The Mystery of the Resurrection

Here's are questions to ponder: How is the identity of a person, their personality, memories, inner self, etc., maintained after death and until the resurrection? How does God resurrect the exact same person, even if that person has no physical remains left to resurrect? How are our memories and DNA preserved so they can be reconstituted later?

Jehovah Witnesses try to provide an explanation. They believe that God resurrects people from the perfect memories He has of them. That, however, provides an unsatisfactory explanation, as it wouldn't be the same exact person but a copy or duplicate of the person they once were. Nor does Scripture say such a thing.

The only satisfactory answer is that there has to be a continuity of the self that exists in an intermediate state until the resurrection (i.e., the soul). The soul (inner being, mind, consciousness) has no material parts; therefore, it doesn't perish the same way as the physical mortal body does. I would suggest a theory of how that is possible: human consciousness operates in a higher dimension and intersects the brain in some capacity. This is especially relevant since consciousness hasn't been proven to exist in the brain at all (see here).

So, you have an interaction between the immaterial (consciousness/soul) and material (body). We can already see this interaction between the mind and body. Our mind (thoughts, emotions, will) can directly affect the physical body, even creating psychosomatic symptoms. The body can turn to affect the mind, brain damage, for example. Brain damage could be understood as a disruption in the signal between the mind and the body.

The point being is the mind/body connection demonstrates the physical and immaterial can interact. There is another example of this, Jesus Christ. Most Christian denominations, even Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists, believe in a pre-incarnate Christ; that is, Christ existed prior to His physical manifestation. Christ came into a human body much like a soul would enter a physical body. The body is where he resided for a time, but it wasn't Him. When He was crucified and died for three days, He didn't simply cease to exist (How can a deity cease to exist anyway?). That's because He wasn't His body; He merely lived in a body, the same as us. That cannot happen unless the inner self already operates in a higher dimension.

So, at death, there is a termination of the intersection between the consciousness and the brain. Once consciousness is no longer anchored to the brain, it exists entirely in a higher dimensional state, what we would call the spirit world. Death then is not annihilation but a transition to higher-dimensional existence where continuity is maintained throughout.

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