Jehovah Witness and Matthew 5:4

cor5755 · Apr 19, 2011

Hello all, I heard a question on Catholic Radio the other day and wondered a good response. A caller has been discussing religious beliefs with a Jehovah’s Witness and the Witness asked the question what did Jesus mean when he said that the meek shall inherit the earth? The implication is that this backs up their teachings. just looking for possible Catholic answers to this in case I am asked this question myself. thanks

Anthony_V · Apr 19, 2011

When taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended), the statement is very literal in meaning. In Hebrew context, earth and mammon are almost always synonymous. If you are meek, you will inherit great treasures because God can trust you with them. When God gives these earthly treasures to the meek, they give them back to God and the circle of love continues.

valentino · Apr 19, 2011

it means that the meek will be taken care of.Like the Isrealites were to be taken care of in the land of milk and honey which they were promised.

marica_mandic · Apr 20, 2011

The meek do not use violent for their aims, they grow spiritualy.
They belive in God*s promises.

phoage · Apr 20, 2011

Like much of the Bible, the Beatitudes cannot be taken out of context as many bible thumpers tend to do.

This has to be taken as a whole. the first part:
Blessed ar the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was not talking about those who have no money. He was talking about those who are poor in Spirit, who have come to realize, in their heart of hearts that they are didily without God. God has given them everything and everything they are and do is from him. They have no reason at all for any pride. When they understand that and act that, they will inherit the Kingdom.

The rest of the beatitudes preceed from that.

Those who morn (their failure to meet God’s will)
Those who are meek (and truly have no personal pride at all)
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (their own personal righteousness, not that of others)
Those who are merciful (If you realize that God is everything and you are nothing, if you are trying for personal righteousness, then mercy is almost automatic)
Those who are clean of heart( following all the above tends toward a clean heart)
Those who are peacemakers (which folllows from the above as night folllows day.
Those who are presecuted for righteousness (the world tends toward this and this one is probably more in line with a warning of things to come)

And even the beatitudes have to be taken in light of the entire Sermon on the Mout (or in the Plain if you like Luke) as this is part of Jesus’ extention of the rules the raising of the standard of behaivior for those who would follow him.

Beware out of context Bible quotes.

T_More · Apr 20, 2011

If memory serves, the more accurate translation is “land” instead of “earth”, but, it can be translated either way. In the these same beatitudes, JW’s cannot explain these verses (bold mine):

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

ANNE_2 · Apr 20, 2011

JWs do not believe in the Trinity.
They do not believe that Jesus is God.
Therefore they are not ‘Christian’, even though they say they are.

They rewrote their own bible, to conform to their own founder’s beliefs. You would need to see a “Watchtower Bible” to compare Bible passages.

(JWs are permitted to read Christian bibles.)

In the back of the Watchtower Bible, they specifically denounce the Catholic Mass.

They predicted the end of the world 4 or 5 times, each time being wrong.

They believe only 144,000 will get to Heaven. Only faithful JW’s from 1879 (the year the Watchtower started) till 1935 were chosen for this special role.

towerwatch.com/Witnesses/Beliefs/their_beliefs.htm

towerwatch.com/

bogeydogg · Apr 20, 2011

Jesus is teaching man’s natural view of the world (get all you can can all you get) is upside down. It is not the proud and the greedy who will inherit but the meek and the lowly who treasure God and not the world.

Ask you JW buddies what they make of the end of Revelation when the Bible says that Heaven will be on the New Earth in the New Jerusalem when God Himself comes down to dwell the resurrected of the Earth. If the Earth is the place of lesser reward than Heaven, then where is this Heaven they look forward to since God will not be there?

God Bless

cor5755 · Apr 20, 2011

thank you all for the terriffic answers! God Bless!

Cashue · Apr 21, 2011

I found this:

Footnote: From our Catechism under: THE HOPE OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH (IV)
scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a12.htm

1042 … The universe itself will be renewed: …] At that time, together with the human race,the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ.631

1043 …this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, … It will be the definitive realization of God’s plan to bring under a single head “all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.”

1046 For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of the material world and man: … the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. . . . We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not

1047 The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, “so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just,” sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.640

So clearly the Jehovah’s Witness teaching that the earth will be transformed and restored to its original paradise is false.

Hope this helps,

God Bless!

bogeydogg · Apr 21, 2011

no one ever said the earth will be restored we said God will descend and reign on earth with the saved. The JW teach that only the 144000 will be in heaven w/ God and the rest save don a new earth, but the Bible teaches God will be on the new earth so???

onlyvoice · Apr 23, 2011

We have this in the psalms: “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves int the abundance of peace” (Psalm 31:11). Jesus merely confirmed an Old Testament teaching – and a promise.

God promised Abraham and his children possession of a piece of land: “…unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18). That promise was later magnified: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession…” (Gen. 17:8).

The promise of eternal possession is made possible through Christ: “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15). Christ’s death made it possible for man to attain eternal life to now be able to eternally possess what He had promised him.

But long after Christ’s death and resurrection that promise was yet to be fulfilled as we read in the book of Hebrews that, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off…” (Heb. 11:13).

Jesus came only to “**confirm the promises **made unto the fathers” (Rom. 15:8), not to make good on that promise – yet. That’s why He said, “Blessed are the meek for they SHALL [in the future] inherit the earth.”

The NT reveals a much bigger promised land for Abraham and his children: “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:13). The promise now includes the whole world for an everlasting possession.

What the OT taught about inheriting the earth can now be understood in light of the NT revelation. So, when we read in the Psalms that, “What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 25:12-13), we can now know that this is speaking of God’s promise to Abraham. Also, when we read that, “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever” (Psalm 37:29), we can now understand how this promise can be made possible.

On His “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus opened our understanding to an Old Testament teaching. The righteous (meekness is one character trait of a righteous person) shall inherit the earth forever when he shall (future time) be in God’s Kingdom on earth – to “possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever” (Daniel 7:18).

This will happen when, “the Son of man will come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,” when “he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left,” and when “the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, INHERIT the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:31-34).

bogeydogg · Apr 23, 2011

Yup the meek shall inherit the earth because they shall be among the saved.

fhansen · Apr 23, 2011

Scripture tells us that God exalts the humble and opposes the proud. The JWs see the CC as a big, arrogant, authoritarian structure leading people into darkness-and themselves as the meek little persecuted truth-bearers. Their anti-Catholic tirades go back decades. Maybe that’s why they bring this passage up.

James224 · Apr 23, 2011

It’s probably a set up. When it says the “meek shall inherit the earth” the “earth” is referring to the “New Earth” after the Final Judgment which is referring to heaven (Is 65:17, 2 Pet 3:13). They will probably say this points to the meek staying here on earth but no one knows for sure what purpose the earth will be used for . I don’t know enough about the JW’s to say which way they will go but this is a possibility.

mackbrislawn · Apr 23, 2011

I agree that it is a set up. Since Christians believe in “going to heaven” when we die, Witnesses will respond that no, we (the meek) will inherit the earth, and stay on earth, not heaven. Only the 144,000 go to heaven. The rest of us remain on earth. So, it is used as a set up device to show how Christendom is wrong.

What the Witnesses do not realize, is that heaven comes down to earth. Earth becomes heaven, as has been pointed out previously on this thread. So the answer to the Witnesses is yes, the meek Christians do inherit the earth, but that does not preclude heaven either.

jbravo71 · Apr 24, 2011

Yep they changed the wording of the scriptures where Jesus our Lord said before abraham came into being IAM… to
i have been JN 8:58 other include JN1:1 The word was God they changed it to say was A god

jbravo71 · Apr 24, 2011

there’s a whole bunch of scripture they distort & twist to fit the teachings

TimothyH · Apr 25, 2011

“Meek” historically has meant “Obedient” and “Submissive” more than it has meant humble, quiet or non-assertive as it has in modern times.

mackbrislawn · Apr 25, 2011

Witnesses will also tell you it means “teachable.” They hope this will soften you up so you will become teachable, obedient, and submissive to them!

Jehovah Witness and Matthew 5:4

cor5755

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