Eesh... you cornered me well... There isn't a single word in your statement with which i will dissagre, but please understand the view point from which I say these words...



WHEN I DIE THAT CARCASE IS NOT ME ANYMORE


When God created men, He formed the body out of dirt, breathed spirit into it and men became a living soul (body + spirit = soul). When men sinned his spirit has become corrupt through sin, also his body has become corrupt through sin. In the Bible, the plan of salvation includes sanctification of the spirit and it also includes sanctification of our bodies. However, these two distinct promices do not happen in-synct; are not brought about at the same time. The curse (of sin) which was placed upon my spirit is no more (spiritual death). My body still awaits its promise, "...to be raised not in the corruptible but incorruptible..." When I get my incorruptible body, I stongly doubt it that it would be the same exact body I had in this life (because my body here is corruptible).

Also, alow me the liberty to reduce this to absurdity... Two thousand years ago Apostle Andrew's body was burried somewhere in (what is now) Ukraine. The carbon atoms decomposed in the ground and became part of a fresh new growth of grass. A cow came by and ate that grass -- now that carbon atom is part of that cow. I came by, killed that cow, and ate it. That carbon atom is now part of me thus making up my body. In the final day of resurection, if thoes bodies are to be made from the same exact elements which made up our previous bodies, to whose body will that carbon atom belong? my body or Apostle's Andrew's body?

Absurd? Yes. Therefore I dont think we have the right to talk about dead carcasses as bodies still belonging to thoes spirits.

Another aspect to add: when I'm saying "I", I am reffering to my being and we dont have the capability to distinguish "being" using a body. I have 2 arms and 2 legs and I am a being. If I loose an arm and a leg, do I become a different being? God is one being, two persons of God do not have a body, one does (Jesus). Yet, eventhough Jesus (God the Son) has a body that does'nt make him a different "being" from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Hope that explains my perspective on bodies now and bodies to be.