I joined JwTalk.net posing as an unbaptized publisher. There was a lot of talk on the forum about how there will be death in the new system so I decided to ask some questions concerning that logic. Here is what I wrote:
I know that sounds like a really dumb question but there's a legitimate reason as to why I ask. As I started to study I've reached the conclusion that after the resurrection we live on a "new earth" as spirits rather than heaven, since God's original purpose was for man to be on earth. I was under the impression that this belief was in harmony with what Witnesses believed until I started to read some threads on this forum. I discussed this topic today at my study and my conductor showed me the following article from the August 1st 2006 Watchtower to make things more clear:
Questions From Readers
"After the final test at the end of the Millennium, will it be possible for humans to sin and die?
Two scriptures found in Revelation bear on this: “Death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14) “He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”—Revelation 21:4.
Note the timing involved here. The hurling of “death and Hades” into the lake of fire takes place after the Armageddon survivors, the resurrected dead, and any born after Armageddon have been judged out of the “things written in the scrolls,” or Jehovah’s detailed requirements for mankind during the thousand years. (Revelation 20:12, 13) The apostle John records another vision, found in Revelation chapter 21, which will be fulfilled during the Millennial Reign of Christ Jesus. The complete fulfillment of that vision, however, awaits the end of the thousand-year Judgment Day. Jehovah will then reside with mankind in the fullest sense without any intercessors, Jesus having handed the Kingdom over to his Father. Jehovah will reside spiritually with “his peoples” in a permanent and direct way. “Death will be no more” in the complete sense when mankind will have gained perfection as a result of having the merit of Christ’s ransom sacrifice applied to the full.—Revelation 21:3, 4.
Thus, the death mentioned in the scriptures quoted above is the Adamic death, which will be nullified by Christ’s ransom. (Romans 5:12-21) With death that mankind inherited from the first man canceled, humans will be just like Adam when he was created. Adam was perfect, but that did not mean that there was no possibility of his dying. Jehovah told Adam not to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad” and said: “In the day you eat from it you will positively die.” (Genesis 2:17) That was death from deliberate sin. After the final test at the end of the Thousand Year Reign, humans will still be free moral agents. (Revelation 20:7-10) They will still be able to choose of their own free will whether to continue serving Jehovah or not. It cannot be said that no human will ever turn his back on God, as Adam did.
What would happen to the one who chose to rebel after the final test when there is no death or Hades? At that time, Adamic death is no more. And Hades, the common grave of mankind with the hope of resurrection, is no more. Still, Jehovah can annihilate any rebel in the lake of fire, denying him any hope of a resurrection. That death would be like the death that Adam and Eve experienced, not the death that humans inherited from Adam.
However, we have no reason to expect any such outcome. Those who pass the final test will differ from Adam in one crucial sense. They will have been fully tested. We can be confident of the thoroughness of the final test because Jehovah knows how to examine people inside and out. We can rest assured that the final test will eliminate any who would misuse their freedom of choice. Thus, although it is possible for those who pass the final test to rebel against God and hence be destroyed, it is very unlikely that such a thing will occur."
If we have free will, fleshly desires, and the ability to die, how can the the new system be that much different from this one. Some examples, if people still have sexual desires what's going to stop rape, homosexual acts, adultery, or premarital sex? What's going to stop me from killing someone if I'm jealous or angry? Adam and Eve were perfect and they both gave in to sinful fleshy desires, if there's 100 million perfect people on earth in the new system and 99% remain faithful each year, that still leaves 1 million people each year causing suffering on earth. And what of kids born in the new system, they would of never been tested and will be even less likely to remain faithful. Maybe it's just me but I don't see how you can have a paradise with fleshy people. If it didn't work with just two perfect humans, how can it work with hundreds of millions of perfect humans? The whole situation brings one of my favorite quotes to mind: "insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting a different result". Is there any specific reason as to why the official teaching is humans will be resurrected as flesh instead of spirits? I don't see anything in the Bible that would contradict a spiritual resurrection.
The thread was never approved so no one had a chance to read it. How do they JWs would respond to this information?
