why do Jehovah witnesses?

Question

Think That Hell is Just the grave, if it states in the bible that it isnt?

Answer 1

It seems useful to mention that the bible does NOT teach that a "soul" is some immortal otherworldly entity that exists apart from a physical body. Instead, in the bible "a soul" is simply "a life"; at death a person's "soul" or "life" returns to Jehovah in that life originates from God, and all future prospects for a resurrection of that life rest with Jehovah God.

(Job 12:9-10) The hand of Jehovah itself has done this, In whose hand is the soul of everyone alive And the spirit of all flesh of man

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

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

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


The bible teaches that after Armageddon, there will be a resurrection of nearly all humans who have ever died, to a restored paradise earth. The graves will be emptied!

(John 5:26-29) For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself. ...the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out

(Acts 24:15) There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.


Now, regarding the so-called "hell", it is interesting to reflect on the fact that the Old-English word "hell" merely meant "underground". Some rural folks still refer to the practice of "helling potatoes" which refers to the fact that they are buried, and has nothing to do with cooking. Re-read Scriptures that use the term "hell" and note that the vast majority make perfect sense when the word "underground" is substituted.


This is not perfectly consistent, because there are actually three different Greek words that English bible translations commonly translate as "hell", including the King James Version. Those terms are "Tartarus", "Hades", and "Gehenna".


Tartarus
The bible never uses the term "Tartarus" in connection with humans, but only in connection with demonic former angels. Since only spirit creatures are involved, "Tartarus" seems to be a CONDITION rather than a PLACE. The word “Tartarus” is also used in pre-Christian heathen mythologies. In Homer’s Iliad this mythological Tartarus is represented as an underground prison ‘as far below Hades as earth is below heaven.’ In it were imprisoned the lesser gods, noteworthy in that the bible and other ancient literature consistently uses the term "Tartarus" exclusively in connection with superhuman creatures.

(2 Peter 2:4) 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


Hades
The term "Hades" is not a fiery place of torture, but rather the common grave of mankind (the state of being dead). The bible plainly teaches that Jesus himself was in "Hades" after his impalement but before his resurrection. Also, the bible teaches that "death and Hades" will be destroyed forever after God resurrects everyone (and "empties" Hades.

(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... [David] was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath that he would seat one from the fruitage of his loins upon his throne, he saw beforehand and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he forsaken in HADES nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses. Therefore because he was exalted to the right hand of God

(Revelation 20:13-14) Death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.


Gehenna
The bible term "Gehenna" refers to death without hope of resurrection. Interestingly, the bible term "Hades" ("hell") is destroyed in Gehenna once that grave has been emptied by resurrections. The grave will no longer be needed since humans will then live forever! The term "Gehenna" is synonymous with other bible terms such as the "second death [different from first death allowing resurrection]" and with the "[metaphorical] lake of fire [which destroys the dead one's remembrance]".

(Matthew 10:28) And do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

(Revelation 20:13-14) Death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_08.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/19970515/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/20050501/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_04.htm

Answer 2

If you are refering to Revelation 21:8 which the Bible states:

"... But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.”

... as proof in the Bible that there is a place of "eternal punishment in a fiery hell" then you are being misled. Sorry to be blunt and frank about it. This expression in Revelation is clearly symbolic. It simply means "total desolation...total destruction and no hope for resurrection from death."

How so? Well, if we read Revelation 20:14 it also states:

"....And death and Ha´des were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire."

Even death is hurled into the lake of fire. Now, can DEATH be burned? No. It simply means God will destroy DEATH forever. No more death for those faithful to Him but only have everlasting life.

Another reason. Please notice the words written in Revelation 20:10--- it states...:

"....And the DEVIL who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were]; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

This too is symbolic and not literal. The Devil, an invisible spirit creature, is thrown into the lake of fire... how can a spirit person be hurt or tormented by a LITERAL fire?

In fact, the beliefs of being tormented in the lake of fire after death contradicts the very words written in Ecclesiates 9: 5 which say, "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."

We can also use human common sense: Think about this:

The human life span is limited to 70 or 80 years--90 even for some. Even if someone was guilty of extreme wickedness all his life, would everlasting torment be a just punishment? Especially from a God who is LOVE? No. It would be grossly unjust to torment a man forever for the sins that he committed in a short lifetime!

Therefore, hell is not a place of punishing someone eternally! It is, yes, a COMMON GRAVE where the righteous and unrighteous go when they die. Hell is another word for Sheol or Hades.

Notice also what Wikipedia.org mention about this:

"In Hebrew, ²² Sheol (שאול, Sh'ol) is the "abode of the dead", the "underworld", "the common grave of humankind" or "pit".[1] In the Hebrew Bible, it is a place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both the bad and the good, slave and king, pious and wicked must go at the point of death.[2] Sheol is the common destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, as recounted in Ecclesiastes and Job."

If my God believed and has a place where he will torment those who sins and may have failed to worship him eternally, then I would stop worshipping him. I cannot worship a God who could be so cruel , UN-LOVING and unjust!!!

Thankfully, as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, my God Jehovah is a GOD OF LOVE and JUST.

Answer 3

What is the condition of the dead? When pronouncing sentence upon Adam, Jehovah stated: "Dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19)

When he died, Adam returned to that state of complete absence of life. The condition of the dead is made clear at Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, where we read:

"The dead know nothing . . . In the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."

Scripturally, death is a state of nonexistence. The dead have no awareness, no feelings, no thoughts. Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death.

What, then, is hell?

Examining what happened to Jesus after he died helps to answer that question.

The Bible writer Luke recounts: "Neither was [Jesus] forsaken in Hades [hell, King James Version] nor did his flesh see corruption."* (Acts 2:31)

Where was the hell to which even Jesus went?

The apostle Paul wrote: "I handed on to you . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4)

So Jesus was in hell, the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected.

Answer 4

Hell

Definition: The word “hell” is found in many Bible translations. In the same verses other translations read “the grave,” “the world of the dead,” and so forth. Other Bibles simply transliterate the original-language words that are sometimes rendered “hell”; that is, they express them with the letters of our alphabet but leave the words untranslated. What are those words? The Hebrew she’ohl′ and its Greek equivalent hai′des, which refer, not to an individual burial place, but to the common grave of dead mankind; also the Greek ge′en·na, which is used as a symbol of eternal destruction. However, both in Christendom and in many non-Christian religions it is taught that hell is a place inhabited by demons and where the wicked, after death, are punished (and some believe that this is with torment).

Answer 5

The word for the grave in the Bible is "sheol" in Hebrew and "hades" in Greek. Both words have also been translated as "hell" in some translations. So "hell" and "the grave" are synonymous in those places.

The only problem with their argument is that in greek, "hades" does not refer strictly to "the grave." The Greek also used the word "hades" to refer to something similar to the Christian idea of "hell." See The Odyssey for example where Odysseus has to pay Charon (the ferryman) to ferry him across the river Styx into Hades so that he can talk to Achilles who had died in the battle against Troy. It could be that the authors of the Bible used the word "hades" because it was the closest Greek word to describe what they meant.

Answer 6

In 1611 hell meant:

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old English helan to conceal,

So those that go to hell are 'concealed' not burned.

In 1611 hell was a correct understanding of the word grave.

Today hell has come to mean something different.

.

Answer 7

I am not a JW, but they are right! You can research it with Hebrew scholars or look it up in Greek dictionaries. Sheol and Hades really mean grave, as supposed to hell. The idea of hell was created in the dark ages to intimidate people into believers.

Answer 8

Honestly, because the Bible makes it clear that it means the grave.

Consider when Lazarus died, Christ neither claimed he was in heaven nor hell but simply asleep.

Does it make sense that Jehovah, loving God that he is would burn someone forever for sins commited over the rather short life span of humans??

Answer 9

Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the same bible that you probably believe in. They have the Watchtower society, which is a bunch of guys in New York that "correct" the inspired word of God. They approach and tell you everything that you think is true of all Christian religions, but deeper investigation reveals that they are anything but. There are discrepancies between the bible and a lot of religions, sadly. Just take divorce in the Catholic religion, for example. If you weren't married in the Catholic church, it isn't recognized by the church or, therefore, in the eyes of God. Jesus said not to put away your wife, or spouse, for any reason other than adultery. Bottom line, don't follow religion, follow the bible. If you go one verse beyond where Agape goes, it says and whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Beyond that, Jesus said himself that there shall be many that come to him in that day crying, Lord, Lord, haven't we done this and that in your name. And He will say, depart from me, ye which work iniquity, for I never knew you. Where do you think that they will be sent?

Answer 10

Because they have a wrongly translated Bible (New World Translation), they use the Watchtower Publications (whom considers themselves prophets of God) which is considered just as highly as their "bible" and makes false prophecies.

Bytheway, if you read deeper into the Bible you'll see that Hell goes beyond the grave into torture and everlasting pain.

Answer 11

It is so sad that Jehovah witnesses spend so much time going out to witness but do not understand the bible. they have there own interpretations and the members just have to follow. They do not believe in hell or he devil. There is much more they not believe. It is a very powerful cult and they try to hold on to their members as much as they can and try to limit with who they associate. They spend much time indoctrinating there new converts and they get brainwashed before they ever realize it. Just ask any ex JW's