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Hell -- Traditionalist vs Conditionalist Views
I didn't get permission from the writers of the two books being compared when I put this together in the early 80s, but they both liked it so much they gave me post-print permission! I didn't sell it until some wanted it in book form, but it was always free on my site. I was respectful to both views, but I wrote it just to win the bet against a well-known intelligent disfellowshipped member of the "anointed." Carlin Venus. Never heard from him again.
I went to Israel around 1984 and did much more study on the subject and visited the Valley of Hinnom, excavations, holy books, the Talmud, etc. Academia.edu likes this book, as few writers ever wrote on the delicate subject of God's joy in looking forward to loving watching sinners on the grill and looking on with glee forever and ever. How people can believe that blasphemy is beyond me. Hippies don't read the Bible. I didn't really care what imaginary punishments it contained. But I like to write objectively from a historical standpoint.
In this case the purpose served was to demonstrate how dishonest the Watchtower "scholars" really are and were. It was compiled over 400 years by men by VOTE. I vote no on hell. :-)) We were anarchists. SOCIETY was hell. BTW the Jews were never really afraid of the devil. In fact, they also had several archangels! Not all of them were nice. It took Christians, borrowing heavily from the pagans (and some Jews) around them to come up with Gehenna, Tartarus, and the Lake of Fire... all nonsense. Even Dante's Inferno was a cartoon to bug the popes! No "shades" or ghosts of dead people? Your Bible has wrongly translated several Hebrew and Greek words as simply "hell" but there are several words like "rephaim" which tell the whole story. Try the New American Standard Bible, with the footnotes that tell more.
Wikipedia says more: The New American Standard Bible is widely regarded as the most literally translated of 20th-century English Bible translations. [3] According to the NASB's preface, the translators had a "Fourfold Aim" in this work:
- These publications shall be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
- They shall be grammatically correct.
- They shall be understandable.
- They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work will ever be personalized. [4]
The NASB is a revision of the American Standard Version of 1901. This translation was an alternative to the Revised Standard Version(1946–1952/1971), itself a revision of the ASV, but considered by many to be theologically liberal. [5] Buy " Everyman's Talmud " from a Jewish book store or Amazon, etc. Ancient early synagogues in the Holy Land have the signs of the zodiac in tiles decorating them. There was no "body of elders" in the early congregations, but the older men did take the lead. The WT (mainly Fred Franz) has taught you so many lies it will take you a lifetime to sort them out. Almost NONE of what they believe today was believed by the early church 100-200 AD. There was NO GOVERNING BODY EVER.
Quick Overview of "Hell...."
by Randall Watters 108-page 8 1/2 x 11 book comparing conditionalist and traditionalist views as argued by Dr. Robert Morey (Death and the Afterlife) versus the views of Edward W. Fudge ( The Fire That Consumes ) side-by-side, point-by-point, and key passages from the Bible bearing on the comparison are considered. Topical notes on Body, Judgment and Resurrection, Death, Gehenna, Hades, Hell, Sheol, Soul and Spirit. Appendix (other resources bearing on the study). Use of passages approved by both authors. Coil bound.
I sincerely hope that you will gain a better understanding of the Bible and the times in which it was written as you read this unique comparison. Does Luke 16 really teach a burning hell? What does the Intertestamental literature have to say on hell? Where did "Tartarus" come from? Are the angels being punished? What did the Pharisees in Jesus' day believe about hell?
Randall Watters