by Sea Breeze 128 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
For we walk by faith, not by sight
I think this verse is a big clue regarding how hell or heaven is to be experienced.
I think that verse is a big clue on whether heaven OR hell will be experienced.
God is willing to justify you based on nothing more than belief on our part…. A very generous offer.
I think that verse is a big clue on whether heaven OR hell will be experienced.
God is willing to justify you based on nothing more than belief on our part…. A very generous offer
Most certainly it will be either heaven or hell...the question is HOW will either be experienced, which is the question this thread brought up.
Imagine hell being a literal place, somewhere deep inside this planet or another. The opposite would also be literal. Heaven would be a literal place either on this planet or another, a literal physical paradise. Which would mean that the JW interpretation is actually the correct one after all.
Huh?
Exactly
Which would mean that the JW interpretation is actually the correct one after all.
I'm simply stating that a literal physical hell would mean that heaven is a literal physical place too.
Both destinations occur after the physical human experience ends, most often after death according to the scriptures.
But if the physical human experience continues for the ones condemned to hell, why would it be different for the ones going to heaven?
If you believe in alternate planes of existence, then heaven or hell could be literal and yet not physical. A 'ghost plane' of sorts. It would require that beings have a way of feeling joy or terror in this plane, and possibly comfort and pain. It's all possible when you are using your imagination.
This does force us to consider a being who would design such a universe, where eternal pain and suffering are possible in multiple planes of existence, for no other reason than whether or not he felt offended by the equivalent of a small hair on the back of a dust mite. The level of insanity, cruelty and plain old sadism required should make us thankful that it doesn't exist.
The level of insanity, cruelty and plain old sadism required should make us thankful that it doesn't exist.
Tonus
If God truly is love, as the scriptures repeatedly claim, non-existence is a more logical punishment. To return to dust. To disintegrate you so as to never be conscious again.
In the old testament God is shown 'cutting off' the wicked, simply ending their life. Never once does he instruct Joshua for example to round up the Canaanites and torture them with fire. We do however read how God detested the Canaanite ritual of burning children alive as a sacrifice to their gods, an act that never rose in God's heart to begin with, according to Scripture.
Jesus also stated "if you, being wicked, can show love to your children, how much more so will God show you love".
Non-existence is a more humane state of being than a state of eternal torture. We as human beings agree on this. We cannot be more humane than God.
With all due respect, your feelings are not the standard by which to apply criminal justice.
I once watched a young man demand a trial after being offered 7 years in a plea deal for armed robbery. He kept muttering to himself, "They gonna havta give me my time... I 'aint taking nuttin'.
The trial, only lasted a couple hours because of the overwhelming evidence against him. Having rejected a more merciful sentence, the judge was forced by law to administer what the statute stipulated for this crime - 25 years.
Man's soul is eternal and was designed for eternal fellowship with God. When we reject God's mercy and grace, it is the same as choosing an eternity in hell, away from the presence of God. It is clear that it is a place of complete conscious abandonment. Those who choose to go to this eternal place will know they are eternally damned and abandoned by everyone, especially God.
Imagine the level of depravity in a person that would choose that over being a member of God's royal family where you will be comforted and spoiled rotten for eternity. It is an existence where we will sit in judgment of rebelious angels that have caused so much trouble for our families and robbed us of much comfort in this life.
It is also an offer which includes total revenge on those Watchtower leaders who imagine themselves to be our overlords as "spiritual" jews but do lie. The Lord Jesus Christ has a littlle present for people like me who have watched these imposters wreck havoc on my family for nearly 100 years. This is not my revenge, I wish this on no one. But, the Lord has spoken it and I will be there to receive his love in the presence of my enemies all the same:
Rev. 3: 9 "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." - Jesus
With all due respect, your feelings are not the standard by which to apply criminal justice.
I was referring to God's administering of justice as clearly written in the scriptures. A justice so obvious that Jesus invited us to use reason in comparing it to ours as wicked beings.
And nothing you said above requires physically burning in hell for an eternity to be true. One can be conscious and at the same time know that one is separated and abandoned by God.
You revealed that you believe that the soul is eternal. And you know for a fact that the physical body isn't. If we know that a physical body is required to feel physical pain, then that should give us a clue as to what hell isn't.
