To ex-JW's who became real "Christians"

startingover

I have a question.

What is your belief now regarding Hell? A place of torment? The grave?

Junction-Guy

I believe it is real and it burns with fire and brimstone, I wish it weren't true, but I deep down believe that it is.

I grapple with the concept of hell, I have always found it to be a difficult concept to reconcile with a loving God. However the Bible speaks of punishment. At the moment I'm willing to leave it as an unanswered, and perhaps, unaswerable, question.

The JW's beliefs about hell was one of the things that originally attracted me to them. I didn't know until 15 years later that the rest of their religion is bunk.

tfjw

There seem to be more logical explanations or interpretations, at least in my opinion, for such a doctrine of an eternally burning hell. As a former long-time JW it is difficult to accept such a doctrine even in the face of such logical explanations. But then Revelation speaks of the smoke that continually goes up.

The Society tells her sheep that this means in the new world the memory of all those who died is being signified by this language of a smoke going up or rising eternally. But then I'm hit with the passage in Isaiah that says God is making all things new and the former things will NOT be called to mind. I wrote a brief paper/article on this subject but came to no conclusion, thus never published it. :(

LayingLow

I have seen some explanations for it being a burning place such as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and several parts in Revelation (Particularly chapter 20). Those scriptures were the ones I could never reconcile with the gehenna=destruction.

Truthfully, I accepted for a while that since those two accounts are so vivid that it must be a reality but it squelched the love of God in me. Since then I have discarded the teaching again. I can't accept the person who would burn (forever) others as a loving anything. So I had to conclude one of two things.

1.) Gehenna= Eternal Death (Unconscious nonexistence)
2.) Gehenna= Spiritual state while living in paradise like the state of a wicked child who hates a parents love and the more the parent shows affection, the more they are in hell. (Actually fits in with Orthodox theology). In this instance the hell is self created by the evilness of ones own heart.

Luke is full of parables, and Revelation is full of symbology. I don't think it would be responsible for me to assume that God punishes people forever with no lesson in view simply because an account that most early Christians churches didn't read aloud from and many didn't view as canonical expresses a bad end in vivid symbolism (Sorry for the run-on). So I'm with 1 or 2. All through the scriptures God tries to teach a lesson. It seems so much unlike that character to torture people forever with no chance of repentance.

That's where I am at as of now. It is one doctrine they may have right (Along with Seventh Day Adventists, World Wide Church Of God, and others for nonexistence). Or the Orthodox church may have right also. (Sorry if this is poorly written but I'm in a terrible rush.)

DeusMauzzim

I will answer your question with literature but it is seriously what I believe: FAUSTUS. And what are you that live with Lucifer? MEPHIST. Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer, Conspir'd against our God with Lucifer, And are for ever damn'd with Lucifer. FAUSTUS. Where are you damn'd? MEPHIST. In hell. FAUSTUS. How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell? MEPHIST. Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it: Think'st thou that I, that saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells, In being depriv'd of everlasting bliss? O, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands, Which strike a terror to my fainting soul!

justhuman

Hell it is a spiritual state for those who chose to stay way from God's presence. A very good example is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus he was refering to an event that could happen. That is why in the parables He uses real illustrations. So Hell it is a spiritual situation for those who don't chose to be near God.

From this parable we find interesting points. Lazarus was brought by the Angels to God. That means the Soul of a righteous is accompanied in God's presence by Angels.

Also in 2 Peter we read that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison, and that the Gospel was preached to the dead. So Jesus when He entered Hades He preached to the Souls of the dead, and he opened the Gates of Hades for the righteous ones to go in Heavens.

For the Jews Hades(Adis in Greek, shieol)was the place were all the souls of humans waited ressurection. While in the Greek Scriptures we have Hades, then Geena and Hell. So Hell it is a spiritual situation only for those who reject God

NanaR

I have a question.
What is your belief now regarding Hell? A place of torment? The grave?

starting over: I agree with the explanation posted here:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/157916/2908688/post.ashx#2908688

Tom says it better than I can ;-)

Pax,

Ruth

BurnTheShips

What JustHuman and NanaR said.

Thw whole fire and brimstone thing is a metaphor.

Hell is a definite state of self-exclusion from God.

It is the place where God is not. The Outer Darkness.

BTS