Question to the Jehovah's Witnesses, part 2?

Question

I asked a bunch of questions before--not out of malice, but out of curiosity because of what I've heard from people. Thank you to all who have answered. It's been very informative. My last question is this: Since the Bible mentions no Hell, what happens to those who aren't believers? Do their souls simply cease to exist? Thanks to everyone who has been answering my questions.

The whole Bible not mentioning Hell thing came from what another Jehovah's Witness told me, fyi.

Answer 1

JWs don't believe there is a 'soul' or even a 'spirit' that lives on after physical death. The soul is simply the living being (including animals) and the spirit is the breath of life; it is not intelligent or capable of existing on its own. Therefore JWs belong to the group that teaches soul annihilation. At death the body dies, and nothing exists outwith that dead body. The only chance of future life, they say, is if Jehovah decides to re-create a new physical body after Armageddon, placing it on a paradise earth, with fresh life breathed into it. The personality of each dead individual will be remembered by Jehovah and placed back into its new body. This will apply to deceased JWs AND non-believers who Jehovah deems worthy of a resurrection.

The situation with those claiming to have the heavenly calling (the 144,000) is different, though. But as all of them are said to be JWs, your question does not apply as you want to know about non-believers (i.e. non-JWs). I'm going along with the JW way of looking at things, as you did in your question with "the Bible mentions no Hell" - a JW view.

Answer 2

Some Bibles do mention hell. However, hell is not a place of suffering. It is the common grave of mankind. What happened to those who did not take advantage of God's means of salvation in Noah's day? Did they just "cease to exist"? No. They were destroyed. The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah were also destroyed.The same fate awaits those who do not conform to Jehovah's laws before Armageddon.

Answer 3

I think they (JW'S) think that the soul does die or ceases to exist once the body dies. The world "hell" to them means just the grave. They do not believe in a "hell/fire" type of place. They just think that non-believers cease to exist and those "deemed worthy of resurrection" by God wil be resurrected to a paradise on earth in the future. (after all the "evil people" (or anyone who is not a JW is destroyed by God). They also believe that there is a chosen few (144,000) to be exact whose souls are immediatelly transported to heaven when they die, and this has been going on since Jesus' death here on earth. So I guess very few in the last 1969 years. I also have lots of questions for them buth I don't think they like knocking on my door. Try talking to them and asking them directly, I don't think you'll find too many JWs on this site. They are very conservative and they believe any "association" with the "world" or anyone who is not one of them is wrong.

Answer 4

Ez 18:4 Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.

Ecc 9:5, 10
5 For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.
10 All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going.

Answer 5

Jehovah's Witnesses do not teach that there is no life after death. In fact, Witnesses believe the bible to teach that most dead humans will be resurrected to life in a restored paradise earth, with the hope of living forever under God and Christ.

So what does the bible teach about "the soul"?

A "soul" is a life, with no implication regarding some immortal otherworldly entity. Each deceased life is in Jehovah God's remembrance (with the potential for future resurrection), but the dead do not exist anywhere but memories until and unless the life is resurrected.

(Ezekiel 18:4) The soul that is sinning - it itself will die.

(Ecclesiastes 9:5) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all

(Ecclesiastes 9:10) there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol ["hell"]

(Genesis 2:17) But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

(Genesis 17:14) And an uncircumcised male who will not get the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, even that soul must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

(Judges 16:30) And Samson proceeded to say: “Let my soul die with the Philistines.” Then he bent himself with power, and the house went falling upon the axis lords and upon all the people that were in it, so that the dead that he put to death in his own death came to be more than those he had put to death during his lifetime.

(Job 33:22) And his soul draws near to the pit, And his life to those inflicting death.

(Psalm 78:50) He did not hold back their soul from death itself; And their life he handed over even to the pestilence.

(Isaiah 53:12) he poured out his soul to the very death

(Acts 3:23) Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.’

(Revelation 16:3) And the second one poured out his bowl into the sea. And it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, yes, the things in the sea.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_08.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050501/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_04.htm

Answer 6

(Okay, just so you know, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness. Just throwing this out.)
What do you mean, "Since the Bible mentions no Hell..."? We'd like a source to wherever you got that info. As far as I know, it does.

Answer 7

A Jehovah's Witness told me, yes they just cease to be.