Worship That God Approves
16.Take Your Stand for True Worship
17.Draw Close to God in Prayer
18.Baptism and Your Relationship With God
19.Remain in God’s Love
Appendix
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How does God view life?

How does God view abortion?

How do we show respect for life?

“JEHOVAH is in truth God,” said the prophet Jeremiah. “He is the living God.” (Jeremiah 10:10) Furthermore, Jehovah God is the Creator of all living things. Heavenly creatures said to him: “You created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) In a song of praise to God, King David said: “With you is the source of life.” (Psalm 36:9) Life, then, is a gift from God.

2 Jehovah also sustains our lives. (Acts 17:28) He provides the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the land we live on. (Acts 14:15-17) Jehovah has done this in a way that makes life enjoyable. But to enjoy life to the full, we need to learn God’s laws and obey them.—Isaiah 48:17, 18.

SHOWING RESPECT FOR LIFE
3 God wants us to have respect for life—both our own and that of others. Back in the days of Adam and Eve, for example, their son Cain became very angry with his younger brother Abel. Jehovah warned Cain that his anger could lead him to serious sin. Cain ignored that warning. He ‘assaulted Abel his brother and killed him.’ (Genesis 4:3- Jehovah punished Cain for murdering his brother.—Genesis 4:9-11.

4 Thousands of years later, Jehovah gave the people of Israel laws to help them to serve him acceptably. Because these laws were given through the prophet Moses, they are sometimes called the Mosaic Law. Part of the Mosaic Law said: “You must not murder.” (Deuteronomy 5:17) This showed the Israelites that God values human life and that people must value the lives of others.

5 What about the life of an unborn child? Well, according to the Mosaic Law, causing the death of a baby in its mother’s womb was wrong. Yes, even such a life is precious to Jehovah. (Exodus 21:22, 23; Psalm 127:3) This means that abortion is wrong.

6 Having respect for life includes having the right view of fellow humans. The Bible says: “Everyone who hates his brother is a manslayer, and you know that no manslayer has everlasting life remaining in him.” (1 John 3:15) If we want everlasting life, we need to root out of our heart any hatred for our fellowman, because hatred is the root cause of most violence. (1 John 3:11, 12) It is vital that we learn to love one another.

WE SHOW RESPECT FOR LIFE

■by not taking the life of an unborn child


■by giving up unclean habits


■by rooting out of our heart any hatred for our fellowman

7 What about showing respect for our own life? People normally do not want to die, but some risk death for the sake of pleasure. For example, many use tobacco, chew betel nut, or take drugs for recreational purposes. Such substances harm the body and often kill the users. A person who makes it a practice to use these substances does not view life as sacred. These practices are unclean in God’s eyes. (Romans 6:19; 12:1; 2 Corinthians 7:1) To serve God acceptably, we have to give up such practices. Although doing so might be very hard, Jehovah can give us the needed help. And he appreciates the effort we make to treat our life as a precious gift from him.

8 If we have respect for life, we will keep in mind the need to be safety conscious. We will not be careless and will not take risks just for pleasure or excitement. We will avoid reckless driving and violent or dangerous sports. (Psalm 11:5) God’s law for ancient Israel stated: “In case you build a new house [with a flat roof], you must also make a parapet [or, low wall] for your roof, that you may not place bloodguilt upon your house because someone falling might fall from it.” (Deuteronomy 22: In harmony with the principle set out in that law, keep such things as stairs in good condition in your home so that someone does not trip, fall, and get badly hurt. If you own a car, make sure that it is safe to drive. Do not let either your home or your car be a danger to you or to others.

9 What about the life of an animal? That too is sacred to the Creator. God permits the killing of animals to obtain food and clothing or to protect people from danger. (Genesis 3:21; 9:3; Exodus 21:28) However, being cruel to animals or killing them just for sport is wrong and shows utter disregard for the sacredness of life.—Proverbs 12:10.

The Trinity and the Church
The Trinity is not a teaching of Jesus or of the early Christians. As noted previously, it is “a teaching of the church.” In its 1999 issue on the Trinity, The Living Pulpit observed: “Sometimes, it seems that everyone assumes that the doctrine of the trinity is standard Christian theological fare,” but it added that it is not “a biblical idea.”

The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967) discusses the Trinity at length and admits: “The Trinitarian dogma is in the last analysis a late 4th-century invention. . . . The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.”

Martin Werner, as professor at the University of Bern, Switzerland, observed: “Wherever in the New Testament the relationship of Jesus to God, the Father, is brought into consideration, whether with reference to his appearance as a man or to his Messianic status, it is conceived of and represented categorically as subordination.” Clearly, what Jesus and the early Christians believed is far different from the Trinity teaching of churches today. From where, then, did this teaching come?

The Trinity’s Early Origins
The Bible tells of many gods and goddesses that people worshiped, including Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech. (1 Kings 11:1, 2, 5, 7) Even many people in the ancient nation of Israel once believed that Baal was the true God. So Jehovah’s prophet Elijah presented the challenge: “If Jehovah is the true God, go following him; but if Baal is, go following him.”—1 Kings 18:21.

The worship of pagan gods grouped in threes, or triads, was also common before Jesus was born. “From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity,” observed historian Will Durant. In the Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings wrote: “In Indian religion, e.g., we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahma, Siva, and Visnu; and in Egyptian religion with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.”

So there are many gods. Did early Christians acknowledge this? And did they view Jesus as Almighty God?

JESUS often prayed to God, whom he called Father, and he also taught others to do so. (Matthew 6:9-11; Luke 11:1, 2) In prayer with his apostles—only hours before his death—Jesus petitioned: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:1, 3.

Notice that Jesus prays to One whom he calls “the only true God.” He points to God’s superior position when he continues: “So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.” (John 17:5) Since Jesus prayed to God requesting to be alongside God, how could Jesus at the same time be “the only true God”? Let us examine this matter.

Jesus’ Position in Heaven
A few hours after this prayer, Jesus was executed. But he was not dead for long—only from Friday afternoon till Sunday morning. (Matthew 27:57–28:6) “This Jesus God resurrected,” the apostle Peter reports, “of which fact we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2:31, 32) Could Jesus have resurrected himself? No, according to the Bible, the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) “The only true God,” Jesus’ heavenly Father, resurrected his Son.—Acts 2:32; 10:40.

A short time afterward, Jesus’ disciple Stephen was killed by religious persecutors. As they were about to stone him, Stephen was granted a vision. He stated: “Look! I behold the heavens opened up and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand.” (Acts 7:56) Jesus, “the Son of man,” was thus seen by Stephen in a role supportive to God in heaven—“at God’s right hand”—even as he had been ‘alongside God’ before he came to earth.—John 17:5.

Later, after Stephen’s execution, Jesus made a miraculous appearance to Saul, better known by his Roman name, Paul. (Acts 9:3-6) When Paul was in Athens, Greece, he spoke of “the God that made the world and all the things in it.” He said that this God, the “only true God,” will “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.” (Acts 17:24, 31) Here the apostle Paul described Jesus as “a man”—yes, lesser than God—whom God had restored to life in heaven.

The apostle John too described Jesus as subordinate to God. John said that he had written his Gospel so that readers might come to believe that “Jesus is the Christ the Son of God”—not that he was God. (John 20:31) John also received a heavenly vision in which he saw “the Lamb,” who in his Gospel is identified as Jesus. (John 1:29) The Lamb is standing with 144,000 others, who John says “have been bought [or resurrected] from the earth.” John explains that the 144,000 have the Lamb’s “name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.”—Revelation 14:1, 3.

Could “the Lamb” be the same as “his Father”? Clearly not. In the Bible they are distinct. They even have different names.

Name of the Lamb and of the Father
As we have just seen, the name given to God’s Son, the Lamb, is Jesus. (Luke 1:30-32) What about his Father’s name? It appears in the Bible thousands of times. For example, Psalm 83:18 says: “You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” Sadly, God’s name, Jehovah, has been replaced in many Bible translations by the terms “LORD” and “GOD,” often spelled in all capital letters. The capitals are supposed to distinguish Jehovah from others called gods or lords.* Yet, in many Bible translations, the Divine Name has been restored to its rightful place.

The English-language American Standard Version (1901) is a notable example of a Bible translation that has restored God’s name, Jehovah, to its rightful place. Its preface observes: “The American Revisers, after a careful consideration, were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament, as it fortunately does not in the numerous versions made by modern missionaries.”


EGYPT
Triad of Horus, Osiris, and Isis, second millennium B.C.E.


PALMYRA, SYRIA
Triad of moon god, Lord of Heavens, and sun god, c. first century C.E.


INDIA
Triune Hindu godhead, c. seventh century C.E.


NORWAY
Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), c. 13th century C.E.
The Trinity—Whose Teaching?
What, then, about the teaching that Jehovah and Jesus are, in effect, the same God, as the Trinity doctrine proclaims? In its issue of April-June 1999, The Living Pulpit magazine defined the Trinity this way: “There is one God and Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit, three ‘persons’ . . . who are the same or one in essence . . . ; three persons equally God, possessing the same natural properties, yet really distinct, known by their personal characteristics.”#

Where did this complex Trinity teaching originate? The Christian Century, in its May 20-27, 1998, issue, quotes a pastor who acknowledges that the Trinity is “a teaching of the church rather than a teaching of Jesus.” Even though the Trinity is not a teaching of Jesus, is it consistent with what he taught?

The Father—Superior to the Son
Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Our heavenly Father, whose name is Jehovah, is described in the Bible as being superior to his Son. For example, Jehovah is “from everlasting to everlasting.” But the Bible says that Jesus is “the firstborn of every creature.” That Jehovah is greater than Jesus, Jesus himself taught when he said: “My Father is greater than I.” (Matthew 6:9; Psalm 90:1, 2; Colossians 1:15; John 14:28, King James Version) Yet, the Trinity doctrine holds that the Father and the Son are “equally God.”

The Father’s superiority over the Son, as well as the fact that the Father is a separate person, is highlighted also in the prayers of Jesus, such as the one before his execution: “Father, if you wish, remove this cup [that is, an ignominious death] from me. Nevertheless, let, not my will, but yours take place.” (Luke 22:42) If God and Jesus are “one in essence,” as the Trinity doctrine says, how could Jesus’ will, or wish, seem different from that of his Father?—Hebrews 5:7, 8; 9:24.

Furthermore, if Jehovah and Jesus were the same, how could one of them be aware of things of which the other was not? Jesus, for instance, said regarding the time of the world’s judgment: “Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father.”—Mark 13:32.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES believe in Almighty God, Jehovah, Creator of the heavens and the earth. The very existence of the intricately designed wonders in the universe surrounding us reasonably argues that a supremely intelligent and powerful Creator produced it all. Just as the works of men and women reflect their qualities, so do those of Jehovah God. The Bible tells us that "his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world's creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made." Also, without voice or words, "the heavens are declaring the glory of God."—Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1-4.

People do not mold clay pots or make television sets and computers without a purpose. The earth and its creations of plant and animal life are far more marvelous. The structure of the human body with its trillions of cells is beyond our understanding—even the brain with which we think is incomprehensibly wonderful! If men have a purpose in bringing forth their comparatively insignificant inventions, surely Jehovah God had a purpose in his awesome creations! Proverbs 16:4 says that he does: "Everything Jehovah has made for his purpose."




Jehovah made the earth for a purpose, as he stated to the first human pair: "Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth . . . , 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." (Genesis 1:28) Because they became disobedient, this couple failed to fill the earth with righteous families who would lovingly care for the earth and its plants and animals. But their failure does not make Jehovah's purpose fail. Thousands of years later, it was written: "God, the Former of the earth . . . , did not create it simply for nothing." He "formed it even to be inhabited." It is not to be destroyed, but "the earth endures for ever." (Isaiah 45:18; Ecclesiastes 1:4, The New English Bible) Jehovah's purpose for the earth will be realized: "My own counsel will stand, and everything that is my delight I shall do."—Isaiah 46:10.


Hence, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the earth will remain forever and that all people, living and dead, who will fit in with Jehovah's purpose for a beautified, inhabited earth may live on it forever. All mankind inherited imperfection from Adam and Eve and, hence, are sinners. (Romans 5:12) The Bible tells us: "The wages sin pays is death." "The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all." "The soul that is sinning—it itself will die." (Romans 6:23; Ecclesiastes 9:5; Ezekiel 18:4, 20) Then how can they live again to share in the earthly blessings? Only through the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus, for he said: "I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life." "All those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out."—John 5:28, 29; 11:25; Matthew 20:28.

How will this come about? It is explained in "the good news of the kingdom," which Jesus started to proclaim while on earth. (Matthew 4:17-23) But today Jehovah's Witnesses are preaching the good news in a very special way.

WHAT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BELIEVE Belief Scriptural Reason
Bible is God's Word and is truth 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; 2 Pet. 1:20, 21; John 17:17
Bible is more reliable than tradition Matt. 15:3; Col. 2:8
God's name is Jehovah Ps. 83:18; Isa. 26:4; 42:8, AS; Ex. 6:3
Christ is God's Son and is inferior to Him Matt. 3:17; John 8:42; 14:28; 20:17; 1 Cor. 11:3; 15:28
Christ was first of God's creations Col. 1:15; Rev. 3:14
Christ died on a stake, not a cross Gal. 3:13; Acts 5:30
Christ's human life was paid as a ransom for obedient humans Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; 1 Pet. 2:24
Christ's one sacrifice was sufficient Rom. 6:10; Heb. 9:25-28
Christ was raised from the dead as an immortal spirit person 1 Pet. 3:18; Rom. 6:9; Rev. 1:17, 18
Christ's presence is in spirit John 14:19; Matt. 24:3; 2 Cor. 5:16; Ps. 110:1, 2
We are now in the 'time of the end' Matt. 24:3-14; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Luke 17:26-30
Kingdom under Christ will rule earth in righteousness and peace Isa. 9:6, 7; 11:1-5; Dan. 7:13, 14; Matt. 6:10
Kingdom will bring ideal living conditions to earth Ps. 72:1-4; Rev. 7:9, 10, 13-17; 21:3, 4
Earth will never be destroyed or depopulated Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 45:18; Ps. 78:69
God will eliminate present system of things in the battle at Har-Magedon Rev. 16:14, 16; Zeph. 3:8; Dan. 2:44; Isa. 34:2; 55:10, 11
Wicked will be eternally destroyed Matt. 25:41-46; 2 Thess. 1:6-9
People God approves will receive everlasting life John 3:16; 10:27, 28; 17:3; Mark 10:29, 30
There is only one road to life Matt. 7:13, 14; Eph. 4:4, 5
Human death is due to Adam's sin Rom. 5:12; 6:23
The human soul ceases to exist at death Ezek. 18:4; Eccl. 9:10; Ps. 6:5; 146:4; John 11:11-14
Hell is mankind's common grave Job 14:13, Dy; Rev. 20:13, 14, AV (margin)
Hope for dead is resurrection 1 Cor. 15:20-22; John 5:28, 29; 11:25, 26
Adamic death will cease 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 21:4; Isa. 25:8
Only a little flock of 144,000 go to heaven and rule with Christ Luke 12:32; Rev. 14:1, 3; 1 Cor. 15:40-53; Rev. 5:9, 10
The 144,000 are born again as spiritual sons of God 1 Pet. 1:23; John 3:3; Rev. 7:3, 4
New covenant is made with spiritual Israel Jer. 31:31; Heb. 8:10-13
Christ's congregation is built upon himself Eph. 2:20; Isa. 28:16; Matt. 21:42
Prayers are to be directed only to Jehovah through Christ John 14:6, 13, 14; 1 Tim. 2:5
Images should not be used in worship Ex. 20:4, 5; Lev. 26:1; 1 Cor. 10:14; Ps. 115:4-8
Spiritism must be shunned Deut. 18:10-12; Gal. 5:19-21; Lev. 19:31
Satan is invisible ruler of world 1 John 5:19; 2 Cor. 4:4; John 12:31
A Christian ought to have no part in interfaith movements 2 Cor. 6:14-17; 11:13-15; Gal. 5:9; Deut. 7:1-5
A Christian should keep separate from world Jas. 4:4; 1 John 2:15; John 15:19; 17:16
Obey human laws that do not conflict with God's laws Matt. 22:20, 21; 1 Pet. 2:12; 4:15
Taking blood into body through mouth or veins violates God's laws Gen. 9:3, 4; Lev. 17:14; Acts 15:28, 29
Bible's laws on morals must be obeyed 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; Heb. 13:4; 1 Tim. 3:2; Prov. 5:1-23
Sabbath observance was given only to Israel and ended with Mosaic Law Deut. 5:15; Ex. 31:13; Rom. 10:4; Gal. 4:9, 10; Col. 2:16, 17
A clergy class and special titles are improper Matt. 23:8-12; 20:25-27; Job 32:21, 22
Man did not evolve but was created Isa. 45:12; Gen. 1:27; Matt. 19:4
Christ set example that must be followed in serving God 1 Pet. 2:21; Heb. 10:7; John 4:34; 6:38
Baptism by complete immersion symbolizes dedication Mark 1:9, 10; John 3:23; Acts 19:4, 5
Christians gladly give public testimony to Scriptural truth Rom. 10:10; Heb. 13:15; Isa. 43:10-12

Published in 2000

“I AM not afraid of dying,” said an elderly woman in Japan. “But it distresses me that I will have to part from these flowers.” A Christian minister visiting her home understood the remark, for the woman had a beautiful garden. Many who say that they have no fear of dying really appreciate the wonders of creation and may actually long to live forever.

Living forever? Many would brush aside such a thought. Some may even say that they have no interest in living forever. Why would anyone feel that way?

Everlasting Life—Boring?Some think that it would be boring to live forever. They may point out the monotonous life of many retired people who have little to do but sit and stare at the television screen. If that is how you feel, consider what astronomer Robert Jastrow said when asked if everlasting life would be a blessing or a curse. Jastrow replied: “It would be a blessing to those who have curious minds and an endless appetite for learning. The thought that they have forever to absorb knowledge would be very comforting for them. But for others who feel they have learned all there is to learn and whose minds are closed, it would be a dreadful curse. They’d have no way to fill their time.”

Whether you would find everlasting life boring or not depends much on your attitude. If you have ‘a curious mind and an endless appetite for learning,’ think of what you could accomplish in the fields of art, music, architecture, gardening, or whatever worthy pursuits interest you. Eternal life on earth would provide wonderful prospects for developing your potential in various fields of endeavor.

Being able to show and experience love forever would make eternal life satisfying indeed. We are created with the capacity for showing love, and we thrive when we feel loved. Sharing real love brings deep satisfaction that does not fade with the passing of time. Living forever would offer an endless opportunity to cultivate love not only for fellow humans but especially for God. “If anyone loves God,” said the apostle Paul, “this one is known by him.” (1 Corinthians 8:3) What a wonderful prospect—to know and to be known by the Sovereign of the universe! Furthermore, there is no end to learning about our loving Creator. How, then, could everlasting life be boring and unrewarding?

Life—Transient and PreciousSome feel that the shortness of life is what makes it so precious. They may compare life to gold, which exists only in limited amounts. If gold could be found everywhere, they point out, its value would be diminished. Nevertheless, gold would still be beautiful. Surely the same is true of life.

We might compare enjoying eternal life to having an abundance of air. Sailors in a malfunctioning submarine would consider air to be especially valuable. After they were rescued, do you think they would unappreciatively complain about again enjoying air in abundance? Surely not!

Like such sailors, we can be rescued but with the even greater prospect of everlasting life. “The wages sin pays is death,” wrote the apostle Paul, “but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Through Jesus’ ransom sacrifice, God will remove human imperfection and death and will bestow upon obedient mankind the gift of everlasting life. How grateful we should be for such a loving arrangement!

What About Your Loved Ones?Some individuals may think: ‘What about my loved ones? Life eternal on earth would not mean much to me if they were not with me.’ Perhaps you have taken in knowledge of the Bible and have learned about the possibility of enjoying everlasting life in an earthly paradise. (Luke 23:43; John 3:16; 17:3) Naturally, you want members of your immediate family, other loved ones, and cherished friends to be there, experiencing the same joys that you hope to experience in God’s promised new world of righteousness.—2 Peter 3:13.

But what if your friends and loved ones are showing no interest in living forever on a paradise earth? Do not let that discourage you. Continue to take in accurate Scriptural knowledge, and act in harmony with it. The apostle Paul wrote: “How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?” (1 Corinthians 7:16, Today’s English Version) People can change. For example, one man who once opposed Christianity changed and later became an elder in the Christian congregation. He says: “I am so grateful that my little family loyally stood by their Bible principles through all my opposition.”

God is very concerned about your life and the lives of your loved ones. Indeed, “Jehovah . . . does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Jehovah God wants you and your loved ones to live forever. His love is greater than that of imperfect humans. (Isaiah 49:15) So why not cultivate a good relationship with God? Then you may be able to help your loved ones to do the same. Even if they do not now have the hope of living forever, their attitude may change when they see you act in harmony with accurate knowledge of the Bible.

What about the dear ones you may have lost in death? For millions who have died, the Bible holds out the wonderful hope of a resurrection—of awakening from death and living in Paradise on earth. Jesus Christ promised: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will . . . come out.” (John 5:28, 29) Even those who have died without knowing God will be brought back to life, for the Bible states: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) What a delight it will be to welcome such ones back to life!

Eternal Life—A Joyful ProspectIf you can find happiness and contentment now despite all the troubles in this world, you will surely be able to enjoy eternal life on a paradise earth. When one of Jehovah’s Witnesses pointed out the blessings that everlasting life would bring, however, one woman said: “I don’t want to live forever. This life of 70 or 80 years is enough for me.” A Christian elder who happened to be present asked her: “Have you ever thought about how your children would feel if you died?” Tears ran down her cheeks when she thought about the grief they would experience at the loss of their mother. “For the first time, I realized how selfish I had been,” she admits, “and I could see that everlasting life is not a selfish hope but that it involves living for others.”

Love for God and neighbor will make living forever worthwhile


Some may feel that it does not matter to anyone whether they live or they die. Yet, it does matter to our Life-Giver, who says: “As I am alive, . . . I take delight, not in the death of the wicked one, but in that someone wicked turns back from his way and actually keeps living.” (Ezekiel 33:11) Since God is that concerned about the life of even the wicked, surely he cares deeply for those who love him.

King David of ancient Israel had confidence in Jehovah’s loving care. David once said: “In case my own father and my own mother did leave me, even Jehovah himself would take me up.” (Psalm 27:10) David was likely sure of his parents’ love for him. But even if his parents—his closest human contacts—were to leave him, he knew that God would not desert him. Out of love and concern, Jehovah offers us everlasting life and unending friendship with him. (James 2:23) Should we not gratefully accept these wonderful gifts?

If interested in learning more visit www.watchtower.org

I once read a story about a ugly duckling that turned into a swan. I think that with a good hair stylist, and the propper fitted clothing the girl would look just fine. But what can you do to fix a cruel personality and a mean spirit? @ poster, I think that should be the question you pose to yourself!

The one with two hands who is available first!

"i was in Toronto and i swa nam a lot of the Nigeria man are married to these bootylicious Southern African man,"

When I was in San Fransisco California I saw alot of men married to alot of bootylicious men. Now as far as Nigerian men being married to bootylicious men, I cannot speak on that becuase I thought it was rare for Nigerians to swing that way  I guess you have to go to Toronto to see that sort of thing?   

TuPac gone terribly wrong!!!!!