The Foundation of Sand Part 2





As I set out in part one of this blog Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs are based on a foundation of three premises which are;

1. This life is not all there is.  God offers everyone the chance of everlasting life in a paradise earth where sickness and death are things of the past.

 2. God promises a resurrection of dead loved ones. 

3. To receive 1 and 2 a person needs to join Jehovah's Witnesses.

Once a person accepts these three premises all of the organisations other beliefs and claims become easy to swallow.  Often the first 'hook' JW's use to prick a potential converts curiosity is to introduce them to Gods name.  Most people are unaware that God has an actual name and when the Witnesses show them the name 'Jehovah' from the bible and then point out that they are the only religion that bears the name of God, a lot of people are surprised and even impressed.  Witnesses then point out the lack of Gods name in most bible translations but how their own bible uses it thousands of times.

What they don't reveal is the name Jehovah is a guess at Gods name and very likely to be wrong. The original Hebrew did not have written vowels and so only the consonants are known which are YHWH (the Tetragrammaton).  What we do have is the ancient Greek rendering of the name which included vowels in the form of Yahweh.  Most bible scholars believe this is the more likely rendering of the name.  However, for a potential convert this explanation would not be quite so appealing.

(In the interests of fairness it has to be pointed out that JW's are not the only religion to use the name Jehovah.)

Once they have gained credibility with their revelation of Gods name they claim that they have 'a wonderful hope for the future' which is everlasting life in paradise on earth.  To back this up they use a host of texts from the Old Testament as descriptions of this 'new world' and a couple of vague mentions of paradise by Jesus in the New Testament.  Using scriptures that describe the meek inheriting the earth and wild predators living peacefully with children and lambs and then linking them with the line in the Lords prayer; '...Let thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven' is tenuous at best.  Of course they also use Jesus words to the evildoer who died alongside him; 'I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.'

The JW.ORG website argues quite convincingly that the paradise Jesus was referring to could not have been heaven (the man was not dedicated to God, nor did he live a moral life etc) and the final paragraph reads as follows;

'Into what Paradise, then, was the evildoer to enter? After resurrection, he will be in the earthly Paradise, over which Jesus will rule.  To learn more about that Paradise and God’s requirements, speak to any one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.'

This is an interesting statement because they don't point to any scripture where Jesus describes paradise in the terms that Jehovahs Witnesses portray it.  Rather they tell the reader to ask a Jehovahs Witness.  WHY? Since this is supposed to be a central promise from God why did Jesus not elaborate on the wonderful conditions in this 'new world'?  

If this was the grand plan Jesus would have spoken about it right throughout his ministry and yet he doesn't - not even once.  They have to use isolated texts from the old testament and the Apostle Paul's interpreted dreams in Revelations - which again falls well short of any real detail about the earthly paradise.

Some people swallow it though - whether through a desperate need to believe something better is attainable or because it's been drilled into their minds every day of their life by their parents and friends.

Once those three premises are established it is easy for the organisation to introduce punishments for disloyalty that will endanger a person from experiencing both 1 and 2.

Once loyalty has been established the organisation has control and everything they say will be accepted as coming from God.

Yet the foundation is sand.  Their concept of an earthly paradise is not backed by Jesus teachings. Their credibility is damaged when they claim the rights to Gods name because they don't even know if that is the right name - and they even accept that fact in their literature - if you are prepared to look closely enough.

Once the foundation is removed everything else that they teach and promote crumbles to dust, which is why they have to keep changing their 'thoughts' on their teachings.  


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