.
Were John Q and/or Jane Doe Watchtower Society missionary to be
questioned if they believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, I can assure
you they would answer in the affirmative. However, what you may not know
is that they and the interviewer would not be speaking the same language as
the conversation would be talking about two very different processes that go
by the same name. In other words: you would find yourself thrown off by
semantic double speak.
The classical Christian understanding of Christ's resurrection is common
throughout the gospels; viz: Jesus Christ's dead, crucified body was restored
to life as per John 2:19-22.
"Jesus said to them: Break down this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Therefore the Jews said: This temple was built in forty-six years, and will
you raise it up in three days? But he was talking about the temple of his
body. When, though, he was raised up from the dead, his disciples called to
mind that he used to say this; and they believed the Scripture and the
saying that Jesus said."
You see, if Jesus' dead, crucified body had not been restored to life, that
entire passage would be easily proven false. But according to the
Watchtower Society's way of seeing things; Christ's dead, crucified body
didn't return to life at all; and here's why.
In Watchtower Society theology, an angel named Michael volunteered to
come to the earth to die for humanity's sins. But in order to do so; he had to
relinquish his angel existence to become a human existence seeing as how
in Society theology it is impossible for someone to exist as a spirit being and
a human being simultaneously. However, when Michael expired, he didn't go
completely out of existence. Instead, his so-called "life force" remained
intact and was transferred to a human form.
"the transferal of the life of his firstborn Son from the spirit realm to earth.
Only in this way could the child eventually born have retained identity as the
same person who had resided in heaven as the Word." (Aid to Bible
Understanding, 1971, p.920)
"He had to become a perfect man and yet not lose his continuity of life. His
life-force was not to be extinguished but would be transferred to the ovum
of the virgin girl, Mary." (Watchtower magazine, 2-15-82, p.7)
But Michael's existence as a human being was only temporary. When his
human form passed away on the cross, the Society claims that God
transferred Michael's life force back into his angel form thus restoring him to
his former spirit existence; leaving the corpse of his human existence in a
permanent state of decease.
NOTE: The Society teaches that death terminates existence; but apparently
not entirely because the Society also believes that at death, an angel's life
force was transferred to another form-- in Michael's case, from a spirit form
to an organic form; in effect, preserving a portion of Michael's existence so it
could be re-transferred later when God went about restoring Michael to his
former existence.
It could be argued that Jesus lives on in the body of an angel; but that
wouldn't be true seeing as how Jesus' life force would've been Michael's to
begin with.
The Society has to accept the obvious fact that their doctrine implies that
Jesus Christ was never really fully human, rather, he was an amalgam of
angel and human seeing as how it was the life force of an angel that kept
Jesus' human body alive. In other words: the Society's Jesus wasn't an
organic human in the normal sense, rather; he was an organic angel.
FYI: The Society maintains that Michael's crucified human form had to stay
dead so he could be an angel again. But that's not the only reason the
Society gives for keeping Michael's human remains perpetually deceased. An
additional explanation is given on page 237 of the April 15, 1963 issue of the
Watchtower magazine; where it's stated:
"If Jesus were to take his body of flesh, blood, and bones to heaven and
enjoy them there, what would this mean? It would mean that there would be
no resurrection of the dead for anybody. Why not? Because Jesus would be
taking his sacrifice off God's altar."
There is a really, really big flaw in the Society's theology; and that's
Michael's human remains. In order to confirm that his crucified human body
stayed dead, the Society is going to have produce it. A piece of evidence of
that significance can't be allowed to just slip through a crack unnoticed as if
it makes no difference. As Carl Sagan once said: "Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary evidence." Till then, we should reckon that when the
Bible speaks of Jesus Christ's resurrection, it's talking about a human corpse
rather than an angel's.
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