What Is the Spiritual Paradise

One thing that makes Jehovah's Witnesses stand out is their appreciation for Bible knowledge.  They believe that the Bible is true and that it is God's Word.  Hence, they are not satisfied merely to know the basics of their religion.  They have an ongoing program of personal study and Bible reading.  The longer a person associates with Jehovah's Witnesses, the more he learns about God and His will as revealed in the Bible.

Such knowledge frees Jehovah's Witnesses from things that rob people  of happiness, such as superstitions  and harmful ideas.  Jesus said: "The truth will set you free,"  and Jehovah's Witnesses find this to be so.  (John 8:32)  Fernando, who at one time practiced spiritism, says:  "Learning about everlasting life was an enormous relief.  I was afraid that either my parents or I might die."  Truth freed Fernando from his fear of the spirit world and the so-called afterlife.

In the Bible, knowledge of God is  closely associated with paradise.  The prophet Isaiah said:  "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." -Isaiah 11:9.

Of course, knowledge by itself is not enough to bring the peace  foretold by Isaiah.  A person has to act on what he learns.  Fernando made this comment:  "When a person cultivates the fruits of the spirit, he contributes to the spiritual paradise."  Fernando was referring to words of the apostle Paul, who called the good qualities that a  Christian should cultivate "the fruitage of the spirit."  He listed them as "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control." -Galatians 5:22, 23.

Can you see why associating with a community of individuals who strive to cultivate such qualities would indeed  be like being in paradise?  The spiritual paradise foretold by the prophet of Zephaniah would exist among such people.  He said: "They will do no unrighteousness, nor speak a lie, nor will these be found in their mouths a tricky tongue; for they themselves will feed and actually lie stretched out, and there will be no one making them tremble." -Zephaniah 3:13.

Next time: The Vital Role of Love

The Watchtower, 2001