Thanks for your point of view. I understand the Bible is a whole, for sure. But things really did change after Christ's arrival on Earth; the Law was no longer needed and the hope he gave to his disciples was extended to the others in different nations. So while it's a whole thought, it doesn't mean there was a big change when there was a big fulfilment. But if you prefer not to call the Greek scriptures the NT, that's fine, I'll refer to them as the Greek scriptures in this post so that we are on the same page.
We definitely agree the Bible clearly states many will reside on the Earth. I'm trying to have an open mind while I read the scriptures though. The scripture I quoted does say that those who died in union with him and those who are faithful on the Earth that remain, will be resurrected or taken up respectively, to be with the Lord forever. If that implies millions, I don't see why that's a problem personally. There are
myriads of angels. That's a lot. But somehow, they must all have a fulfilling job to do! So I don't see why, surely, millions or even billions or even myriads of other ones couldn't have a place given to them by God... It reminds me of John 14:3 where Jesus says he will go and "prepare a place for you." There are
many rooms in his Father's house, he says. It's a nice thought to me now, a really beautiful one...
I think maybe, at the heart of it... where we differ... is where you say, "Jesus was speaking to a relatively small number of humans who were the beginning of the 144 000"... This is where I begin to diverge from your line of thought, I think. As soon as we start to think, Jesus was only talking to
those people, I think what naturally follows is the thought that, "This is not written for ME." May I ask you if you think that the Greek Scriptures were
primarily written for those that are considering themselves anointed?
If the group that is anointed is so small, Jesus is in effect, not speaking to the rest of everyone else; he's only speaking to small group of people who would have to stand in between us and him because they must have a much deeper insight. But I've come to the conclusion that I don't think that can be so. Or else, this is how we get into the mess we are in currently (in my own humble opinion), with sects and frustrations over the Governing Body giving problematic information that people agree with, or even act on, without much thought or meditation (not saying you personally did that, but I know I did in times past). So now when I read, I don't think, "Well here Jesus is just speaking to anointed ones and it's not really something that applies to me." I see this as application to the
readers themselves. And, indeed, Revelation confirms that to me lately because it repeatedly says, "Let the
reader have discernment." Not, let the
anointed have discernment and then explain it to you. Not, let the
Governing Body have discernment and explain it to you. Not even let Robert King have discernment and explain it to you. It's about each individual.
The scriptures, I believe now, were written for all of us individually, but it's up to us how much we spend in time to understand; and that we shouldn't just leave it up to others to explain everything to us (although, of course, this sort of dialogue and sharpening iron against iron is a very different thing and also a right thing to do, so thank you for engaging
)...
I'd like to ask you why you think the 144 000 is a set literal number? So far from what I can tell, I'm very unsure about that now. The scriptures that immediately follow one description of the 144 000 says that there are 12 000 coming from each tribe, which logically sounds to me like that would
also have to be literal, since it's part of the same thought. But I don't understand how that could be literal. So it would have to be symbolic, which means the 144 000 would also be symbolic? Let me know what you think, if you do so wish.