The resurrection fantasy, the last desperate illusion?

by Slidin Fast 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Slidin Fast

  As people get older they inevitably lose more of their friends and family. The doctrine that binds them to the “truth’ like superglue is the doctrine of the resurrection. They ache to see their dead rise.

  So … I die. There is no doubt that death is final, there is no soul, and nothing lives on, I am ......dead. The resurrection creates a clone that is like me, it is a bit like me, it has the same memories and mental processes. It is however not and never will be ……ME. I am …..dead, I will always be …..dead.

  The clone that replaces me may not even look like me according to the WT. The image of people running from opened graves into the arms of their loved ones is a fallacy. They would not even be recognised. The disciples walked straight past Jesus. The resurrected and Armageddon survivors will be a strange mixture of “real” people and clones. Imagine “West World” on a colossal scale.

  When I die (and I will), I will be either gone forever or as a resurrected one nothing more than an animated blow up doll pretending to be me. I want no part of it.

  Am I being too cynical? Have I got it all wrong? Is the whole premise of living forever as a resurrected person just a masturbatory fantasy? It is just as much an illusory carrot as the generation.

  You couldn’t make it up.
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  Satanus

  No doubt, thats the wt version. Guess, i hold to continued consciousness after death, possibly reincarnation. No scientific proof, though. Aside from that, your description is about it. The christian version, where the souls of the dead are put on hold until judgement day, then united w bodies of some kind, then going to hell or heaven is the other choice.

  S
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  Sulla

  You've found one of the key problems with the JW idea about the human person. According to them, you are your data: your memories, preferences, etc. Whatever container activates these data is, therefore, you. Could be a spirit -- any spirit -- could be a human body -- any body, really. The problem with the inability of this sort of anthropology to give a unique identity to us was pointed out long ago by John Locke (who was responding to a solution to the problems of substance dualism which looks a great deal like the JW solution).
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  Slidin Fast

  WooHoo Sulla, I didn't realise I was as deep as that, John Locke indeed.
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  jwfacts

  The Watchtower resurrection is quite morbid when compared to the concept of an immortal soul.

  The clone that replaces me may not even look like me according to the WT.

  Worse than that, it won't even contain all of your memories - "the former things will not be called to mind." see http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2012171

  It reminds me of the movie Multiplicity. If God can clone you once, he can clone hundreds of you. And each clone need not even be the same, since Jehovah will wipe some of your memories and imperfections, and can clone you at whatever age he wants you to be.
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  LostGeneration

  Well according to that new Awake, pirates will awaken in their ruffle-y clothes!

  My theory is that the twin towers of WT doctrine are the resurrection and living forever in paradise earth. These two ideas alone keep most JWs loyal until death, damn whatever other facts come along in their lives.

  They want to see their dead friends/relatives again (screw the fact that said relatives may have hated JWs and their doctrines) and they want their damn petting zoo.
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  designs

  There is a 'real' resurrection and a 'false' resurrection
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  Quarterback

  Your cells keep dying off, and new ones are formed constantly. You are technically not the same as when you were a child. The only thing that stays constant is your DNA. Mankind is exploring that genetic code, but are still so primitive in their exploration. The resurrection will not be a clone. A clone doesn't have your personality, memories, etc.
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  Satanus

  The wt resurrection isn't really a resurrection, at all. Its the making of a copy. Their view of what a human is, vis a vis, the body soul spirit is practically the same as the basic scientific view. They are materialists w a thin veneer of spirituality. It may help explain why they are so afraid of death.

  S
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  villagegirl

  satunus - thanks thats rather profound -

  The WT is simplistic, the words of Jesus were mystical

  Look at the new Hubble deep space photos on the NASA site,

  The universe is mysterious, look at the National Geographic site's photos

  of strange sea creatures, inexplicable. Creatures from science fiction.

  fish with head-lights to see in the dark ?

  the ability to change their entire shape and form as well as color.

  We live in a miraculously inexplicable universe full of surprises,

  just when we think we 'know it all', some weird thing emerges.

  We are energy, electricity, moving molecules of atoms and quarks.

  Physics itself tells us, nothing can be destroyed, it only changes form.

  So the question IS : Does this scientific law include conscientiousness ???