What makes you---YOU?

eyeuse2badub

Of course this is an open ended question but have you ever really thought about what makes you who YOU are?

Is it our looks, our personality, our physique, our intelligence, our experiences and subsequent memories, our beliefs? Is it a combination of all these things and even more? What if one of these things went missing? Would you still be YOU? Of course YOU change as time passes but do the basic elements that make you—YOU change enough to make YOU a different person?

Not to get too philosophical, but how do we recognize others that we know? The reason I ask is because a couple of days ago in a discussion with a bunch of old jw friends, the subject of the resurrection came up and I asked some of these same questions.

As we all know, jw’s fully (or at least claim to) believe in a resurrection to a “paradise earth” ™. Even though the bible speaks of resurrection and paradise, it never mentions the phrase “paradise earth”. When I pointed out this fact to my jw friends I got the standard jw reply that ‘the bible strongly indicates’ that there will be a “paradise earth”.

Back to the question. So in the hypothetical resurrection to a “paradise earth” if you are lucky enough and you have done enough stuff for jehober to be resurrected, will it be you that’s resurrected? If you were old and grey, all crippled up, with dentures when you died, and now you come back young with dark wavy hair, no hitch in your giddy up, and a nice new full set of pearly white teeth, will it be you? Will the eyes of those who ‘welcome you back in the resurrection’ be miraculously able to identify this completely new person?

Tellme what makes you—YOU?

just saying!

Londo111

That was one of the things that bothered me as a JW. In the resurrection, the person would be a copy, but there would be no continuity between the person who died and the person being resurrected.

MrRoboto

I would agree that it would be a copy, according to JW theology but if you go with the idea that a spirit or soul survives death, then it would be plausible to give that a body back and have it be the same person.

on another note..

In one of my classes in school there was a Muslim girl who always wore a partial head covering (pardon my ignorance for terminology) but not on her face. She was always so gentle and nice, getting good grades and hard working.

When she came back after some months being gone due to a car accident, she had amnesia. She was a completely different person.

Slacking at school, getting in with wrong crowd, more of a 'bad girl' attitude than the nice girl I was used to. She didn't wear her head covering anymore.

Finkelstein

Will the eyes of those who ‘welcome you back in the resurrection’ be miraculously able to identify this completely new person?

Of course anything and everything is possible in fictional mythology.

but its still fiction

Finkelstein

What makes myself ? an ardent endeavor toward intellectual honesty.

Religionist have to constantly lie to create their conceptual ideology, which most of the time involves men's endeavor of self empowering themselves.

LoveUniHateExams

What makes me - me?

My memories and my mind.

I regard my mind as more important than my memories.

dubstepped

This moment makes me... me. Without it I'm not me.

nonjwspouse

My personal integrity and adherence as much as I possible can to not lie, is part of me. My goals of making others lives better in small, seemingly insignificant ways, as well as my own.

My own personal routine makes me, me. My enjoyment of others, my family, and of the beauties of nature itself.

My dedication to the people I love, and to my responsibilities in my life, make me, me.

My need and desire to keep on trying even when it seems hopeless, when it is highly important to me, is a part of me. ( My dislike of giving up)

The desire burning deep within me to continue learning, always, is also part of me.

scratchme1010

Of course this is an open ended question but have you ever really thought about what makes you who YOU are?

I have.

venus

When I was following the crowd, I believed I was this body. But after my encounter with Past Regression (my own and of others) I would say: I am the builder of this body which means there is a platform that serves as precondition for this body and even for my thinking to arrive at. Even the subconscious and super-conscious states relate more to the mind than pure consciousness which is beyond the limitations of body-mind. For this to know, you don’t need endorsement from an external source. If we unlearn everything we have heard about who we are and view our very make-up objectively, we would realize that first we are conscious before we perceive, act, know, think or feel.

What makes you---YOU?

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