I Had More Questions Than Answers! A WT Video at JW.ORG

I recently went to JW.org and clicked on the article, I Had More Questions Than Answers. The author was deaf and was trained to be a pastor in his home country of Honduras. However, he watched a video, Would You Like to Know the Truth and in his own words, “When I watched it, I was shocked to learn that many of the doctrines I used to teach, such as hellfire and immortality of the soul, were not found in the Bible.”

I will look at these two doctrines and compare what the WT teaches with what the Bible teaches.

In addition, the author, was given the video Jehovah’s Witnesses—Faith in Action, Part 1: Out of Darkness. The author stated, “this video showed how a group of men carefully examined the Bible to understand the truth about basic doctrines. As I watched the video, I identified with those men. Like them, I was looking for the truth. That video convinced me that the Witnesses teach the truth because they base their beliefs squarely on the Bible. So, I renewed my Bible study.” In 2014, the author and his wife were baptized as JW’s.

I will also take a critical look at the video, Jehovah’s Witnesses—Faith in Action, Part 1: Out of Darkness which is here.

On to Hellfire and the Immortal Soul.

The WT teaching on Hell can be found in their book, Reasoning from the Scriptures pgs. 168-175. Their basis for how they view all the verses on hell and the immortal soul stems from their misunderstanding of Ecclesiastics 9:5,10 and Psalm 146:4. When the WT cannot explain away a verse that teaches an Eternal Hell, they refer back to Ecclesiastics and Psalm that “proves” Hell torment cannot be eternal.

Since Ecclesiastics and Psalm is so central to understanding why the WT doctrine on an Eternal Hell is wrong, I will spend some space on the correct understanding of both those references.

The WT in their Reasoning book invites you to read Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 10. I invite you to read all 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes—paying particular attention to the phrase, “under the sun,” which occurs 29 times. In their teaching on this subject the WT reverts to TWO methods that they use to “prove” that what the scriptures teach coincides with WT doctrine. However, reading the verses the WT references, in CONTEXT will expose the WT misunderstanding. See my Blog on the importance of CONTEXT here.

METHOD 1. The WT TELLS US what the Bible means by what it says. However, what they should be doing is to let the Bible interpret the Bible. More specifically, let Ecclesiastes be its own commentary, which we find in Eccl. 1:1-3, “The words of the congregator, the son of David, the king in Jerusalem. The greatest futility!” says the congregator, “The greatest futility! Everything is futile!” What does a person gain from all his hard work at which he toils UNDER THE SUN?"

The writer is telling us how things are “under the sun,” i.e. from the human perspective. He is not telling us a doctrinal statement about whether or not the soul continues after death. Besides, it's a mistake to use the Old Testament to interpret the New Testament. It is the New Testament that sheds light on the Old Testament.

What do we find in the New Testament? In 2 Cor. 5:8 Paul says, “But we are of good courage and would prefer to be absent from the body and to make our home with the Lord. So whether at home with him or absent from him, we make it our aim to be acceptable to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Christ, so that each one may be repaid according to the things he has practiced while in the body, whether good or bad.” The WT states that memories, feelings and senses do not function after death since our brain is destroyed at death (See the WT booklet, What Does The Bible Really Teach? [WDTBRT], Page 12, 1^st paragraph). So, what part of Paul went to be at home with the Lord? In Matt. 17:1-8, in the Transfiguration of Jesus, both Moses and Elijah are alive and talking with Jesus. If their senses cease at death, how was this conversation possible?

One of the most common verses to which Jehovah's Witnesses turn is in Psalm 146: "His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish,"

The WT states that this verse clearly testifies that when a man dies, he is no longer a conscious being. His thoughts perish. He can not longer think. They claim that the phrase "his spirit departs" merely means that his breath or his life leaves. He dies. His body rots. His thoughts are no more. He is gone. This is not, however what the Psalmist is trying to communicate. Once again, read the verse in context to get the true meaning.

Psalm 146:3-7, "Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free," The idea in this Psalm of praise is not to describe what kind of existence  man has after death, but rather to show that man cannot help you after he dies. A powerful prince may well intend to protect and support you if you honor and serve him, but he cannot actually give you what he intends. The schemes of men are as mortal as they are. When he dies, all his intentions die with him. His corpse can offer you no support. His mortality is an inescapable limit to his ability to be a trustworthy protector. Mortal man will fail you. Do not put your hope in a mere human being. 

God, on the other hand, is the immortal, almighty creator. If you rest in Him as your support, He will never fail you. This is the message the Psalm intends to send. It is not a treatise on the nature of human death and the soul. It is a contrast between trusting in even the most powerful of mortal men and trusting in Jehovah God. It is not, therefore, claiming that the man is unconscious or has wholly ceased to exist, but rather that any thought or plan he had against your enemies or to your benefit is now gone. This is why most translators render the word here "plans" rather than "thoughts." For example: similarly, the explanatory note in the 1599 Geneva Bible interprets "their thoughts" as  "their vain opinions, whereby they flattered themselves and so imagined wicked enterprises. "It is the schemes and intentions of the man that die with him. That is why you cannot rely on him for your salvation and must trust wholly in God. "

METHOD 2. The WT avoids verses that clearly demonstrate that the soul survives death. For example, Rev. 6:9-11, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness they had given. They shouted with a loud voice, saying: “Until when, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer, until the number was filled.”

Matt. 10:28, “And do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” How does this verse make any sense if as WDTBRT page 12 states, “The dead do not see or hear or think? Not even one part of us survives the death of the body. “

The Bible clearly and explicitly teaches that hell is a real place to which the wicked/unbelieving are sent after death. We have all sinned against God (Romans 3:23). The just punishment for that sin is death (Romans 6:23). Since all of our sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4), and since God is an infinite and eternal Being, the punishment for sin, death, must also be infinite and eternal. Hell is this infinite and eternal death which we have earned because of our sin.

The punishment of the wicked dead in hell is described throughout Scripture as “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12), “shame and everlasting contempt”(Daniel 12:2), a place where “the fire is not quenched”(Mark 9:44-49),a place of “torment” and “fire” (Luke 16:23-24), “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9),, a place where “the smoke of torment rises forever and ever Revelation 14:10-11,” and a “lake of burning sulfur” where the wicked are “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

The punishment of the wicked in hell is as never ending as the bliss of the righteous in heaven. Jesus Himself indicates that punishment in hell is just as everlasting as life in heaven (Matthew 25:46). The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God. Those in hell will acknowledge the perfect justice of God (Psalm 76:10). Those who are in hell will know that their punishment is just and that they alone are to blame (Deuteronomy 32:3-5).

The WT TWISTS the meaning of Ecclesiastics and ends up with their TWISTED THEOLOGY that Hell is not eternal.

Thanks to CARM here for the information on Psalm 146:4 found in "Method 1".

Thanks to Got Questions here for the information on the phrase "Under the Sun" found in "Method 1".