yes yes thats something i didnt quite think through properly. If children in heaven are going to grow up, and i dont see why they wouldnt, then of course they need to age…or should we say mature?
However, as you say, (im paraphrashing obviously) we wont age in the sense of wrinkles, aches and pains, disease, poor eyesight…stuff like that.
One thing i just cannot seem to get my head around in the heavenly domain is how exactly the “down there” system works in terms of poopees and wee-wees?
Im assuming that if our toilet functions still work the same way, thats means we will still sweat when we engage in physical activity…so bad smells are still going to plague us in heaven? Who’s going to provide the deodorant?
That points to a question I remember debating over peanuts and beer after finals one winter term: what happens with babies and children in heaven? So they stay the same physical age as when they died? Our conclusion was that they grow up physically until they reach whatever physical maturity is ideal.
Which sort of implies that we won’t be in whatever physical condition we had at death, but will find ourselves in ideal physical maturity.
That’s one reason to favor heaven-as-restored-Eden over heaven-as-playing-harps-on-clouds. I presume we won’t have to eat but will do so for enjoyment, and when we eat natural processes will take over – but the bacteria that decompose our waste will be different including more efficient so waste will be dealt with naturally.
As I understand biology – I managed to somehow graduate without having taken Human Anatomy and Physiology – the bad smell of sweat is due to waste/poisons contained it it. Maybe we’ll sweat and not have those included because they’re handled some other way?
I know when I’m sick my sweat can really reek, and when I’m really healthy it has an earthy but not objectionable scent, so maybe just being ideally healthy will make sweat smell fine. Another possibility is that some smells that we find objectionable here won’t strike us that way there – maybe we’ll be like dogs; smell to them is information and rarely objectionable, and when they are objectionable it’s related to something being unhealthy.
So my guess is we won’t need deodorant.
Though this raises another question: will we need exercise to keep our bodies fit? I recall a novel where someone developed an enzyme that was taken before bedtime that caused all muscle cells to ‘exercise’ during the night so everyone was basically fit without strenuous exercise; strenuous exercise was only needed to get super-fit. My conjecture is that heaven will be like that.
this might seem like a crazy example, however, the ability of cats to sleep for 17 hours a day (or is it 21 hours?) and then spring into action without any exercise, any ongoing stretching, not even the cat equivalent to a cup of coffee…i reckon you on a winner there St Roymond!
Oh, i just thought of something…and i will blame you for me thinking of this in the heat of the moment (no pun intended…but then again???)
If we sweat, our bodies in heaven must be physical right?