Why do Jehovah's Witnesses deny the biblical hell with punishment?

Answer 1

--FIRST OF all the BIBLICAL HELL is not the hellfire hell.
--SECONDLY --The word hell is not an accurate translation of the Hebrew word, Sheol and the Greek word, Hades!
----OF WHICH both are referenced as COMMON GRAVE OF MANKIND, PIT,

--AS TO GOD'S JUSTICE in comparison with the perverted view of justice by man--Please note what Moses recorded in the incident with Job & Elihu:

(Job 34:10) “. . .Therefore, YOU men of heart, listen to me. FAR BE IT (my caps) from the [true] God to act wickedly, And the Almighty to act unjustly!....12 Yes, for a fact, God himself does not act wickedly,
And the Almighty himself DOES NOT PERVERT (my caps)judgment"

--WHEN ONE attributes the inquisition type of punishment of the church to, God , they are demeaning the personality of Jehovah God, & the teachings of love & goodness of Christ!

COMMENTARY ON whether there is any true justice in HELLFIRE teaching:

*** T-74 pp. 1-5 Hellfire—Is It Part of Divine Justice? ***

Have you ever seen someone tortured? We hope not. Deliberate torture is sickening and abhorrent. What, though, of torture inflicted by God? Can you imagine such a thing? Yet, this is exactly what is implied by the teaching of hellfire, an official doctrine in many religions.

Imagine, for a moment, the following horrific scene: A person is being roasted on a hot iron plate. In his agony he screams for mercy, but nobody listens. The torture goes on and on, hour after hour, day after day—without pause!

Whatever crime the victim may have committed, would not your heart go out to him? What of the one who ordered the torture? Could he be a loving person? In no way! Love is merciful and shows pity. A loving father may punish his children, but he would never torture them!

Nevertheless, many religions teach that God tortures sinners in an eternal hellfire. This, it is claimed, is divine justice. If that is true, who created that terrible place of eternal torment? And who is responsible for the excruciating agonies inflicted there? The answers would seem obvious. If such a place really exists, then God would have to be the creator of it, and he would be responsible for what happens there.

Can you accept that? The Bible says: “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Would a God of love inflict torture that even humans with any measure of decency find revolting? Surely not!

An Unreasonable Teaching

Still, many believe that the wicked will go to a fiery hell and be tormented forever. Is this teaching logical? The human life span is limited to 70 or 80 years. Even if someone perpetrated extreme wickedness for his whole lifetime, would everlasting torment be a just punishment? No. It would be grossly unjust to torment a man forever for the limited number of sins that he can commit in a lifetime.

Who knows the truth about what happens after we die? Only God can reveal this information, and he has done so in his written Word, the Bible, referred to above. Here is what the Bible says: “As the [beast] dies, so the [man] dies; and they all have but one spirit . . . All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20) There is no mention here of a fiery hell. Humans return to dust—to nonexistence—when they die.

In order to be tormented, an individual has to be conscious. Are the dead conscious? No. “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.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) It is impossible for the dead, “conscious of nothing at all,” to experience the agonies of hellfire.

A Harmful Doctrine

Some maintain that the teaching of hellfire is useful, true or not. Why? They say it serves as a deterrent to wrongdoing. Is that true? Well, is the crime rate in regions where people believe in hellfire lower than in other places? Hardly! In fact, the doctrine of hellfire is very harmful. Will a person who believes that God torments people view torture as something abhorrent? Why should he? Those believing in a cruel god often become cruel like their god.

In whatever way a reasonable person may look at the matter, he cannot accept the existence of a hell of torment. Logic rebels against it. Human nature is repelled by it. More important, God’s Word does not say that such a place exists. When a person dies, “he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”—Psalm 146:4.

What Punishment for Sin?

Does that mean that we are not punished for our sins? No, that is not the case. Our holy God punishes sinners, but he does not torture them. And when sinners repent, he forgives them. What is the punishment for sin? The Bible gives a forthright answer: “The wages sin pays is death.” (Romans 6:23) Life is a gift from God. When we sin we no longer deserve that gift, and we die.

You may ask: ‘How is that just? Why, everyone dies!’ That is true because we are all sinners. In effect, no one deserves life. “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”—Romans 5:12.

At this point you may be thinking: ‘If we all sin and so we all die, why should we try to be virtuous? It seems that the wicked man is treated exactly the same as the man who tries to serve God.’ But that is not the case. Although we are all sinners, God forgives those who sincerely repent and try to change their ways. He rewards our efforts to ‘make our minds over’ and to do good. (Romans 12:2) These truths are the basis of a marvelous hope.

A Reward for the Good

We cease to exist when we die. But that does not mean that everything is finished. The faithful man Job knew that he would go to the grave (Sheol) when he died. But listen to his prayer to God: “O that in Sheol you would conceal me, that you would keep me secret until your anger turns back, that you would set a time limit for me and remember me! If an able-bodied man dies can he live again? . . . You will call, and I myself shall answer you.”—Job 14:13-15.

Job believed that if he was faithful until death, he would be remembered by God and resurrected. This was the belief of all of God’s servants in ancient times. Jesus himself confirmed this hope when he said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”—John 5:28, 29.

Answer 2

Because it is not a Biblical teaching, that's why.
Others gave good Scriptual answers.
So, you can go and find out, reason it out yourself.

This is for the haters.
Hate is Ugly.
Hate is Cruel.
That is Not from God, JHWH.
For those that continually, hate any 1 group, of ppl.
Without let up, it becomes quite obvious to "Others" not involved, that u don't answer the Q---U just spew Hatred...U r seen 4 what u really r. An ugly, unreasonable, not using ur head logically, hate spewing mongrel.
It comes to a point when u r Not sharing any knowledge u have gained...for the better of mankind. So, ppl will tune u out!
The smart one's that is. Cuz, if they're like you....then they also are headed for destruction as you are. You sound like Satan the Devil...trying to take as many ppl with you as possible. You can't be positive or reasonable; it's just not in you. Like your father the Devil, the manslayer. Go hate God on your own time, and quit wasting other ppl's time.

Answer 3

You may be assured that Hitler is presently rotting in hell. However, so is Winston Churchill, Patton, Gandhi, and everyone else who has ever lived and died. The only person that has ever gone to hell and revived to live forever is Jesus Christ. Acts 2:31 specifically says that Christ went to hell for the brief period after his death, but before his resurrection.

Obviously Jesus was not roasting in some subterranean inferno. He was simply dead for parts of three days until Jehovah brought him back to life. But the Scriptures unmistakably say that Jesus was in Hades or hell during that period.

Now, though, it seems that even some segments of Christendom are coming to the same conclusion that Jehovah's Witnesses have; namely that hell is merely the common grave of mankind.

http://www.bibleed.com/bibleteachings/otherbibleteachings/hellandgrave.asp

Answer 4

Don't believe everything you hear about religion from religious people.
It is all a matter of personal belief.
Every body has their own personal beliefs and who's to know who right.
I would not deny anybody the right to believe what they want.
But every body must allow others to live in piece and believe what they want.

Answer 5

Jehovah's Witnesses believe in hell as the term is actually used in the bible. The bible teaches that "hell" is *NOT* a fiery place of torment, but is actually the common grave of mankind.

There is no suffering in "hell", or the grave. Sometime after the resurrection, death and "hell" will themselves be destroyed.

(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"]

(Revelation 20:14) And death and Hades ["hell"] were hurled into the lake of fire

Learn more:
http://watchtower.ca/e/20020715/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/20020601/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_07.htm
http://watchtower.ca/e/20010901/article_02.htm




The bible plainly teaches that Jesus himself was in "hell" (or "Hades"); that is, Jesus was simply dead for three days. That verse discusses Jesus' fulfillment of a prophecy which used the term "Sheol" (also translated "hell" by some bibles).

(Acts 2:22-33) Jesus the Nazarene... fastened to a stake by the hand of lawless men and did away with. But God resurrected him... David says respecting [Jesus], ‘...you [Father] will not leave my soul in HADES

(Psalm 16:10) For you [Father] will not leave my soul in SHEOL.

Answer 6

cause the hell is casted to the lake of fire then they couldn´t be the same according to Revelation 20:14 "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" (KJV)

Lake of fire is the Gehenna an means second death (forever death) and the bible define death in Eclessiastes 9:4-6, people will suffer when they are going to be destroyed but as soon as they are they stop the feelings according to Eclessiastes , if this is false how many of your relatives are going to be there while satan is free and still haven´t receive his punsihment?

Answer 7

The words which are commonly translated 'hell' are Sheol (Hebrew) and Hades (Greek). These words simply mean the grave.

Since Jehovah is a lover of justice, it seems unreasonable that He would think it is just to punish people eternally when they have only sinned for a maximum of 70 or 80 years.

At Jeremiah 7:31, Jehovah says: "They [apostate Judeans] have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.” If it never came into God’s heart, surely he wouldn't do the same thing on a much larger scale.

If someone was to 'hell the potatoes', it does not mean that they would incinerate them, it simply means to cover them over with earth.

If Hell is a place occupied by Satan and his demons, why does Revelation 12:7-9 say: "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. The one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him."

This was written over 60 years after Jesus died and was part of "a revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place." (Revelation 1:1) So, was Hell created sometime after 96 C.E. when Revelation was penned, and when Satan was still in heaven? If so, where were all the wicked people from Cain onwards who died before the creation of Hell?

At Matthew 7:13, 14 Jesus contrasts the narrow road leading off into life with the broad road leading off into destruction. It seems strange that people who are said to suffer destruction are in fact not destroyed if they continue living in some some fiery place of torment.

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NMB - Thanks for the support, much appreciated!

Answer 8

Um, we don't deny the Biblical definition of hell, we just deny the later attached idea of HellFire.

Answer 9

Because Jehovah is a God of mercy, justice and love. We were created in his image and most people like you and I are also loving, merciful and just, only to a much lesser degree. Could you and I condemn anyone to the punishment of eternal torture? I, for one could not.
The bible tells us that the wages sin pays is death, not eternal torment or suffering. What else does it tell us about what happens to the wicked?-- These verses tell us--

Psalm 37:18-20--"Jehovah knoweth the days of the perfect; And their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, And the enemies of Jehovah shall be as the fat of lambs: They shall consume; In smoke shall they consume away." (the wicked simple perish)

Psalm 37:22--"For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off." (not tortured, but simply cut off --they will cease to exist with no hope of a resurrection)

We worship a God who cares for us and wants us to enjoy life, which we will when all he has promised us will come to pass.
LOBT

Answer 10

WHAT REALLY IS HELL?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20020715/article_02.htm


DOES ANYONE EVER GET OUT OF THE "HELL" THAT IS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JWquestions-and_answers/message/169


DOES THE BIBLE INDICATE THAT THE SOUL SURVIVES THE DEATH OF THE BODY?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JWquestions-and_answers/message/165


DOES THE BIBLE INDICATE WHETHER THE DEAD EXPERIENCE PAIN?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JWquestions-and_answers/message/164

Answer 11

Eccles. 9:5 "For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten.
....
9:10 " Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going." - NASB