Pudgy

I've had the same chill for the last few days.  I believe now seeing a traditional comma out of place, may prove this chill  isn't from covid.  
 

As regards the thread topic “Paradise … Will It Come?”, perhaps in our lifetimes …. Perhaps not, but some peoples’ concept of “Paradise” may not be exactly as expected.

(….. Pudgy feels a sudden chill in the room, as if someone has pulled a sharpened wooden stake from the lifeless heart of Wally McNasty, and ….. naw …. Probably just a semantic coincidence …..).
For some strange reason, all of a sudden I feel the need to buy LOTS of garlic …. 
…. perhaps a touch of Covid-19 going around, no more.

If we were both watching your dog and I said to you: " your dog does that, just like my my cat".  And you say: "why?" .... and I explain: "your dog yawns with a long, stretchy abandon just as my cat does". .......Should you be satisfied with that explanation?..... or  go on and on and try to find many more small little things which are similar between my cat and your dog? 
That would be excessive would it not?  I was making only one comparison - they yawn the same.
Similarly, Jesus was only focusing on his death that would happen in future and he called it a sign - which event has a single similarity to the experience of Jonah. What was similar? Jonah was imprisoned in the belly of a fish for 3 days and then he was miraculously released.  Jesus was  imprisoned in death for 3 days and then miraculously released in resurrection.  - that was the sign.
To go and find out if there are many more little similarities or discrepancies between Jesus and Jonah, going into the number of hours, finding out if Jonah was in a coma within the fish, or dead and then came alive,,, that would be missing the point of the sign that Jesus spoke about.
It was a sign to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus knew he would die sometime on Nissan 14 (depending on how long they would take to convict and murder him), because on the original Passover, the  lamb was sacrificed on that date.....and Jesus knew the Law well. He knew the first fruit festival was on Nissan 16 - the second day of the unfermented cakes - and that sometime on that day Jehovah would resurrect him....as the First Fruit to a heavenly life  with a spiritual body.  He gave that as a sign that he was the Messiah.  His death and release.  The messiah came to provide us with a perfect Passover lamb - to be sacrificed and provide the ransom.

Warning! @Peter Carroll
"As far as it depends upon you, be peaceable with all men."
Please try to be nice, be respectful.
It is ok to disagree.... state that simply without the emotionally charged adjectives as much as possible.
 

So very true …. that is why mental “sharpness” includes rejecting all scripture that is quoted out of context, by self aggrandizers who tell you that God is all powerful, but needs THEM … and YOUR money!

So very true …. that is why mental “sharpness” includes rejecting all scripture that is quoted out of context, by self aggrandizers who tell you that God is all powerful, but needs THEM … and YOUR money!

I'm seriously processing everyone's input. I don't want anyone to feel discredited or annoyed because of my participation. If anyone feels, I should not participate, please speak out, thanks.

I am sure there is a correct answer, but does it really matter? What I have been trying to convey with my quasi-satirical comments is that in my opinion it doesn’t really matter, and when you try to conflate several things that won’t fit, and can’t fit, wanting to make them fit, and seeing that they might fit, and then it would be fitting if they did fit or they fit or not, it’s enough to give you a fit.
….. meanwhile, it’s all a distraction to keep one from and the important things like  justice and truth and righteousness, and fairness and equity in the brotherhood…… And making sure that orphans and the disadvantaged have food in the refrigerator and clothes on their backs,And have sound guidance and a warm place to sleep.
I know too well how easy it is to get distracted by irrelevant things, and lose sight of important things. Been there, done that.

…. and thanks again to JWI for the “heavy lifting”!

I am sure there is a correct answer, but does it really matter? What I have been trying to convey with my quasi-satirical comments is that in my opinion it doesn’t really matter, and when you try to conflate several things that won’t fit, and can’t fit, wanting to make them fit, and seeing that they might fit, and then it would be fitting if they did fit or they fit or not, it’s enough to give you a fit.
….. meanwhile, it’s all a distraction to keep one from and the important things like  justice and truth and righteousness, and fairness and equity in the brotherhood…… And making sure that orphans and the disadvantaged have food in the refrigerator and clothes on their backs,And have sound guidance and a warm place to sleep.
I know too well how easy it is to get distracted by irrelevant things, and lose sight of important things. Been there, done that.

I am sure there is a correct answer, but does it really matter? What I have been trying to convey with my quasi-satirical comments is that in my opinion it doesn’t really matter, and when you try to conflate several things that won’t fit, and can’t fit, wanting to make them fit, and seeing that they might fit, and then it would be fitting if they did fit or they fit or not, it’s enough to give you a fit.
….. meanwhile, it’s all a distraction to keep one from and the important things like  justice and truth and righteousness, and fairness and equity in the brotherhood…… And making sure that orphans and the disadvantaged have food in the refrigerator and clothes on their backs,And have sound guidance and a warm place to sleep.
I know too well how easy it is to get distracted by irrelevant things, and lose sight of important things. Been there, done that.

See…. It did not subtract from your scholarly reply at all!

No. Because the night on the third day would not have been completed before dawn of that second day.
If someone dies on Friday afternoon and they are buried that Friday night, then the night of the first day is completed on Saturday. The night of the second day is therefore begun on the next night, Saturday night, and completed on the dawn of that second day which is Sunday morning. The night of the third day, would have been completed, therefore on Monday morning.
This is true even in our current conception of when a day begins, but would have been even clearer with the Jewish conception of when a day began, because their day started with nightfall.
You can begin the start of his judgment then if you wish, but the sign of Jonah was that he was in "Sheol" for three days and three nights. Christians saw no need to take this to any kind of literal count of hours. The very fact that it could apply when Jesus may have been in Sheol for only two nights is good evidence that there was no good reason to try to count the exact hours to make something spiritually significant out of them.

( ….. biting satire alert for previous post …. Woogah! Woogah! …. )

The Bible does not say that Jesus was resurrected at dawn. It says that the women came to the tomb just before or just after dawn, while it was still dark, and found that the stone had already been rolled away. So the resurrection could have taken place at any time during that night. So instead of 12 hours by 7am it could have been as few as 1 or 2 hours, or perhaps 10pm that night, or midnight, or 2am or 4am or 5am. All we know for sure is that it happened BEFORE dawn not "AT dawn" as you claim.
Also, Nisan 16 can be as early in the year as March 22, and as late as April 23. So sunrise/dawn can be as early as 6:04am on April 23 or as late as 6:55am on March 22. Anywhere within In any time zone in the world, that's nearly a full hour's difference. In other words, even if we knew for sure that the women had actually just got there at the time of the resurrection, you would still be guessing if you claim that dawn was at 7:00am when it could have been at 6:00am.
Personally, I think the Bible writers are implying that it was close to dawn, but perhaps at a time during the night when guards would have potentially been sleeping. Later Christian tradition has the guards waking up their centurion and others to tell them the "bad" news, which doesn't mean much on its own, except that it shows no evidence of a 40-hour tradition here or in any early commentary. This, in spite of the fact, that there was a 40-day tradition about the temptation and the ascension. Surely if a 40 hour tradition was going to be of any import to "spiritual discernment" then the Bible would have given specific evidence that it was 40 hours, and not somewhere between about a 29-hour minimum and a 39-hour maximum.
With respect to this time period, the only tradition that we know that the early Christians held onto was the idea that it was like the sign of Jonah which was parts of 3 days and 3 nights. Unfortunately you can't translate 3 days and 3 nights to less than about 60 hours or more than about 72 hours. This is probably why some early Christian traditions start Jesus' death on Wednesday or Thursday (Nisan 13), and some say this is also a potential interpretation reflected in the Bible accounts.

See…. It did not subtract from your scholarly reply at all!

… and of course he ate fish, on Friday!

Many a person is in full expectation of that time when all those with a sense of humor will be wiped off the face of the Earth.

Understanding the “Sign of the Son of Man”, to me is an optional bonus, akin to knowing that Mr Ed the talking horse’s real name was Bamboo Harvester …. A fascinating piece of trivia that if you know about it or you do not …. It’s all the same …. Because there is absolutely NOTHING anyone can do about it ….. either way.
The same as knowing about the “Shirt of the Son of Kool Aide”.

Yet again a pretend servant of God is full of insults. A woman that moans about others being rude or insulting. 
It is as Yeshua said. It is what comes out of the mouth, or in this case the written word, that defiles a person. 

Multi-national but all american GB  . 
It's me that has been saying for a looong time, that the True Anointed would be from different parts of the Earth. 
Your org is not multi national in the true sense. It is american run, american dictated. Hence it has no love, no mercy, and does not care about the collateral damage. Satan uses the american way to protect your immoral Org. This can be seen by the ARC, Charity Commision, IICSA, Reclaimed Voices, and others that have brought the CSA in the JW org out into the light. Whereas the amercian way allows your GB and their lawyers to continue to hide Pedophiles in the american part of the Org and to continue to hide that 25 + year database. 
To think that in Australia, Netherlands, UK the truth has been revealed. BUT in America the GB continue to build their castles and hide the truth. And you people still worship them. 

yeah