Rev 7:1-8 “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.” ok... without getting into whoever's in with the benjamin's or the issachar's, do any of you think you'll be one of the 144,000 that get to go hang out in heaven? since they're all from israel, are all americans fucked? what about the russians? and since there are 2.1 billion estimated christians, you almost have as good of chance as winning the lottery. thoughts? powerball # suggestions?
I don't want to go, you can have my place. 1444,333B, row 435. Bit far from the toilets, but you got an aisle seat.... MelT
Maybe that just means that heaven is packed and we will have to take a number Oh well... *watches clock*
I kindly decline my seat. I've got a front row ticket, but I don't think I could handle that much bullshit being spewed at me from such a close distance.. I think Smigs would be much happier in my place.
“The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go” ~ Galileo Galilei That pretty much sums up my view
"The gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." -Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount
True that. I'd like to meet the devil, he seems like a cool cat. I myself was never a big fan of succumbing to authority.
i'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but you didn't say you'd think you'd be going, so i guess none of us will actually make it there. what should we do for the rest of our lives instead?
Pretty miraculous that someone remembered his exact words 40+ years after he made the speech. I call bullshit.
revelations is a joke and the way many take it supprises me. plus hell would be way funner, i dont want to go to crappy heaven.
I don't think any of us should expect to go to heaven... Theoretically, we should all go to hell, I think, according to the bible. OR if God is merciful, then we should ALL go to heaven, imo. there should be no in between. "Rewarding the believers" would be unethical of God. And God is supposed to be pure and just and perfect. But then God is not perfect bc he created the flood in the old testament that killed off most of humanity for one. And throughout the bible he is shown to be at times unjust, unmerciful...violent. Therefore, if God is not just, not perfect, not pure, what is God? then is he an elitist? Does he make mistakes? Is God wrong? In which case, why the hell would you want to go to heaven? I think, it would be selfish to accept the reward of heaven or enlightenment or anything like that. Because what good is there in accepting this infinite, eternal reward, while the rest of humanity suffers?... It's a Catch-22.
I think I've made a few posts here where I've said I've studied a good amount of different religions, and I happen to be a Christian. Either way I just want to clarify that it is Jehovah's Witness groups that believe 144,000 will be the only ones to get "saved" Christians believe differently, a few more versus down that man John mentions a great multitude dressed in white robes, holding palm branches, a group of men without number (whom also receive entry into the hadean realm, [heaven]) I don't want to get into the details, because frankly, I don't want to be little another's beliefs. That's just not right, and any Jehovah's witness reading what I said would be a bit upset heh. Regardless Christian's don't believe only the twelve tribes are getting in (the 144,000) mentioned, they also believe that the great multitude of men beyond count, mentioned later, also receives their entry ( that multitude being the billions of saved men and women throughout history.) If you really want to know about Jehovah's Witness groups search on google key words such as "the watch tower" "Jehovah's Witness watch tower" or the "year 1935 watch tower theory" You should find good answers about their beliefs and a Christians. Later guys.
That's because this God is frightfully as human as we are, contradictory in nature but able to say otherwise. I really wonder why that is??...
Afterlife is an artificial idea humans have created to attempt to understand their ever increasing, ever complicated world, as is their fitting role as the first wholly conscious beings. We are a group of rocks, thrown into the air, and reaching the apex of our flight, have been given conscious thought. We are miniscule and largely naive, for the most part, but our illusion of free will gives us cause to supply a reason about why are we in the air, how we got there, and where we will land. The only 'afterlife' I can imagine is some sort of infinite pool of consciousness, as per some theory saying energy exists forever. A sort of mash up of all our thoughts. Kind of like an eternal "Silly Tie Friday" at work. It just kind of happens and you get to wear a Spongebob tie. Ok, its not like that at all. ...ever so quietly, the outsider slides out the side exit...
This passage is not saying that only 144,000 people will make it to heaven... Taken IN context, it's saying that 144,000 Jews will get saved (recognize Christ as Messiah), and they'll go out through the world and evangelize the planet (See the verses before and after it for context)... And because of this event an "innumerable" amount of people will be saved... Gotta love it when people don't read the verses before/after a specific verse as to keep it in context, lmao!
Well all I know is Jesus may love you guys, but I'm his favorite, so I'll definitely be watching this world go down on big screen
well that's the most incredible simile i've ever seen for any phrase, but i guess i'm not sure which parts of the bible are supposed to be taken literally and which ones are you're supposed to add your own meanings. almost like the bible is one giant mad libs.