Thanks for your post TJ. I am sorry if the way I expressed my views in my last post makes you misinterpret my feelings towards Witnesses. I do not in any way disrespect any church, even if I disagree with its doctrine and neither do Witnesses sound odd to me. The truth is, to me, no one is absolutely certain when it comes to questions of redemption, it is guess work and no church can claim sole ownership of the truth.
That said, I'll rephrase my questions because your answers are not as clear as I'd love: Do you worship Jesus Christ? It appears you don't believe that humans have a soul which goes either to heaven or to hell after a person's death: Do sinners pay for their sins? If they do, is it while alive or after death, and how? During the resurrection as you say sinners will rise, will they be judged? and then what? What will happen to those found righteous, both resurrected and living? Do you believe in some abstract supernatural habitat called "heaven" or "hell"? If I get satisfactory responses to these questions, I promise you won't be getting any further questions from me on this subject matter. Take care TJ, expecting to read from you.
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Hi Prince. Don't worry about asking for clarification, I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to explain the reasons for our beliefs. This will be part 1 of 2.
Do you worship Jesus Christ?
The word "worship" can be somewhat tricky. Many translations of the Bible use "worship" for the Greek word 'proskyneo' which is used towards Jesus, but also towards other human beings. So it has a secondary sense of the act of prostration or obeisance before someone of honor. We do not worship Jesus in the fullest sense of the term, as one would worship God. We do happily acknowledge and serve him as our Lord, "to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:11)
It appears you don't believe that humans have a soul which goes either to heaven or to hell after a person's death
We believe the Bible teaches that a person is a soul. "The man [Adam] came to be a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) The soul is not immortal: "The soul that is sinning—it itself will die." (Ezekiel 18:4)
Do sinners pay for their sins? If they do, is it while alive or after death, and how?
The Bible acknowledges that sinners often have trouble in their lives as a direct result of their sins. Ultimately, "the wages sin pays is death." (Romans 6:23) So there is no punishment beyond taking away their lives.
During the resurrection as you say sinners will rise, will they be judged? and then what?
The book of Revelation ties the following to the thousand-year reign of God's Kingdom: "I saw the [resurrected] dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds. 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." (Rev. 20:12-13)
These deeds they are judged on are not the past deeds they did before their resurrection, as Paul stated plainly, "he who has died has been acquitted from his sin." (Romans 6:7) These are the deeds they do under that Kingdom rule. Their past sins may have been in ignorance, now they have every opportunity to choose to obey God and live forever. This is why that time is called 'Judgment Day'.
Part 2 of 2.
What will happen to those found righteous, both resurrected and living?
The righteous who are asleep in death will be of those resurrected, and they too have the opportunity to obey God, which they have already built up the endurance to do. Those righteous ones still living when Jesus comes to carry out the destruction of this world will be carried safely through. Revelation again describes "a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues" and that "these are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. 7:9,14)
Do you believe in some abstract supernatural habitat called "heaven" or "hell"?
The spiritual heavens is the realm where Jehovah God and his angels reside. Hell, however, is another tricky word. Most Bibles use it for a few different words. The Hebrew 'sheol' and Greek 'hades' are equivalents, and they refer to the common grave of mankind. The dead reside there, but it is no place of conscious torment. Everyone in hades will be resurrected in that resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous. (Rev. 20:13)
The other word often translated 'hell' is the Greek 'gehenna', the name of the trash heap outside of Jerusalem which had a fire burning the refuse continually. This word symbolized destruction to those familiar to the cultural context. Thus, when one is delivered up to Gehenna, that is the second death, total destruction, the death from which you will not be resurrected (as opposed to Hades).
If you aren't familiar with it, we have a basic textbook that we use along with the Bible for the purpose of conducting scriptural studies of these topics. You can read it here. Again, I appreciate the chance to get into these interesting questions. :)
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