Jehovah's Witnesses and the Resurrection
As we will see in this study, the Jehovah's Witnesses define resurrection as
the DUPLICATION of personality plus the creation of a new spirit body. In
contrast, Biblical resurrection is TRANSFORMATION
of the old body into the
new (Phil. 3:21; 1Cor. 15:51-52). The following will clarify the main differences
between Biblical resurrection and Watchtower creation. It will also be apparent
according to the faulty logic of
Watchtower reasoning Jesus Christ could not have risen from the dead!
1. Watchtower definition of resurrection:
"Resurrection involves a reactivating of the life pattern of the
individual, which life pattern God has retained in his memory."
2. Biblical definition of the resurrection:
Resurrection is the transformation or "change" of the old body,
from being mortal and perishable, to being immortal and
imperishable (Phil. 3:21; 1 Cor. 15:51-54). It is also the redemption
of the mortal body (Rom. 8:11,23).
J.W.'s believe: That the life pattern (LP), or record of a person's life (also
the "personality") is recorded (duplicated) by God during the life of the person.
At the time of death, this LP is "retained" in God's memory. At the time of
resurrection, the LP is "reactivated" and put into a newly created body.
The Bible does not define in any detail HOW God resurrects men. However,
Paul gives us the important example of the physical transformation of a seed
becoming a plant (1 Cor. 15:35-38). In other words, the decaying seed, like the
decaying body=disorganization. Then the germ of life from this disorganization
into reorganization is TRANSFORMATION. The new transformed body is not
like the old--it is glorified in power and immortality (1 Cor. 15:42-43).
We can break down the Watchtower Society's doctrine into
five main points.
1. JW's believe: The life pattern (LP) is information about a person,
i.e., his life record (Example: a biography written about a person).
The LP is also called the "personality".
Analysis: Since the life pattern is only recorded information, like a book
movie, then it itself never lived, never died and therefore can't be resurrected
from the dead .
2. JW's believe:
When Jesus died, God "retained" the LP information in his
own memory. God's memory is his storage capacity for all the information he has learned.
Analysis
: Since the LP information is in God's memory, it is what God thinks
about Jesus. There is no person Jesus existing--only information about Him.
have been told that God's memory includes his own mind (God-brain) and,
host
likely, the minds of trusted angels. This is where the information is stored. There is nothing OF Jesus in this storage system, only information ABOUT Jesus.
3. JWs believe: The LP is to "reactivated". This is called "resurrection".
Analysis: The reactivation is on information ONLY. Reactivation cannot be
resurrection because resurrection is defined also as: "a standing up again' and it
refers to a rising up from death." Information won't stand up again because it
didn't die. It never went anywhere. It is always in the memory of God.
a. Reactivation really means: God remembered all the LP.
b. Apparently, according to JW reasoning, God's memory of
(some of ) the LP was INactive or had been DEactivated at some
time.
c. REactivation involved the accessing of God's SUBconscious
(either in His own mind of angels minds, or both) so as to
REMEMBER all the LP information.
4. JWs believe: When the LP is reactivated, God puts it into a newly
created body.
Analysis: No "person" rises from the dead. God merely COPIES LP
information from His memory and puts it into a newly created body.
a. Obviously, God RETAINS the LP information in his own memory
while putting the COPY of it into the new body.
b. The new "person" is a COPY of a LP and a created, not
resurrected body.
c. The new person is a clone of the memory of God--not the original
person--but another person--a newly created (a duplicate LP) in a
newly created body.
5. JWs believe: The resurrection is restoration:
According to God's will for the individual, the person is restored in
either a human or a spirit body and yet retains his personal identity,
having the same personality and memories as when he died.
Analysis: There is no real resurrection in JW doctrine. The "person"
can't be "restored". Why?
a. Because a person is defined as:
1.A body and...
2. A life force or spirit (energy which gives the body life).
The Society denies that either of these are resurrected!
b. A "person" (body and life force) are not "reactivated". Only LP
information is reactivated. Nothing happens to the body and life
force which separated at the of the person.
Conclusion: The Jesus of the Watchtower--the "reactivated" life
in a non-resurrected, newly created body--is ANOTHER JESUS
(2 Cor 11:4), not the One who died and rose again (Rev 1:18).
c. When He died, Jesus had the nature of a "man" --nothing more
and nothing less. He suffered "everlasting destruction. " Since
resurrection is defined as "a rising up from death"and Jesus was
only a "man" who is dead forever, there is no"Jesus" to rise up. The
Watchtower Society teaches the annihilation of Jesus Christ! As
well as you and I!
THE BIG QUESTION FOR JW's . . .
Q. What is the hope of the JW? What drives him to work so hard?
1. To live in "Paradise."
2. To see friends and relatives raised from the dead to live in Paradise
on earth.
The following questions and answers will show the illogical outcome of the
resurrection doctrine of the Watchtower.
1.Q. Does the very person who died--rise up FROM death?
A. "YES. ...it is the individual, the "soul," with the same personality,
that is brought back to life."
2. Q. What makes up a "person"; in other words, what is an individual
"soul"?
A. "A body AND a personality. . . The "soul" is the person,
including both personality and organism."
3. Q. What is "death"? In other words, what happens when the body
dies?
A. "The NON-existence of the "person". . . It is the functioning
of the organism or body that expresses the personality. The dead
body, without "spirit" or life force, or without the breath
that sustains the life force, has no personality, no activity.
(Gen. 7:22; Jas. 2:26; Eccl. 9:5,10) It is therefore no longer
a living soul. The soul has died, ceased to exist. Ezek. 18:4"
A. " This personality is dependent upon the body and therefore
it ceases to exist when the body dies."
4.Q. What is a "life pattern"?
A. "A "record" of a person's life. It is also called the
"personality.". . . The life pattern is the personal life-long record
the creature built up by his thoughts and by the experiences in the
life he has lived resulting from certain habits, leanings, mental
abilities, memories and history. It is also a register of the
individual's intellectual growth and his characteristics, all of
which make up one's personality."
5. Q. Is the life pattern or "personality" physical?
A. "Yes-- it is stored in the brain and blood.. . . Each one develops
his own personality pattern, and this is stored up in each one's
brain, also in the blood to some extent."
"The tiny cell that is formed by the uniting of the sperm and the egg
has the potential of becoming a person different from any other
person that has ever lived. Within this cell there is, in effect, a pattern
of what the person to develop from it will be like. This pattern becomes
part of the body of the human that develops."
6. Q. Will the very physical body that died, or a physical part of it.
be resurrected?
A. "NO. . . What will be resurrected? "The body? No, for it has
disintegrated and its atoms have become parts of other living things,
which, in turn, may have become part of other living creatures."
7. Q. Will there be a resurrection of the PHYSICAL life pattern or
"personality" that was part of the body?
A. "NO. It ceases to exist when the body dies. . . This personality
is dependent upon the body and therefore it ceases to exist when
the body dies."
8. Q. What is a "resurrection"?
A. "Resurrection involves the "reactivating" of a life pattern. . . .
Resurrection involves a reactivating of the life pattern of the
individual, which life pattern God has retained in his memory."
9. Q. We have learned (see questions 3,6 and 7) that the
PHYSICAL pattern in the body goes into non-existence with
the body. Does God "retain" a copy of the LP?
A. "Yes. God RETAINS the information about the person, ie,
the "record" of the "nonexistent dead" in his memory. . . Resurrection
involves a reactivating of the life pattern of the individual, which life
pattern God has retained in his memory."
"Resurrection is restoration to life of the nonexistent dead. It is
the reactivation of the life pattern of the creature, a transcription
of which is on record with God, and is referred to as being in His
memory."
10.Q. After the person's death, is the original life pattern "preserved"
by God?
A. "NO. A recorded copy--a duplicate. . . The factors combining
to make the life pattern are like the sounds recorded on a blank
phonograph record that stands for the brain, primarily. At the same
time God is having a master disc made of the same life pattern on
his marvelous memory. At death the phonograph record is broken
as it were, and what was recorded thereon would be forever lost
were it no for the duplicate recording made by God. In the
resurrection God makes a blank record, a human body, and them
stamps on its brain the life pattern he has recorded."
11. At the time of resurrection, God puts ANOTHER copy of the life
pattern( see Make Sure of all Things, 1953, p.311) into a newly
created body(the old body is not to be resurrected; see Question 6
above). This particular life pattern NEVER EXISTED BEFORE. It
is COPIED FROM the "duplicate" copy of the original life pattern,
which God recorded and retained in his memory. In other
words, (1) the original life pattern went out of existence.However,
(2) God retained a "duplicate" of it in his memory and finally (3) he
makes a human body and stamps a copy of the life pattern into
it's brain.(See again quote for answer #10.)
12. Q. Since the original body and life pattern (which was part of that
body) are not to be resurrected, is the original "person" to be
resurrected?
A. NO, the "person" WAS the original body and life pattern (see
Question 2).
13. Q. If there is NO HOPE for the resurrection of what died--the original
PHYSICAL BODY AND LIFE PATTERN (personality), is there
HOPE for the original "person" who dies?
A. NO, (See Question 12).
14. Q. According to the definition of the "resurrection", a person must die
before THAT PERSON can stand up again. Must God raise the
"person" that died for THAT VERY PERSON to rise FROM
the dead?
A. YES! . . The word "resurrection" (Greek, an-as'tas-is) occurs some
40 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. It means a standing up
again to life. In order to rise up again to life, a person must first be
dead. For life is the opposite of death."
15. CONCLUSION:
1. There is no "resurrection" from the dead.
2. What happens? Rather than a "resurrection", there is a "creation"
of a life pattern. ANOTHER copy of a life pattern is CREATED.
This copy is duplicated from the copy in God's memory (see
Question 11 above).
Consider the following scenario:
There was a manuscript written of a person's life. It was a one of a
kind work . It was valued at one million dollars. A photocopy was
made--a "duplicate" of the original. The original was later
destroyed in a fire, totally burned up--never to be seen again. The
existing copy, this "duplicate", served as the pattern for another copy
which was made and bound as a new book. This was a copy
of a copy of the original copy. Do you think it is worth one million
dollars?
3. WHAT IS THE HOPE FOR A JW WHO DIES? TO BE COPIED.
4. IS THAT WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES? (IF SO PLEASE
SHOW ME).
5. JWs believe that it is important to EXPOSE the "lack of logic" of
false teachings.
"With accurate knowledge of God's Word, we can puncture and
cut down false teachings, exposing their lack of logic and, in particular,
their conflict with the Holy Scriptures."
6. Has the "lack of logic" of the Watchtower Society's doctrine of the
resurrection been exposed to you?
7. JWs believe that is is "important" to "examine" teachings to see if they
are biblical. They say, The religion that is approved by God must agree
in every way with the Bible. . . "
". . ..We cannot simply assume that the teachings of the religious
organization we are associated with are in agreement with God's
Word. The mere fact that the Bible is used by a religion does not
of itself prove that all the things it teaching and practices are in the
Bible. It is important that we ourselves examine whether they are
or not. Persons in the city of Beroea were commended because, after
the Christian apostle Paul preached to them, they checked the
Scriptures to make sure that the things he was telling them were true.
(Acts 17:10,11) The religion that is approved by God must agree in
every way with the Bible; it will not accept certain parts of the Bible
reject other parts. 2 Timothy 3:16."
8. Since the doctrine of the resurrection of life patterns is illogical
and unbiblical, it is NOT "approved by God" and neither are
those who teach it.
See the book, "Another Jesus". Magnani.
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