Your Body’s Real Age is a very interesting short video from NPR’S Skunk Bear. It explains that most of the cells in our body are replaced in our own life times, some very often, others infrequently. (btw, the reason that anti-cancer drugs make our hair fall out is that they target rapidly-dividing cells found in tumors, but hair cells also divide rapidly.)
Anyway, I posted this to show that we don’t have to worry too much about getting our original cells back in the resurrection. Right here, right now, we are replacing our cells and yet still maintain a sense of self.
And I’ve had 2 dental implants, which involves getting bone from a donor. Other people get kidney and heart transplants, etc. Things could get messy during the resurrection!
As i and my close friends age, it is a real question as to what makes us who we are, and what is the nature of that which is eternal. Age, strokes, dementia and so forth make you think.
I’m thinking in the next age we will be our best possible selves with continuity to our old selves before dementia robbed us of our minds… btw, I recently had a small stroke for no reason!
[quote=“beaglelady, post:11, topic:38863”]
I’m thinking in the next age we will be our best possible selves with continuity to our old selves before dementia robbed us of our minds… btw, I recently had a small stroke for no reason!
That is why I try to merge reincarnation with Christian Faith.
A couple of years ago I also had a TIA (transitory ischemic attack). My left arm quickly recovered but my hand remains a little numb. I pray that yours leaves you with even less impairment. When you say “no reason”, perhaps it is God gently reminding us what a Gift has been given us to be active and productive.
Al Leo
Of course you are right, @beaglelady, and I was taught this in Catholic parochial school. However, as I matured and was exposed to the science of astrophysics and evolution I became convinced that deep time was real, and this forced me to consider that God was much less “parochial” than what the writers of Scripture (even tho inspired) could have imagined. We humans are witness to the birthing of the Noosphere (sphere of Ideas) here on planet Earth, and it is highly likely that this event–the appearance of Mind & Consciousness–has occurred elsewhere. In God’s eyes these recipients may appear to be close relatives of mankind even if they inhabit bodies that are quite different from ours.
I am not so much interested in the biological genes I pass on to my progeny as I am to the “Noogenes” I bequeath to them–and to others that my ideas may influence. These transmissible ideas are the most important building blocks of the future of humankind–supplanting a great deal of the chance factor in altered DNA. [CRISPER-Cas9]
I have not been successful in crystalizing the concept of what I hope Reincarnation will be. If God has been pleased with my efforts (as weak as they are) to become an Image Bearer, and to help others do the same, then I hope that those efforts will, somehow, outlive me.
Al Leo
All humans are made in the Image of God. It is a gift, and we neither sought it nor earned it. It can’t be taken away. It is the basis for the sacredness of human life. It is the root of our human dignity.
Interesting! If you mean that every human being has this image bearing potential in equal measure when they are born into this life, I agree. However, I cannot conceive of every human equally reflecting the spiritual nature of God throughout his/her lifetime. The potential may be the root of our human dignity, but how each of us develops that potential is crucial. Otherwise why should we respect St. Francis of Assisi more than the Borgia Popes; Mother Theresa more than Joe Stalin?
Al Leo