I'm confused, what should I believe? (Christians/Jehovah's Witnesses/everyone else)?
I just received a pamphlet in the mail titled "Would You Like to Know the Truth?"
Among other things, one question that it addressed is "What happens to us when we die?" The pamphlet states:
"What the Bible teaches: At death, humans cease to exist. 'The dead... are conscious of nothing at all," states Ecclesiastes 9:5. Since the dead cannot know, feel, or experience anything, they cannot harm --- or help --- the living. ---Psalm 146:3,4."
I read this an was taken aback for I always though that the Bible teaches us that we travel to either a Heaven and Hell after we die. I looked at the back of the pamphlet and saw that it was from the Jehovah's Witnesses and so I realized that Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians have two completely contradictory beliefs regarding what happens to us after we die.
So what should I believe? Both the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians claim to believe in the Bible, yet Christians interpret it as meaning that we have an afterlife while the Jehovah's Witnesses say that we cease to exist. So obviously, a large number of people are wrong on this subject. I'm confused though, because both the Christians and the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that they are certain of their respective "truths". But, at least one group is obviously wrong!
So is there an afterlife? Millions of people say there is and millions of people say there isn't. That means that millions of people are wrong! How can this be? This means that there are millions of people who are confident that their beliefs are true when they are in fact false. I'm flabbergasted at the situation. May someone please clear this up?
If you are a Christian, state why you know that there is a heaven and hell.
If you are a Jehovah's Witness, state why you know that humans cease to exist when we die (rather than go to a heaven or hell).
Thank you very much. I'm so confused as to how so many people can proclaim their beliefs as truth when the contradictory nature between religions shows us how many people are guaranteed to be wrong.
2009-05-19T19:45:42Z
After reading the answers I'm happy to have learned more about the Jehovah's Witnesses and their beliefs. The religion does not seem messed up now as I had first thought, but seems to be effective at teaching morals (as most religions do). Unfortunately, your religion still contradicts many other religions leading me to realize that if the Jehovah's Witnesses are right then there are a few billion people who are wrong about the world. And, if Christians are right, or somebody else, then this could easily mean that Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong. So, what does this lead me to believe? Well, the more I contemplate the topic the more apparent it becomes that Christianity, Jehovah's Witnesses, and most other common religions are still fiction (they lack the true truth and only supply true morals).
Thus, I conclude as I have recently on R&S that we can learn the same morals as these religions teach us without having to pretend like these fictional religions are realities...
2009-05-19T19:53:52Z
... I say "fictional" because their contradictory nature shows with certainty that the majority of them are false for only one can be correct (e.g. Heaven cannot coexist with "humans cease to exist" thus we know that somebody is wrong...)
I love the morals of these religions, but I don't like how the religions go about teaching the morals... through lies (the majority of religions assert false beliefs ("false" known because of their contradictions as shown above)).
Okay, I've repeated myself many times to attempt to get my point across. Thanks for considering it.
spdj14012009-05-19T10:31:12Z
Favorite Answer
Think about this. When Adam and Eve sinned what did God tell them would happen? He did not tell them that they would burn in hell forever. He told them that would die.
(Genesis 2:16-17) . . .And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: “From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. 17 But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”
(Genesis 3:19) . . .In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”
What happens to us when we die? Most of the world’s religions teach that something inside a person continues living after the body dies. Some religious groups still cling to the idea that God punishes the wicked by subjecting them to eternal suffering in a fiery hell. But is that the truth? What does the Bible really teach about death? God’s Word states: “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.” Since the dead “are conscious of nothing at all,” they cannot hear, see, speak, feel, or think. They no longer earn any wages. How could they? They are incapable of any work! Moreover, “their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished,” for they cannot express any emotion.—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.
What the Bible says on this subject is simple and clear—the dead do not continue to live somewhere. There is nothing that leaves our body at death and lives on so as to be reborn in another body, as stated by those who believe in reincarnation. We might illustrate matters this way: The life that we enjoy is like the flame of a candle. When the flame is extinguished, it does not go anywhere. It is simply gone. Think of the implications of that one simple but powerful truth. When a Bible student learns that the dead are not conscious, he should easily be able to conclude that no matter how resentful his dead ancestors may have been during their lifetime, they cannot trouble him. He should also quickly grasp the point that his dead loved ones can no longer hear, see, speak, feel, or think. Therefore, they cannot be experiencing unbearable loneliness in purgatory or suffering in a place of fiery torment. However, the Bible teaches that the dead who are in God’s memory will be resurrected. What a wonderful hope!—John 5:28, 29.
What happens at death is no mystery to Jehovah, the Creator of the brain. He knows the truth, and in his Word, the Bible, he explains the condition of the dead. Its clear teaching is this: When a person dies, he ceases to exist. Death is the opposite of life. The dead do not see or hear or think. Not even one part of us survives the death of the body. We do not possess an immortal soul or spirit.
After Solomon observed that the living know that they will die, he wrote: “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.” He then enlarged on that basic truth by saying that the dead can neither love nor hate and that “there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in [the grave].” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10) Similarly, Psalm 146:4 says that when a man dies, “his thoughts do perish.” We are mortal and do not survive the death of our body. The life we enjoy is like the flame of a candle. When the flame is put out, it does not go anywhere. It is simply gone.
Did Jesus teach that there would be a resurrection? Yes. He mentions it repeatedly. John 5:28, 29; John 6:40; John 6:44.
The apostle Paul taught this as well at Acts 24:15. He was even being judged by the Sadducees over his hope of the resurrection. Acts 23:6-8.
Even people in hell get resurrected. Revelation 20:13.
So the doctrine of the resurrection is firmly established in scripture, yes?
Now if we 'travel to heaven or to hell' when we die, what need is there of a resurrection? Resurrection is, plainly, for dead people, right? So if something survives death and goes to heaven, resurrection is unnecessary, is it not? Since resurrection is what overcomes death, then when we are dead, we are conscious of absolutely nothing, just as Ecclesiastes says, right?
Jehovah's Witnesses ARE Christians. True Christians to be exact. Instead of asking your question, why not GET your Bible, OPEN it and READ what it says for YOURSELF?
Every Bible has a table of contents in it to assist in making finding your way around the Bible easier. There aren't The views of Jehovah's Witnesses and the views of Christians, but rather, there is what The Bible itself teaches, true Christians who follow it and imitation Christians who follow what they are told to follow and or whose interpretations are based on the teachings of imperfect man rather than the Bible's clear Truth.
Although you are both right and wrong about two things. The Bible does teach that people do go to heaven, however it does NOT teach that it is the final eternal destination for ALL mankind who are faithful to God. The Bible shows and teaches that there are only FEW from among mankind (faithful women and men) who have this hope, it even tells you exactly how many have this hope and exactly what specific duty they perform when they get there.
On the other hand the Bible ALSO teaches that the vast majority of the faithful among mankind (men, women and children) will get to live forever on earth when God by means of His Kingdom Heavenly Government in the hands of Christ Jesus and those among mankind who were selected by God to go to heaven through God's spirit restore the earth to the paradisaic conditions it was originally meant to be according to Jehovah God's grand purpose.
Get your Bible out and read the brief Bible based article found in the 1st weblink of my sources section which will explain and answer exactly WHAT the Kingdom of God truly is.... according to The Bible. If you DON'T read it along with your Bible, you shall continue to remain in ignorance and confusion as to whether or not what we as Jehovah's modern day Christian Witnesses are proclaiming is in FULL harmony with The Bible. It will merely be a form of information (to you at least) not Biblical FACT.
Ecclesiastes 9:5-"For the living are conscious that they will die, but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all." Ecclesiastes 9:10-" 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 (grave), the place to which all of you are going." When Jesus resurrected his good friend, Lazarus, he told his followers that he was going to wake Lazarus from 'sleep'. When Lazarus, who was a good man, or Jesus would not have been his friend, was resurrected, he didn't get mad at Jesus for bringing him back from his reward in heaven, he just 'woke up'. Use your bible to determine which is truth. The bible does talk about an 'afterlife' for some, in heaven, but that is a different discussion. Talk to Jehovah's Witnesses about your questions, they will be happy to show you, from your own bible, that the bible teaches death is like sleep, from which Jesus awakens us, just like he did Lazarus.
I am an atheist but I do believe in a Supreme being but not in a religion I have read the bible, the koran and studied some religions of smaller civilizations. The bible says that when you die you await your final judgment so you will be dead until you are called to be judged. But religion has always been about controlling the masses since the beginning I mean that's why they have an omnipotent god and they scared everybody with a hell for not following the ten commandments or basic rules for behavior I mean thou shall: not steal, kill, lie, and what better way to collect tax than people willingly giving them 10 percent. Research outside the bible you will find out that everybody interprets the bible at their best interest to get you to attend their services and consequently leave your donation at their church. In the smaller religions there is no heaven or hell, even the trickster god (devil) is good. Because they did not have to control thousands or millions of people,