Did Charles Taze Russell Deny the Bible Doctrine of Hell?

Something we keep seeing repeated over and over concerning Russell is that he denied the Bible doctrine of hell. One states: "Russell combined several strands of popular 19th century evangelical theology, but attracted criticism from evangelical Christians for his denial of hell, the immortal soul, the deity of Jesus, and his insistence that God was One, not a Trinity." Actually, while Russell certainly refused to add to the Scriptures man's added-on trinitarian assumptions, and he also did not add to the scriptures the doctrine of the inherent immortality of man's soul. Nevertheless, Russell did not deny the deity of Jesus, nor did he deny the Bible doctrine of hell, but rather he upheld and defended what the Bible says about hell, as opposed to what man's doctrines would have us imagine and assume on the scriptures. In other words, Russell's approach was not to deny that the Bible hell exists, but rather what the Bible hell is, and what it is not.

Thus, in the January, February, and March, 1888 issues of the Watch Tower, Russell presented a series of studies under the title "About Hell". In that series of studies, Russell did not deny what the Bible says about hell, but rather he examined every scripture that contains the Hebrew word sheol, and the Greek words hades, Gehenna, lake of fire, etc. He endeavored to show from the Bible itself what the Bible hell is, while at the same time showing that what is often thought of as hell is not in the Bible. What Russell denied was the various traditional views of man regarding hell, which are not found in the Bible, except that one uses the spirit of human imagination and create assumptions in order to "see" such ideas in the Bible.

Russell later presented a double issue of the Watch Tower (February 1 & 15, 1893), again showing what the Bible hell is. Nevertheless, he did not deny the existence of the Bible hell, but he did deny the existence of the kind of hell that man's dogma presents. 

Russell later presented basically the same material in his book, The Atonement Between God and Man, with some added details. Still, however, he did not deny the existence of the Bible hell, he only discussed what the scriptures say that the Bible hell is.

In the January 15, 1912 issue of the Watch Tower, Russell plainly stated:

We believe in the "hell" of the Bible, sheol. This, the only word used for hell for four thousand years, is translated more than one-half the time grave in our Common Version, and should always be thus translated. "Hades," in the New Testament, is its equivalent. "Gehenna fire," of the New Testament, is a symbolical picture declared to signify the Second Death.

We believe that Brother Russell was basically correct, although we believe that he fell short in some respects, in that he did not present everything in such a way that it actually addressed the arguments that many present for "seeing" a hell of eternal suffering in the Bible. We have expanded on Russell's studies, giving more detail and refuting some of the arguments of those who wish to uphold adding to and blending into Scripture the Hellenistic mythology. See our studies related to Life After Death.