JW's: tormented in h**l?

Question

I know you do not believe in a literal h**l. However I am curious if you believe the following verse means Satan will be tormented forever. Does this verse mean Satan will be tormented forever?

Revelation 20:10 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.

Answer 1

Granting, but not conceding, it is literal...will a LITERAL beast also be there?  Another thing, if it is literal...how many prophets will be cast to h**l?  Taking Revelation 20:10..it seems only ONE false prophet will be casted to h**l..that is literally speaking.. =)

Let us continue to v14...who/what else is casted into the lake of fire? Death and Hades!! How are we going to throw them LITERALLY to the lake of fire? Hmmmm....

Edit - I think I did not answer your question yet..so to continue:

“The lake of fire and sulphur” in that verse could not be a literal place of torment. (Revelation 19:20) If Satan were to suffer excruciating torture there for all eternity, Jehovah would have to preserve him alive. Yet, life is a gift, not a punishment. Death is the punishment for sin, and according to the Bible, dead creatures feel no pain. (Romans 6:23; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) Moreover, as I have mentioned  that death itself, along with Hades, is cast into this same lake of fire and sulfur. Surely, death and Hades cannot suffer pain! Revelation 20:14.

All of this reinforces the view that the lake of fire and sulfur is symbolic. Further, the mention of fire and sulfur calls to mind the fate of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by God because of their gross wickedness. When their time came, “Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah.” (Genesis 19:24) What befell the two cities is called “the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” (Jude 7) Yet, those two cities did not suffer everlasting torment. Rather, they were blotted out, obliterated for all time, along with their depraved inhabitants. Those cities do not exist today, and no one can say for sure where they were located.

In harmony with this, the Bible itself explains the meaning of the lake of fire and sulfur: “This means the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14) It is clearly the same as the Gehenna that Jesus spoke of, a place where the wicked remain destroyed, not tortured forever. (Matthew 10:28) It is complete, utter destruction without hope of a resurrection. Thus, while there are keys for death, Hades, and the abyss, there is no mention of a key for opening the lake of fire and sulfur. (Revelation 1:18; 20:1) It will never release its captives.—Compare Mark 9:43-47.

Answer 2

No, they believe this verse to be "figurative."

From my research, it seems that a great deal of what the WTS has deemed "figurative" is widely accepted by Bible scholars that the passages are VERY literal!   It is a dangerous thing to pick and choose what should be taken literally and what is figurative.  Under those circumstances, the Bible can say ANYTHING you want it to say!

In fact, I recently heard a rediculous claim by a so-called "Christian" on Y!A that when Jesus said that "no one comes to the Father EXCEPT BY ME".... that what he "really meant" was that no one comes to to the Father except in a similar fashion as Jesus did... that salvation can come through many paths... love is all that is needed..... WHAT HOG-WASH!!!

We need to be very careful that passages are not assumed to be figurative, when there is a strong likelihood that the verse is VERY literal!

Answer 3

sound pretty literal to me

Answer 4

Wesley's notes ( Not a JW source).

Quote....20:10 And they - All these. Shall be tormented day and night - That is, without any intermission. Strictly speaking, there is only night there: no day, no sun, no hope!

Answer 5

That's not a literal torment.  Death will be thrown into Gehenna what do you think?  Does God need to punish Satan forever to accomplish his purpose or to make a point? I think NOT!  Further more what is the opposite of life?  Death or torment?  You decide!

Answer 6

This is a hard question as I do not like to think of such an evil spirit.  If Satan will torment in a burning h**l then let it be so.  He had no pity, no mercy for man and so the day of his torments it will be vice versa; no pity, no mercy.  Revenge is mine says the Lord God.  Out of sight, out of mind.

Answer 7

Well, it is a question of whether Satan really exists or is instead a literary figure.  I think the later.  He is an embodiment of evil, but doesn't really exist.  Sort of like father time or the baby new year.