The "perfect human" being ...

by Frequent_Fader_Miles 11 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  Frequent_Fader_Miles

  According to the JW belief, what definition/explanation were you given for the concept of "human perfection"? What exactly would make a "perfect human" ... well... perfect?

  I remember once when I was a child, my mom told me that when I decided on my adult profession, I should make sure it's one I would be able to use in the "New System". I thought for a second, then said "Okay, I'll be a doctor then". Her response was ... "We wont need doctors in the New System since everyone will be perfect". Of course, this explanation made absolutely no sense to me. So my next question to her was ... "What if someone falls down and breaks their arm?" Her explanation went something like ... "As perfect human beings we would know the right way to fall down so as not to break any bones." This made even less sense to me than her previous answer. I enquired further ... "Suppose you were pushed from behind and didn't have time to fall the right way?" She then said ... "We still wont break any bones since we'll have perfect bones that won't break." By this point in the conversation I decided to turn my attention to something more interesting, so I moved on.

  What interesting explanations of the subject did you get?
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  FFM, welcome to the forum! Can you say "Steppford?"
• 

  SirNose586

  She then said ... "We still wont break any bones since we'll have perfect bones that won't break." By this point in the conversation I decided to turn my attention to something more interesting, so I moved on.

  So in this fantastic New System TM , the laws of physics will not apply! Splendid. We'll all be invincible, then. But God will still have the ability to kill you off.
• 

  IsaacJS2

  I was told that perfection, in this case, more or less meant "we shall be as Jehovah meant for us to be, instead of all icky and bad like we are now." The suggestion was also made that we would be improved physically/mentally and made young again in the process. Philosophically, when a thing adheres perfectly to its intended design, that is one of several valid definitions of perfection. We are supposedly defective in that we are not as Jehovah/Jesus made us to be.

  It's supposedly as hard for a perfect person to do naughty things as it is for us to right things now. Which is more than a bit skewed, in my opinion. But oh well. That's what I was taught.

  IsaacJ
• 

  gaiagirl

  I never considered "perfect" humans as being unbreakable, just that they would heal perfectly when injuries did occur, sort of like the cheerleader on "Heroes".
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  had similar conversations with wits and family myself. i always had a couple of ways the conversations went. some people shut me up with "well tetra, it is impossible for us to even comprehend what perfection will be like. we are so far removed from perfection. one thing is sure, it'll be great!"

  another one, more along the lines of the one you described, veered into psychology. that we would never be shoved and break our arm as a result because that is not something that perfect people would do to each other. people would be ultimately compassionate. no pushing and shoving. ;)

  the whole concept is funny to me. at what point did we forget that we are perfect? and in that is an irony, because in that acknowledgement we intuitively become perfect. are = become.

  tetra
• 

  Frequent_Fader_Miles

  Why assume that we're so far removed from what Jehovah wants us to be? Aren't we all free moral agents, able to choose out our own path? For example, a tree has absolutely no choice but to stand where it's planted, take in carbon dioxide, give out oxygen, photosynthesize ... It doesn't even have choice of food. Why would God make us in his own image just to have us behave like robots. Human personalities are so very diverse, making life so interesting. That seems really illogical to me.

  As regards the human body ... in my humble opinion it's already perfect! That's why man has never been able to create one, only copy from it.
• 

  anewme

  I always assumed the perfect human was sound in body and mind and had a perfect immune system able to fend off the germ soup we live in. This sound body would have a great liver and lungs and bones and reproductive system and brain. Its thinking ability would be able to grasp all the concepts needed to make good judgments
  and provide for itself and its offspring.
  
  But even a perfect human needs to grow up in a loving nurturing environment, to be told the truth and to have the opportunities to use his given qualities.
  
  I think most humans are not far from perfect. We just die so much sooner is the big difference.
• 

  Threestars

  I always had a scientific bent as a kid and I once told my Dad that when Adam and Eve sinned Jehovah went in and removed a little teensy piece of their DNA strand, thus making them age and die instead of rejuvenating forever. And of course this would explain why it got passed on to the whole human race. After Armageddon, Jehovah would just have to go in there and re-insert that pesky little strand.

  Then, after the water canopy fell during the flood, the UV rays were hitting the humans so much stronger that the life-spans were shortened up to under a hundrend years. He thought that was pretty cool and said that oneday, in the new system, I might have a place in their "scientific" community.

  My Mom now tells people that "science" dragged me away from the "Truth"

  No wonder they discourage higher education.
• 

  Frequent_Fader_Miles

  **Threestars** You said "My Mom now tells people that "science" dragged me away from the "Truth". Does she realize that Jehovah would have to be the greatest scientist ever in existence to achieve such feats of creation? I'm impressed with your DNA explanation .. never even thought of it that way. Then again if Eve was created from a rib ...

  **anewme** You said the following: "thinking ability would be able to grasp all the concepts needed to make good judgments and provide for itself and its offspring."If that were so, then how come Adam and Eve (as perfecthuman beings) both made decisions that turned out to be so detrimental to their offspring? Jesus was also a perfect human for a time, and when he was 12 years old he made a decision that made his parents sick with worry ... when he remained in the temple without his parents' knowledge. Don't we make decisions based on our life experiences which are all different?

  I just can't help thinking that even in a state of "perfection", variables would still exist. Would a group of "perfect" human beings all have the same abilities, thoughts or aspirations? Even in the physical sense, would everyone look alike? What about our individual preferences (likes and dislikes), would that be out the window in the "perfect world"?