Questions about paradise

Nice article. What I’ve noticed in my garden is that sometimes I work very hard to grow a particular fruit tree and sometimes it just doesn’t make it even with all of my efforts. Then, you have some plants that seem to thrive on neglect. I grew some asparagus years ago and it keeps coming up even though that part of the yard has now gone to weeds, I still see the asparagus sprouting up. No doubt when Jehovah blesses the land, it will be a miracle and produce accordingly.
 
SusanB said:
Nice article. What I’ve noticed in my garden is that sometimes I work very hard to grow a particular fruit tree and sometimes it just doesn’t make it even with all of my efforts. Then, you have some plants that seem to thrive on neglect. I grew some asparagus years ago and it keeps coming up even though that part of the yard has now gone to weeds, I still see the asparagus sprouting up. No doubt when Jehovah blesses the land, it will be a miracle and produce accordingly.
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. Every gardener has successes and failures. Asparagus is hardy; I have seen it growing along the roadside like a weed.
 
Watchman said:
I know what you mean. Every gardener has successes and failures. Asparagus is hardy; I have seen it growing along the roadside like a weed.
Click to expand...
It grows wild in Wyoming. You just look for a ditch with alkali nearby.
I also have had my struggles with plant life. I have an Apricot that I planted last fall that I thought was dying until I cleared the grass and weeds again and there were new sprouts way down low. I managed to run across a Kumquat tree last year at Tractor Supply of all places. I've only ever seen one maybe twice in my life so you know I had to buy it. It didn't sell because most people around here don't even know what it was. My mistake was thinking I could put it in the ground. It thought I killed after the winter but I kept feeling it and it still felt alive, just no sprouts.
I put it back in a pot and kept watering since it warmed up and lo and behold I have sprouts. I will have to build some sort of permanent pot for it so I can cover it in the winter. Maybe put it in the shed for the winter months.
Sometimes patience and faith are all it takes.
 
Watchman said:
I posted a new article in the Mailbag

e-watchman.com

Questions about the paradise new world to come

I believe in Jehovah and Jesus his son, and I believe in all the things Jesus did when he was on earth I believe in the apostles that they lived and died for the truth, no man dies for a lie, but there are so many questions I
e-watchman.com e-watchman.com
Click to expand...
From article "Questions about Paradise": "However, since Jehovah expected humans to complete His creation during his great Sabbath rest, He is not going to snap His fingers and make it happen. He expects the survivors of the end of this world to finish his project".

Some years ago Jerry was conducting a question and answer part at the Mid Week Meeting.
He asked for comments from the audience to the following question: "What do you most look forward to in the New World?"

As you can imagine, there was a wide variety of answers but the one we still remember and laugh about was:
"We will all have free food and won't have to work." :ROFLMAO:
 
Last edited:
Jerry&Phyllis said:
From article "Questions about Paradise": "However, since Jehovah expected humans to complete His creation during his great Sabbath rest, He is not going to snap His fingers and make it happen. He expects the survivors of the end of this world to finish his project".

Some years ago Jerry was conducting a question and answer part at the Mid Week Meeting.
He asked for comments from the audience to the following question: "What do you most look forward to in the New World?"

As you can imagine, there was a wide variety of answers but the one we still remember and laugh about was:
"We will all have free food and won't have to work." :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
I guess the only "pattern" of paradise that we have is what is written in Genesis. While Adam was on his own (for how long is not certain) how did he survive?
Gen 1:29 says:

Then God said: “Here I have given to you every seed-bearing plant that is on the entire earth and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. Let them serve as food for you.

And Gen 2: 15 says
Jehovah God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eʹden to cultivate it and to take care of it.

So what does it mean, "to cultivate it"
The dictionary definition is

to prepare land and grow crops on it, or to grow a particular crop

How he cultivated the garden is not given in detail. Was he given instructions how to have his own little garden patch and to grow vegetables or was it just through observation and trial and error. Whatever, it does seem that he was given the job of a farmer. I wonder how he did that work without the necessary tools that we have now. Or did he fashion his own equipment somehow? Or was nothing like that needed? Probably growing crops at that time was a cinch compared with what happened later.

Gen 3:17
And to Adam he said: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life

Maybe the knowledge that he gained by farming in the garden was needed after they were thrown out and life was going to be much more difficult.

"Cursed ground" is maybe what we have now.
Cultivating in Paradise must be quite different to what we know now.
 
Jerry&Phyllis said:
From article "Questions about Paradise": "However, since Jehovah expected humans to complete His creation during his great Sabbath rest, He is not going to snap His fingers and make it happen. He expects the survivors of the end of this world to finish his project".

Some years ago Jerry was conducting a question and answer part at the Mid Week Meeting.
He asked for comments from the audience to the following question: "What do you most look forward to in the New World?"

As you can imagine, there was a wide variety of answers but the one we still remember and laugh about was:
"We will all have free food and won't have to work." :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
The sum total of watchtower teaching in a nutshell! Was it a child that answered or an adult?!!
 
Jerry&Phyllis said:
From article "Questions about Paradise": "However, since Jehovah expected humans to complete His creation during his great Sabbath rest, He is not going to snap His fingers and make it happen. He expects the survivors of the end of this world to finish his project".

Some years ago Jerry was conducting a question and answer part at the Mid Week Meeting.
He asked for comments from the audience to the following question: "What do you most look forward to in the New World?"

As you can imagine, there was a wide variety of answers but the one we still remember and laugh about was:
"We will all have free food and won't have to work." :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Some things never change, the scriptures indicate that back in Jesus's day they were looking for free food as well also signs / miracles.​

John 6:11​

So Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed them to those reclining, likewise also as much of the small fishes as they wanted.a

So when they found him across the sea they said to him: “Rabbi,+ when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said: “Most truly I say to YOU, YOU are looking for me, not because YOU saw signs, but because YOU ate from the loaves and were satisfied.+ Work, not for the food that perishes,+ but for the food that remains for life everlasting,+ which the Son of man will give YOU; for upon this one the Father, even God, has put his seal [of approval].”+Read more> https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/bi12/books/john/6/
 
Niobium said:
…

"Cursed ground" is maybe what we have now.
Cultivating in Paradise must be quite different to what we know now.
Click to expand...
Jehovah did remove the curse on the land after the flood of Noah but that is very different from his blessing, which always results in abundance.

Genesis 8:20-22: “Then Noah built an altar to Jehovah and took some of all the clean animals and of all the clean flying creatures and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And Jehovah began to smell a pleasing aroma. So Jehovah said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground on man’s account, for the inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up; and never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done. From now on, the earth will never cease to have seed-sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night.”

Genesis 31:4-9 “Then Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leʹah to come out to the field to his flock, and he said to them:“I have seen that your father’s attitude toward me has changed, but the God of my father has been with me. You yourselves certainly know that I have served your father with all my power. And your father has tried to cheat me and has changed my wages ten times; but God has not allowed him to do me harm. If on the one hand he would say, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced speckled ones; but if on the other hand he would say, ‘The striped ones will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped ones. So God kept taking your father’s livestock away from him and giving it to me.”

When I think of Jehovah’s abundance, I think of the sunflower and how humans discovered the fibonacci sequence from Jehovah’s design in plants, which results in abundance.

 
SusanB said:
Jehovah did remove the curse on the land after the flood of Noah but that is very different from his blessing, which always results in abundance.

Genesis 8:20-22: “Then Noah built an altar to Jehovah and took some of all the clean animals and of all the clean flying creatures and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And Jehovah began to smell a pleasing aroma. So Jehovah said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground on man’s account, for the inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up; and never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done. From now on, the earth will never cease to have seed-sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night.”

Genesis 31:4-9 “Then Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leʹah to come out to the field to his flock, and he said to them:“I have seen that your father’s attitude toward me has changed, but the God of my father has been with me. You yourselves certainly know that I have served your father with all my power. And your father has tried to cheat me and has changed my wages ten times; but God has not allowed him to do me harm. If on the one hand he would say, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced speckled ones; but if on the other hand he would say, ‘The striped ones will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped ones. So God kept taking your father’s livestock away from him and giving it to me.”

When I think of Jehovah’s abundance, I think of the sunflower and how humans discovered the fibonacci sequence from Jehovah’s design in plants, which results in abundance.

Click to expand...
Ah..a good point. I appreciate the reasonings of your fertile mind which encourages me to dig deeper into Gods word. :)
 
Watchman said:
I posted a new article in the Mailbag

e-watchman.com

Questions about the paradise new world to come

I believe in Jehovah and Jesus his son, and I believe in all the things Jesus did when he was on earth I believe in the apostles that they lived and died for the truth, no man dies for a lie, but there are so many questions I
e-watchman.com e-watchman.com
Click to expand...
Una de las cosas que más me gusta hacer en mi trabajo de limpieza a domicilio es, organizar el caos. Casas con semi diogenes, montañas de ropa apiladas en habitaciones en las que parece que ha venido un tornado. Organizarlo todo y ver el proceso dirigirse al orden me apasiona. La gratificación que siento me hace sentir pletórica. Más de 30 mudanzas en mi vida me hacen dar fe de ello! Estoy preparada para trabajar! Siiii! Y mirar al cielo y decir: así te gusta, mi Señor? Que gozada poder hacer todo mi trabajo sin dolor. Será una fiesta!!
 
Jerry&Phyllis said:
"We will all have free food and won't have to work."
Click to expand...
Years ago a friend of mine told me, "a lot of witnesses think they will have no 'working' in the New system." That's not the word he used, I can't think of it at the moment, but the idea was that they would have no accountability in the new system. What makes a statement like this so remarkably stupid, is a couple of things. Where do they think the food is going to come from, and how do they think they will be fed? Slaves? Because that's what it would take to "not have to work", because somebody is going to have to do the work.

It's comments like that that explain how someone when they find out all the lies that WT has engaged in, does a complete 180 and like a "dog returning to it's vomit" leaves Jehovah. The reason is they had no real understanding or appreciation for what any of it means. I mean the scripture quoted by Robert in the article says "work of their hands." So I just have to question a person's motives when I hear such stupid comments. Here's one of the dumbest ones I have heard, and this was just dumb, I am not reading anything else into it, but again I have to ask, how a person is this dumb. This brother was making a comment about one of the verses that uses the term "stronghold", and he defined it. At least he thought he was, and he said how "encouraging because it conveys the idea of Jehovah holding your hand." I'm sorry i just can't. I came very close to telling him after the meeting, "that's not what stronghold means, you dummy, it's a fort!" The biggest reason i didn't was, because even if i didn't say, "you dummy" that's how it was going to come out, and there would have been no way for me to disguise it, so I held my tongue.
 
Now to comment on the article. This is subject is really my cup of tea. I like how Robert points out, "In other words, the employer/employee system will be gone. Everyone will be self-sufficient. There will be no landlords, no bosses, no masters, no slaves." “Imagine all the people sharing all the world.” Although I am not a fan of John Lennon's communist utopia, I have often thought how the human race is no big family, and in the new system, travel will be a lot different. Let's say you want to travel to Fuji to spend a few months surfing, but the local resident wants to spend a few months in the mountains where you reside, Well you swap houses for that time period. We're all perfect, we're all family, so it would NOT be no problem.

The other thing to keep in mind, not only will we NOT work in some repetitive factory type job, where every day you're of the verge of going postal, in addition to enjoying the fruits of your labor, we will not be laboring under imperfection, where just getting out of bed is a chore. Like @BARNABY THE DOG. said in a post, "I celebrate getting out of bed in the morning." I wouldn't quite go that far, it's more drudgery for me. LOL. My point is, the reason life is such drudgery is because of our imperfections and the limits that puts on us not just physically but it takes it's toll mentally as well.

But when we are perfect the things we will be able to do, will be glorious! One thing I like to keep in mind when considering our true potential when we are perfect is this...when Jesus was baptized his prehuman existence, and knowledge and memories were all restored to him. Do we realize what that means? The limitless potential of the human mind is truly a miracle. We have no idea how long Jesus lived before coming to the earth, but his memories would include his incredible knowledge and experiences creating the Universe. A human being second only to Jehovah himself, has the capability of grasping things we can't even begin to comprehend. yet Jesus did and was able to. Now, I am not suggesting that Jesus was not unique, not t all, or how Jehovah's Holy Spirit was involved, BUT, it still gives us a glimpse of the incredible and truly miraculous creation that us humans really are. "A little lower than angels." Not a lot, just a "little".

Oh, and think of what a privilege it is that we know the true nature of who Jesus is and was, so we can grasp these truly "deeper things". How can you "imitate Jesus" when you don't even know who he is?
 
Jerry&Phyllis said:
"We will all have free food and won't have to work."
Click to expand...

There might be a bit of a wait or a forage period before the food becomes widely available ie; There might a bit of work preparing the ground and planting.
At the start there may not necessarily be an abundance for everyone prehaps. Moses fasted for 40 days but.
 
I think the first thing I do after building a house and what not is build some awesome speakers, because I already have some know how to do that, as I'm sure it will take a lot longer for me to learn to play an instrument. All though, I guess we won't have any music to listen too, until we make new music, "the former things have passed away." So maybe I'll have time after all! 😉 I love building things so I can't wait. Just think @BrooksB the kind of surfboards we'll be able to shape. I can hardly contain how thrilling the thought is. New materials, the best a perfect mind can come up. Praise Jah!
 
Oh and forget about roads, they take up too much room and they are ugly. I'm envisioning landing pads for "driveways" and flight will be transportation. Unless of course we can actually develop transporter tech like in Star Trek. And keep in mind, Jehovah must have created the Universe to be colonized, and we won't be able to do that without faster than light tech. Like I think it was Napoleon Hill who said, "whatever the mind of man can conceive, he can achieve."
 
Nomex said:
Like I think it was Napoleon Hill who said, "whatever the mind of man can conceive, he can achieve."
Click to expand...
Jehovah said basically the same thing at the tower of Babel. Just saying. I don't think we were given brains that can understand technical things just to be restricted to foot travel or horse and buggy but, what do we really know? A sister asked if I would need any of that if time wasn't a factor. It is a good consideration but not the only one. I'm thinking more like Return of the Jedi with speeders flying through the forests.
 
Seventy6 said:
If meat goes off the allowables, I can do fruits, veges, herbs, and fungus, not a problem.
Click to expand...
I tried vegetarian for six months out of curiosity. There is a lot more going on than just a can of green beans and some corn. I cook my own Indian food from recipes of a woman I found on Youtube. Definitely some prep time but always worth it.
 
BagdadBill said:
A sister asked if I would need any of that if time wasn't a factor.
Click to expand...
It takes months to go across the US on horse back. This is pure nonsense, from someone with no imagination. Maybe there's surf next week on the other side of the globe. There's no way to know when it's coming, and by the time you get there it will be gone. But more to the point, Jehovah told us what we were going to be doing when he said, "let us create them in our image." What image is that? The image of the creator. We were created to create! Just like Jehovah created Jesus, and he created everything else, or do we think he doesn't plan the same things for us, but obviously in this physical realm, or "plane of existence"?
 
Nomex said:
It takes months to go across the US on horse back. This is pure nonsense, from someone with no imagination. Maybe there's surf next week on the other side of the globe. There's no way to know when it's coming, and by the time you get there it will be gone. But more to the point, Jehovah told us what we were going to be doing when he said, "let us create them in our image." What image is that? The image of the creator. We were created to create! Just like Jehovah created Jesus, and he created everything else, or do we think he doesn't plan the same things for us, but obviously in this physical realm, or "plane of existence"?
Click to expand...
Tech isn't the arguing point for me. My only contention is that industry creates toxic waste. If we can work that out then we're home free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top