Heaven and Earth
I had a very interesting visit from the Jehovah’s Witnesses a few weeks ago. I was in my front room, painting, when the knock came on the door. After briefly calculating how long it would take to get rid of them, I went to the door. They were very nice girls who very nicely concealed their shock at my wild appearance (faded black T-shirt, paintbrush (clean) holding up my hair, and the long skirt I made out of an old pair of jeans which is my paint rag - why waste paper towels when you can wipe your brush on your leg?). Having caught them on the back foot, I got down to business. I very nicely said that I was a Christian and would never in a million years convert to JW, but that I was interested in what they believed. On those terms, would they be willing to explain it to me? They said they would.
“Right,” I said. “Tell me in a few words - like, a sentence - what you believe.”
So one of them started talking about a very complicated system of heavens and earths which didn’t mention God at all and which I couldn’t make head nor tail of. It was really interesting. I’ve always thought that if you have to explain a religion too much - if it’s too complicated - it can’t really appeal to everyone, which is of course the point. I mean really, Scientology? You practically need a Phd to understand it. Whereas Christianity can be explained in a sentence; “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died to save anyone who believed in him from their sin, and that believing in him is the only way to know God.”
At the end of 15 minutes when I’d really learned nothing about their religion except that they knew their Bibles a lot better than me, I said “So, let’s get this straight. I believe in the Lord, I live my life for him, as you say you do. Answer me honestly - do you believe you’ll see me in heaven?”
“Well, no.” answered one.
“But it’s OK,” the other one hastened to explain, “because we won’t be there either.”
“Why not?” I asked, astonished.
“Oh, we’re not nearly good enough.” she explained. “Only 144,000 people get to go to heaven and we’ll never get there, so we’re just trying to get to the new earth.”
I thought that was indescribably sad. Two beautiful girls learning their Bibles for hours upon hours and trudging through the rain to get doors slammed in their faces, all for something that involved no personal relationship with Jesus and with no hope of a life in heaven with Him. All they wanted was second-best, because that’s all they thought they could achieve. When over and over, Jesus said that he loves us all equally and doesn’t want to be parted from a single one of us. I feel bad about not knowing my Bible as well as I should, but I do know that.
“Right,” I said. “Tell me in a few words - like, a sentence - what you believe.”
So one of them started talking about a very complicated system of heavens and earths which didn’t mention God at all and which I couldn’t make head nor tail of. It was really interesting. I’ve always thought that if you have to explain a religion too much - if it’s too complicated - it can’t really appeal to everyone, which is of course the point. I mean really, Scientology? You practically need a Phd to understand it. Whereas Christianity can be explained in a sentence; “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died to save anyone who believed in him from their sin, and that believing in him is the only way to know God.”
At the end of 15 minutes when I’d really learned nothing about their religion except that they knew their Bibles a lot better than me, I said “So, let’s get this straight. I believe in the Lord, I live my life for him, as you say you do. Answer me honestly - do you believe you’ll see me in heaven?”
“Well, no.” answered one.
“But it’s OK,” the other one hastened to explain, “because we won’t be there either.”
“Why not?” I asked, astonished.
“Oh, we’re not nearly good enough.” she explained. “Only 144,000 people get to go to heaven and we’ll never get there, so we’re just trying to get to the new earth.”
I thought that was indescribably sad. Two beautiful girls learning their Bibles for hours upon hours and trudging through the rain to get doors slammed in their faces, all for something that involved no personal relationship with Jesus and with no hope of a life in heaven with Him. All they wanted was second-best, because that’s all they thought they could achieve. When over and over, Jesus said that he loves us all equally and doesn’t want to be parted from a single one of us. I feel bad about not knowing my Bible as well as I should, but I do know that.