What Died and Was Raised?

Let’s consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Watchtower teaches that Jesus did not rise from the dead bodily; rather, it teaches that he was raised as an invisible spirit creature.

One way to challenge the Watchtower’s doctrine on this point is to focus on the nature of resurrection.

Establish that in order for there to be a resurrection, something has to die and then come back to life again.

Jehovah’s Witnesses should agree with that statement.

After all, that’s almost the definition of the word “resurrection.”

In fact, the Watchtower states that “the Greek word translated ‘resurrection’ literally means ‘a standing up again’ and it refers to a rising up from death.”[1]

Then ask the Witnesses to explain to you what part of Jesus died and rose again.

The “what was it that died…?” part of that question is easy for a Jehovah’s Witness to answer.

All of Jesus died.

The “…and then came back to life again” is what will cause them problems.

The Watchtower says it wasn’t Jesus’ body.

Nor was it his soul.

Nor was it his spirit.

So what was it that died and came back to life again?

The Watchtower has no good answer to that question.

The best way to bring this out in a non-threatening manner is to ask questions.

Begin like Columbo, by being puzzled.

I’m puzzled by the Watchtower’s teaching that Jesus’ body never rose from the dead.

Witness: “Why does that puzzle you?”

Well, it seems to me that in order to have a resurrection, something has to die and then come back to life again, right?

Witness: “Yes.”

So what part of Jesus does the Watchtower believe died and came back again? I’ve always been taught that it was his body.

Witness: “No, if Jesus had taken back his fleshly body that would have been the same as taking back the ransom sacrifice and reinstating the sin debt that sacrifice had paid for.”[2]

Was it his soul that died and came back to life?

Witness: “No. Human beings don’t have souls. Rather, they are souls. That is, there is no such thing as a soul (the human personality—mind, will, and emotions) which has a separate existence from the body.”[3]

“When the body dies, the soul is dead; it ceases to exist.”[4]

Then was it Jesus’ spirit that died and came back to life?

Witness: “No. A person’s spirit isn’t the person himself or his personality. Rather, it is an impersonal, force makes him a living being. “… the ātma is the impersonal life-force, or spirit, which animates the living soul, and which empowers the soul to think, move, and live. When the life-force, or ātma, is extinguished within the living soul, the effect is similar to what happens when electricity is withdrawn from a light bulb. The light is extinguished. Where does the light go? It simply becomes nonexistent.”[5]

Summary

What the Watchtower teaches isn’t really resurrection.

It’s re-creation.

It states:

Resurrection involves a reactivating of the life pattern of the individual, which life pattern God has retained in his memory. 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.[6]

If Jehovah’s Witnesses give you this convoluted explanation, you can express confusion because “life pattern” isn’t a biblical term.

According to the Watchtower’s description, this “life pattern” isn’t some part of the individual that dies and then comes back to life again; rather, it’s God’s recollection of the person’s personality and memories that he implants into a totally different body.

In Watchtower teaching, using his own perfect memory, God re-created Jesus’ personality and memories and placed them into a spirit body that had no connection at all with his physical body that died.

In summary, according to the Watchtower, what was the part of Jesus that died and then came back to life again?

You’d have to answer, “Nothing.”

The dialogue suggested above contains several memorable soundbites, any or all of which can function as a stone in the shoe: