JW Notes: “Annihilation?”

                                                                                                                                                      

According to Watchtower theology, there is no punishment after death because, as is taught in the Watchtower, the dead “cease to exist.” They are gone, and vanish without a trace. In other words, there is no soul or spirit remaining to experience punishment.

Turn to Luke 12:4-5 (NWT):

Moreover, I say to YOU, my friends, Do not fear those who kill the body and after this are not able to do anything more. But I will indicate to YOU whom to fear: Fear him who after killing has authority to throw into Gehenna. Yes I tell YOU, fear this One.

Q. If what the Watchtower says is true, that there is no existence whatsoever after death, then what sense would there be to this warning of Jesus Christ? Is not Jesus warning us that there is indeed more that God can do to a person after the person has been killed? (i.e. God can throw the person into Gehenna)

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The Watchtower magazine attempts to provide comfort and reassurance to its readers that this doesn’t involve anything unpleasant happening to a person after death, but rather what will happen will be “complete and everlasting destruction” or “death from which there is no resurrection.” (Source: You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, p. 87).

Q. If this is so, what reason would a person have to “fear” being thrown there after being killed (or, as the WT interpretation says “ceasing to exist”)?

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Turn to Hebrews 10:28-31 NWT:

Any man that has disregarded the law of Moses dies without compassion, upon the testimony of two of three. Of how much more severe a punishment, do YOU think, will the man be counted worthy who has trampled upon the Son of God and who has esteemed as of ordinary value the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the spirit of undeserved kindness with contempt? For we know him that said: “Vengeance is mine; I will recompense”; and again: “Jehovah will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of (the) living God.

Q. How does mere “non-existence” fit this description?

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The Watchtower Society views the account of the rich man and Lazarus as a fanciful illustration that doesn’t say anything at all about the afterlife. All the elements of this account are purely symbolic:

Abraham represents God, the rich man represents the Jewish religious leaders, Lazarus represents followers of Jesus, and their deaths represent the changes that took place when God removed his favour from the Jewish leaders and bestowed it upon the followers of Jesus.

As one of the Watchtower publications states, the Jewish leaders “suffered torments when Christ’s followers exposed their evil works.” (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, p. 89).

Q. Even if this account was meant to convey such a symbolic meaning, what about the story itself? Jesus’ other parables all use true-to-life circumstances to illustrate a point or to teach a lesson. People really did dig in fields and hide buried treasure, prodigal sons really did leave home and squander their money, employers really did hire men to work in vineyards, and so on. Therefore, to maintain consistency with all the other of Jesus’ parables, regardless of any symbolic meaning attached to the individual elements, the account of the rich man and Lazarus would also be based on realistic events: i.e. some people such as Abraham and Lazarus are rewarded in the afterlife, while other such as the rich man find themselves in a place of torment – in the afterlife.

And this would actually then fit with what Revelation 20:10 states:

And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were]; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10 NWT).