A typical presentation used in the door to door ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses starts with “Have you ever wanted to live in a paradise on earth? A world of beauty, with plenty of good food to eat, no pollution, and abundant housing for all?” When we found a hearing ear we presented a product, not just a book or a magazine, but an idea, the hope of living eternally in a paradise earth. We were salesmen and that was our product. We went door-to-door with this pitch and when we got a hearing ear we presented an advertisement. This advertisement was a painting of paradise on earth. We showed these people big houses, beautiful scenery, plenty of good food, and pet lions and tigers. As they looked at our advertisement, we did what any good marketing expert would do and asked them, “What part of this scene appeals to you most?” If we were successful on selling them on “paradise earth” we could convince them to become Jehovah’s Witnesses because according to our beliefs that was the only way you could live to see it.
Now consider, when we were showing them that picture, were we appealing to their spirit or rather to their eyes of flesh? Perhaps a bigger question is if we ever stopped to consider what was missing from the picture? Yes, Our Heavenly Father and Jesus were absent from display! What can we say about a hope that desires the company of beasts of the earth over our dear Lord and Savior — Jesus! We appealed to earthly lusts to sell a hope for earthly things. We appealed to the eyes of the flesh and not the eyes of the spirit. To some extent we had our success. From the initial call forward we were instilling in those we met a love for the creation rather than a love for the creator.
So where does the problem come in? Is it wrong to enjoy good food, a nice house, and beautiful scenery? To the extent that we are in the flesh we have desires of the flesh. I’m not going to disparage a good meal in a beautiful park with your family and, if it is your fancy, a pet lion. That sounds good to me too. The problem is when we desire (crave) these things more than we love the things of God. That kind of attitudes makes us desire the “flesh-pots of Egypt” (the earth) over the bread of Heaven. (Numbers 11:4–5)
Let’s look a little bit at earthly, paradise hope offered by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and what draws people to it. You take an average person and say, “Do you want to live forever in a beautiful garden, with a big house next to a waterfall, with plenty of good things to eat?” Who would refuse? They say, “that sounds real nice because right now I live in the small flat with a window looking out at a parking garage and I can’t afford to eat much but frozen pizza and McDonald’s.” Is it any wonder that we had the most success in low income areas?
The reason so many Jehovah’s Witnesses deride a heavenly hope and claim an earthly hope it that this attitude has been instilled in them from their first contact and has been routinely reinforced. They say, “I must have an ‘earthly hope’ because I like the idea of a spacious house by a beautiful waterfall with plenty of good things to eat. That sounds good to me. I can’t have the ‘heavenly hope’ because heaven on the other hand doesn’t sound good to me. Being a king/priest on a cloud forever sounds — no offense — kind of boring. I’ll take the pet lion all things considered.”
But what if we focused less on a destination, heaven or earth, and more on a person. Let me ask, where would you rather be? In a squalid effiency apartment with Jesus or in a beautiful five-bedroom home without him? Very plainly, very truly, our hope is to be with him. He himself says as much -
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. — John 14:2–3
The early Christians did not preach a paradise earth but rather a person. They had decided to know nothing but Jesus. (Acts 2:22–38; 1 Cor 2:2) They bore witness to Jesus so that those they contacted would come to love him — not with the eyes of the flesh (because even when he was in the flesh his appearance was deficient and lacking beauty) but rather with the eyes of their heart. (Ephesians 1:18) Then they received his spirit so that they would come to know him, personally, intimately. (Phil 3:10–11) Then they lived their lives resting their hope in this one who is in Heaven. (Hebrews 3:1) They learned to hear his voice and they knew that even if they should fall asleep in death it would never fully separate them from him. (Roman 8:38) They knew a time would come and they would hear his voice and awake and be able to be with him eternally, to see him as he is, to sit at his table, and to dwell under his tent. (John 5:28, 29)
The Witnesses can paint many pretty pictures but Jesus is consistently missing from each of them. Jesus promised to the thief next to him on the cross. “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) The Witnesses invalidate this promise by placing the thief in a paradise on earth, far removed from Jesus in heaven.
As Paul wrote there is but one hope. (Eph 4:4) One Christian hope and that hope is Jesus who is in Heaven. Hence it is a Heavenly Hope. Without him you are hopeless. That’s why we follow him today so that we will be with him forever. For many years we cultivated an earthly hope but we have been given an opportunity to lift up our eyes toward Heaven. Praise God!
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