Resurrection or Cloning?

In the film “The Sixth Day”, based in the near future where cloning of pets is allowed but not of humans, the main character, Adam, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, wakes up in a taxi, not knowing how he got there. He travels home only to see another man inside with his family; this man looks exactly like him. Before being able to confront the imposter, Adam is attacked by unknown assailants and has to run.

This being an Arnie movie there are lots of shoot outs and the body count is high as Adam attempts to find out what is going on. It turns out that he has been cloned and the cloning company is trying to clear up the loose ends. Spoiler alert; it turns out he is the clone and the other Adam is the original.

The story highlights some problems with the Watchtower’s ideas about ‘resurrection’. They teach that, at death, who we are ceases to exist; there is no soul or spirit that survives death, nothing of our essence continues on. All that remains of us exists only in Jehovah’s memory.

After Armageddon Jehovah resurrects those in his memory and they populate paradise earth. However, this resurrection is not really a resurrection, a ‘standing up’ as the original Greek word intimates, but a re-creation instead. Jehovah recreates a body and plants in it the memories and personality of the person it represents. So, in essence, it is a clone of the original person. The original person ceased to exist when they died.

Taking a cue from the film; hypothetically, what would happen if Jehovah started recreating people early, before the original died? If the original decides to reject Jehovah and so incur death at Armageddon, would it mean the clone will too, even though they may have not rejected Jehovah themselves? If the clone decides to reject Jehovah, then does that doom the original too?

Is a clone liable for the evil deeds of the original and vice-versa? Is the original to be lauded for the good works of the clone or are they completely separate entities?

In paradise will people really meet their lost loved ones as the Watchtower teaches, or will they just meet people who look and sound like them? Will it really be them meeting their lost loved ones, or just someone who looks and sounds like them?

A clone, however similar to the original, is not the original so it isn’t a resurrection, a ‘standing up’, but, a creation of a completely new person. Witnesses are obviously convinced that it will be them meeting their real loved ones, but, in reality, it won’t be so.

The Bible tells us that we will rise in bodily form, but a form greatly superior to the original, as superior as Jesus’ resurrected body was to His earthly body. It will be raised imperishable, immortal, spiritual (though not a spirit) (1 Corinthians 15 v 42-44). It is the body that is ‘sown’ that is raised but then clothed with the imperishable (1 Corinthians 15 v 53). Our essence, who we really are, our spirit, lives on after death and it is this that is reunited with our upgraded body at the resurrection so it will really be us who lives on.

We have no fear of meeting our ‘other selves’, we are unique and we can look forward to an eternity with our Father and our saviour. In the film the good guys prevail and the Adam clone goes on to live a happy life in Argentina while the original goes back to his family. The ending for a Jehovah’s Witness won’t be so happy!

Obama's mother posthumously baptized into LDS Church - Salt Lake Tribune

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