SBF & Ruby
Would the resurrection of a dead body - dead, totally dead, brain dead, not frozen, really dead, dead for a week, stored in a drawer in the morgue - pose a theological challenge for JWs?
Origin of Life
by cofty 405 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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slimboyfat
I don't know because, as far as I'm aware, they've never said one way or the other. Maybe they have said something somewhere but I wouldn't even know how to find it. Resurrection seems pretty implausible and they've perhaps not discussed it just because it doesn't seem technically possible at the moment, if ever.
However we do know what they think about scientists creating life because they said so.
The question is, even if the Watchtower allowed for the possibility of resurrection, and said so in their publications, would you accept that's what they really think? Or would it be another, "they don't really mean what they say because I know their doctrines better than they do" scenario.
On a related issue I think JW theology actually lends itself quite well to adaption to transhumanist notions of technological salvation. David Gobel of the Methuselah Foundation is reportedly a JW and Aubrey de Grey has had some contact with JWs. They are both interested in technical solutions to aging and death including cryonics. I have sometimes wondered if JWs could morph into a transhumanist cult at some stage. That would make for a good novel!
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cofty
However we do know what they think about scientists creating life because they said so.
No they didn't. I have explained that multiple times.
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John_Mann
Would the resurrection of a dead body - dead, totally dead, brain dead, not frozen, really dead, dead for a week, stored in a drawer in the morgue - pose a theological challenge for JWs?
Yes.
JW theology is a mess.
They deny it but actually they believe in soul.
They believe in what is called in theology as the "sleeping soul". But they deny this. Worst of all they believe their sleeping soul are kept inside Jehovah.
They mentioned the spirit of Jehovah returning to Jehovah after death but this spirit is impersonal and can't be their souls. So they must accept something in them survives death.
Is astounding how someone can accept something so messed up with its own internal consistency.
So resurrection of a clinical dead body will be the equivalent to someone take something directly from the inside of Jehovah.
Such thing would not just challenge JW theology but every theology existent today.
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John_Mann
The origin of life is a very hard problem because it appeared so early on Earth (possibly less than 500 million years after the formation of Earth).
The other problem is life is only found on Earth and we can see a huge share of the universe and nothing... This fact threatens panspermia.
And if you add the very late origin of consciousness in just one specie the entire thing becomes a gigantic mystery.
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Saename
John_Mann - The other problem is life is only found on Earth and we can see a huge share of the universe and nothing... This fact threatens panspermia.
I don't think it's in any way a problem. The fact is that even on earth there are plenty of different life forms. Some of them are impossible to detect without a good microscope. Imagine how difficult it would be to discover a microbacterium on a planet that is light years away.
So why isn't it a problem? Because the only thing it proves is that... we don't know. The fact that we don't know is not a problem. Theists make it a problem for themselves. To those who are driven by science, it's only a problem in the sense that it's a mystery—and we want to solve mysteries. Other than that, it's not a problem at all.
When it comes to panspermia, as far as I know, it's mostly an abandoned hypothesis anyway.