What is a "Soul"?

Originally posted by Conrau K
Produce your argument then. So far I have been waiting for the thrilling moment.
Clearly you should get out more.

My argument is that the doctrine of bodily resurrection is compatible with there being no entity such as the soul which persists after the death of the individual. Suppose we take a materialist solution to the mind-body problem and hold that our identity and consciousness are entirely processes of the material brain. Then god can resurrect the body, which includes the brain without the involvement of a soul. The individual, on this model, can be brought back to life because god can exactly reconstitute the brain.
You can argue to and fro about whether certain interpretations of scripture support this possibility or not, but it remains the case that no continuity of existence is required for resurrection.

Originally posted by Lord Shark
Originally posted by Conrau K
[b]Produce your argument then. So far I have been waiting for the thrilling moment.
Clearly you should get out more.

My argument is that the doctrine of bodily resurrection is compatible with there being no entity such as the soul which persists after the death of the individual. Suppose we take a materialist ...[text shortened]... ty or not, but it remains the case that no continuity of existence is required for resurrection.[/b]

Originally posted by Rajk999
Does that 'likeness' mean that we possess ALL the characteristics of God ?

Originally posted by Conrau K
I have no disageement with that. I am not a theist nor do I accept the possibility of the afterlife. So I am obviously inclined to believe that all cognitive activity is attributable to the brain and not to a soul. I am only arguing about what the Bible says -- that there really is a soul which survives after death. I think Menace's posts are much better ex ...[text shortened]... ples than the ones I gave.

Why did it take to you three posts to spell out what you meant?

((((Acts 1:9-11
There is no argument for what this says. This same Jesus will Come in the same way as you watched Him go! I guess you can argue about if he was flesh or not but You can't argue How he will return. ))))

If one will really break this scripture down and first looks at who saw him accend to heaven. Was it just anyone that had seen this happen? No it was only a small group, his immediate followers, ones that he had promised a share in the Kingdom with, part of the 144,000, the Little Flock. The general poulation did not see this happen.
The next fact is they were told by the two men in white or two angels, that he would return in "the same manner" as you see him leaving. They didn't say with a human body because
he was not in a human body when he was accending. Again the scriptures are very clear that flesh cannot enter heaven. So if he returns in "the same manner", it would have to be in a spirit form.
Also Jesus never once said he would ever be back on this earth as a human. If he was going to do that, then it seems he would have made completely different plans or instructions with his followers to be ready to meet him at some specific place on the planet and that in itself would really be impossible for all humans to go to this spot physically to be judged. And probably most would never go to this place anyway. Why would they?
Rev 1:7 says: "He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him."
This scripture is confirming he will return, as he left, in the clouds. This scripture says nothing about coming back down to the surface of the earth as a human. And again the vast majority of the ones on earth will understand his presence and will have grief over it.

Originally posted by galveston75
((((Acts 1:9-11
There is no argument for what this says. This same Jesus will Come in the same way as you watched Him go! I guess you can argue about if he was flesh or not but You can't argue How he will return. ))))

If one will really break this scripture down and first looks at who saw him accend to heaven. Was it just anyone that had seen this ...[text shortened]... majority of the ones on earth will understand his presence and will have grief over it.

Originally posted by Rajk999
I think you need to stop taking yourself, your beliefs, the JW doctrine so seriously. The Bible is not abundantly clear on the fine details of what is going to happen in the end times. Many like to guess and speculate, and thats fine. Its dangerous though if you forget that you could be wrong.

Originally posted by galveston75
Just a question..But wouldn't you think in the really big picture that it would be a very important thing to know if Jesus was coming to earth as a human or not or that his Kingdom was really going to be here in a physical building with a throne?

I do think about being wrong and quoting sciptures wrong and the bad effects that would have. I do try to ...[text shortened]... s. But hopefully as one of Jehovah's Witnessses I will do the best I can to answer correctly.

Originally posted by Rajk999
[b]>>>But hopefully as one of Jehovah's Witnessses I will do the best I can to answer correctly<<<

You answer to the best of your knowledge.
Whether or not its correct is not for you (or me) to decide.

The big picture? The really BIG PICTURE?

LOVE GOD
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR

Knowing about the return of Christ is irrelevant to your salvation.
C ...[text shortened]... l reward according to works. Not according to who has the correct interpretation of his return.[/b]

Originally posted by Lord Shark
Originally posted by Conrau K
[b]Produce your argument then. So far I have been waiting for the thrilling moment.
Clearly you should get out more.

My argument is that the doctrine of bodily resurrection is compatible with there being no entity such as the soul which persists after the death of the individual. Suppose we take a materialist ...[text shortened]... ty or not, but it remains the case that no continuity of existence is required for resurrection.[/b]

Originally posted by menace71
You bring up a good point that God could reconstruct anyone from nothing. Think about if someone where cremated & their ashes scattered all about?

You know we don't know the fine details as someone else stated but every person ever born created whatever God knows where they are. He knows there final destination. I think when Christ returns It will be with a glorified body as you were saying flesh dies but we really don't know what this glorified body is. Obviously it can't decay and can go into heaven. I believe this is talked about in Letter to the Corinthians.




Manny

Originally posted by menace71
You bring up a good point that God could reconstruct anyone from nothing. Think about if someone where cremated & their ashes scattered all about?

A soul is both the spirit and the body as one.

Originally posted by menace71
You know we don't know the fine details as someone else stated but every person ever born created whatever God knows where they are. He knows there final destination. I think when Christ returns It will be with a glorified body as you were saying flesh dies but we really don't know what this glorified body is. Obviously it can't decay and can go into heaven. I believe this is talked about in Letter to the Corinthians.




Manny