Saturday, April 27 2024 Imagining Paradise

[PJ54]

​

Saturday, April 27 2024​

I came to call, not righteous people, but sinners.—Matt. 9:13.

We should strive to let go of guilt that we may feel because of serious sins committed in the past. Of course, we would never consider the ransom sacrifice to be an excuse to “practice sin willfully.” (Heb. 10:26-31) But we can rest assured that if we truly have repented of a serious sin, have sought the help Jehovah provides, and have changed our conduct, he has forgiven us in a large way. (Isa. 55:7; Acts 3:19) The ransom sacrifice is powerful enough to cover all our sins and will make life in Paradise possible. Life there will never be boring. We will always have interesting people to meet and meaningful work to do. Best of all, each day we will be able to come to know our heavenly Father better and enjoy what he has provided. We will never run out of things to learn about him, and there will be so much to learn about his creation. w22.12 13 ¶17, 19
Examining the Scriptures Daily—2024​

Imagining Paradise

It is not uncommon for persons to suppose that living forever in paradise would be boring. This is an edited reprint of a previous Mailbag question from the week of April 20th, 2003, discussing the topic. I feel really depressed and mixed up because I have this feeling that

e-watchman.com

https://soundcloud.com/e-watchman%2Fimagining-paradise

It is not uncommon for persons to suppose that living forever in paradise would be boring. This is an edited reprint of a previous Mailbag question from the week of April 20th, 2003, discussing the topic.

I feel really depressed and mixed up because I have this feeling that maybe the New World after Armageddon will not live up to expectations. I know it’s just because I could not imagine everlasting life in this system without getting bored or tired of it. I know we are told that we will be happy, but I need some form of reassurance. Please help.

Okay. Let’s do a little exercise here, just for fun. While you are on the computer, open up your word processor and start a document called: “Things I would like to do.” Now, start listing all the things you would like to do. Be as imaginative as you want, but be realistic. This is your wish list for this system.
To start you off, maybe you would like to go to the movies with some friends today and then go out for some pizza afterwards. Okay then, write that down. How about tomorrow? What do you want to do? How about a year from now or ten years from now?

Right off the bat, you probably recognize that there are some serious limitations here. More than likely you are going to have to do things today and tomorrow that you wish you didn’t have to do. You know your situation.

Like everyone else, your choices and options are somewhat limited because of your present circumstance. Maybe you don’t have very much money to go places and do the things you want to do. Maybe you don’t have a car to get where you want to go. Maybe you don’t have so many friends that you like to be around all that much anyway. Maybe you just don’t feel very good about yourself and so your relationships with other people are not the best. Maybe, after you do the things you have to do, you just don’t have the time or energy to do the things you really want to do—so you just end up on the couch in front of the television—or worse. No doubt, you can see that what you want to do is very limited by what you can do because of circumstances beyond your control. That’s what breeds boredom and frustration.

Okay, now I am going to ask you to use something that everyone possesses that is one of the most powerful forces in the universe—your imagination! Think about this: Everything in the world, both good and bad, originated in someone’s imagination first before it became real. So, unleash your imagination!

Now make a list of all the things you want to do without the limitations you are presently faced with. Don’t worry about not having the time or money or energy.

Imagine: No limitations!

Think about it. Spend some time lost in a daydream. Realize that in your imagination you can go anywhere and do anything.

Forget the Watchtower’s crude drawings of people sitting around on blankets with huge picnic baskets of fruit and vegetables, while the children are petting lions. That’s merely one aspect of an artist’s impression of paradise. The real paradise is much more than that and your imagination has the power to make it much more vivid. Besides, this is your list—your version of paradise. What do you want to do?

Now do you get the picture?

Paradise means that you can stay up as late as you want partying with friends and drinking cappuccino!—If that’s what you want. It means that you can sleep until noon every day—if that’s what you want. It means that you can go anywhere, anytime, without any worries or hassles from anyone.

Do you wish to live in a home on a cliff overlooking the sea? Why not have another home in the mountains and one in the valley or desert too? You can do a time-share with your many friends from all over the world when you aren’t living there. Are we getting the imaginative juices flowing yet?

By the way, how many friends do you have now? How many do you want to have? How many friends do you have that are from a different race or nationality? How many languages do you speak? Why not learn them all? Impossible you say? Can you imagine using 100% of your mental capacity? Probably not, since we currently use only a very small percentage of our brain’s capacity—even when imagining.

Okay, maybe you just would like to live free and unencumbered without any possessions—just living in the open like Adam and Eve—if that’s what you desire. Or, you can live like the wealthiest person in the world—because you will be—everyone will be, because you will not be lacking anything that you desire. Remember: Jehovah has immense wealth, beyond our ability to even comprehend, and he is going to share it with all of his children.

Can you imagine the joy and deep satisfaction of having meaningful human relationships? No more people-problems caused by jealousy, greed, anger and stupidity! Just think: No more mean people!

Paradise means that you can have a perfect family. It means your children will never be snotty-nosed, bawling brats. Children will always be a joy to be around. They will continually amaze you with their genius, creativity and loveliness. How many children do you want to have? And just imagine seeing your children’s children for who knows how many generations?

Do you wanna sing and dance? What’s stopping you?

Do you want to play beautiful music? Or perhaps you yearn to compose music like a Beethoven? Forget it. By the time Wolfgang Amadeus is resurrected into paradise you will be giving him music lessons!

There are yet-unheard new songs waiting to be sung and new music to be discovered and composed, and you are going to have the opportunity to do it all—if that’s what you desire.

Do you wish to paint or sculpt or make beautiful works of glass or ceramic? Would you like to design landscapes that make the gardens of Versailles look like an unkempt lot? Do you want to write classic novels and stories that inspire and captivate others?

Remember, no limitations!

What do you want to do? No two snowflakes are exactly the same—or so they say. The same goes for people. And you will have forever to discover your own uniqueness and potential, as well as the uniqueness of others.

What about travel? Have you ever been to Tahiti? How about Tibet or Tangiers?

Have you ever explored an underground cave? Why not? Have you ever dug an emerald or ruby out of the earth? How many unpolished precious gems are waiting to be unearthed and transformed into breathtaking ornaments by you?

Have you ever climbed a mountain? Have you ever stood on a frosty peak and looked out over the world? Have you ever slept under a canopy of stars in the middle of the vast ocean, in a sail boat, as giant whales sing their serene serenade in the distance? Have you ever gone snorkeling in tropical blue waters? Have you ever frolicked with a pod of killer whales or dolphins?

Have you ever traveled to the beautiful winter wonderland of the Arctic and hung out with penguins or fed the polar bears in the glow of the Northern lights? It is going to become your planet. What do you want to do with it?

Where do you want to go?

 

[PJ54]

Have you ever been to a resurrection party?​

We have all been to weddings and funerals and we know the emotions involved. But you have never been to a resurrection ceremony. Can you imagine being at a gathering of friends and family as they await the pre-announced materialization of the next resurrectee? What kind of reception do you suppose would take place afterwards? Do you think you would become bored sharing in the ecstasy of such occasions? For example, can you imagine the astonished look on, say, your grandmother’s face when you walk over to her and give her a kiss and welcome her to paradise? Then, a few weeks later you and your newly resurrected grandmother go to her mother’s resurrection reception to welcome your great grandma back from the dead. Do you think you would ever become bored participating in welcoming each generation back from the grave? Is there anyone who has died whom you would like to host at a resurrection party? If so, add their names to your list.

Romance you ask? Listen, Jehovah invented wine and roses, exotic music, and everything that is beautiful, lovely and sensuous. Have you ever sipped 50-year old Armagnac? You are missing something! Its sweet vapors evaporate in your throat without ever reaching the bottom! And just think, Jehovah promises to roll out the barrel of the finest wines for everyone to enjoy—if that’s what you want. Paradise means that your lover writes you poetry and brings you flowers everyday! Do you think you will become bored basking in the glow of the “flame of Jah,” burning like a torch in your lover’s eyes? We were made to thrive on love and that’s all there is going to be in paradise—even more love than you can handle! Is that hard to imagine? If so, you need to crank up your imagination.

God created the human face to reflect his own joy and glory. How could he possibly allow even one of his children to go around sad-faced in his new world?

What must Jehovah have intended when he created Adam and Eve? They were his own children. Can you imagine being a true son or daughter of a loving Father like Jehovah? We are so far removed from Eden it doesn’t seem real sometimes. But that is where your imagination comes in; not in imagining some Elysian fantasy, but imagining what is real—what is to come. Knowledge-based faith allows us to do that.

Paradise offers you the opportunity to find out what it really means to be made in the image of God and to be part of God’s universal family. It offers you the privilege of personally experiencing what it is like to have Jehovah’s power and personality in a scaled down version of God himself.

Best of all, the real reason God created us is so that we might have a relationship with him. Not a relationship where we do all the talking and we hope he hears us.

Paradise means that Jehovah comes looking for you—just like he did in Eden with the first man! Can you imagine what Jehovah might say if you could casually converse with him? Can you imagine how thrilling it will be to speak with the Creator of the universe on a daily basis and ask him any question on your mind and he will answer it?

You could even ask the Creator to solve the age-old riddle, once and for all, about which came first, the chicken or the egg? Surely He knows. And who knows, he might just astonish or amuse you with his answer? Or do you suppose that Jehovah has no sense of humor? He created the chimpanzee didn’t he?

I imagine that once we get our relationship with God repaired, Jehovah could tell you a private joke that would leave you laughing for weeks. What do you want to say to Jehovah when you talk to him in person?

Do you think Jehovah ever gets bored?

How could he?

Look at his vast universe and this fantastic earth he created and all of its many marvels. We don’t enjoy a fraction of it. Do you honestly think God is going to allow his sons and daughters to be bored living in paradise? Whereas, it seems that if the Devil can’t fool us into destroying ourselves outrightly, he seems intent on boring us to death with his futile system of things we are forced to live under presently; but in Jehovah’s world-to-come it will be a thrill to simply be alive—to breathe the clean and sweetly perfumed air of paradise.

When Jehovah promises to give the entire earth to the meek ones as an inheritance, what does that mean? Well, what does it mean to inherit something from a parent? It means that you own it—you take possession of your share, right? Well, then, can you imagine owning the earth? Give it a try—use your limitless imagination to envision what you are going to do with your inheritance of planet earth. Inheriting the earth means total freedom to do whatever you want as long as you do not break God’s law of love. Isn’t that awesome?

Jehovah words it something like this: “But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

And your name is penciled-in in Jehovah’s legal Will. As long as you have faith in him and appreciate what Jesus did to make it possible—it is yours. That’s your inheritance from your heavenly Father.

So, please don’t let the Devil trick you into thinking that the New World will be a bore. Start dreaming and thinking about all the wonderful possibilities that await you in the paradise of Jehovah’s promise. I am sure that once you open up your imagination you will not be able to stop thinking about all the wonderful possibilities that come with everlasting life in a new world.
Artículo en español

 

[evw]

It remains a great challenge to tackle this again and again, but I belong here with my feet on this earth. But you Robert? I wonder then, how do you see your future up there with Jehovah? What do you think you're going to do there? Do you have a similar vivid imagination about that?

 

[Watchman]

It remains a great challenge to tackle this again and again, but I belong here with my feet on this earth. But you Robert? I wonder then, how do you see your future up there with Jehovah? What do you think you're going to do there? Do you have a similar vivid imagination about that?

I can imagine paradise because everything that will be in paradise is already in existence, and as humans, we are already familiar with it. So, it is not hard to imagine. However, Heaven is another world entirely. It is impossible to imagine. God gives us comparisons in human terms so we can at least have an inkling of what lies beyond, but we still cannot really grasp it. Obviously, angels do not have wings. There is no chariot with flaming wheels. The streets of heaven are not paved with gold. There are no pearly gates. Jehovah does not have a flowing white beard. I do know, though, that Jehovah is the most beautiful person in existence. How could he not be? But imagination can only take you so far.

 

[Ms_ladyblue]

Imagining Paradise

It is not uncommon for persons to suppose that living forever in paradise would be boring. This is an edited reprint of a previous Mailbag question from the week of April 20th, 2003, discussing the topic. I feel really depressed and mixed up because I have this feeling that

e-watchman.com

https://soundcloud.com/e-watchman%2Fimagining-paradise

It is not uncommon for persons to suppose that living forever in paradise would be boring. This is an edited reprint of a previous Mailbag question from the week of April 20th, 2003, discussing the topic.


Okay. Let’s do a little exercise here, just for fun. While you are on the computer, open up your word processor and start a document called: “Things I would like to do.” Now, start listing all the things you would like to do. Be as imaginative as you want, but be realistic. This is your wish list for this system.
To start you off, maybe you would like to go to the movies with some friends today and then go out for some pizza afterwards. Okay then, write that down. How about tomorrow? What do you want to do? How about a year from now or ten years from now?

Right off the bat, you probably recognize that there are some serious limitations here. More than likely you are going to have to do things today and tomorrow that you wish you didn’t have to do. You know your situation.

Like everyone else, your choices and options are somewhat limited because of your present circumstance. Maybe you don’t have very much money to go places and do the things you want to do. Maybe you don’t have a car to get where you want to go. Maybe you don’t have so many friends that you like to be around all that much anyway. Maybe you just don’t feel very good about yourself and so your relationships with other people are not the best. Maybe, after you do the things you have to do, you just don’t have the time or energy to do the things you really want to do—so you just end up on the couch in front of the television—or worse. No doubt, you can see that what you want to do is very limited by what you can do because of circumstances beyond your control. That’s what breeds boredom and frustration.

Okay, now I am going to ask you to use something that everyone possesses that is one of the most powerful forces in the universe—your imagination! Think about this: Everything in the world, both good and bad, originated in someone’s imagination first before it became real. So, unleash your imagination!

Now make a list of all the things you want to do without the limitations you are presently faced with. Don’t worry about not having the time or money or energy.

Imagine: No limitations!

Think about it. Spend some time lost in a daydream. Realize that in your imagination you can go anywhere and do anything.

Forget the Watchtower’s crude drawings of people sitting around on blankets with huge picnic baskets of fruit and vegetables, while the children are petting lions. That’s merely one aspect of an artist’s impression of paradise. The real paradise is much more than that and your imagination has the power to make it much more vivid. Besides, this is your list—your version of paradise. What do you want to do?

Now do you get the picture?

Paradise means that you can stay up as late as you want partying with friends and drinking cappuccino!—If that’s what you want. It means that you can sleep until noon every day—if that’s what you want. It means that you can go anywhere, anytime, without any worries or hassles from anyone.

Do you wish to live in a home on a cliff overlooking the sea? Why not have another home in the mountains and one in the valley or desert too? You can do a time-share with your many friends from all over the world when you aren’t living there. Are we getting the imaginative juices flowing yet?

By the way, how many friends do you have now? How many do you want to have? How many friends do you have that are from a different race or nationality? How many languages do you speak? Why not learn them all? Impossible you say? Can you imagine using 100% of your mental capacity? Probably not, since we currently use only a very small percentage of our brain’s capacity—even when imagining.

Okay, maybe you just would like to live free and unencumbered without any possessions—just living in the open like Adam and Eve—if that’s what you desire. Or, you can live like the wealthiest person in the world—because you will be—everyone will be, because you will not be lacking anything that you desire. Remember: Jehovah has immense wealth, beyond our ability to even comprehend, and he is going to share it with all of his children.

Can you imagine the joy and deep satisfaction of having meaningful human relationships? No more people-problems caused by jealousy, greed, anger and stupidity! Just think: No more mean people!

Paradise means that you can have a perfect family. It means your children will never be snotty-nosed, bawling brats. Children will always be a joy to be around. They will continually amaze you with their genius, creativity and loveliness. How many children do you want to have? And just imagine seeing your children’s children for who knows how many generations?

Do you wanna sing and dance? What’s stopping you?

Do you want to play beautiful music? Or perhaps you yearn to compose music like a Beethoven? Forget it. By the time Wolfgang Amadeus is resurrected into paradise you will be giving him music lessons!

There are yet-unheard new songs waiting to be sung and new music to be discovered and composed, and you are going to have the opportunity to do it all—if that’s what you desire.

Do you wish to paint or sculpt or make beautiful works of glass or ceramic? Would you like to design landscapes that make the gardens of Versailles look like an unkempt lot? Do you want to write classic novels and stories that inspire and captivate others?

Remember, no limitations!

What do you want to do? No two snowflakes are exactly the same—or so they say. The same goes for people. And you will have forever to discover your own uniqueness and potential, as well as the uniqueness of others.

What about travel? Have you ever been to Tahiti? How about Tibet or Tangiers?

Have you ever explored an underground cave? Why not? Have you ever dug an emerald or ruby out of the earth? How many unpolished precious gems are waiting to be unearthed and transformed into breathtaking ornaments by you?

Have you ever climbed a mountain? Have you ever stood on a frosty peak and looked out over the world? Have you ever slept under a canopy of stars in the middle of the vast ocean, in a sail boat, as giant whales sing their serene serenade in the distance? Have you ever gone snorkeling in tropical blue waters? Have you ever frolicked with a pod of killer whales or dolphins?

Have you ever traveled to the beautiful winter wonderland of the Arctic and hung out with penguins or fed the polar bears in the glow of the Northern lights? It is going to become your planet. What do you want to do with it?

Where do you want to go?

Thank you so much for such a vivid description of helpful information helping us to use our imagination to the full. I always use to feel like our imagination was stifled by WT limited narrow minded view of what will and will not be in the future to come.
I think many of us here still have the influence of the WT view of paradise to come.

The devil’s in the details about that. He wants us to picture it as boring but I would always go back to thinking what Psalm 145:16 says: “You are opening your hand And satisfying the desire of every living thing.”

 

[Joseph Stephan]

 

[Ms_ladyblue]

The Watchtower’s text and comments leaves much to be desired. Seems more like a lesson to teach us how to behave rather than what should stand out. The scripture which it taken from clearly speaks for itself. Why can’t WT allow the scriptures stand on their own? In context, Matthew 9:11-16 reads …”But on seeing this, the Pharisees said to his disciples: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Hearing them, he said: “Healthy people do not need a physician, but those who are ill do. Go, then, and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came to call, not righteous people, but sinners.”

Therefore Jesus clearly stated why he said this. Watchtower’s comments do say what is true but why focus on the obvious? Yes, we have to repent, that goes without saying but what about our actually focusing on the positive…speaking to those that need help and how to genuinely encourage them. Have they forgotten what the “good news“ actually is?

When you read that chapter in Matthew about what was happening around Jesus and his disciples you see what attitude the Pharisees had. Hmm, it sounded much like the governing body.

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

Imagining Paradise

It is not uncommon for persons to suppose that living forever in paradise would be boring. This is an edited reprint of a previous Mailbag question from the week of April 20th, 2003, discussing the topic. I feel really depressed and mixed up because I have this feeling that

e-watchman.com

https://soundcloud.com/e-watchman%2Fimagining-paradise

It is not uncommon for persons to suppose that living forever in paradise would be boring. This is an edited reprint of a previous Mailbag question from the week of April 20th, 2003, discussing the topic.


Okay. Let’s do a little exercise here, just for fun. While you are on the computer, open up your word processor and start a document called: “Things I would like to do.” Now, start listing all the things you would like to do. Be as imaginative as you want, but be realistic. This is your wish list for this system.
To start you off, maybe you would like to go to the movies with some friends today and then go out for some pizza afterwards. Okay then, write that down. How about tomorrow? What do you want to do? How about a year from now or ten years from now?

Right off the bat, you probably recognize that there are some serious limitations here. More than likely you are going to have to do things today and tomorrow that you wish you didn’t have to do. You know your situation.

Like everyone else, your choices and options are somewhat limited because of your present circumstance. Maybe you don’t have very much money to go places and do the things you want to do. Maybe you don’t have a car to get where you want to go. Maybe you don’t have so many friends that you like to be around all that much anyway. Maybe you just don’t feel very good about yourself and so your relationships with other people are not the best. Maybe, after you do the things you have to do, you just don’t have the time or energy to do the things you really want to do—so you just end up on the couch in front of the television—or worse. No doubt, you can see that what you want to do is very limited by what you can do because of circumstances beyond your control. That’s what breeds boredom and frustration.

Okay, now I am going to ask you to use something that everyone possesses that is one of the most powerful forces in the universe—your imagination! Think about this: Everything in the world, both good and bad, originated in someone’s imagination first before it became real. So, unleash your imagination!

Now make a list of all the things you want to do without the limitations you are presently faced with. Don’t worry about not having the time or money or energy.

Imagine: No limitations!

Think about it. Spend some time lost in a daydream. Realize that in your imagination you can go anywhere and do anything.

Forget the Watchtower’s crude drawings of people sitting around on blankets with huge picnic baskets of fruit and vegetables, while the children are petting lions. That’s merely one aspect of an artist’s impression of paradise. The real paradise is much more than that and your imagination has the power to make it much more vivid. Besides, this is your list—your version of paradise. What do you want to do?

Now do you get the picture?

Paradise means that you can stay up as late as you want partying with friends and drinking cappuccino!—If that’s what you want. It means that you can sleep until noon every day—if that’s what you want. It means that you can go anywhere, anytime, without any worries or hassles from anyone.

Do you wish to live in a home on a cliff overlooking the sea? Why not have another home in the mountains and one in the valley or desert too? You can do a time-share with your many friends from all over the world when you aren’t living there. Are we getting the imaginative juices flowing yet?

By the way, how many friends do you have now? How many do you want to have? How many friends do you have that are from a different race or nationality? How many languages do you speak? Why not learn them all? Impossible you say? Can you imagine using 100% of your mental capacity? Probably not, since we currently use only a very small percentage of our brain’s capacity—even when imagining.

Okay, maybe you just would like to live free and unencumbered without any possessions—just living in the open like Adam and Eve—if that’s what you desire. Or, you can live like the wealthiest person in the world—because you will be—everyone will be, because you will not be lacking anything that you desire. Remember: Jehovah has immense wealth, beyond our ability to even comprehend, and he is going to share it with all of his children.

Can you imagine the joy and deep satisfaction of having meaningful human relationships? No more people-problems caused by jealousy, greed, anger and stupidity! Just think: No more mean people!

Paradise means that you can have a perfect family. It means your children will never be snotty-nosed, bawling brats. Children will always be a joy to be around. They will continually amaze you with their genius, creativity and loveliness. How many children do you want to have? And just imagine seeing your children’s children for who knows how many generations?

Do you wanna sing and dance? What’s stopping you?

Do you want to play beautiful music? Or perhaps you yearn to compose music like a Beethoven? Forget it. By the time Wolfgang Amadeus is resurrected into paradise you will be giving him music lessons!

There are yet-unheard new songs waiting to be sung and new music to be discovered and composed, and you are going to have the opportunity to do it all—if that’s what you desire.

Do you wish to paint or sculpt or make beautiful works of glass or ceramic? Would you like to design landscapes that make the gardens of Versailles look like an unkempt lot? Do you want to write classic novels and stories that inspire and captivate others?

Remember, no limitations!

What do you want to do? No two snowflakes are exactly the same—or so they say. The same goes for people. And you will have forever to discover your own uniqueness and potential, as well as the uniqueness of others.

What about travel? Have you ever been to Tahiti? How about Tibet or Tangiers?

Have you ever explored an underground cave? Why not? Have you ever dug an emerald or ruby out of the earth? How many unpolished precious gems are waiting to be unearthed and transformed into breathtaking ornaments by you?

Have you ever climbed a mountain? Have you ever stood on a frosty peak and looked out over the world? Have you ever slept under a canopy of stars in the middle of the vast ocean, in a sail boat, as giant whales sing their serene serenade in the distance? Have you ever gone snorkeling in tropical blue waters? Have you ever frolicked with a pod of killer whales or dolphins?

Have you ever traveled to the beautiful winter wonderland of the Arctic and hung out with penguins or fed the polar bears in the glow of the Northern lights? It is going to become your planet. What do you want to do with it?

Where do you want to go?

When we were growing up we practically lived outdoors in all types of nature, that's when, where and how I learned about God. We were NEVER bored! It was impossible to be bored out in Jehovah's playground, there was just too much to see, hear and learn about. Actually, I do remember being bored on a few occasions - when the weather was just too bad to go out and so we were stuck in front of that square box in the corner!! Life in Jah's New World is going to be AMAZING

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

Have you ever been to a resurrection party?​

We have all been to weddings and funerals and we know the emotions involved. But you have never been to a resurrection ceremony. Can you imagine being at a gathering of friends and family as they await the pre-announced materialization of the next resurrectee? What kind of reception do you suppose would take place afterwards? Do you think you would become bored sharing in the ecstasy of such occasions? For example, can you imagine the astonished look on, say, your grandmother’s face when you walk over to her and give her a kiss and welcome her to paradise? Then, a few weeks later you and your newly resurrected grandmother go to her mother’s resurrection reception to welcome your great grandma back from the dead. Do you think you would ever become bored participating in welcoming each generation back from the grave? Is there anyone who has died whom you would like to host at a resurrection party? If so, add their names to your list.

Romance you ask? Listen, Jehovah invented wine and roses, exotic music, and everything that is beautiful, lovely and sensuous. Have you ever sipped 50-year old Armagnac? You are missing something! Its sweet vapors evaporate in your throat without ever reaching the bottom! And just think, Jehovah promises to roll out the barrel of the finest wines for everyone to enjoy—if that’s what you want. Paradise means that your lover writes you poetry and brings you flowers everyday! Do you think you will become bored basking in the glow of the “flame of Jah,” burning like a torch in your lover’s eyes? We were made to thrive on love and that’s all there is going to be in paradise—even more love than you can handle! Is that hard to imagine? If so, you need to crank up your imagination.

God created the human face to reflect his own joy and glory. How could he possibly allow even one of his children to go around sad-faced in his new world?

What must Jehovah have intended when he created Adam and Eve? They were his own children. Can you imagine being a true son or daughter of a loving Father like Jehovah? We are so far removed from Eden it doesn’t seem real sometimes. But that is where your imagination comes in; not in imagining some Elysian fantasy, but imagining what is real—what is to come. Knowledge-based faith allows us to do that.

Paradise offers you the opportunity to find out what it really means to be made in the image of God and to be part of God’s universal family. It offers you the privilege of personally experiencing what it is like to have Jehovah’s power and personality in a scaled down version of God himself.

Best of all, the real reason God created us is so that we might have a relationship with him. Not a relationship where we do all the talking and we hope he hears us.

Paradise means that Jehovah comes looking for you—just like he did in Eden with the first man! Can you imagine what Jehovah might say if you could casually converse with him? Can you imagine how thrilling it will be to speak with the Creator of the universe on a daily basis and ask him any question on your mind and he will answer it?

You could even ask the Creator to solve the age-old riddle, once and for all, about which came first, the chicken or the egg? Surely He knows. And who knows, he might just astonish or amuse you with his answer? Or do you suppose that Jehovah has no sense of humor? He created the chimpanzee didn’t he?

I imagine that once we get our relationship with God repaired, Jehovah could tell you a private joke that would leave you laughing for weeks. What do you want to say to Jehovah when you talk to him in person?

Do you think Jehovah ever gets bored?

How could he?

Look at his vast universe and this fantastic earth he created and all of its many marvels. We don’t enjoy a fraction of it. Do you honestly think God is going to allow his sons and daughters to be bored living in paradise? Whereas, it seems that if the Devil can’t fool us into destroying ourselves outrightly, he seems intent on boring us to death with his futile system of things we are forced to live under presently; but in Jehovah’s world-to-come it will be a thrill to simply be alive—to breathe the clean and sweetly perfumed air of paradise.

When Jehovah promises to give the entire earth to the meek ones as an inheritance, what does that mean? Well, what does it mean to inherit something from a parent? It means that you own it—you take possession of your share, right? Well, then, can you imagine owning the earth? Give it a try—use your limitless imagination to envision what you are going to do with your inheritance of planet earth. Inheriting the earth means total freedom to do whatever you want as long as you do not break God’s law of love. Isn’t that awesome?

Jehovah words it something like this: “But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

And your name is penciled-in in Jehovah’s legal Will. As long as you have faith in him and appreciate what Jesus did to make it possible—it is yours. That’s your inheritance from your heavenly Father.

So, please don’t let the Devil trick you into thinking that the New World will be a bore. Start dreaming and thinking about all the wonderful possibilities that await you in the paradise of Jehovah’s promise. I am sure that once you open up your imagination you will not be able to stop thinking about all the wonderful possibilities that come with everlasting life in a new world.
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Beautiful, beautiful, and beautiful

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

It remains a great challenge to tackle this again and again, but I belong here with my feet on this earth. But you Robert? I wonder then, how do you see your future up there with Jehovah? What do you think you're going to do there? Do you have a similar vivid imagination about that?

Interesting question.. I often wonder how life in heaven could possibly be as wonderful, or even better than life here on earth

 

[MickHewitt]

Interesting question.. I often wonder how life in heaven could possibly be as wonderful, or even better than life here on earth

The incredible imagination that Jah and Christ have produced with material clay the 92 elements...Fantastic! If that is what they do in the material realm it convinces of what wonders have been produced in the heavens. 'In my Father's house there are many mansions'

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

The incredible imagination that Jah and Christ have produced with material clay the 92 elements...Fantastic! If that is what they do in the material realm it convinces of what wonders have been produced in the heavens. 'In my Father's house there are many mansions'

But I don't feel like I "belong" in heaven though do you? I'm definitely "of" the earth

 

[a watcher]

Interesting question.. I often wonder how life in heaven could possibly be as wonderful, or even better than life here on earth

The anointed will have the entire universe as their playground, not just the Earth.

 

[MickHewitt]

But I don't feel like I "belong" in heaven though do you? I'm definitely "of" the earth

Jehovah knows the best place for us: He will anoint those who belong closer to Him in the heavens and those who can remain close with Him upon earth. You can't imagine Him forcing us into a position that was uncomfortable?

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

The anointed will have the entire universe as their playground, not just the Earth.

True.. but I'm a simple person, easily pleased

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

Jehovah knows the best place for us: He will anoint those who belong closer to Him in the heavens and those who can remain close with Him upon earth. You can't imagine Him forcing us into a position that was uncomfortable?

Yes, that's what I've always thought, he knows how much I love the earth and so he'll let me live here..

 

[PJ54]

Thank you so much for such a vivid description of helpful information helping us to use our imagination to the full. I always use to feel like our imagination was stifled by WT limited narrow minded view of what will and will not be in the future to come.
I think many of us here still have the influence of the WT view of paradise to come.

The devil’s in the details about that. He wants us to picture it as boring but I would always go back to thinking what Psalm 145:16 says: “You are opening your hand And satisfying the desire of every living thing.”

I think they do that. Whenever I have heard of their view on the New System, it just didn't jive with me that much. To be frank, I grew very fearful of it because of how it was presented. It was even to the point of nightmares...

 

[StopTheInsanity]

Paradise means that you can stay up as late as you want partying with friends and drinking cappuccino!—If that’s what you want. It means that you can sleep until noon every day—if that’s what you want. It means that you can go anywhere, anytime, without any worries or hassles from anyone.

Do you honestly think that in the New System we can sleep 'til noon every day and party hardy 'til the wee hours of the night? I can't imagine that that will be the case.

 

[Proverbs 14 v 15]

I think they do that. Whenever I have heard of their view on the New System, it just didn't jive with me that much. To be frank, I grew very fearful of it because of how it was presented. It was even to the point of nightmares...

When I first was studying, back in the mid to late 80's they did used to talk about the new world in an exciting way. I remember an old video where one brother was a keen surfer and and he said knowing he'd be able to surf for ever encouraged him to start his study. I remember lots of examples like that. But I must admit, the organisation in general's idea of what life in the new world has definitely changed over the years. We had a Watchtower about a year or so ago and there was a picture of a brother studying with one of the resurrected ones, outside in his garden, and the front door had a lock on, which I thought was odd, and was a different idea to what they used to teach. Anyway, my personal ideas about God's new world haven't changed!! Perhaps I need to "catch up with Jehovah's chariot"

 

[Ms_ladyblue]

Paradise means that you can stay up as late as you want partying with friends and drinking cappuccino!—If that’s what you want. It means that you can sleep until noon every day—if that’s what you want. It means that you can go anywhere, anytime, without any worries or hassles from anyone.

Do you honestly think that in the New System we can sleep 'til noon every day and party hardy 'til the wee hours of the night? I can't imagine that that will be the case.

I don’t think he means “partying“ in the way the world parties today. We won’t be robots. I’m sure we’ll be so excited at all the possibilities we’ll have but in a good way. We’ll enjoy partying with friends and won’t have to think about time in the sense that we do today. Many times I’ve enjoyed partying with friends without the wild partying along with drinking.
We‘ll be able to just enjoy life.