This belief and it's explanation used to make me scratch my head. If there is no part of you that survives after death, because of the no soul teaching, and JW's are taught that if faithful, we will be resurrected by God, the explanation goes that we exist in God's "memory" and there is a scripture used to support that.........someone help me out here cuz I don't have a Bible available right now........... When this was first explained to me, I got this mental image of God as a giant computer.......not kidding........filled with all the specific DNA info. on everyone who is a faithful worshipper. Anyone care to share their own impressions on this teaching? I personally never could swallow it.
Resurrection of dead loved ones......
by Sunnygal41 21 Replies latest jw friends
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greendawn
what I could never understand is that the book of revelation says that the rest of the dead (that is those who are not of the 144 000 according to the WTS doctrine) will be resurrected 1000 years after armageddon not immediately afterwards. It was a glaring deception to say otherwise.
As for survival after death I could never make heads or tails out of it since there are verses that support it and verses that negate it. -
unclebruce
Jehovah's witnesses indeed believe their God to be a giant computer run on the GIGO principle. Put Garbage Into Jehovah and you get Garbage Out. The resurrection doctrine has many strange teachings attached. One I remember involved the resurrection of miscarried babes (an issue dear to my mothers heart). It was said they won't recieve a resurrection unless their mother was there to greet them (an extension of the 'covered by your parents faithfulness till baptised' principle).
I'm having no luck finding the exact scripture you're talking about but know the teaching well. Resurection speculation is a popular JW pastime. Pre computer days, Jehovah's memory was likened to a big book with colums of names written in pencil and a big rubber dangling from a string.
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unclebruce
what I could never understand is that the book of revelation says that the rest of the dead (that is those who are not of the 144 000 according to the WTS doctrine) will be resurrected 1000 years after armageddon not immediately afterwards. It was a glaring deception to say otherwise.
Are you suggesting the Watchtower Bible Scholars bend scriptures to fit their preconcieved notions?
...Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.
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moggy lover
I'm not entirely sure that this is what you are looking for, SG41, but one of the verses that the WTS uses is found in Ps 25:7, where David pleads with Yahweh to "remember" him. According to the WTS, then, David was in God's "Memory" complete with his entire DNA record
Of course, David no longer exists in any concept of reality, according to the WTS. So what God has to do is RE-create another being who has exactly the same DNA bank that the original David had and God calls this being the original "David" The sad thing is that the JWs seem to forget that David pleaded with Yahweh to :"Remember ME" The one-and-only original. The very person who was praying to Yahweh expected to be remembered
So, we can safely say that the WTS does not believe in the Resurrection, what they believe in is Divine Cloning, and they call that "resurrection"
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TheListener
I never gave it a second thought. I know, I feel dumb now. The WTS has come out with several articles on resurection versus recreation. I read them and just assumed the argumentation was correct.
I was reading a lengthy debate at touchstone on this very subject. May even have posted a link here last week or so. Basically the dubs don't have any answer to this except "God's memory." I never realized that this just isn't a sufficient explanation -for me.
I feel that something must survive in order for God to accurately "resurect" us. What that something is and whether it feels, sees, hears or knows anything - I don't know.
It seems the Bible supports the idea that there are two things invovled; a body and a soul. I'm not sure yet of much more than that.
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unclebruce
The resurection doctrine exposes the Watchtower Society's mechanistic rationalised view of human life - Jah only has to reassemble your atoms and molecular structure, breath into your lungs and poof! there you are - a walking talking living soul.
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Honesty
there is a scripture used to support that.........someone help me out here cuz I don't have a Bible available right now
Is this the one?
(John 5:25-29) 25
"Most truly I say to YOU, The hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who have given heed will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to do judging, because Son of man he is. 28 Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment. . .
It's very strange that the only bible I own that renders verse 28 in this way is the NWT.
My Holman Bible says:
John 5:28-29 Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of judgment.
My KJV says:
John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Another scripture the WTBT$ twists is found here:
Heb 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— so also the Messiah , having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
Many cults teach "Soul Sleep" which is not found anywhere in the Bible. The WTBT$ takes Romans 6:7 out of its context to "prove" this teaching. They also use Ezekiel 18:4 and 18:20 to "prove" their doctrine.
But take a look at these scriptures and what do we find?
Ezek 18:4 Look, every life belongs to Me. The life of the father is like the life of the son—both belong to Me. The person who sins is the one who will die.
Ezek 18:20-21 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son won’t suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity, and a father won’t suffer punishment for the son’s iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous person will be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked person will be on him. “Now if the wicked person turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will certainly live; he will not die.
So much for the twisted WT doctrine that babies will not be resurrected if their mommies aren't. The following scripture proves the WT is lying about babies who are aborted will not be resurrected:
NWT ( Psalm 139:16) Your eyes saw even the embryo of me, And in your book all its parts were down in writing, As regards the days when they were formed And there was not yet one among them .
Holman Bible (Psalms 139:16) Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all [my] days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.
Ezek 18:21 says a person who turns from his sin will live; he will not die. But everyone who has ever lived has died. Even Jesus died but He lives.
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nelly136
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2002/7/15/article_02.htm
Hell Emptied!
Revelation 20:13 states: "The sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them." Yes, the Bible hell will be emptied. As Jesus promised, "the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear [Jesus'] voice and come out." (John 5:28, 29) Although no longer presently existing in any form, millions of dead ones who are in Jehovah God's memory will be resurrected, or brought back to life, in a restored earthly paradise.—Luke 23:43; Acts 24:15.
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