The idea of a “Spiritual Paradise” as expounded by the Watchtower is by no means a declaration that Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually living in a predator-free environment. This condition is yet future and will exist under Christ’s Kingdom. --Isaiah 11:6-9; 35:8-10; Revelation 21:3-4.
So what exactly do Jehovah Witnesses mean by “spiritual paradise?” It simply means that to the extent that people study God’s Word and apply its counsel, they would “taste and see that Jehovah is good.” Psalm 34 seems to confirm this concept.
This Psalm, as in many others, indicates the good effect that God’s Word can have on people’s lives, a theme that is pervasive throughout the Scriptures. So it is not at all a farfetched idea for Jehovah's Witnesses to claim that they are living in a spiritual paradise, as we daily strive to put the Bible’s message into practical use as a congregation, although we may fail individually from time to time in upholding God’s righteous requirements…
…Although e-watchman has made a good case against the Watchtower's 1914 dogma and apparent misapplication of prophecies surrounding that date, is it really truthful, as determined by e-watchman, that the Watchtower’s position of spiritual paradise is also part of an “operation of error?”
The Watchtower actually does claim that Jehovah’s Witnesses reside in a predator-free spiritual paradise. The October 15th, 2004, Watchtower makes that very claim. Here is an excerpt from that publication:
“Think, too, of the changes in traits as sincere ones of all backgrounds have striven to understand and apply God’s Word. Basically, they have worked to put away animalistic traits that used to characterize them. Perhaps you have done that with significant results, and so have your spiritual brothers and sisters. (Colossians 3:8-14) Hence, as you associate with a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, you are with people who have become more peaceable and pleasant. No, they are not yet perfect, but they could hardly be described as ferocious lions or rapacious wild beasts. (Isaiah 35:9) What does this pacific spiritual fellowship indicate? Clearly, we enjoy a spiritual condition that we rightly call a spiritual paradise."
The paragraph above cites Isaiah 35:9 and asserts that the prophecy has been fulfilled since 1914. That verse reads:
“And there will certainly come to be a highway there, even a way; and the Way of Holiness it will be called. The unclean one will not pass over it. And it will be for the one walking on the way, and no foolish ones will wander about on it. No lion will prove to be there, and the rapacious sort of wild beasts will not come up on it. None will be found there; and the repurchased ones must walk there. And the very ones redeemed by Jehovah will return and certainly come to Zion with a joyful cry; and rejoicing to time indefinite will be upon their head. To exultation and rejoicing they will attain, and grief and sighing must flee away.”
While it is true that many people within Jehovah’s Witnesses have made radical personality transformations; that in itself is not what constitutes spiritual paradise. The condition foretold in Isaiah is characterized by the complete absence of immoral and predatory persons of all types. Unless, of course, we accuse God of lying when he promises that none of those sorts of persons will be found among the repurchased ones on the highway of holiness, it has to be admitted that as fine a many of Jehovah’s Witnesses are, there are many more who are not.
E-watchman has not been untruthful in this regard. The Watchtower has been. They are fully aware of the fact that tens of thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses are disfellowshipped every year for practicing all sorts of uncleanness. Jehovah says that no unclean person will travel on the symbolic highway of holiness. Otherwise, how could it be considered holy?
Countless young people live double lives and are never found out. Isn't that foolish? Jehovah says that no foolish person will wander about on the highway of holiness.
And thousands of children have been sexually abused by Jehovah’s Witnesses, while many of the abusers are shielded from being exposed by the Society’s child abuse policies and continue to lurk within congregations. Jehovah says that no ferocious beast will menace his redeemed ones. Yet, the Watchtower insists that none of Jehovah’s Witnesses can be described as rapacious wild beasts. What a lie that is!
Clearly, the Watchtower's spiritual paradise is a fraud. The increasing of lawlessness soon to overtake the organization will show that to be the case beyond any further denials.
For a fuller discussion of the Society’s faux spiritual paradise see the commentary What is Spiritual Paradise?
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Our “Spiritual Paradise”—Is It Real Or Is It A Delusion?
ReplyDeleteIt is a given fact that since its inception as an organized religious body, the Watchtower has infused the belief in the mind of its adherents that the catastrophic end of the world is imminent, as the nations symbolically marched toward the place known in Hebrew as HAR-MAGEDON. While the much publicized information about this subject has awakened and fortified the faith of many, it has not been without some casualties among many others. How so?
To shed some light on the matter, it would be a good idea to look back in time at the point where Yahweh working trough Moses sent ten plagues upon Egypt preliminary to their being delivered from their Egyptian captors. Not only did Jehovah defeat Egypt’s false gods, but much fear was instilled into the people’s mind, both Egyptians and Israelites, concerning this God who has no rival. Indeed it must have been an awesome spectacle when Jehovah finally dragged the stubborn pharaoh and his army to their death in the Red Sea, as a retribution for their defiance of his overwhelming superiority.
With Israel and the vast mixed company now camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Jehovah now entered into a covenant relationship with the sons of Israel, forming them into a nation. In the process, it is interesting to note the people’s reaction as God made his presence felt on the mount in a fiery display of might and power. The Scripture reported that the people were in such fear that they called out for Moses to intercede on their behalf for fear that Jehovah does not break out upon them. But Moses later explained the purpose of such fear as being salutary as shown in Exodus 20:20:
“Do not be afraid,” he tells them, “because for the sake of putting YOU to the test the [true] God has come, and in order that the fear of him may continue before YOUR faces that YOU may not sin.”
So it is that fear is very much a factor in our service to Jehovah, but such fear must be salutary or beneficial to the holder of such fear. Otherwise, it can meet up with dread upon the execution of judgment on the individual whose fear of God was counterproductive.
Such was the case with the stubborn Pharaoh, who was in fear when undergoing the effects of the plagues; nevertheless, he became obstinate in the interval of each plague, except for the last one that took the lives of all of Egypt’s firstborn. Finally he relented, freeing the Israelites. But in reality he just held out a little longer in his obsession, since afterward he went in hot pursuit after the Israelites and the vast mixed company that also sought out their freedom.
But what does this have to do with us today? The message of the Watchtower regarding the imminent end of this system of things may have been impetuous, in that it has elicited an incorrect response in the mind and heart of many individuals to their own detriment and their families. How so?
Take the area of education for example. The Witnesses are encouraged to learn a trade so as to be able to support themselves and their families. However, higher education is discouraged; the reason being that Colleges and Universities are breeding ground for immorality and we want to decrease the risk of our children getting into mischief.
Since the same situation exists in our public schools, it goes without saying that we’ll be hearing talks about discouraging our kids from attending public schools; albeit we won’t be hearing such talks, but only so as to typify our being inflicted with some type of delusion. Furthermore, we just want to make time for spiritual goals.
Speaking of our spirituality, it is not unlikely that an elder would advise a fellow witness to change employment, if such secular work interferes with theocratic activities. Among such aspirations are regular meeting attendances, which are viewed as essential for spiritual progress; and there lies the crux of the problem.
When such individual does not want to change employment or find that it is ill-advised to do so and as a result he is unable to attend all the meetings, he may be viewed as someone not making progress and being marked as such. Subsequently, this can have negative connotations as to how others view him in the congregation. This type of situation creates a subtle type of paranoia among witnesses, which I have been able to observe inflicts our methodology, resulting in the stumbling of many otherwise interested Bible students.
Contrasting this with our salutary fear, a paranoid delusion is apt to give rise to mistrust and suspicion. How far that can go, is left to each individual struggling within the group to maintain their sanity, good sense or judgment. Thus, we can see why so many among us have recoiled into our own little comfort zone so-to-speak, which in a way has become sacrosanct.
This delusion may have very well given rise to our teaching of being in a “spiritual paradise” and our tenaciously hanging to the notion that the “evil slave” has already been dismissed from God’s household; that Christ has already established the “faithful slave” over all his belongings; and our continuing to bury our heads in the sand regarding Christ’s presence having begun in 1914, while the evidence continues to mount against all such teachings.
In Mathew Chapter 13 after Christ finished his illustration of the “sower,” whose seeds fell on different soil or heart conditions, he went on to mention further down in verse 25, that the sower’s enemy “came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat.” This condition of a wheat field having been sown with weeds precludes the formation of a spiritual paradise.
To illustrate, it was on account of Adam’s sin that the earth begin to produce “thorns and thistles.” No such condition existed prior to the rebellion in Eden. So how can we have a spiritual paradise and not have the physical characteristics as well that would indicate that such is our present condition? The same moral conditions that are endemic to the world are present in our midst as well.
Although we are aware of the benefits of living morally upright lives, we are nonetheless at times pathetic failures. Instead of being like the proud Pharisee who thought highly of himself and his accomplishments, we should be like the humble tax collector whom Jesus mentioned favorably in this illustration recorded in Luke Chapter 18. With this attitude of humility foremost in our mind, how can we ever become stumbling blocks for our brothers?
The danger exist that if we do not heed Christ’s counsel to love one another, we risk being infected with a powerful venom-like poison and fall like the Israelites who fell in the desert by being bitten by real live snakes. Do we see this happening now in a spiritual sense? If you do, that is a strong evidence that we are not privy to any kind of a spiritual paradise.
Like the Bible says if we do not have love, we are nothing. Our paranoid delusion is a result of our misguided fear in men, a misplacement of the salutary or reverential fear that rightfully belongs to God.
CG