Mormon,Mormonism: Raised from the Dead Not a Resurrection

The Bible tells of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This was not a resurrection but just a return to mortality. In a way of thinking, this was a re-creation of the mortal Lazarus.

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
(John 11: 1-2, 11, 14, 43-44)

When Jesus called his apostles, he gave them the power of the Apostleship and told them to raise the dead.

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)

Scientists have succeeded in activating extinct viruses. Because a virus is a simple entity while a person is a complex organism, scientists still have a long way to go before they might be able to restore life to a dead person. But, activating an extinct virus is still an amazing feat!

I've been thinking about bringing a dead person back to life. I don't understand very well the differences between a living person and a dead person, but the scriptures do give a partial idea from the religious viewpoint of what would have to happen to have a dead person brought back to life. The Apostle Paul said we are the offspring of God

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. (Acts, 17:29)

and Latter-day Saints accept his statement literally. We believe we are spirit children of our Father in Heaven. This means that the difference between a person and an animal is that the person is a combination of a physical body and a spirit body, the spirit body being an offspring of God, while an animal has no spirit offspring of God. These two requirements would have to be met to have a person raised from the dead. This means that God would have to permit His spirit offspring to re-enter the physical body in such a way that the person became alive.

Will scientists ever be able to bring people back from the dead. This is just a guess, but I would say "probably", if God allows His spirit offspring to reenter the body. However, this would not be a resurrection.