Part Two of My Letter to a Jehovah’s Witness
(Copyright © 2023 by Daniel B. Sedory)
Lastly, here's what I promised I'd eventually get to: What is "Hell"? Again, I put quotes around the word to note that I'm using it here the same way most people do; such as how atheists and movie script writers use it, to refer to the "place" (though a better term might be "state of being") that those who do not ‘go to Heaven’ will end up in. Thus, I mean what the Book of Revelation refers to as "The Lake of Fire" or what Jesus called "eternal fire"; not the temporary "place" (until the Final Judgment) which the Greek word "Hades" (ᾅδης) actually refers to. As humans, we have a very difficult time thinking of something that is not in a physical location in space, but rather some kind of dimension that can exist apart from and outside of the physical Universe:
"Hell" (or whatever you want to call the final state of existence of those who are not with God in Heaven is likely to be far different (in my opinion) from the earthy paintings of the artists of Middle Ages Europe who attempted to depict what Hell would be like! You've likely seen some of them showing people being "tortured" by demons the same way evil men had done on earth to others at that time. But, the demons must also endure torture there as well; as we read earlier in Matthew 8:29 ("And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"). Neither humans nor demons are going to 'take turns' (which would give some of them a 'break' in how they feel) torturing each other! No, the torture there will not require some other being to administer it. And, first of all (again, in my opinion; but based upon what we have been told about Hell in Scripture; mainly the fact that it will mostly be a place of wailing and have nothing 'good' in it; no rest, no comforts, etc.), I believe that everyone in that "place" (or state of being) will exist in their own private "space" apart from any other being, because simply being in the presence of others might offer even the slightest bit of comfort in their minds; which is the reason some have even said, "I want to go to hell, so I can be with my friends!" No! That will have no meaning there, because those who end up there will be totally isolated from all others; they will not hear the voices of any other beings! (Though they might hear the words of their own statements against God; and whatever else that caused them to be there.) There will be no possibility of asking anyone else what they are feeling like, nor knowing whether someone you 'hated' also ended up there.
Second, a large part of the "pain" and "torment" they'll experience there will be knowing they rejected the God of Scripture and deserve to be there! Thus, I believe there will be a great deal of "mental torture" there!! You will end up there because deep down inside you didn’t want to truly love God. You didn’t want to be in a loving relationship with Him, so you had to go "somewhere" other than Heaven. So for eternity, you are going to try blaming God and anyone else you can think of for ending up there, though you will for sure know it’s only because you had rejected wanting to be with Him!
Will there also be physical pain? I’m not sure how the resurrected bodies of the unrighteous will function, or what they will be like, but Scripture does state in John 5:29 ("and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment"; see also, Acts 24:15) that there will be a "resurrection" of some kind for them too; not just for those who will be in Heaven. But the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:40 and following did write a great deal more about the resurrection bodies of Believers than we have about those of unbelievers.
I do know that your mind, even on this earth in a physical body, can cause you to feel something physical in your human body that didn’t start with any kind of disease, illness, bacteria/virus, etc., but rather only in your mind. So why should it be any different when existing only as a spirit or in whatever form those in Hell will be in? I am not saying that the torment of those in Hell is necessarily only due to the state of their minds, but I do believe it’s possible for many of the "tortures" that will be experienced there to first well-up from within their own minds, then cause one to feel the same pains (and much worse) that they could experience while in an earthly body (again, only speculation on my part), but a way that obviously does not require the presence of any being other than yourself, and could certainly cause you to feel as if you were burning alive over and over again, but with just enough time to realize why you were in that state.
In conclusion: What I’m getting at here is that I do not believe Hell will be as simple an existence as many have thought it will be, but also that it is not something you can deny will exist, since God has told us in Scripture that it will exist as a place of "torment" for eternity.
There is a much more important question everyone must answer from Scripture alone:
"Who is Jesus Christ?" Yes, he was the "Messiah," but "what is the nature of His being?" and "What do you believe about Him?"
I've heard that Jehovah's Witnesses believe he is a created being; that he is an angel. So, the nature of Jesus would be that of a created angel. Do you believe that?
Something to consider: What is the theme or subject of Philippians 2:1-11 (and following)? It’s "Humility" right?
The Apostle Paul wrote about Christ having and being an example of humility, because of how he handled his state of being on earth by not "grasping at" something (the Greek word is: ἁρπαγμὸν, harpagmon, noun, accusative masculine singular, from ἁρπαγμός harpogmos). It’s best to quote exactly how Scripture describes this in verses 6-7:
who though he existed in the form of God [en morphē theou huparchōn; ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, or literally: "in form of God existed"] did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. [NET]
The NWT does confuse the meaning by once again adding words to Scripture (which I've put brackets "[ ]" around below), but for the purposes of what I’m about to ask, it makes no difference:
who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure [, namely, that he should be] equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men. [NWT]
So, my question regarding the verses above is this: In what way was Jesus being "humble" according to the Watchtower’s own interpretation, by not trying to become equal to God?
How could anyone exhibit being "humble" by not trying to be or become something that they already know for sure they can never attain to or have? To put it differently: If Jesus was even the most exalted angel, ever, he still knew; especially in light of what happened to the devil, that it would be impossible for him to become "equal with God"!
No, the humility that Christ exercised was in not using all the rights He had by already existing in the form of God; which even the NWT states as being true, and already being equal to God in nature.
What Jesus did during his life on earth to be called "humble" was to most of the time act as if he was only human, like all those around him, after taking on a human nature, rather than allowing Himself to appear in the "form of God" which he had every right to. On one occasion, though, he did partially show His God-nature, but only to three of His Disciples: See Matthew 17:2 where Jesus allowed only a bit of his divine nature to appear; similar to what God did with Moses in Exodus 33:18-23.
I may write more in the future, but that's it for now...
First Posted on: 27 JUL 2023 (2023.07.27).
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