Un...
Have you ever looked at your screen and been totally blank? That is me, today. I feel like the most boring person on Earth, right now. I feel unoriginal, unethusiastic, uninteresting and un-whatever. Just un.
Despite all the un, I am doing quite well today. I have been doing a lot of reading on Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs. It is really interesting. Did you know that a JW believes that Jesus is Michael the Archangel, that there is no trinity and that only 144,000 JWs will actually make it to heaven with an immortal life? I would just like to know where that number came from? Why not 144,116? Or even 144,001. I am still searching for some Biblical reference to this figure, but so-far no one can really come-up with one. I guess the rest of the believers will have everlasting life. It gets more confusing from there. JWs even have changing doctrine that they attribute to having greater light shed on the truth. Man, I am SO GLAD that I believe in a consistent, unchanging Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Hopefully, tomorrow I won't be so un. (Smack me for overusing it, already.) But what is the opposite of un? Nothing - just the word, I guess.
9 Comments:
I'm starting my own religion tomorrow. Only one person gets into heaven. Me. Sorry about it.
On second thought, TWO people get to go to heaven. But I choose the second person. And you get more of a chance by buying me cool stuff and giving me money and giving me compliments and letting me sleep at your house on Thursday afternoons no questions asked.
LET THE PAMPERING BEGIN.
Ricky, our house is always open to you on Thursday afternoons, oh wise and exaulted one.
Jen, you are very un-everything. JW is very un. Celebrating life and salvation is a great part of Christianity.
Un puts the un in fun. Ok, that's just crazy talk. MUST STOP BLOGGING....
The 144,000 come from Revelation 14:
"Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless." (Rev 14:1-5, NIV)
So that's where the number comes from.
OK, there is a Biblical reference to the 144,000. Because Jax posted the entire context, except for the stuff in Revelations 7, it is hard to deciefer what the figure means. I did read some stuff that was leaning on beleiving that the figure is symbolic, just as the beasts in Revelations 17 are symbolic. This is making my head spin. Revelations has always been kinds a mysterty to me. No one at our church really goes into Revelations. Maybe that's a hint that we need another Bible stufy. It hink I'll talk to my group about it. I don't think they'll be that into it, but hey, it's worth a shot.
From what I've read, the rest of the non-144,000 in the faith get to wait in a sort of limbo- there may be a heaven for them, on earth, and there may not be. Not very encouraging.
You need to be careful when studying Revelation, because there is a fair amount of stuff that might sound deep or on target, but is in fact sketchy, so be sure to thoroughly check out the study you do. People can go off on weird crap when talking about Revelations.
Just to be clear, I am not studying Revelation. I just was looking into what the JWs believe and I am still trying to figure out why. I did see an interesting report that a large percentage of JWs are mentally ill. I'm not sure if that's just Christian propaganda, but if it's true, JWs make more sense.
Revelation is a strange book. I feel I need to read the rest of the Bible before I tackle that book. So, that will take all of life. Does anyone else find themselves constantly reading the Bible? It's like the bottomless soda - you just keep getting deeper and deeper. I love bottomless soda.
I prefer chocolate milk. And I find there are times I can't get enough of the Bible, and other times when I don't feel like cracking it open. That's why having a normal time to do it is helpful for me, so I do it whether I'm all excited to or not.
And when I said be careful about the study, I meant when you do a bible study in your small group, as you mentioned in your previous comment.
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