Chapter
5 -
What is there after this life?
One teaching of the
Watchtower Society is that everything will end when we die. According to the
teachings of the Watchtower Society, when we die there will be no soul which would
be separated from the body: it is simply just the end of all conscious
existence. This is explained, for example, in a book called Mitä toivoa on
kuolleilla omaisillamme?:
However, someone may ask,
"Don't people have a soul that will stay alive through death?" Many have taught
this and have even said that death is a gate to another life. However, this
view does not come from the Bible. (...) The Bible does not teach that a man has
a soul that will stay alive when the body dies.
Also damnation to where the
unsaved people will go means the end of all conscious existence according to
the teachings of the Watchtower Society:
The slanderer said to Eve, "You shall not surely die," (Gen 3:4; Revelation 12:9)
But she died, no part of her remained alive. Teachings according to which the
soul remains alive after death are a lie invented by the slanderer. The
slanderer has also spread the lie that bad souls will be tormented in hell or
in purgatory. Because the Bible indicates clearly that the dead are unconscious,
these teachings cannot be true. (Sinä
voit elää ikuisesti paratiisissa maan päällä [You Can Live Forever in
Paradise on Earth], p. 89)
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Even though Jehovah's
Witnesses do not believe in the continuation of the conscious existence after
death, there are several Bible verses that go against this thought. Let's study
this issue through the next examples:
Internal and external man. Firstly, there
are many verses from which can be found clear teaching of how man has a soul and a body,
the internal and external part, and that the soul can also separate from the
body. These
verses indicate that the soul is separate from the body and will continue its
existence even when the body dies:
- (Matt 10:28) And fear not them which kill the body, but are
not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
(In this verse is indicated that people can kill the body, but not the
soul, in other words the soul can be independent of the body.)
- (2 Cor 12:2-4) I knew a man in Christ
above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether
out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) such an one caught up to the third
heaven.
3 And I knew
such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot
tell: God knows;)
4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable
words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
- (1 Kings17:17-22) And it came to
pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house,
fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said
to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O you man of God? are you come to me to
call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
19 And he said to
her, Give me your son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up
into a loft, where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
20 And he cried
to the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, have you also brought evil on the widow
with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
21 And he
stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to the LORD, and said,
O LORD my God, I pray you, let this child's soul come into him again.
22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the
child came into him again, and he revived.
- (2 Cor 4:16) For which cause we faint not; but though our outward
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
- (Luke 8:52- 55) And all wept, and
bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleeps.
53 And they
laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
54 And he put
them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.
55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway:
and he commanded to give her meat.
- (1 Cor 2:11) For what man knows the things of a man, save the
spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but
the Spirit of God.
- (Zec 12:1) The burden of the word
of the LORD for Israel, said the LORD, which stretches forth the heavens, and
lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.
Spiritual death. The difference
between the internal and the external man appears also in verses concerning
spiritual death; a good example is the case of Adam and Eve. It was said to
Adam, "... for in the day that you
eat thereof you shall surely die", but he did not
die physically "on that day" and neither did he become non-existent, this concerned
only his spiritual life: he was separated from God, and thus died spiritually.
So, if Adam was a mere body without a spirit and soul,
his body should have died immediately after eating the fruit - but this did not
happen. This indicates that there is also something else than a mere body in
us; there is also the internal man which is separate from our body and will
stay alive when the body dies:
- (Eph 2:1) And you has he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins;
- (Col 2:13) And you, being
dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses;
- (Luke 15:32) It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for
this your brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is
found.
- (Rev 2:11) He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said
to the churches; He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.
- (John 11:25-26) Jesus said to
her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believe you
this?
- (John 8:51) Truly, truly, I say to you, If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death.
Continuation of life after
death. The Watchtower Society teaches that life does not continue beyond the
border. However, there are several verses which indicate that the life of
people - also bad ones - will continue immediately after death. According to
these verses, people will be conscious also after having moved to the other
side of the border:
- (Luke 23:43) And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, To
day shall you be with me in paradise.
- (Job 19:25-26) For I know that my
redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day on the earth:
26 And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
- (Luke 20:37-38) Now that the dead
are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calls the Lord the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all
live to him.
- (2 Cor 5:6-8) Therefore we are always
confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord:
7 (For we walk
by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
- (Phil 1:22-24) But if I live in the
flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I know not.
23 For I am in a
strait between two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ;
which is far better:
24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
- (Luke 16:22-25) And it came to
pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in
hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off,
and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried
and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this
flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received
your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted,
and you are tormented.
- (Hebr 12:23) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect,
- (1 Peter 3:19-20) By which also he
went and preached to the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls were saved by water.
- (Rev 6:9-11) And when he had opened
the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were
slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they
cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do
you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said
to them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow
servants also and their brothers, that should be killed as they were, should be
fulfilled.
- (1 Peter 4:5) Who shall give account
to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
- (2 Peter 2:9) The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of
temptations, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished
- (Rev 1:7) Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye
shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
- (Rev 20:12-13) And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and
another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in
it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were
judged every man according to their works.
Different judgments. One indication of
the existence of men not ending after death is the different judgments which
clearly indicate the continuation of life after death.
If in the future
there was nothing at all - also for bad people - there could not be different
judgments:
- (Matt 11:21-24) Woe to you,
Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in
you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I
say to you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment, than for you.
23 And you,
Capernaum, which are exalted to heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if
the mighty works, which have been done in you, had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day.
24 But I say to you, That it shall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.
- (Mark 12:38-40) And he said to
them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing,
and love salutations in the marketplaces,
39 And the chief
seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
40 Which devour
widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these shall receive
greater damnation.
- (Mark 14:21) The Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of him: but
woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man
if he had never been born.
- (Rev 20:13) And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works.
- (Col 3:25) But he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong
which he has done: and there is no respect of persons.
- (Matt 16:27) For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his
Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to
his works.
Jesus' warnings about
damnation. One thing that speaks on behalf of damnation is that Jesus warned us
about it more than anybody else. If damnation did not exist, why would Jesus have warned us about it?
In addition to
this, the Bible indicates that He came so that nobody would have to go to Hell.
He did not come to condemn people but to save them (John 3:16,17).
- (Matt 8:11-12) And I say to you, That many shall come from
the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- (Matt 13:40-42) As therefore the
tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this
world.
41 The Son of man
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all
things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
- (Matt 25:41,46Then shall he say also
to them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels:
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment:
but the righteous into life eternal.
- (2 Thess 1:9) Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power;
- (Jude 1:7) Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them
in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange
flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire.
- (Rev 14:9-11) And the third angel
followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever:
and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whoever receives the mark of his name.
- (Rev 20:10,15) 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.
15 And whoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
