The Resurrection - Gender-less Humans or Spirit Beings?

by Badfish 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Badfish

  "In the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven." (Mathew 22:30)

  So in the Paradise Earth, the only people that are allowed to have sex are the ones who survived Armageddon and never died. Also, what about their offspring? I suppose they are allowed to have sex also?

  What about the people who were resurrected? Will they even have genitals? If they are "as the angels in heaven," being neither male nor female but are in fleshly bodies, how exactly will they urinate?

  What about when the little children of the people who survived Armageddon see the resurrected ones? Will a child point at one of the genderless people and say, "Mommy, why doesn't he have a penis?"

  "However, this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Look! I tell YOU a sacred secret: We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality." (1 Corinthians 15:50-53)

  Here, Paul is saying that flesh and blood is "corruptible" and cannot inherit God's kingdom. He goes on to say that " the dead will be raised up incorruptible," in other words, those who are resurrected will not be flesh and blood because "neither does corruption inherit incoruption."

  It sounds to me like Paul was sayig that the Resurrection is not fleshly. Paralell this with Jesus' words at Mathew 22:30 and it seems to make much more sense if the Resurrection is spiritual.

  "Why, even Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a righteous [person] for unrighteous ones, that he might lead YOU to God, he being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit." (1 Peter 3:18)

  So what do you believe?
• 

  ziddina

  Dude!!

  This question is #2 on my list of reasons why I left the damned cult. [#1 being, as most on-board know by now, Exodus 19: 16-19 which clearly describes a volcanic eruption, and just as clearly shows that neither the Israelites NOR THEIR GOD knew what the heck it was...]

  The bible contradicts itself in many areas; this is just another internal contradiction that's caused a lot of confusion and, in the case of the Gov.Bod, some idiotic declarations on what those scriptures "actually" mean...

  All the better to get people out of the cult, my dear...
• 

  Sauerkraut

  To me Mt. 22:30 is a clear indication that the earthly resurrection doctrine that the Org teaches is false. Resurrected will be like Angels, because they will have spirit bodies. I don't rule out that there will be some kind of earthly resurrection, but as far as Christians go, they will be resurrected in spirit form.
• 

  joyfulfader

  I asked those very questions and am continuing to ask them. I always thought it was unfair to allow the 6 or 7 million people that would survive Armageddon (based on the current number of jws since of course it would only be jws there) to continue having sex and the 20 billion people that have ever lived would have to be celibate upon their resurrection. I don't think that would be a pleasant thought if I was one of the resurrected and i remember having the debates over whether or not people would wear clothing in the paradise earth. If the resurrected are truly genderless humans the clothing/no clothing thing does make for interesting questions for the children to ask...hmmmmmm...yet another thought to ponder.
• 

  Sulla

  I hope you take the question seriously enough to keep pushing beyond the easy observation the the JWs have no frickin' idea what they are talking about. It is also worthwhile to begin with the orthodox Christian teaching; that way, if you decide to reject it, you will at least know that you are rejecting the ancient teaching of the Church and not merely the results of some recent fan fiction.

  There are two places to start. First, begin with the actual Christian teaching, which has always been a very direct insistance that Jesus was raised bodily. This claim was strongly criticized by most of the Greek world, who rejected the concept (both Christian and Jewish, as it happens) since they figured that escaping the body was more likely the goal of living a good life. Indeed, that's why there are all those stories of the raised Jesus having a body that still was wounded and why he did stuff like eat breakfast. If you buy those stories, it is perverse to suppose he was missing some parts.

  We do have recorded his claim that in the new world, we wouldn't have marriage. Nobody said anything about getting laid, so you shold feel free to speculate until your heart is content. I would hold off on St. Paul's writing about the question for a while: it is notoriously difficult and lends itself to being painted with anachronistic and personal biases.

  Anyway, in the Resurrection, you keep your junk.
• 

  St George of England

  Does this mean that when someone is resurrected to heaven and they really are like angels, i.e. sexless, do they lose interest in sex?

  If the answer is yes, then why did the angels abandon their position in heaven and take on men's bodies after looking at attractive human women? Were none of these angels attracted to men on earth? Personally I think it's all just hetrosexually biased Biblical twaddel.

  The idea of angels peeking from behind the clouds at women.....

  People being resurrected, on earth or to heaven...

  To think I used to believe all this stuff!

  George
• 

  Ucantnome

  Maybe it will be like this. Everyone will come back looking like they did when they died. This was a great movie I think.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Ws0QEADsU
• 

  King Solomon

  It doesn't take a population biologist to figure out what happens if you resurrect 30 billion immortal humans AND the survivors are allowed to have immortal offspring, who are allowed to have immortal offspring, etc: someones going to be unhappy, asking, "why me? Why can't I have kids?". It's a silly premise to propose the eradication of death, so get over it, it's going to happen to you and I and everyone someday....
• 

  truthseeker

  Consider too, the scripture that says, "he will satisfy the desire of every living thing"

  If 20 billion people are to be resurrected to a future Paradise Earth, how will they not desire to get married and have children? They wouldn't be human, but rather some peculiar reincarnation of their former self and missing their gender specific anatomy.

  I believe we go to heaven when we die and we keep our personality and the thought expressions associated with our gender assigned at conception - the difference is we won't have the feelings to procreate - love, however, is another matter.
• 

  slimboyfat

  Gender-less, and hairless too.