Themes Archive

What did Jesus mean when he said, "Upon this rock I will build my church"? Was Peter the first pope? Is it certain that Peter was ever in Rome? What are the facts?

THE government of Jehovah God is of paramount importance to all who are seeking the way to life.

What do such things as the Christmas tree with its trimmings and the holiday’s other accessories have to do with the birth and life of Christ? Where did the “Santa Claus” myth originate? If December 25 is Christ’s birthday, then why do the Eastern and Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on January 7?

“EXPERIENCE is the best teacher,” declares a popular slogan of the day. Because of their repetition and general acceptance, slogans such as this are often believed without being submitted to any careful scrutiny or examination. Everyone knows that experience is a teacher, and so the majority of persons allow that little but important word best to slide through unchallenged. However, it should not be allowed to pass, for it makes the slogan false.

“Charge them ... to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed.” - 1 Timothy 6:17-19

HOW do you choose that life in the new world? By raising your hand, by shouting ‘Aye’, by saying ‘Lord, I would like to live then’? No; you choose that life in the same way that you choose the present one. And how do you choose to live now? By breathing, drinking, eating, sleeping and working, yes; but stated more broadly, it is by the course of action that you take. And it is action, please note, that is not dictated or determined by you, but rather it is action according to the dictates of the body.

God created man with a desire to live. Why are you now breathing? Because you choose to live. You will drink some water today, because you choose to live. You will eat some food today, because you choose to live. For the same reason you will retire to sleep tonight. It is the revived and recuperated powers for more living that you enjoy upon waking. And when you wake up in the morning you will go to work. You may dislike your job, but you will work at it anyway to stay alive. Living is hard work. Being dead is easy. When you are dead you will be doing nothing, and nothing is easier than doing nothing. (Eccl. 9:5, 10) Yet even lazy people do what is necessary to live. Every sane person chooses to live.

Many religions teach that after death your immortal soul will live in either a heaven of bliss or a hell of torment. There is a world where man can live forever, but it is not one populated by immortal human souls. There is no such thing as an immortal human soul. The human soul is the human life, and when the person dies he is a dead soul, not an immortal one. The Bible uses this expression at Numbers 6:6: “He may not come toward any dead soul.” All imperfect human souls or creatures sin and the penalty for this is death: “The wages sin pays is death.” “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”—Rom. 6:23; Ezek. 18:4, AS.

We unquestionably enter a judgment period upon the second presence of Christ.

Jehovah God the Creator was the only One that could conceive of such a thing as the resurrection of the dead. He was the only One that could bring it to pass. It takes faith for us to believe God could raise the dead, and it was for the purpose of testing men’s faith in him that he gave the promise of a resurrection, doing so at the very time that "sin entered into the world, and death by sin". (Rom. 5: 12)