XPost: alt.christnet.christnews, alt.religion.christian   
   From: usenet@christrose.news   
      
   Watchtower Heretic James again offers nothing but distractions and   
   diversions from the lies he routinely promotes:   
      
         • He effectively denies that anyone but "Jehovah's Witnesses" are   
           out proclaiming the gospel to the world. This is a lie. I have   
           yet to attend a church which does not proclaim the gospel Paul   
           preached in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, both to their local area as   
           well as overseas through missionaries.   
      
         • He regularly implies to the effect that the mere fact   
           "Jehovah's Witnesses" take their "kingdom" message out to the   
           world validates them as God's people proclaiming God's message.   
           Jesus proved that idea false when he rebuked the scribes and   
           Pharisees about their proselyting global outreach efforts. He   
           said they were only leading men to hell, not salvation. The   
           mere fact someone takes a "kingdom" message out to the world   
           does not automatically validate them as God's people or their   
           message as God's message.   
      
         • "Jehovah's Witnesses" do NOT preach the gospel Paul preached   
           (Galatians 1:8-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Paul clearly taught   
           that salvation came through faith in Christ's death and   
           resurrection for our sins, not through personal merits   
           (Galatians, Ephesians, Romans). Since Paul said "anyone" who   
           preaches "any other" gospel than the one he proclaimed to them,   
           is "accursed", "Jehovah's Witnesses" proclaim a false,   
           "accursed" gospel.   
      
   Rather than address these Bible facts, he tries to blow a smoke screen   
   of DISTRACTION. He PRETENDS he is offering a "correction" with an   
   "accurate" understanding of the word translated "hell", but even that is   
   a lie. He tries to collapse the meaning of the word into "the grave", as   
   if it meant nothing more than that the lost ceased to exist. This   
   definition is another LIE, as the Bible clearly shows:   
      
   Hades (ᾅδης)   
      
   Hades refers to the realm of the dead, not merely a grave. It   
   corresponds to Sheol in the Old Testament. It is a conscious   
   intermediate state, not non-existence.   
      
         The rich man lifts up his eyes in Hades, being in torment (Luke   
         16:23, ESV).   
      
         Hades will give up the dead who are in it before final judgment   
         (Revelation 20:13, ESV).   
      
   A literal grave does not speak, feel torment, or surrender occupants for   
   judgment.   
      
   Gehenna (γέεννα)   
      
   Gehenna is not the grave. Jesus uses it for final judgment after   
   resurrection.   
      
   Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28, ESV).   
      
   The grave cannot touch the soul. Jesus distinguishes physical death from   
   post-judgment punishment.   
      
   Tartarus (ταρταρόω)   
      
   This term applies to fallen angels, not humans.   
   God cast them into Tartarus and committed them to chains of gloomy   
   darkness (2 Peter 2:4, ESV).   
      
   This confirms conscious restraint, not cessation.   
      
   Key biblical distinctions   
      
   The grave (mnēmeion, τάφος) holds bodies.   
   Hades holds conscious persons awaiting judgment.   
   Gehenna describes final, irreversible judgment after resurrection.   
      
   Jesus affirms conscious existence after physical death.   
      
         "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul"   
          (Matthew 10:28, ESV).   
      
          To be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord (2   
          Corinthians 5:8, ESV).   
      
   Hades does not mean “the grave” in the sense of unconscious   
   non-existence. Scripture presents it as a real, conscious intermediate   
   state. The New Testament language remains consistent, precise, and   
   mutually reinforcing across the Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation.   
      
   --   
   Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God   
   raised Him from the dead?   
      
   That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death   
   penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death   
   satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John   
   2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your   
   sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.   
      
   On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on   
   the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name   
   of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).   
      
   https://christrose.news/salvation   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)