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[physical} body, rhar ir may be fash–
ioned like untO his glorious [spirir–
composed} body."
This spirit in each individual, of
necessiry, does more rhan mere!y
imparting rhe power of incellecr ro
rhe physical brain. Ir becomes a spiri–
rua1 "mold" of rhe enrire person -
even ro preserving memory, knowl–
edge and characrer. Thus rhe resur–
recred person, rhen
composed
of spirir
insread of maner as in his human
liferime, will be immortal. He will
have life inherenr - wichin himself.
He will nor need ro brearhe air
ro
susrain his exisrence, nor ear food nor
drink warer - rhough Biblical revela–
tion shows rhar we
sha/1
be able
ro
enjoy eating and drinking.
What About the Maimed
or
Crippled?
Now comes rhe question - will
we be, in every derail,
exactly
as we
are in this human life? Wi ll the
crippled or maimed be so in rhe resur–
recrion )
Biblical revelarion presenrs the res–
urrecred ones as having undergonc a
NEW BlRTH -
even a
Nt.:\XI CRE–
ATION!
In rhis new
BIRTH,
rhe
repencanr and believing human, as an
analogy, compares ro rhe ovum, and
rhe Holy Spirir of God ro rhe life–
imparring divine ' ' sperm." The
nucleus in rhe human wirh which rhe
Spirir of God unires is rhe spirit of
man. We shall, rhen, be
BORN OF
Goo. When we were born of human
flesh, we inherired much from our
human farhers - in form, shape,
appearance, as welt as mental and
orher characrerisrics. Then ir follows
auromarically rhar in rhe resurrecrion
we shall inherir much from our heav–
enly Farher. We shal l inherir much of
His character - his holiness - His
perfecrion. Bur shall we nor inherir
even sorne of His specific fearmes?
In looks, ir is apparen r we shall be
recognized - as Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and rhe prophers shall be. Bur
it would cerrainly seem, since Jesus is
38
our God-Healer, and He healed even
rhe crippled, tha r imperfections
caused by accidenrs and/ or poor
nurririon in chis life would be
HEAI.t.:D -
or missing límbs would be
resrored, sicknesses or diseases would
be healed and disappear.
Those resu rrecred ro physical and
morral life in rhe judgment of rhe
Great White Throne will be com–
posed of Aesh and blood - jusr as
before, bur ir will not be rhe
SAME
body rhar died - rhe
SAMt.:
Aesh and
blood. But new flesh and blood will
form
with
this spi ri r "mold."
In eirher resurrecrion, each person
will
KNO\XI
whar he knew in rhis life.
That means rhar his knowledge - his
memory - is recorded and preserved
in rhis spirir.
When one dies,
ir
is recorded in
Ecclesiastes, "Then shall rhe dust
rerurn ro rhe earrh as it was: and rhe
spirit shall rerurn unro God who gave
ir" (Eccl.
12 :7).
l do
not
say rhar memory is
not
sramped in "che gray matrer" of rhe
human brain. Indeed, since animal
brains do preserve a cerrain amounr of
memory, rhe indicadon is thar
memory may be sramped borh in rhe
physicaJ brain and in che spirir of
man. Bur chis much is evidenr: what–
ever is
s~amped
in rhe physical brain
is corruptible and subjecr ro decay.
Only rhe spirir of man can
preset'Ve
ir.
Unconscious
in
Death?
Human consciousness resides in
rhe physicaJ brain. The spirir of man
undoubredly impares a far more
Rt.:At
consciousness rhan cxperienced in
animal brain , yer chis consciousness
resides in rhe brain, nor
in
rhe spirit.
Proof: Medica] anesrhesia operares
on rhc physical brain, nor on rhe
spirir. Bur when one is complerely
"under, ' ' his spirir is nor engaged in
conscious rhinking. Yer norhing has
happened ro che spirir - ir is inde–
structible and as active as ever.
This explains whar rhe Bible
reveals - rhar " . . . che living know
rhar rhey shall die: bur che dead know
nor any rhing" (Ecclesiasres
9 :5) .
As–
sured ly che physical brain funcrions
no longer, afrer one dies. And, alrbough
rhe person's rotal fund of knowledge
is
preserved
-
srored up, as ir were -
in rhe spirit, rhat spirir is nor con–
sciously rhinking, aparr from rhe
brain - or
UNT!L
unired wirh rhe
brain of rhe resurrecred person.
Further, rhis knowledge explains
somerhing else.
In rhe "resurrection chaprer" - rhe
15th chaprer of
1
Corinrhians, ir is
wr irren: "Bur now is Chrisr risen
from rhe dead, and become rhe 11rsr–
fruirs
of
rhem thar slepr" (verse
20).
Ir speaks of che dead as "those rhat
slepr." In I Thessalonians
4:1 4
the
dead are spoken of as rhose ' 'who
sleep in Jesus."
Because che Bible speaks of dearh
as a sleep, sorne have derisively ridi–
culed rhose who believe che scriprures
above abour rhe unconscious scare of
che
dead as being "soul-sleepers."
Bur che soul doesn' r sleep -
it
dies!
And rhe spirit of man is uncon–
scious, yer this spirir
NEVER Dl f.S.
It is
che one ingredienr chat was
r
N
rhe
man which lives, yer chis spirit is
unconscious - therefore rhe Bible
speaks of rhe dead as sleeping.
There is anorher analogy that
mighr help il lustrate how
che
spirir of
man
pt-eserve.r
man's form , shape,
kno,wledge, characrer, personaliry -
actually rhe whole person, imact unti l
the resurrecrjon.
Thar is rhe rape now used in
recording of borh sound and picrure,
in radio, relevision, or home-record–
ing secs. In souncl recording, a per–
son's voice in speech or singing, or
che voices of chorus and/ or orchesrra,
band, or instrumenr - wharever
sound - is elecrrically recorded. Like
che spirir, your naked eye can't see
anyrhing recorded on tbe tape, yer ir's
rhere. This sound is "resurrected," or
reproduced, when played on a rape
rnachine. Unril rhen , however, ir
makes no sound - ir is " uncon-
PLAIN TRUTH August 1972