Jehovah Witnesses: Can you explain this?

I would think it far more difficult for them to account for all the references to Hades, Sheol, and Tartarus, words which had specific meanings to the Greeks and Romans. One has to ignore quite a lot in order to believe that there is no soul.

The story of Lazarus in Luke 16 also becomes nonsensical.

"19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine Linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

And his disciples asked him: ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?’” The reply Jesus gave was most enlightening: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case.

Jesus’ words showed that neither the man nor his parents were responsible for his congenital blindness. So Jesus gave no support to the idea that the man was being punished for sins committed in a previous life.

True, Jesus knew that all humans inherit sin. But they inherit the sin of Adam, not sins they committed before they were born.

Because of Adam’s sin, all humans are born physically imperfect, subject to sickness and death.

In fact, that was a situation that Jesus had been sent to remedy. John the Baptizer said that Jesus was “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.

Jesus did not say that God had deliberately caused the man to be born blind so that Jesus could come along and heal him some day.

What a cruel, cynical act that would have been! Would that have brought praise to God?

No. Rather, the miraculous cure of the blind man served to ‘make manifest the works of God.’

Like the many other cures Jesus performed, it reflected God’s sincere love for suffering mankind and confirmed the trustworthiness of His promise to bring an end to all human sickness and suffering in His due time.

Is it possible that these disciples had been influenced by the belief of the Jewish Pharisees, who said that “the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies”? (Wars of the Jews, Josephus, Book II, chap. VIII, par. 14) It is not likely, since their question does not imply that they thought he was a ‘good man.’ It is more likely that as Jesus’ disciples they believed the Scriptures and knew that the soul dies. Yet, since even a baby in the womb has life and was conceived in sin, they may have wondered whether such an unborn child could have sinned, resulting in his blindness. In any event, Jesus’ answer did not support either reincarnation or the idea that a child yet in its mother’s womb sins before birth. Jesus himself answered: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents.” (John 9:3) Jesus knew that, because we are offspring of Adam, there is an inheritance of human defects and imperfections. Using the situation to magnify God, Jesus healed the blind man.

It is more likely that as Jesus’ disciples they believed the Scriptures and knew that the soul dies (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Yet, since even a baby in the womb has life and was conceived in sin, they may have wondered whether such an unborn child could have sinned, resulting in his blindness. However Jesus’ answer did not support either reincarnation/ life before birth or the idea that a child yet in its mother’s womb sins before birth. Jesus himself answered: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents.” (John 9:3) Jesus knew that, because we are descendants of Adam, there is an inheritance of human defects and imperfections. Using the situation to magnify God, Jesus healed the blind man.

This belief is most certainly NOT one based in scripture.

**The bible says Adam was created, from "the dust of the ground". It does not suggest in any way that he was previously in existence but that he was non-existent (a state that he would return to, should he sin and die).

** If prior to Jesus, other faithful men and women came from heaven, then the statement in John 3:13 that no one has gone to heaven but HE THAT DESCENDED from heaven would make little sense. The point is clearly that Jesus is unique in that he, as he stated himself, existed from the earliest times (compare John 8: 58).

** In order to have a pre-existing life, that the life of that person would have to transfered from spirit form to human form. Not only would that mean that the miracle of Jesus birth was not unique to him but had been happening since the birth of the first humans but it would also mean that God himself had been transmitting the imperfection from Adam onwards, by creating imperfect humans directly. In short, teaching that God has been transfering lives from heaven to earth with each new birth, one is also saying that either he has been the author and conductor or imperfection. Since God can only be the origin of what is perfect this teaching must be false (compare Deut 32: 4). Furthermore, is one were to argue that God transfered the lives of perfect spirits into each human, all humans would be born perfect rendering null and void the need for a ransom (see Romans 5:12)

CAN A MAN SIN SO HE'S BORN BLIND?

The question in John 9 verse 2 only shows that the disciples were influenced by FALSE TEACHINGS that existed at the time. Certain rabbis taught that a person can sin in his mother’s womb and possibly there were those that had adopted hellenistic theology of preexisting "souls". In any case, it would be a mistake to use the questions of Jesus disciples to indicate true teachings (it was not uncommon for them to express thoughts and ideas that were totally wrong). That Jesus stayed focused on the important issue - Jesus own purpose to eliminate the effects of sin rather than to attribute blame for it - is also not an indication that he supported the false assumptions or errouneous ideas that inspired the question.

CONCLUSION: There is nothing in the bible that even remotely suggest humans had a pre-existing (spiritual) life that eventually is transfered to human life at birth. The only person for whom this is specifically stated to have been the case is Jesus, and this for a specific purpose long prophecied in scripture. Such a belief would not only attribute to Jehovah God the transmission of creation (pro-creation) of imperfection throughout time, but would contradict the Genesis account and render null and void the sacrifice that Jesus came to pay which was to ransom humans and free them from inherited adamic sin.

Remember that his students were exactly that. Students. So they still had much to learn regarding god, jesus, and death. In the following verse the jesus replied "neither this man nor his parents". He basically showed in that one sentence that our physical imperfections arent results of our or our parents sins, one, and two, im pretty sure they didnt know he was blind from birth, the scripture doesnt say they knew(yes it says he was but it doesnt say the disciples knew) so they couldve well thought that during his life course he sinned and therefore became blind. Genesis 3: 19 says out of the ground we were taken, dust we are to dust we will return. The scripture says nothing about humans having a preexisting life, nor did Jesus, who was a special case.

I think many of the answers below, show the superiority of the truth. You let the scriptures, explain the scriptures. Anyone could take an obscure scripture and turn it into what they want it to say. But to back that thought up with scriptural evidence well that gives juice to the idea. Jesus never taught that humans had a pre-human existence. Romans 5:12 Helps us to see that Sin is in all men thus all men die.

The reply Jesus gave was most enlightening: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case. After he said these things, he spit on the ground and made a clay with the saliva, and put his clay upon the man’s eyes and said to him: ‘Go wash in the pool of Siloam.’ . . . And so he went off and washed, and came back seeing.”—John 9:1-3, 6, 7.

Jesus’ words showed that neither the man nor his parents were responsible for his congenital blindness. So Jesus gave no support to the idea that the man was being punished for sins committed in a previous life. Rather, the miraculous cure of the blind man served to ‘make manifest the works of God.’ Like the many other cures Jesus performed, it reflected God’s sincere love for suffering mankind and confirmed the trustworthiness of His promise to bring an end to all human sickness and suffering in His due time.—Isaiah 33:24

The universal soul is a common belief among us as hinted at in the Bible by John and others. The soul cannot sin. It is in eternal love. This man did not sin unless it was in a previous life in a sinful place so your description of previous existence appears inaccurate.

As you know if you have studied The Greek this text originates in verbs are hard to translate so the question you are asking is linked to words added by the translator not the original Greek target.

The second thought is that an omnipotent God would of course know if the man would sin or not prior to his birth and judge accordingly.

Fortunately none of this matters because as Jesus clearly taught the entire concept was founded on a false premise commonly held by Jews that sickness and injury were a direct cause of sin, not disease. Your question is not supported by the facts. Jesus clearly said that your held beliefs cannot be exhibited.

By the way im not a JW but was raised one.

Jesus never gave support to the idea the man lived a previous life. He knew all humans are born from imperfection from Adam and Eve. Romans 5:12

Read verse 3:" neither this man nor his parents". This contradicts reincarnation.

Consider what Paul wrote about Esau and

Jacob in Romans 9:11

This question was asked when the pharisees were trying to prove Jesus was an impostor. They asked to get him to say one particular answer, to say either one or the other since they knew that neither had sinned. Therefore Jesus didn't ask this question but others did, therefore it means nothing at all in my view. He later said that the works of God were to be manifest through this man and later in verse 6 i believe he healed him and made manifest the works of God.