SO do JW's believe that when you are "resurrected" that you are resurrected in the state of mind that you died in . Meaning, will they recognize their loved ones, their kids, grand parents?
I lost my sister a year ago to breast cancer. I have been asking myself that same question ever since. I started analyzing our belief that nothing survives after you die. I started to remember also that we were taught that Jehovah will resurrect those who have died, but in a different body and that we will be able to recognize them by how they act, talk, and because they will remember us. Our personalities and our feelings were developed in the brain but the brain ceases to work and decomposes with our bodies when we die, then how is it possible that we will be resurrected in a different body but our feelings, our thoughts and our memories are back?
I wonder if indeed something does live on after we die, but we are not entitled to know. You all know that according to the Bible, we will never be able to understand how Jehovah works, and this might be part of those things we will never understand. He does remember those who have died, and the Bible also says that to him all of them are alive. I think they are somehow, waiting to be brought back to life. As ghosts, or spirits? Maybe not, but somehow they could still be alive.
Here's some information I found on a website. I'll put the link below, but I found these very interesting in particular.
I don't think it was the intent of God or the 'universal consciousness' (assuming there is such) to reveal all to the satisfaction of everyone of us. For if it had, then surely we would all be believers. It all seems to be part of a greater plan to have it all this way.
· We probably need to endure a minimal amount of suffering while here on earth or otherwise we would regress spiritually (due to becoming more smug and taking more of a 'blame the victim' attitude when others suffer and therefore we would become less empathetic when not enduring any suffering ourselves).
(1) We are on earth to increase our empathy for other life and to be accountable for the effect of our actions and behaviour on the world. An example of this in practical terms is if we know that when we drive recklessly and our passenger dies as a result, we will feel badly. But if we know that they will be reunited with the same loved ones in the afterlife that they leave behind when they die, then our empathy for others will not improve as easily. This is because we know the loss is only temporary for everyone effected and it is as if the person who dies only just goes to a foreign land for what is a very short period of an infinite life. This might be why we do not have a complete knowledge of the afterlife. Note that with the full and complete knowledge of an afterlife, ones actions might improve but our empathy for other living things while here on earth would probably not improve to the same extent. Also, we may be motivated by spiritual reward and not progress spiritually to the same extent.
This is the link to the entire information viewed from all points of view. Interesting reading and certainly an eye opener for me.
http://lifeafterdeath.info/
