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1. The WTS claims it uses the Bible as its "supreme authority". Where in the Bible does anyone count their time in preaching on a slip of paper and are assigned record cards of activity, determining this as a "gauge to their spirituality"? Where in the Bible are Pioneers, Auxiliary Pioneers, Bethelites, and Kingdom Halls? Where in the Bible does it say that anyone born after 1935 can not go to heaven, that Christians are required to attend five meetings a week, that men are prohibited from wearing beards, and that after a prophecy fails, if the prophet admits he made a mistake, he is no longer a false prophet (see Deut 18:20-22)? Where does the Bible say that a person must belong to an organization that will start in the late 19th century and be headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, in order to survive Armageddon?

2. The WTS teaches that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will not reside with Christ in his heavenly kingdom. If this is so, then how do you explain Mt 8:11 in which Jesus says, "But I tell you that many from eastern parts and western parts will come and recline at the table WITH Abraham and Isaac and Jacob IN the kingdom of the heavens"?

The "table" of Abraham is a reference to the kingdom of God. That's because the covenant that Jehovah originally made with Abraham is what ultimately produces the messianic kingdom. For example, Paul addressed both the Jewish and non-Jewish anointed sons of God as being the actual seed of Abraham. Galatians 4:26-29 reads: You are all, in fact, sons of God through your faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one person in union with Christ Jesus. Moreover, if you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham's seed, heirs with reference to a promise."

The promise that Paul was referring to is the promise God made to Abraham concerning his seed becoming a blessing for people of all the nations. In that sense Abraham, while not actually in the kingdom of God, certainly is a fitting symbol for it. How do we know Abraham is not going to actually go to heaven to rule with Christ in his kingdom? Jesus himself said that no one can enter the kingdom unless they have first been born from the water and the spirit. That means that only baptized spirit-anointed Christians are called by God to heaven.

Jesus further revealed that the opportunity to go to heaven did not open up until John the Baptist introduced Christ to the world. Matthew 11:11 reads: "Truly I say to you people, among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist; but a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he is. But from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of the heavens is the goal toward which men press, and those pressing forward are seizing it. For all the Prophets and the Law, prophesied until John."

If John was the greatest prophet of God, as Jesus said, and yet he is lesser than the least one in the kingdom, then that means John is not in the ruling kingdom. And since, according to Christ, no one before John entered the kingdom, then it is evident that neither has Abraham entered the kingdom, as many wrongly suppose. Most people have been taught by Christendom that all "good" persons go to heaven. That is not what the Bible teaches. The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the heavens, as it is also called, is a government composed of Jesus and 144,000 chosen from his followers. That heavenly kingdom is going to rule over the earth—including the resurrected Abraham.

3. If there is no conscious awareness after death, how could the "spirits in prison", who lived during "Noah's days", be preached to by Christ after His death (1 Pet 3:18-20) and how could the good news be "declared also to the dead" (1 Pet 4:5-6)? If the "spirits in prison" of 1Pet 3:19 refers to demonic angels, instead of the just people who died before the resurrection of Christ, then why would Jesus "preach" to demonic angels?

According to the most reliable authority on the matter, God's own Word, the Bible informs us that the dead are unconscious. The Bible says in many places, more numerous to mention, that the dead are in a sleep-like state of unconsciousness. Here is an online Watchtower article that explains the Bible's simple teaching on that topic.

Reasoning on the matter: long after Jesus was resurrected as the "firstborn from the dead," Paul, on several occasions, referred to followers of Christ who were at that time still "sleeping in death." The hope of mankind is not that we have a deathless soul that endures forever, but that God has the power and the desire to bring the dead back to life from their inanimate and unconscious condition.

The idea that humans have some sort of immortal soul that survives death is not a biblical teaching at all but comes straight to us from the ancient mystic religion of Babylon. So, when we come to a verse that seems to contradict the Bible's clear teaching, what do we do? Untaught readers are prone to take difficult passages in the Scriptures at face value and run with them. Peter lamented that the untaught twisted all the Scriptures—to their own destruction. Teachable persons, however, look for ways to resolve the riddles of God's Word.

In the case of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison, we should not suppose that "preaching" is always synonymous with an appeal to repentance. Preaching can also signify announcing God's judgment of doom upon the condemned.

The "spirits in prison" are not the disembodied souls of dead humans as many apparently assume. They are the disobedient sons of God who materialized as men and sexual relations with women before the flood. As a matter of fact, their act of rebellion was the reason God caused the global deluge in the first place. At 2 Peter 2:4-5, the apostle makes it clear that the imprisoned spirits are the so-called fallen angels. It reads: "Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment; and he did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people."

The angels that became the demons are not imprisoned in the sense of being incarcerated—not yet anyway. Jehovah threw "them into pits of dense darkness" in the sense that he put them out of his family of enlightened heavenly sons. Jehovah would have no more dealings with them, and apparently after the Deluge, God confined them by taking away their power to materialize as humans again. Furthermore, the demons are in a state "reserved for judgment," in that they are as if on death row waiting to be executed.

Even though in Eden God decreed the final judgment that the serpent and his vile seed would be crushed out of existence by the messianic seed of the woman, it still remained to be seen whether Christ would remain faithful to God under trial. If the Devil and his desperate demons would have somehow gotten Christ to compromise his integrity while he was on earth, then they would have proven their contention that no creature can remain true to God under test. The demons were fighting for their very lives. But, when Jesus was faithful to God to the very end, enduring the cruelest death imaginable, his last words were: "It has been accomplished." Jesus' faithfulness to God clear to the end proved the Devil was a liar. The death and subsequent resurrection of Christ sealed the Devil's doom and that of his demons as well.

Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison has to do with his serving notice on the demons that his victory over death meant that the demons who caused Jesus' death would themselves be put to death by Christ and his victorious 144,000. That's why Paul wrote to his fellow anointed Christians in the last chapter of Romans, telling them that God "will crush Satan under your feet shortly."

The Bible teaches very simply that the dead are unconscious in the grave. However, the Bible sometimes refers to people who do not have a relationship with God as being dead—spiritually dead that is. For example, Jesus once said: "Let the dead bury their dead." Christ said that to indicate that unless we have a living relationship with him and his Father we are as good as dead in their eyes, even though we may be living according to all appearances.

So it is that the other verse in question is referring to people of the world, those whom in the context are described as fleshly-minded, who are dead in God's sight, but who were nevertheless given an opportunity to hear God's message preached to them.

It is interesting that 2 Peter 3:16 says that there are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand, and because of that, the untaught and unsteady twist the Scriptures to their own destruction.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach the truth about the condition of the dead and the nature of the demons. There is really no excuse for any professed Christians to be ignorant regarding these fundamental Bible teachings.

4. Is it true that the WT's prophecy that Armageddon will come before "the end of the generation of 1914" is no longer taught as "the Truth"? If so, then does this mean that this teaching of the WTS, which they have taught as "the Truth" for decades, was really a false teaching? Since the WTS claims that they are the "one channel that the Lord is using during the last days of this system of things," and that the governing body is "the mouthpiece of Jehovah God", does this mean that God changed His mind about this teaching and the definition of "generation"? Is it possible that God could change His mind? Has the WTS ever changed their mind before about a teaching that they once taught as "the Truth"? The WTS has taught that Armageddon was going to occur in: (Excerpted for brevity) Since Deut 18:20-22 says that a false prophet is anyone who claims to speak for God and makes a prophecy that does not come true, doesn't this make the WTS a modern day false prophet according to scripture? (Excerpted for brevity) WTS Quotes

First, the Watchtower did not invent the prophecies of the last days and a war called Armageddon. Those prophecies originated within the mind of God many centuries ago and our faith is unfazed that God's words are certain to eventually come true. Because of our interest in the Bible and its promises of a new world, we have been keenly interested in the outworking of prophecy, particularly as it relates to the return of Christ. The fact that our heightened kingdom expectations have so far led to disappointment does not of itself discredit our faith. For a certainty our failed expectations have been an embarrassment for us and a stumbling block for many, but in that respect it seems that the Watchtower is guilty of falling into nearly the same trap as did the apostles.

Please consider the implications of the account found in the last chapter of the book of John, where we read in the NWT: Accordingly, when he caught sight of him, Peter said to Jesus: "Lord, what will this man do?" Jesus said to him: "If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you? You continue following me." In consequence, this saying went out among the brothers, that that disciple would not die. However, Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but: "If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you?"

The man in question was the writer—John. Jesus had just told Peter the sort of death Peter would undergo and Peter wanted to know what would become of their friend John. Jesus' comment gave the apostles the impression that John would still be alive when Christ returned. Consequently, the account says that the word went out from the apostles among the brothers, to the effect that John would survive to see the Lord's return.

According to the NIV, the 23^rd verse reads: "Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die."

What is interesting about this is that John wrote his book about 60 years after Christ said those words. Apparently the rumor was as long-lived as the aged apostle himself. We might even suppose that toward the end of his life, the brothers that still believed the rumor took John's pulse at frequent intervals to gauge the nearness of Christ's return. The very fact that John, the last-surviving apostle, saw fit to dispel the rumor and set the record straight toward the end of his life, indicates that the rumor the apostles started persisted during the entire apostolic period. The question, then: So what?

Well, the apostles were given authority over the entire organization of believers back then. Their words carried a lot of weight because they personally knew Jesus and could recall to the later believers all the things that Jesus said and did. So, when the apostles spoke, the brothers and sisters listened. And when the apostles started a rumor that John would survive until the coming of Christ, what Christian could doubt their interpretation? But, obviously, the apostles were wrong. They misunderstood Jesus. And their earnest desire to see the realization of Jesus' promised return inclined them to jump to hasty conclusions.

The misunderstanding that arose is not really any different than what has occurred among Jehovah's Witnesses with our assumptions concerning the 1914 generation that would not pass away. The apostle John was their generation that would not pass away—before he passed away. And his finally dispelling the rumor is not that much different than what the Watchtower has done by redefining a generation.

Another question we ought to ask is this: Did God judge the apostles as false prophets? No, obviously not. So, if we are honest and straightforward in our reasoning, we will not jump to shallow-minded conclusions about the Watchtower's past indiscretions and failed expectations. If anything, our premature expectations fit the pattern of those who anxiously await the Master's return.

5. If the spirit of a man has no existence apart from the body, why does Stephen just before his death in Acts 7:59, pray to Jesus to "receive my spirit"? How could Jesus, who was in heaven, receive Stephen's spirit if a man's spirit ceases to exist when the body dies and if no one could enter heaven until the year 1914? Similarly, if the soul ceases to exist after the death of the body, why does Paul say that he would rather be "absent from the body" so he could go make his "home with the Lord" (2Cor 5:8), and why would he say that he would rather depart from this life so that he could go be with Christ (Phil 1:23)? How could Paul be "with Christ" and make his "home with the Lord" if no one could enter heaven until 1914?

Virtually every religion that has ever existed, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, adheres to the notion of an immortal soul. However, the Bible simply does not teach such a thing as an immortal soul.

It is ironic that Jehovah's Witnesses are frequently labeled as "brainwashed," but the truth of the matter is that all of mankind is under the mind-blinding, malevolent influence of the religious system that Revelation calls "Babylon the Great." Unless we understand the basic truth of God's Word in this instance, that mankind does not have an immortal soul, we will be vulnerable to being deluded by the insidious lie that mankind is somehow immortal.

So, because of being taken in by the original lie that the Devil first peddled in Eden, namely, that "you will not die," the person reading select verses is inclined to jump to erroneous conclusions such as these.

Again, Paul made mention of the fact that some of the initial members of the congregation, who had been eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection, had passed away in death. At 1^st Corinthians 15:6, Paul said they had "fallen asleep in death." That is not a difficult concept to understand. When we sleep at night we are not aware of what takes place around us. We are in an unconscious state. That is what death is—an unconscious state. Paul made this comment in the context of discussing the resurrection of anointed Christians, and he wrote to the Corinthians some years after Stephen had been martyred; yet at that time Paul was pointing to a future time when the dead would be raised up. So, Stephen was one of those who were sleeping in death that Paul referred to.

So what did Stephen mean when he asked Jesus to receive his spirit? Well, Jesus made a very similar expression when he expired. At Luke 23:46 he said: "Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit." Was Jesus expecting to instantaneously go to heaven because he had an immortal soul? No. Jesus died. He was dead for parts of three days. He entrusted his spirit to God in the sense that he was trusting God to bring him back to life. By the way, to expire means to lose one's animating spirit. The spirit is simply the life force that Jehovah infuses into us while we are alive. It is the spark of life that causes us to breathe the breath of life. If we die our future life's prospects rest with Jehovah; and of course, since his resurrection, Christ has been appointed by his Father to perform all subsequent resurrections when the time comes for those to begin.

So, it was appropriate for Stephen to entrust his spirit with Christ the same as Jesus had entrusted his spirit with Jehovah when he died.

As for Paul making his home with Christ, we should not suppose that expression supports the idea of an immortal soul. Paul was simply voicing his preference for being with Christ in heaven as opposed to living as a human on earth.

6. On page 7 of the booklet Should You Believe in the Trinity?, unreferenced quotes from Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen are made. Why are these quotes unreferenced? Also on page 7 of this same booklet, the statement is made, "Thus, the testimony of the Bible and of history makes it clear that the Trinity was unknown throughout Biblical times and for SEVERAL CENTURIES thereafter." Based on the quotes below, how can the Watchtower Society make these claims? (Quotes not appearing)

As a doctrine, the Trinity did not take its present form until several hundred years after Christ. The Watchtower is correct in that. While those early theologians began to introduce the idea that Jesus was more than the Son of God, the idea of the three-in-one trinity had not been introduced into Christian teaching even at that point. However, it does appear as if the Watchtower is not playing it straight on that issue. While they are technically correct that the Trinity was not taught by those early churchmen, it is somewhat misleading to give the reader the impression that they clearly understood the distinction between Jehovah and Jesus, because apparently they did not.

Personally, I cannot answer why the Watchtower would even reference non-biblical sources in the first place, as if these had any kind of doctrinal authority for Christians. The Bible is the only real authority in these matters and it certainly does not teach that God is part of a triad. The word "trinity" or "triune" does not even appear in the Bible and neither does the concept espoused by Trinitarians.

7. The Bible says in Zeph 1:18, "...but by the fire of his zeal THE WHOLE EARTH WILL BE DEVOURED, because he will make an EXTERMINATION, indeed a terrible one, of ALL the inhabitants of the earth." If the WT's teaching that the present earth will never be destroyed or depopulated is correct, then why does the Bible say that the "whole earth" will be "devoured", and "all" the inhabitants of the earth will be exterminated? What do the words "devoured" and "all" mean to you? How can a great crowd of people continue to live on forever in paradise on earth after Armageddon if "ALL the inhabitants of the earth" will be exterminated?

The questioner may not be aware of the fact that the Bible also says that the earth will endure forever, and instead of literally destroying it, Revelation 11:18 says that God is going "to bring to ruin those ruining the earth." So, how do sincere Bible students resolve this seeming contradiction? Either the earth is going to be destroyed or it is not. It can't be both ways. And it is not merely a matter of ignoring one set of scriptures and embracing our preference. We must actually solve a seeming paradox if you want to know God's truth. One way we may do that is by analyzing the import of a prophecy instead of merely seizing upon select words to prop up a pet doctrine.

So, if we were to actually read and reason upon the prophecy of Zephaniah we ought to come to appreciate that, like all the Hebrew prophets, the book of Zephaniah applied initially to the Jews and surrounding nations of that time. Through Zephaniah, Jehovah pronounced judgment on Judah, Philistia, Ammon, Moab, Ethiopia, and Assyria. Jehovah's decree was that the entire region should be crushed under the Babylonian juggernaut. That's how the prophecy was fulfilled in ancient times. Obviously, though, the Chaldeans did not destroy planet earth or exterminate every soul. But they did ruthlessly subjugate a very large portion of the world at that time. So, in that way the whole earth was devoured by Nebuchadnezzar's rapacious horde, as Zephaniah foretold.

But, Jehovah's judgments also apply on a much larger scale to literally encompass the entire world, which is why the prophets used such expansive, seemingly exaggerated, language to begin with. Ultimately the whole earth being devoured is an indication of the totality of God's judgment in his utterly destroying every vestige of the present global civilization. 

But, as for the simplistic notion that God is literally going to destroy this beautiful globe and completely eradicate mankind that is made in the image of God, that is not what the Bible teaches. In fact, through Zephaniah, Jehovah holds out hope for survival when the present system is destroyed. Zephaniah 2:2 reads: "Before there comes upon you people the burning anger of Jehovah, before there comes upon you the day of Jehovah's anger, seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced his own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah's anger."

If the meek ones are concealed in the day of Jehovah's wrath, it is apparent that the foretold extermination is not total. Zephaniah's prophecy offers salvation to the meek ones of the earth and is in harmony with Jesus, who also held out the promise that the meek will inherit the earth after the expression of Jehovah's anger destroys the present wicked civilization that occupies the planet.

8. If the dead will be resurrected during the millennial reign of Christ and judged according to their deeds during that time, why does the Bible explicitly say in Rev 20:4-5 that the "(The rest of the dead did not come to life UNTIL the thousand years were ENDED)"? How could they be judged according to their deeds during the 1,000 year reign of Christ, if they will not come to life until after this period is over? Why does the NWT have parentheses around this verse? Similarly, if the dead will be resurrected during the millennial reign of Christ and judged according to their deeds during that time, why does the Bible say that the dead will come out of their tombs and "those who DID (past tense) good things to a resurrection of life, those who PRACTICED (past tense) vile things to a resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:28-29), and why does the Bible say that men are "to die once" and "after this (i.e. death) a judgment" (Heb 9:27)?

Our questioner lacks a basic sense of biblical language. To underscore this type of spiritual illiteracy, consider Jesus' simple comment to "let the dead bury their dead." If we merely, unreasoningly, read words on a page and accept them at face value, Jesus' words might conjure up in our minds macabre images of grave-digging zombies. However, if we actually use our power of reason to discern what Jesus was trying to tell us, it becomes apparent that Jesus was referring to living persons as being spiritually dead unless they came to life by becoming his followers.

Paul referred to persons being dead in their sins and trespasses. That means that a person, even though living momentarily, remains under the condemnation of death. So, when Revelation says, parenthetically, that "the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended," it is really contrasting two sorts of resurrections. That's why the verse goes on to say: "This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years."

The first resurrection pertains to those who receive a heavenly resurrection and who serve with Christ as kings for the thousand years. Elsewhere, the Bible indicates that these 144,000 receive immortality. That's why the second death has no authority over them, because they cannot be destroyed by any means.

So what does it mean that the rest of the dead did not come to life until after the thousand years? Let the reader take note of the fact that the verse does not say that they are resurrected at the end of the thousand years, but merely that they do not come to life until such time. Is there a difference? Yes, there is a big difference. The Bible teaches us that all of mankind is under God's condemnation of death because of Adam's sin, which we inherited. In God's eyes we are dead. We have no right to endless life. Even the masses of mankind that will be resurrected by Christ during the 1,000 years will still be dead, in that they will not instantaneously become sin-free. Their ultimately coming to life, then, means that the condemnation is lifted so that mankind is not subject to the sin of Adam any longer.

According to Paul's writing in the 15^th chapter of 1^st Corinthians, Jesus is to rule mankind and destroy every enemy of God and man and the "last enemy, death," will also be brought to nothing. That means that by the conclusion of Jesus' 1,000-year rule, after the dead have been resurrected during the 1,000 years, that mankind will, by the end of the millennial reign of Christ, be uplifted out of our present dying state. In that sense all humans living then will have fully "come to life"—the life the Adam and Eve originally possessed.

9. (Quote from forward of Kingdom Interlinear Translation deleted for brevity)

The NWT translates Jn 14:14 as, "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." If the NWT is the most accurate word for word translation of the Bible, why does it completely omit the word "me" after the phrase "If you ask", even though the word "me" is in the original Greek. See Kingdom Interlinear Translation (KIT). If the NWT correctly translated Jn 14:14 from the original Greek and included the word "me" after "ask" in this verse, how would this verse read? How could a person "ask" Jesus for something without praying to him? How can the NWT be "rendering the truth of his inspired Word as purely" as possible, and how can it be "as literal a translation as possible" when the "translators" knowingly omit this word ("me") so that this verse does not contradict the teachings of the WTS?

First, there is no such thing as a "word-for-word translation." No modern translation is a word-for-word translation. Furthermore, the Watchtower has never claimed that the NWT itself is a word-for-word translation. The closest thing to a word-for-word translation is what is called a transliteration. Here is a link to an online Interlinear and transliteration.

Translating concepts from an ancient language to a modern language requires more than merely a 'this-word-means-this, that-word-means-that' approach.

As for the verse in question, the questioner only partially quoted the verse, isolated from its context. John 14:13-14 reads: "Also, whatever it is that you ask in my name, I will do this, in order that the Father may be glorified in connection with the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it."

According to the literal translation in the Interlinear, the 14^th verse reads: "If ever anything you should ask me in the name of me this I shall do."  Common sense tells us that a literal word-for-word rendering is very awkward. Of course, a biased Trinitarian would have us believe that the verse must be so translated so as to appear to prop up the unscriptural teaching that Jesus was God. However, the context indicates otherwise.

The NIV renders this verse somewhat clumsily, saying: "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Obviously, if the apostles understood Jesus to be saying that they should pray directly to him, as if he were actually God, then it would seem redundant for Jesus to tell them to pray to him in his name. Instead, the context makes it plain that Jesus was taking on the role of an intercessor and facilitator between his disciples and Jehovah. Christ was, in reality, introducing himself as the mediator in relation to their common God and Father.

Other translations render the verse similar to the NWT. For example, the NLT renders it: "Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!"

The CEV renders the verse as: "I will do whatever you ask me to do."

Young's Literal Translation words it thusly: "If ye ask anything in my name I will do it."

10. If the present earth will never be destroyed or depopulated, why does Zeph 1:2-3 say, "I shall without fail finish everything off the surface of the ground,' is the utterance of Jehovah. 'I shall finish off earthling man and beast... and I will cut off mankind from the surface of the ground, is the utterance of Jehovah"? The Hebrew word translated here as "finish off" in the NWT is "cuwph" (Strong's # 05486) which means "to cease; to come to an end", according to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary. How can this be if the WTS is correct and faithful Witnesses will survive Armageddon and live forever in paradise on the present earth? In addition, Isa 65:17 says, "For here I am CREATING new heavens and a NEW earth, and the former things will not be called to mind..." If the present earth will never be destroyed, why will God be "creating" a "new" earth? (Rest of question deleted for brevity)

Again, we must point out that the questioner is simply illiterate in the spiritual dialect of the Scriptures. In further answer to this line of questioning, we refer the reader to Genesis 11:1, which reads: "Now all the earth continued to be of one language and of one set of words."

We now pose the question to those who read the Scriptures at face value: What language does the earth speak? Is the above verse saying that our terra firma speaks in "tongues," or something of that nature?

Or, would it be more reasonable to conclude that the word "earth," as it is used in the Bible, does not always mean the literal planetary sphere? Obviously, Genesis 11:1 is referring to the world of mankind as being "all the earth." The prophets also used "earth" in a figurative way. If we read the context in Isaiah it becomes apparent that God created a new heaven and earth by re-establishing the nation of Israel. Peter used the same expressions "new heavens and new earth" to symbolize the change that will take place under God's administration; when the "old" demonic "heavens," and their associative governing institutions ruling over mankind are replaced by God's heavenly kingdom government. The old earth is the present wicked civilization, which will be replaced by a new world society composed entirely of those dedicated to Jehovah. Such a radical makeover from the present system is best described as being a new heaven and earth.

Furthermore, while Zephaniah says that Jehovah will "finish off" man and beast, at Genesis 8:21b God said to Noah, after the Deluge: "And never again shall I deal every living thing a blow just as I have done." In view of the seeming contradiction of these two statements, it becomes apparent that the prophecy of Zephaniah is not to be taken literally; as it was originally speaking to the completeness of God's judgments against the nations that fell under his condemnation in the 5^th Century B.C.E.