What Hope Is There For the Dead?

Posted on January 16, 2013 by ideacreamanuela

In the Christian Greek Scriptures, the word resurrection occurs more than 40 times. It is translated from a Greek word that literally means a standing up again. The corresponding Hebrew expression means revival of the dead. After a person dies, what is resurrected? IT CANNOT be the body, which decays and returns to the dust of the ground. What is resurrected is not the same body but the same person who died. Thus, resurrection involves the restoration of the life pattern of the individualhis personality traits, his personal history, and all the details of his identity. Jehovah God, who is perfect in memory, has no problem remembering the life patterns of those who have died. (Isaiah 40:26) Since he is the Originator of life, Jehovah can readily bring back to life the same person in a newly formed body. (Psalm 36:9) Moreover, the Bible states that Jehovah God has a yearningan earnest longing and desireto resurrect the dead. (Job 14:14, 15) How glad we can be that not only is Jehovah able to bring a person back to life but he also wants to do it! What about the idea that something inside us goes on living after death? The teaching of the resurrection and the idea of the immortality of the human soul or spirit are, in fact, incompatible. As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, states the Bible. There is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [the common grave of mankind], the place to which you are going.Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10. According to the Bible, then, the only remedy for death is the resurrection. THE WATCHTOWER, 3/15 2006 See also: Real Hope for Your Loved Ones Who Have Died, available for download at www.jw.org

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