Definition: logic n. 1 correct reasoning, or the science of this 2 way of reasoning 3 what is expected by the working of cause and effect (Webster’s New World Dictionary pg. 347).
This is Watchtower reasoning:
Revelation 14:9-11 speaks of some who are “tormented with fire and sulphur…And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever.” Does this prove eternal conscious torment in hellfire? Actually, all this passage says is that the wicked are tormented, not that they are tormented forever. The text states that it is the smoke—the evidence that the fire has done its work of destruction—that continues forever, not the fiery torment. (The Watchtower, 4/15/93, pg. 7).
This is logic:
Logic disproves this Watchtower reasoning in two ways: forward and backward. First, taking Watchtower ‘logic’ a few steps forward makes it fall flat on its face. Observe: I have an object. I set it on fire. The fire begins to consume it. The object burns, and smoke rises from it as a result. Over time, the fire completely consumes the object, and there is nothing left of it to burn. It is now destroyed. With nothing left to burn, the burning stops and there is no more smoke. And the smoke ascends no more. Conclusion: Since the smoke ascends no more, and Scripture states that the smoke ascends forever and ever, then Scripture must be false. But we know that Scripture is true, therefore the Watchtower is false for contradicting Scripture!
Second, we start from the Scriptures and work backward to the Scriptures’ logical conclusion. The Watchtower defines the ending of life as its destruction. Therefore, if a living person is destroyed, he has no more life. The reverse would also have to be true: if a living man is not destroyed, then he continues to have life. Let’s say that the object here is the resurrected body of a wicked man thrown into the lake of fire. Now observe: Scripture states that the smoke of the body ascends forever and ever, therefore this ascension of smoke is continuous and uninterrupted. For the ascension of smoke to be continuous and uninterrupted, the burning of the body must also be continuous and uninterrupted. If the burning of this body is continuous and uninterrupted, forever and ever, then the burning never reaches the point of destruction. If destruction is never achieved, the life of the body is never extinguished. What living thing is not destroyed remains alive. Now, if the burning of this body is continuous, and the body is never destroyed but remains alive, then the body burns alive and will be in torments forever and ever. Conclusion: Since eternal conscious torment in hellfire is true, then the Watchtower reasoning that hellfire destroys the wicked into nonexistence is obviously false. Forward and backward the Watchtower reasoning falls flat!
The logical conclusions reached by both methods are true to the definition of logic as stated above: they both follow what is expected by the working of cause and effect. This way of reasoning is correct reasoning. DON’T BE FOOLED by Jehovah’s Witnesses who quote this particular Scripture to ‘prove’ their doctrine of post-death nonexistence. Logic dictates the TRUTH of the Scriptures, but Watchtower reasoning is illogical!
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