This blog was inspired by an article I ran across that appeared in the Watchtower of August 15, 1972 which is here. Page 492 of the article is below. The Title: Working Hard for the Reward of Eternal Life. Notice as you read that Witnesses are FIRST (Right Now) working hard for a Future Reward, namely Eternal Life on a Paradise Earth.
If I put in a 40 hour week, at the end of that week I am owed, I have earned a pay check. The business owner is obligated to give me my pay check which I have earned. I can then go home and proudly show my family: "Look, at what I have earned!"
Paul states quite clearly in Romans 4:4, "Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed." Ephesians 2:8 is also crystal clear, "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God." And why is Salvation a gift from God? Because if we did anything to EARN our Salvation we would have reason to boast, just as Ephesians 2:9 says, "Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
Therefore, a Witness would have reason to boast since he worked hard for his Eternal Life on a Paradise Earth. How does God feel about PRIDE? I selected two of the many possible: James 4:6, "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble." Proverbs 16:5, "The Lord detests the proud; they will surely be punished." So a person who works for his Salvation, not only will loose what he thought he had earned, but will be punished to boot.
The Watchtower of 2-15-83, pages 12-13 gives FOUR REQUIREMENTS (works) that must be fulfilled to Live Forever on a Paradise Earth (See below.) I have blogged about this in depth here. My Reader's Digest version: (1) Read WT publications. See my blog on a WT video, "What Happens at a Bible Study?" here. (2) Live a clean moral life. JW's clean up the outside but the inside is filled with "dead man's bones." (3) You must be a member of the WTBTS in good standing. (4) You must go door-to-door.
If the four (4) REQUIRED works are not fulfilled you will NOT live forever in Paradise on Earth.
FAITH I REWARD I WORKS
In Christ I Heaven I Ordained by God
The WT teaches Faith in the WT followed by the REQUIRED four (4) Good Works stated in the WT article, which earns you the Reward of Eternal Life on a
FAITH I WORKS I REWARD
In the WT I Ordained by WT I Paradise Earth
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