Downloadable Information Packets
Who Are Jehovah’s Witnesses?
An overview of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Europe, including a brief explanation of their core beliefs.
Benefits of Publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses
The religious literature produced by Jehovah’s Witnesses promotes understanding of the Bible and its practical benefits.
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Community
Jehovah’s Witnesses are socially integrated, attentive to the needs of the community in which they live, and respectful of the right of others to adhere to their personal beliefs.
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Public Ministry
Jehovah’s Witnesses cherish their right to freedom of expression. In exercising this right, they share the Bible’s message of good news with their neighbors.
Family Life
Jehovah’s Witnesses highly regard family life and strive to apply Bible principles in a way that benefits each family member. They value the right to educate their children in their religious beliefs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to ten frequently asked questions about Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Medical Care
Jehovah’s Witnesses seek nonblood medical management for their health-care needs. In exercising their right to bodily self-determination, they want the best medical treatment for themselves and their children.
Conscientious Objection to Military Service
International law recognizes conscientious objection to military service as a fundamental right. Jehovah’s Witnesses are grateful when governments show respect for their neutral political stand by providing alternative civilian service or by exempting them from military service.
Political Neutrality
Jehovah’s Witnesses are law-abiding citizens who subject themselves to governmental authorities while remaining neutral in political affairs.
Recognition in the European Union
An overview of the legal status of Jehovah’s Witnesses in European Union countries.
Assembling Together for Worship
Jehovah’s Witnesses appreciate the right to freedom of assembly and association. Their religious services feature Bible education and are open to the public.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moscow v. Russia”
A summary of the European Court of Human Rights judgment in favor of the Moscow Community of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Is Paradise Heaven? No! Read The Answer From Your Bible ? ?
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The Watchtower has shown that "paradise" can refer to heaven, future on earth, and even a spiritual "condition" on earth since 1919.
The last one, of course, is the third meaning of "paradise" which is the spiritual condition into which "a united theocratic society" has been brought into since 1919, per the quotes below which discuss whether the "New Heavens and a New Earth" of Isaiah are already here.
*** w83 3/15 pp. 24-25 “Be Joyful Forever” ***
“New Heavens and a New Earth”
. . . However, let us now examine Isaiah 65:17-19. Here the prophecy refers to Jehovah’s creating something new. Therefore, this “Jerusalem” must be the “New Jerusalem” that is now brought forth as “the daughter of Zion,” betrothed to the Bridegroom-King, Jesus Christ. (Isaiah 62:11) Jehovah says of this “bride”: “Here I am creating Jerusalem a cause for joyfulness and her people a cause for exultation.” Great is the joy of this heavenly “bride” in being brought to her full membership of 144,000, and in seeing also God’s creating of “a new earth”—a united theocratic society among mankind.—Revelation 21:1-5.
. . .
14 Logically, therefore, it is with regard to “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” brought with Christ, her bridegroom, into the governmental “new heavens,” that Jehovah says: “For here I am creating Jerusalem a cause for joyfulness and her people a cause for exultation.” (Isaiah 65:18) But how does the “new earth” enter into this joy?
“A New Earth” Rejoices
15 It is not only in the heavens but also right here upon this earth that Jehovah has brought forth “a cause for exultation.” For he has laid the foundations of “a new earth,” a godly society among humans that will expand until, in due course, it fills the entire globe, to Jehovah’s praise. (Isaiah 11:9) It was in the year 1919 that Jehovah caused his wifely “Jerusalem above” to bring forth a “land”—a most prosperous estate—into which he ushered the remaining ones of his spiritual Israel on earth. (Isaiah 66:8, 10, 22) This “land” has proved to be a spiritual paradise, and it is here that Jehovah’s people have been assembled as the nucleus of the “new earth.” There has been no need to wait until after the final tribulation to enter that spiritual paradise. It is already here!
16 Now that Jehovah’s people have been brought into this fruitful “land,” the grand prophecy of Isaiah chapter 62, relating to Zion, “the Jerusalem above,” has been fulfilled.
The Isaiah's Prophecy book goes into the 1919 date more explicitly, but even the image of getting along with cobras, and lions and lambs getting along are worked into this view.
*** w83 10/1 pp. 4-7 Can You Enjoy a Paradise Now? ***
Can You Enjoy a Paradise Now?
A PARADISE exists on earth today. It is extending farther and farther and is being enjoyed by millions of people. You, too, can be a part of it. Is this some idealistic dream? Not at all, for we are not speaking about a natural, earthly paradise but a spiritual one.
“What do you mean by a spiritual paradise?” you ask. Put simply: An organization of Christians who have made over their personalities to conform to God’s requirements and who are united in his true worship may be said to be in a spiritual paradise.
Where does the Bible give indication of a wonderful spiritual situation like this? What evidence is there that such a condition exists today?
The Wolf With the Lamb
There are a number of Bible prophecies that describe conditions that call to mind a paradise. A delightful description of such a paradise is found at Isaiah 11:6-9, which reads as follows:
“The wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand. They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”
Just imagine how pleasant it would be to live in tranquil surroundings like those described here, with total peace existing in such a marvelous way! This would restore the Paradise conditions that existed in the garden of Eden when animals and humans lived in that garden in perfect harmony. (Genesis 1:30; 2:8, 9, 19, 20) True Christians eagerly look forward to enjoying these grand blessings on an earth-wide scale in the future under the rule of the Messianic King, Jesus Christ. His rulership is described in Isaiah 11:1-5, the verses immediately preceding the ones quoted above. But are these sure-to-be-realized future blessings under the Kingdom rule the only fulfillment of Isaiah’s words?
No, this prophecy might also be said to portray a transformation of human personalities. In what way? Answers 18th-century Bible scholar Matthew Henry: “Men of the most fierce and furious dispositions, who used to bite and devour all about them, shall have their temper so strangely altered . . . that they shall live in love even with the weakest, and such as formerly they would have made an easy prey of.”
And another Bible scholar, Joseph Benson, wrote during the last century: “Men of fierce, cruel, and ungovernable dispositions shall be so transformed by the preaching of the gospel, and by the grace of Christ, that they shall become most humble, gentle, and tractable, and shall no more vex and persecute those meek and poor ones, mentioned [in] verse 4.”
Imagine that! Humans discarding former aggressive traits and putting on, instead, personalities marked by peacefulness and love! Not that such persons lose their identity. Isaiah does not say that the wolf becomes a lamb, but, rather, that its disposition changes so that it dwells peacefully with the lamb.
Similarly, in keeping with Isaiah’s words, humans with beastlike traits—who perhaps killed, exploited or otherwise victimized their fellowman—make over their personalities, getting along with other people who are peacefully disposed like the lamb. When such a situation comes to exist among people, the grand consequences may be spoken of as a spiritual paradise. But are Isaiah’s words really being fulfilled today?
A Spiritual Paradise—When?
A corresponding prophecy in the book of Isaiah helps us to locate the time when this marvelous spiritual condition begins to be realized. We read at Isaiah 2:2-4:
“It must occur in the final part of the days that the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established above the top of the mountains, and it will certainly be lifted up above the hills; and to it all the nations must stream. . . . And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”
Notice that a similar transformation is described—people becoming peacefully disposed, ‘beating swords into plowshares.’ When would this happen? “In the final part of the days,” answers the Bible prophecy. As has been shown many times in The Watchtower, this system of things has been in the last days since the year 1914. Therefore, we must now be living in the time when Isaiah 11:6-9 is having an application. A grand spiritual situation must now exist! ‘But where?’ you ask.
Taming the Personality
The taming of personalities, as shown by Isaiah’s prophecy, is being repeated many times over among sincere persons who, upon learning Bible truth, have ‘made their minds over’ and ‘put on a new personality.’ (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23, 24) Consider the following example:
David is a big, brawny young man who grew up on a farm in Minnesota, in the United States.. . . Yet this formerly violent young man did not retaliate! He just walked away. What a remarkable change in personality! This “wolf” is now getting along peacefully with “lambs,” serving as an elder and as a full-time minister in the congregation.
. . .
The above experiences can be multiplied over and over again in the 45,000 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide. . . .
But it is not that Jehovah’s Witnesses take the credit for achieving the condition pointed to at Isaiah 11:6-9. No, there is only one force in the universe that can cause people to make such drastic changes in their disposition. That force is God’s holy spirit. (Galatians 5:22, 23) . . .
Why not learn more about paradise? See why Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoy such comparative peace, contentment, happiness and unity—things you no doubt readily associate with paradise. Learn how you, too, can enjoy such a paradise right now!
The view that Isaiah is now being fulfilled is not intended to negate the view that it refers to future paradise, too.