Jehovah’s Requirements Since the dawn of history (the beginnings of mankind) Jehovah, the God who created us, had requirements for us.What kind of requirements? At first, there were only two people living in the world. Adam and his wife, Eve, lived alone in the Garden of Eden. For them, there was only ONE commandment: 16 "And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17) (American Standard Version) -BibleGateway Did they follow the one simple commandment? We know that they did not and the consequence was death. Did they die immediately? No. They lived for many hundreds of years. They were supposed to live forever, but instead, eventually, they did die - just as Jehovah warned them: "5 Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died."
(Genesis 5:5) (New International Version) -BibleGateway Jehovah required other things later such as circumcision, but even more important were the Ten Commandments that Jehovah dictated to Moses while the Israelites were seeking the promised land. Were the Ten Commandments hard to follow? No. They were simple and designed to promote good relations between Jehovah and His chosen people. Jesus even simplified the Ten Commandments later down to just two. How much simpler can it be? 36 "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" 37 Jesus replied, " `You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as your- self.' 40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:34-40) (New Living Translation) -BibleGateway Does Jehovah have any other requirements for us? Yes. Very important requirements: He wants all of us to live forever in harmony on a paradise earth.
Will all of us live forever on a paradise earth? No. Most of the people of this world will be destroyed. Why? Most of the people of the world are willfully disobedient, even disrespectful to Jehovah. Many people are even evil. How can there be a paradise on the earth with evil and disobedient people in it? There cannot be a true paradise with these people around. The evil people are what is wrong with the world now. What will Jehovah do about them? 10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. 11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. (Psalms 37:10-11) (ESV) -BibleGateway This is fair warning! The time is now for these disobedient, disrespectful and evil people to change their ways. But will they change? "My minister says that we will be raptured to Heaven when 'The End' comes. I'm saved! I'm going to Heaven baby!" Realistically, people do not change easily. Most of the people in the world are going to continue to be disobedient, disrespectful and evil right up to the end when they are all destroyed. They will gladly listen to their ministers and follow them to their doom. Why doesn’t Jehovah make people be obedient and respectful? People are allowed to choose how they want to act. Jehovah can make them want to change by force or threat. That would be easy enough to make people obey Jehovah’s requirements when they are scared. This use of force is not what Jehovah wants. He is our loving Father who wishes for people to voluntarily behave. The people who willingly follow the teachings of Jesus and his apostles will live; the ones who disregard these simple requirements will die. Nobody is being forced to behave. People get plenty of chances to learn proper behavior from Jehovah’s servants, but Jesus never told his followers to force anybody to listen to them: "14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."
(Matthew 10:14-15) (NIV) -BibleGateway Can evil people pretend to be good and survive? No. Pretending will not work. Jesus and Jehovah are not fooled by outward appearances: "15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me." (John 8:15-16) (NIV) -BibleGateway "…for Jehovah seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart."
(1Samuel 16:7) (ASV) -BibleGateway Who is trying to teach the people of the world Jehovah’s requirements? Are the Catholic or protestant ministers and priests teaching the things Jehovah requires? No! The ministers of Christendom merely serve to tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to know. The apostle Paul prophesied this in his letter to Timothy: "1 Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe; they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from demons. 2 These teachers are hypocrites and liars. They pretend to be religious, but their consciences are dead. 3 They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods." (1Timothy 4:1-3) (NLT) -BibleGateway What People are actively teaching the truth to those who will listen all over the world? Jehovah’s Witnesses carry out a world-wide preaching work unmatched by any other religion. Many evangelists such as Dr. Billy Graham have preached their version of Christianity to millions of people, but according to the Watchtower yearbook for the year 2007, more than 6.9 million members of Jehovah’s Witnesses spent 1.4 billion hours in service work (door-to-door preaching) and conducted over 6.5 million home Bible studies in 236 countries in the year 2007 alone. From: http://www.jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm Why do they do that? 14 When the good news about the kingdom has been preached all over the world and told to all nations, the end will come.
(Matthew 24:14) (CEV) -BibleGateway |