Christian Photographers Community

I'm posting a picture for your perusal, came from a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet, which I scanned, it shows their concept of a paradise earth. What I'm asking is for you to read this picture, tell me what you see, try reading between the lines, I'm saying nothing about it, but I saw it straight away, remembering (and this is the only clue) that these people have survived, or been resurected, and are living life after Jehovah, has destroyed civilization at Armageddon. When you begin to see it, its fascinating, you'll see one thing after another, paradise???

First off, what you are seeing are people either resurected from the dead, or have come through Armageddon, enjoying living forever in a paradise earth, remember the booklet, You Too Can Live Forever in a Paradise Earth? Well here it is, paradise earth. The first thing I noticed were the vegetables, the only time I find mention of vegetables was when the Children of Israel wanted to return to their bondage in Egypt, in order to escape the constant hunger they were facing daily. Vegetables in scriptural terms are synonymous of cruel bondage, bitterness, and slavery. The promised land, was a land overflowing with milk and honey, and the best fruit you could ever taste outside the Garden of Eden. Remember, Adam was put outside the garden to till the ground by the sweat of his brow.

Vegetables, well I suppose you can eat them raw, but generally they need cooking, and that needs fire, and fire needs fuel, coal or wood, then pans to cook them in, "Johnny go and chop some firewood so we can have dinner, will you?" "No its Jamie's turn to chop wood, 'why do I have to do it all the time, thought this was supposed to be paradise?" "Chop the wood, don't argue." Alright then suppose they are eating raw vegetables, why the need for the wheelbarrow? you just gather what you want and enjoy them. Where's the wheelbarrow come from anyway, looks like its come from a hardware shop, but they were all destroyed at armageddon with the rest of the trappings of civilization. Anyway I don't think trundling a wheelbarrow around is my idea of enjoying paradise
   If we're not cutting down trees for kindling then the other alternative is, someone's mining coal and hauling it, "You go and dig the coal for a change, I never get chance to sit in the sun and watch the flowers grow. Why grow flower beds anyway, when its a God made paradise, they'd be everywhere, every variety just growing wild, for all to enjoy. "Those cattle look nice and fattened, a juicy steak would just go a treat with those veggies." This is food to keep the inhabitants of paradise earth alive, and after they have been resurrected from the dead to live forever?

Just look at those wonderful clothes, all designer labels, came from the best fashion stores in town, "I wanted that jumper. "Well you know what they say? 'First come first served, and I got there first. "Can I wear it for a bit then?" "No you jolly well can't."

Who wouldn't like to have one of those desireable homes set on the hill, a cosy roof over your head, a place to call your own, keep out the winters chill. "No winter," you say, after all this is paradise earth. So what's with the barn being constructed? A barn is there to store food and grain during times of winter and shortages. But this is paradise. Homes and barns are shelters in times of inclement weather, and a home would be pretty draughty with out doors and windows, wouldn't it? And those are window frames in that house, I take it? If that's the case, "Who's making the glass?" Now paradise earth is taking on a slightly different aspect. Plate glass making is a fairly heavy industrial process, you need the sand, the electricity, lots of heat to smelt the glass, and rolling mills to make the panes, and of course glass would be useless without the putty, and then its all got to be transported.

Aren't those houses nicely painted? "Did someone mention paint." "Well yes, they have been painted haven't they?" "Ur, yes!" "Then who's refining the pigments, and the oil, and all the other ingredients needed?" Paint also needs to be put in tins with a lid on to stop it skinning over, you may also need some brushes, and turps to clean the brushes, and a bit of soap to wash up after. "I didn't think about that one.

"Now look at that barn, we've built one bigger than ever, this time." "Scuse me but wasn't there something about a man who who built himself bigger barns, in one of the gospels, and God told him how foolish he was?" "Oh I forgot about that." That barn your building over there." "What about it?" "Well unless I'm mistaken the timber looks like its been through the saw mills and machine planed, on flatbed planers, I guess the same electricity that supplies the glass making plants is supplying electricity to the sawmills?" "Well you could be right there."

So this paradise earth seems quite an industrious and happy place all round, not that much different to life on earth now. "Just one more point if I may trouble you, the workmen on the barn seem to be wearing hard hats, this is paradise earth after all, a place for the redeemed of God to live happily ever after, free from disease, and all the things which troubled mankind in our present age." "What about it, its just a precaution?" "So hard hats are there to help prevent head injuries, so you've been resurrected from the dead given eternal life, and you can still suffer physical injury, or that's what wearing hard hats seems to imply. All the hospitals went at Armageddon, so if someone fell from that scaffolding, they could theoretically break a leg or worse, how are they going to fare in such a situation, quite apart from the obvious pain? 'And those hard hats, don't tell me there is injection molding going on somewhere, I don't know about?

Man with wheelbarrow. "Why the hell am I trundling this thing miles every day when I can have myself a nice little tractor and trailer to do the work for me?" nough said.

It definitely doesn't appear to have a lot of thought put into it.

I do have a few comments on your statements though.

One thing I disagree with in your assessment of the photo is the concept of work. I can't imagine life being paradise if a person couldn't be industrious or make use of natural talents. There are people who can make intricate and beautiful carvings, make beautiful structures, have a talent for story-telling and love to write...the list can go on and on!

The other thing is the concept of being hurt. Different plants and such contain healing properties. While I believe there will not be genetic defects, cancers, and those types of illnesses, I find it hard to believe that nobody would ever fall off a horse, stub their toe, or run into a tree of paradise. (that last one would be me!)

Can you imagine not building houses or using fire for anything? Go ahead and imagine a perfect growth habitat for trees and plants, then imagine not touching them for 10,000 years. Adam was given dominion for a purpose! I can't believe they were meant to wander about aimlessly, plucking an occasional piece of fruit and admiring the scenery from then to eternity. We are innately purposeful. Without purpose we have no direction, and with no direction we become lost, confused, and mentally unstable. It is a method of punishment to take away productivity from a person! Certainly there are lazy people, but they still do stuff...it's just a lot more self-serving then average!