Moses Was Conscious at the Transfiguration
The dead are unconscious and know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5). The
transfiguration was a vision, not a real appearance of conscious dead
people.
Start with the plain reading: Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus about his coming departure (). They were conscious, communicative, and aware of future events. The Watchtower calls this 'just a vision,' but uses the Greek word horama — and visions in Scripture depict real heavenly realities (cf. where Stephen sees Jesus standing at God's right hand — a real scene, not an illusion). Peter, James, and John saw a real glimpse of heavenly reality: Moses alive, conscious, and in dialogue. If the dead know nothing, Moses has nothing to say. Yet he spoke.
Moses died, yet he appeared conscious and conversing with Jesus centuries later. The Watchtower's 'vision' defence concedes the point — even in visions, God depicts the dead as conscious, never as non-existent.
Matthew 17:9 calls it a vision — it wasn't real.
Visions in Scripture reveal real heavenly realities. Stephen's vision in showed Jesus actually standing at God's right hand — no one claims Jesus wasn't really there. Peter's vision in Acts 10 conveyed a real divine command. If the transfiguration was a vision, it was a vision of something real: Moses alive and conscious. God does not create fictional scenes to deceive his apostles.
Elijah didn't die — he was taken up. So this doesn't prove anything about the dead.
Exactly — Elijah is the control case. He never died, so his conscious appearance is expected. But Moses DID die (). If death means non-existence, Moses cannot appear at all — vision or not. His presence alongside the never-died Elijah implies both are in the same conscious state.
Don't argue about the nature of visions in the abstract. Stay anchored to the specific text: Moses died, Moses appeared, Moses spoke.
Read and within its whole account side by side until you can retell from memory who appeared, that they were talking with Jesus, and (from ) what they were discussing. Then read so the fact of Moses' death is fixed, and as the comparison case of a vision showing a real heavenly scene. In the NWT, check how renders the word for "vision", and read how jw.org explains the transfiguration. Practise the doorstep question aloud until you can say it in one breath. Prepare for "Elijah didn't die — he was taken up": agree, then point out that this makes Elijah the control case, because Moses did die.