Setanta wrote:I think that it is hilarious that Miss Eppie opened up the can of worms implicit in the concept of "going to heaven," nevermind that silly video.
Can anyone say, 144,000 Saints?
What stretches credulity is the concept of exclusivity of salvation. The idea of an omnipotent deity "creating" sentient individuals, giving them the will to ask as they list, and then saying: "Ooops, you were bad, no heaven for you!" is pretty damned absurd, as is the concept of all the good boys and girls getting to spend eternity singing songs of praise to the celestial ego-maniac.
After all, after the first few million years, that's got to get rather boring.
Setanta it is interesting that you should bring up that number. I know that is the number the JW believe will be saved. But if you look to then next verse it talks about a whole lot more than just 144,000. First of all vs 4 says:
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand
of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed
That is the direct descendents of the tribes of israel is it not? That's what it sounds like to me. Furthermore after stating how many from each tribe it goes on to say:
9After these things I looked, and behold,
a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
I don't think this particular scripture is at all exclusive, though that may be how some choose to interpret it. The way you talk about it, the concept does sound absurd. That God would create people just to turn around and send them to hell. However, I don't remember seeing that ideal specifically in the bible anywhere. Do you have somewhere to point me to?
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