Resurrection, or Duplication?

by VM44 4 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  VM44

  Here is something that has been on my mind. I would like to know what others think.

  The Watchtower teaches that Jehovah keeps a memory of us, so if we are to be
  resurrected, he can re-create us. The Watchtower has given the analogy of motion
  pictures capturing an image of a person and then replaying it.

  Thus, Jehovah, with his perfect memory could re-create us.

  There is a problem with this. Motion pictures capture an "image" of a person, a
  representation, which is used to create a "likeness" of the person. This representation
  is quite separate from the actual person.

  Even if a perfect representation of us was kept in his memory, what would be the
  case if Jehovah decided to re-create TWO copies of us? It would be possible for him to do so.

  Which one of the two would be the original person?

  Or, consider this, Jehovah could create an exact duplicate of you right now, who would be
  YOU?

  Something for people to think about.

  --VM44
• 

  ozziepost

  An interesting topic, VM. This was among the many things I pushed to the back of my mind over the years.

  My conclusion nowadays is that the Witnesses do not teach resurrection for those coming back to live on the earth. My reasoning is along the lines you have mentioned. It seems to me that the Witnesses are teaching a re-creation, not a resurrection.

  Yes, I know, that the cells of the human body are continually renewing themselves. Nonetheless there is continuity in the body, isn't there? The Witnesses teach that sometime in the new system millions will be resurrected. From the many illustrations in the publications, it appears that these departed ones will suddenly appear. But they will be an image of what formally existed. The Witnesses teach that Jehovah will put into the resurrected bodies all the thought patterns, memory, etc of the person who had died. This seems much like the recording on a CD Rom. But it isn't the person, no matter how similar it is to the former self.

  IMO a resurrection must be a resurrection of the body. This can only happen at or soon after death. Of course for the Witnesses this is "not on" because only 144,000 are resurrected at death. Seems the Great Crowd miss out again. They will have to make do with a recording. Never the 'real thing'.

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading."
  TERTULLIAN, Adversus Valentinianos
• 

  slipnslidemaster

  Oh please! Like the GB has given any of this any thought. They don't care how or what or if Jehovah does ANYTHING in the future.

  All they care about is the $$$ rolling in now.

  Slipnslidemaster: "Do, or do not. There is no try."
  - Yoda
• 

  ozziepost

  SlipSlide,

  From the GB members I have either spoken with or otherwise corresponded with, I doubt what you say.

  I have no doubt their sincerity of belief that they will reign with Christ.

  I don't have a problem with that. Who am I to say who will or who won't be with Him? The trouble is, they want to limit those invited.

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading."
  TERTULLIAN, Adversus Valentinianos
• 

  Awakened07

  I'm bumping this old thread for the active lurkers out there (I was about to make a new one but did a search first).

  According to JWs, no creature has a soul separate from the body, and so, everything you are is currently contained physically in you.

  Even though Jehovah would 'remember' every tiny detail of you, the preservation of your personality etc. wouldn't be done by supernatural means (excepting that Jehovah himself is supernatural). Meaning that since a continuous 'soul' which is you does not exist, only the memory of who you were would be implanted into a new body. Which is more like the copying of a computer disk than a supernatural event.

  The resulting 'resurrectee' would be a clone, not the same person. *

  As VM44 pointed out; If He resurrected a new body and implanted it with your personality etc. now, so that there were suddenly two of you - would you agree to be put to death so that the "resurrected" you could live on? Would you believe that the resurrected version of you standing next to you was in fact you, even though you were now two separate people?

  That may sound ludicrous and wildly hypothetical, but actually - only time separates the you of now, with the resurrected you of the future new system. So if the process happened now, or fifty years from now (for the sake of argument, let's say the new system is here then) wouldn't matter, for this example.

  Something to ponder.

  Or is there a logical explanation you'd like to share?

  * one could argue that we even now are not the same that we were earlier in life because of cell renewal (as was mentioned already in this thread), but as each cell has been changed while the rest of the "machinery" as a whole was still operating, there was a continuity all the way and the personality etc. was always intact and preserved in you. A resurrection would mean a sudden appearance of a new body imprinted with the 'memory' of who you were. This would be nice for your clone, and the clone would think he/she was you, but in reality, you'd be just as dead.