Is heaven relevant to the Jehovah’s Witness?

The main known faith systems have some concept of the afterlife. In Christianity, we understand heaven as the realm of God’s throne, the place of His reign. We can be with God when our lives on earth end, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We also have a promise of a ‘new heaven and new earth’.

In Hinduism, the goal is reaching a state of liberation (moksha) and becoming ‘one’ with Brahman/higher consciousness. In Buddhism, (founded by a Hindu feeling dissatisfied with life’s problems) it’s about attaining enlightenment (Nirvana), with the concept of meeting God as Creator not really relevant. In Islam, there is the promise of Paradise, which offers men in particular some pleasures that are more carnal than heavenly. For Jehovah’s Witnesses, adherents to the Watchtower organisation’s interpretation of things, a heavenly afterlife may be an anti-climax, as many worshipers are not expected to arrive there.

One day, I had music playing through my earphones as I opened my front door to go out… and nearly jumped out of my skin.  There was a lady standing right on my doorstep, and I hadn’t heard her ring the doorbell.  Another lady was also standing to the side on my steps.  They were, of course, from the famous Watchtower organisation – active Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

The first lady proceeded to offer me a magazine entitled ‘You can be close to God’.  I was keen to let her know that I have become close to God through Christ Jesus, which led to an interesting discussion/debate on relationship with God.  I stated that I am a ‘born again Christian’ and asked these two pleasant ladies if they would consider themselves to be ‘born again’.  One of them said “not in the way you mean” (my slight paraphrase).  This led to the obvious glaring problem that the Watchtower has indoctrinated into it’s subjects.  One of the difficulties JW people have is regarding the Holy Spirit being able to dwell ‘in’ believers.  They are taught that the Spirit of God is just a ‘force’ that helps us, not part of the Godhead.  So the concept of having God ‘in’ us in some way baffles them.  However, they sounded quite confident about their faith in Jesus, as the first lady stated that she has accepted Jesus as her Saviour.  I stated that Jesus taught how we must be ‘born again’.  This then led to another issue of false indoctrination from the Watchtower – that many JW people will not be going up to heaven, but are simply looking forward to an earthly paradise at a future point, and they would just be in a state of death in the meantime until Jehovah revives them in that future. 

These ladies were keen to tell me that they are looking forward to this earthly kingdom.  I told them that in Philippians it is written “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 3:20).  One of the ladies commented about not needing to go to heaven, because of waiting for the earthly kingdom. They are taught that only 144,000 believers will go to heaven.  The rest are simply waiting for God’s kingdom to be established on earth.  This is due to a significant misinterpretation of God’s Word in Revelation and other passages.  Therefore, when we pass away from this life, they believe there will just be nothing happening for us until the earthly Paradise comes. jw.org/myth-the-soul-is-immortal. 

The ‘two hopes’ of the Watchtower doctrine – two classes of ‘believers’

This is a ‘two hopes’ doctrine, which splits believers into two camps – the ‘anointed’ 144,000 and the rest of mankind. The Watchtower strive to make their point about this by taking Bible verses out of context. I will take you through one of their arguments.

King David is not in heaven, according to Watchtower teachings. They refer to Acts 2:29 onwards, where the apostle Peter was actually making a point about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter referred to David’s prophetic expression about the promised Messiah. Peter made a statement that David is ‘dead and buried’. The Watchtower organisation interprets this to mean that David did not go to heaven, to reinforce their false doctrine concerning the separate earthly hope and heavenly hope. But is this a reasonable interpretation? David spoke, quoted in Acts 2:27 “For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” Taken in the proper context, we see that Peter was simply highlighting that David had written about Jesus rising from the grave. It was not about David not being accepted into heaven, but a comparison between David’s death and the Lord’s death.

King David – described in the Bible as a man ‘after God’s own heart’, was just dead according to the JW understanding, waiting for a future earth to be wakened up to! (They make a similar argument about Job). Faithful men of God (not perfect men, but faithful) become inadvertently demeaned by the doctrinal gymnastics of the Watchtower! You can read some of their misinterpretations here. On a side note, it is true that God will bring about a new heaven and new earth, which I won’t explore here.

Going back to the two dear ladies at my door… I told them as kindly as I could that if they are not born again, they are unregenerated – still in their sins, and that I hope one day that will change.  I told them I take the words of Jesus Christ seriously when He says we must be ‘born again’ to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Unfortunately, it is an area of blindness for the JW person. It’s ironic that they should have a magazine entitled “you can be close to God” and yet not have a personal relationship with the Almighty.  I therefore left the encounter praying that God will show them truth.

It is so important that we diligently read and study the holy Bible for ourselves, and that we do not let those teaching false doctrine go unchallenged in their mishandling of what is written. A careful response with the love of Christ could plant a vital seed of truth that will germinate in the person’s heart.

but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

1 Peter 3:15