Bible Question:
I have been discussing the bible with a very nice Jehovah's witness woman. I care about her salvation. I have read a few books about the witnesses so I have a basic understanding of the differences in our bible interpretation. However she posses questions to me that are derived from such a strange interpretation that I feel quite overwhelmed. Sometimes I feel that were making progress only to take two steps back. Currently we are discussing; the covenant, who goes to heaven, the new heaven and new earth. She believes that only the apostles who took the first communion with Christ and a few select others are in the new covenant, and they are the only ones going to heaven. To rationalize this belief she says, "the ones going to heaven will be rulers and whom shall they be ruling over if everyone goes to heaven?" If anyone has any advise on how to approach this I would appreciate it so much. I know this is a spiritual battle,I covet your prayers. Blessings, Jen |
Bible Answer: Hi Jen and welcome to the forum. The question of who will the saints of heaven rule over is a very difficult question to answer. I have asked it myself in this forum in relation to the Book of Revelation. The responses I got were less that helpful, but that is another story. Evidently there will be natural people living on the New Earth, around the New Jerusalem. People that did not die in Christ nor were raptured. Who they are, I can only guess. They can be people that were not killed in the tribulation and who did not take the mark of the beast. However this seems unlikely to me and raises another question. Where are they while God creates a new heaven and new earth? Another answer may be that God recreates Earth and repopulates it with people without the sin nature. In any case the answer is not forth coming from the Bible. Therefore neither I nor the JW should make a doctrine or a teaching about it. This is one of the things that JW do, they provide answers to some of the unanswered questions of the Bible. Unfortunately they do it in man’s wisdom rather than God’s wisdom and it does not stand up to the truth. This case is a good example there in nothing in the Bible spoken, implied or other wised hinted at that supports their position. The reason we don’t know the answer may be because God doesn’t want us to. Revelation 10:4 clearly shows us there was information John was given but was ordered not to reveal it. I can appreciate your efforts in dealing with this women but bear in mind she is being taught each week how to respond to you. She has had intensive training, learning the seemingly unanswered questions within the Bible and learning how to present them to a unsuspecting Christian. Do not let her cause you to question your faith. I pray and I ask you to pray that the Holy Spirit will protect you from any of the Jehovah Witness deception. Blessings to you Ed |