Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses might have it right on this issue, no scoffers please?

Yes, I agree as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

With regard to hell just a couple other scriptures to consider:

Ecc 9:5 & 10 "For 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, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. vs 10 All that you hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She'ol the place to which you are going."

Psalms 146: 4 "His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; In that day his thoughts do perish."

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord."

The bibles hope for those who have died:

John 5:28 & 29 "Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming when all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgement."

Acts 24:15 "and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous."

Some of said that the truth about Hell it doesn't really matter, but consider how many have turned against religion due to the Hellfire teaching. They see that a loving God would not torment individuals forever. Isn't it comforting to know the truth about our loved ones who have died. That they are asleep in death awaiting the resurrection. Not burning in hell for past deeds, as Ro. 6:23 shows that by their death they have paid for their sins. That God will read their hearts and they have the hope of a resurrection and will be judged from that point forward by their future deeds on whether they will be righteous. So they are given a 2nd change. Of course, the bible does speak of those who are facing Gehenna as Jesus told the scribes and the Pharisess at Matt 23:15. But are Hell and Gehenna the same thing? No.

Hell (English) Sheol (Hebrew) Hades (Greek) all stand for the common grave of mankind. Gehenna (Greek) is symbolic of the 2nd death. Or not change of ever living again. You have been erased from God's memory. Rev. 20:13-15 says "And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Furthermore, whoever was not written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire."

Note that death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. As death and Hades are not tangible things, then the lake of fire is symbolic. What does fire do? It completely destroys. So anything that symbolic would be thrown into the lake of fire would be destroyed forever. It or they would no longer exist.

We worship a loving God who does not want to destroy anyone and is patient that we all may come to serve him. 2 Pet 3:9 "Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise as some consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance."

pfft. none of this makes your religion true. lack of answers indicates a boring non relevant question, not lack of an articulate answer. no one really cares, but since you went there... court records show ct russell to be a fraudster. when asked to identify some hebrew characters, he couldn't, even tho he previously claimed he could. his wife also said he was pedo. there were 9 child sex abuse cases settled secretly in 2007 by the watchtower. i'm not even american, but when i think of free speech there, i think founding fathers, probably washington, and people like martin luthor king and malcolm x, willing to put their lives on the line for others. you present the watchtower pursuing their own interests. hitler would have changed that 1st amendment thing. did the jws go to stop him? or were you all running around saying the sky is falling and a wolf attacked the sheep. yet now the children of those who did stand up and guaranteed your 1st amendment rights, you try to turn into cripples too. shameful persecution? are you trying to claim a monopoly on persecution? you know over 100 000 "real" christians were martyred in the 1st 2 centuries after jesus? not much room left for a modern anointed class. nyway, already given too much time to this one.

PAULCSRM -

We are not the ones "hung up" on hell. We find that others are the ones who cannot get past the falsely taught doctrine of hellfire.

For the one who posted several verses, the problem with those is that where it says hell, the Greek uses different words in the original, bu in the English they have both been translated hell or hellfire.

This has created unnecessary misunderstanding. But because of this we do find that churches teach such a thing as hellfire when there is none and that is NOT what the verse says.

A Greek interlinear will clear that up for someone. A public library of good size will have one. If not, please contact a Kingdom Hall for a copy, or go to any of the larger religious book stores. They will have several good Interlinears.

Jehovah's Witnesses hung up on hell? I think not. We would much rather discuss the wonderful blessing of future life on a paradise earth and how one can gain God's approval to live at that time.

Paula P quoted some Scriptures, and then made the following comment:

"Let's see, I see fire that is never quenched, I see torments, I see damnation.

hell is a real place that can avoided by trusting Christ as your savior."

Yes, it is very similar to another passage she conveniently fails to mention, which mentions a fire that will never be quenched. What is in that fire: Dead bodies that are visible to humans who can go to that place and look at them. Note this, from the KJV of Isaiah 66:24 -

"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

All Jesus was talking about was eternal destruction of unrepentant wicked people, justy the same as the destruction of the bodies of criminals in the garbage dump in the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom (Gehenna) just outside of Jerusalem.

we have to look at the context. God's prophet is teaching the lesson that each person is responsible for his own sin. The father will not be held accountable for the sins of his son, and a son will not be called into account for his father's transgressions. Notice the contrast throughout this passage between "living" and "dying." In verse 17, if a person refrains from the sins mentioned "he will not die......he will surely live." Again in verse 21, "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is right and just, he will surely live and will not die." The whole message of the passage is that the wicked will die and the righteous will live. Also, the context plainly shows that the word "soul" is not referring to the eternal spirit of man. "Soul" is used synonymously with "man," "son," and "father." Look carefully at verses 19 and 20. The "son" does what is right and just and keeps God's decrees will live. In contrast the "soul" that sins will die. The "son" will not share the guilt of the father. The words, "soul" and "son" are used interchangeable and obviously refers to the person and not the eternal spirit of man.

When the King James Version of the Bible was translated, the word hell simply meant, "hole in the ground", or "grave". It took centuries of Immortal Soul propaganda to change the meaning of that word in English.

Without that disinformation, all the Immortal Soul propaganda among these answers wouldn't make any sense to the trolls who are posting it. That's right; trolls. This Question specifically requested no scoffers.

It still makes no sense at all in languages where that propaganda never happened.

Why are JW's so hung up on this hell thing? Unless you expect to go there, it's not that big a deal. Who cares if hell is eternal or if it's just zap and you're done? This issue shows up on almost all JW literature, as if it's such an earth-shattering concept.

The other thing that I notice is that JW's never study the Bible on it's own. If the Bible is so easy to grasp, then why do JW's publish all this commentary that is to be read with the Bible? Is it unsafe to read the Bible on its own?

The truth is that the Bible is easily interpreted in several different ways. Otherwise, people wouldn't disagree so much. The fact that it lends itself to interpretation also makes it timeless. If anyone had a corner on the truth, then there would be nothing more to study and nothing more to learn. Figure it out, wrestle with it, meditate. You can't rely on someone's commentary (no matter what church it comes from).

Exactly the kind of no-nonsense, thought provoking, straight to the Bible answers that convinced me and my family almost 30 years ago. I am continually amazed by the folks who make strong assertions about what they know so little about-- We are indeed Christians! We have a marvelous book we offer to the public that explains Jesus' life entitled "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived". Not to mention the fact that the brother who took the time to formulate the fabulous response above quoted Jesus at Matthew 13.

Yeah, I don't believe in hell.

I don't see it like the JW's either, but I certainly don't by this eternal hell stuff that was invented a few centuries ago. The early church was universalist until at least the 6th century.

The first death is our mortal body's going back to the dust however Jesus died on the cross to save us and we will get our body's back again at the resurrection. However the second death is separation from God and being cast off. That is the Hell that is talked about a life in eternity with out our father in heaven. To be dam is to stop the progress of something and when the soul is stopped short of perfection it is damned therefor unable to live with God and Jesus Christ in heaven. Hope that clears some things up for you.