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Vatican Council Reaffirms “The Reality of Hell”The Watchtower—1965 | January 15
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More than that, the Bible tells us that “God, at the beginning of time, created heaven and earth.” If hell is another place, how is it that we do not read of its having been created? And if it was created, when? Before Adam sinned?—Gen. 1:1.
But someone may ask, Do not the Scriptures refer to punishment by fire? Yes, Jesus does in his parables or illustrations and so does the book of Revelation. But let us note that in all such instances highly figurative language is used. For example, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus is pictured as being taken to Abraham’s bosom. Literally? Of course not! Then neither is the fiery torment of the rich man literal. The same is true of Jesus’ remark: “If thy eye is an occasion of falling, pluck it out; better for thee to enter blind into the kingdom of God, than to have two eyes when thou art cast into the fire of hell; the worm which eats them there never dies, the fire is never quenched.” Even as Jesus did not mean for us literally to pluck out our eyes, so he referred to the “fire of hell” in a symbolic way.—Mark 9:46, 47; Luke 16:19-31.
But why did Jesus use such an illustration? In Mark 9:46, 47 he had reference to the valley called Gehenna, the Greek word here rendered “hell.” In it the refuse of the city was thrown, and some say that the bodies or mortal remains of criminals not deemed deserving of a decent burial nor entitled to a resurrection were also thrown into that place. So to be cast into fiery Gehenna symbolized to be eternally destroyed, without hope of a resurrection. A parallel expression to that of Jesus is found at Isaiah 66:24, which shows that it is the “mortal remains” that will be “a prey now, to worm undying, to fire unquenchable.”
PREMISED ON A FALSE TEACHING
The fact is that the false teaching of eternal torment is premised on another false teaching, namely, that man has an immortal soul. The Bible says: “From the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and made of man a living person,” or soul. (Gen. 2:7) So man is a soul, and that a soul can die is clear from Ezekiel 18:4, which tells us that “it is the guilty soul that must die.” So, since man is a soul, and since, when man dies, the soul dies, there can be no eternal torment for man after death, for it is impossible to torment a dead person.b As we read at Ecclesiastes 9:5: “When death comes, of nothing will they be aware any longer; no reward can they receive.” If aware of nothing, they cannot be “completely frustrated and miserable.” Further, the Scriptures tell us of a number of persons who have died and who came back from the grave, but none of them told about their experiences, which they certainly would have done had they been conscious after death!
So we can see that, while the Vatican Council may reaffirm its belief in the reality of hell as a place of eternal torment, the doctrine is not taught in the Scriptures. What is more, the teaching is neither reasonable nor just nor loving, all of which the Bible assures us that God is!
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Smoking SynodThe Watchtower—1965 | January 15
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Smoking Synod
● Reported the New Zealand Herald of April 14, 1964: “The president of the 36th general synod of the Anglican Church, the Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand, . . . interrupted the morning session yesterday to allow the assembly to smoke. ‘I understand,’ he said, ‘that some of our weaker brethren cannot go through a full morning’s session without a smoke.’ The archbishop then lit a cigarette. He was accompanied by a large number of those present.”
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