knuckles644

Many, many, many Christians believe in the existance of hell and hellfire, but a few don't. Jehovah's Wittnesses are constantly trumpeting their belief that hellfire is not a scriptural belief. My parents are Jehovah's Wittnesses and whenever I bring up the question "Why do you think your religion is the right one?" they always show me a bunch of "wrong" beliefs held by other denominations. I would like for some Christians to defend the belief in Hellfire, so I can show them that hell also has scriptural support.

So, this is basically their argument:

"Does the Bible indicate whether the dead experience pain?

Eccl. 9:5, 10: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol,* the place to which you are going.�? (If they are conscious of nothing, they obviously feel no pain.) (*“Sheol,�? AS, RS, NE, JB; “the grave,�? KJ, Kx; “hell,�? Dy; “the world of the dead,�? TEV.)

Ps. 146:4: “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts* do perish.�? (*“Thoughts,�? KJ, 145:4 in Dy; “schemes,�? JB; “plans,�? RS, TEV.)"

"Does the Bible indicate that the soul survives the death of the body?

Ezek. 18:4: “The soul* that is sinning—it itself will die.�? (*“Soul,�? KJ, Dy, RS, NE, Kx; “the man,�? JB; “the person,�? TEV.)

“The concept of ‘soul,’ meaning a purely spiritual, immaterial reality, separate from the ‘body,’ . . . does not exist in the Bible.�?—La Parole de Dieu (Paris, 1960), Georges Auzou, professor of Sacred Scripture, Rouen Seminary, France, p. 128.

“Although the Hebrew word nefesh [in the Hebrew Scriptures] is frequently translated as ‘soul,’ it would be inaccurate to read into it a Greek meaning. Nefesh . . . is never conceived of as operating separately from the body. In the New Testament the Greek word psyche is often translated as ‘soul’ but again should not be readily understood to have the meaning the word had for the Greek philosophers. It usually means ‘life,’ or ‘vitality,’ or, at times, ‘the self.’�?—The Encyclopedia Americana (1977), Vol. 25, p. 236."

"After one’s death, is he still subject to further punishment for his sins?

Rom. 6:7: “He who has died has been acquitted from his sin.�?"

"Is eternal torment of the wicked compatible with God’s personality?

Jer. 7:31: “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 does not have and use such a thing on a larger scale.)"

So, how do Christians defend the concept of eternal punishment?

Magus55

Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Mar 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.


Although, keep in mind, the Lake of Fire and Hell are not the same place. I've heard theories that Hell is punishment ( possibly for 1000 years during the Millenium Kingdom), and then Hell and everything in it are thrown into the Lake of Fire and destroyed.

Opera Nut

If I don't have a body when I die, I cannot be tortured in Hell.

--Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living, 1936.

knuckles644

I asked for arguments for the existence of hellfire. I myself am an atheist.