I am so please to hear from Dr. Polkinghorne in this matter. I have been struggling with the question "If my physical body gets dispersed to nature by death, how will God resurrect me as me?" I think of a single cell that contains the information of a life form, and it is not too difficult to believe that God has a way to keep the 'information bearing pattern' of myself for the resurrection day. By the way, doesn't the Book of Revelation talk about the 'book of life' on which all about us will be written?
I think it's similar to DNA which is a language imparting instructions for how the individual body is comprised (including how new cells arise when old ones die). In the resurrection, I believe, God organizes the atoms and molecules to frame an individual body from his knowledge of us as individuals but he also frames us in perfection at the resurrection. It's not the same atoms or same molecules as from the moment of death since our physical bodies in mortality do not have the same atoms from day to day anyway, we simply have a continuation of organization of atoms and molecules to make up our hands, arms, torso. It will be the same in the resurrection with God organizing us with new atoms but as a continuation of who we are in a more perfect body.
Wonderful man scientist and priest.....american conservative evangelicals, listen and bloody well learn! Scientists will get there in the end! Thank you sir!
My son as a small boy explained to me that religion tells us why whereas science explains how! This explanation expands on that wonderfully! This is my interpretation of everything, string theory, particle and quantum physics and faith! Balance.....
It emerged from the orderly properties of the lipids in the oil and the molecules of the vinegar and their mutual interactions with each other and the water. In any case, the 2nd law references entropy, and a tendency towards it; and, as stated by chap, even these organic molecules will decay to less orderly states and cease projecting the order you reference.
Polkinghorne's a hundred times more intelligent than me, but still I just don't understand his beliefs. I have nothing against Christianity but to me it's another planet. It's fascinating and even beautiful, but I could never live there.
This makes no sense at all. Why did God need to re-use parts from existing Jesus body to make new Jesus body? If Jesus had been cremated instead, would God have had to draw together and reassemble every dispersed molecule from the incineration? If not, why did Jesus have to resurrected at/in the tomb, and the "old" body done away with in the process? One would think Jesus' new body would not be bound to being somehow reconstituted from his corpse, especially if it were made of some kind of matter that was no longer subject to the laws of physics?
lol. Pure mythological wish-fulfillment talking there. There's no evidence for god. Just that we think such a being should exist to give our lives meaning which they don't intrinsically have. That's all that's going on here. And then pretending that that kind of mythologizing is some kind of special knowledge. How sad!
What is the evidence for no God? You think we can even talk about these things without an intelligence behind it all? Science and God are two sides of the same coin. Such order and design perfection is evidence of a creator.
God loves us all infinitely, and there is nothing ever to fear
“For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face”( St.Paul. Corinthians 12)
RIP to a beautiful man
I am so please to hear from Dr. Polkinghorne in this matter. I have been struggling with the question "If my physical body gets dispersed to nature by death, how will God resurrect me as me?" I think of a single cell that contains the information of a life form, and it is not too difficult to believe that God has a way to keep the 'information bearing pattern' of myself for the resurrection day. By the way, doesn't the Book of Revelation talk about the 'book of life' on which all about us will be written?
I think it's similar to DNA which is a language imparting instructions for how the individual body is comprised (including how new cells arise when old ones die). In the resurrection, I believe, God organizes the atoms and molecules to frame an individual body from his knowledge of us as individuals but he also frames us in perfection at the resurrection. It's not the same atoms or same molecules as from the moment of death since our physical bodies in mortality do not have the same atoms from day to day anyway, we simply have a continuation of organization of atoms and molecules to make up our hands, arms, torso. It will be the same in the resurrection with God organizing us with new atoms but as a continuation of who we are in a more perfect body.
Wonderful man scientist and priest.....american conservative evangelicals, listen and bloody well learn! Scientists will get there in the end! Thank you sir!
My son as a small boy explained to me that religion tells us why whereas science explains how! This explanation expands on that wonderfully! This is my interpretation of everything, string theory, particle and quantum physics and faith! Balance.....
What religion tells us is hogwash all the way!
I like that idea of the two step process of creation that's the beauty of God
What's an appropriate way?
Could the spirit be the proper atomic combination?
2nd law of thermodynamics exception:
I mix vinegar, oil and water together, then let it sit still. Order comes from disorder.
Oscar Wao
And yet order comes from disorder.
itsinmynamechap
But order still came from disorder.
It emerged from the orderly properties of the lipids in the oil and the molecules of the vinegar and their mutual interactions with each other and the water. In any case, the 2nd law references entropy, and a tendency towards it; and, as stated by chap, even these organic molecules will decay to less orderly states and cease projecting the order you reference.
J.A.C'ked
And yet order still came from disorder.
Charles Brightman
Order came from order, the order of the organic compounds.
Union with the divine life, what's that?
I'm sure too...
God knows what my future holds...
I'm able to articulate...
I was...
Will I know I'm born again?
Am I gonna die?
If only...
Am I ?
Polkinghorne's a hundred times more intelligent than me, but still I just don't understand his beliefs. I have nothing against Christianity but to me it's another planet. It's fascinating and even beautiful, but I could never live there.
A, I gonna rise again?
I'm not Jesus Christ...
Well; God knows for sure..
Most of the questions discussed in this interview are on the same level with the question "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin"
It's because you are still on an infant level of noetic capacity.
This makes no sense at all. Why did God need to re-use parts from existing Jesus body to make new Jesus body? If Jesus had been cremated instead, would God have had to draw together and reassemble every dispersed molecule from the incineration? If not, why did Jesus have to resurrected at/in the tomb, and the "old" body done away with in the process? One would think Jesus' new body would not be bound to being somehow reconstituted from his corpse, especially if it were made of some kind of matter that was no longer subject to the laws of physics?
WTF did I just listen to?
That's an awful lot of speculation crammed into 12 minutes.
lol. Pure mythological wish-fulfillment talking there. There's no evidence for god. Just that we think such a being should exist to give our lives meaning which they don't intrinsically have. That's all that's going on here. And then pretending that that kind of mythologizing is some kind of special knowledge. How sad!
What is the evidence for no God? You think we can even talk about these things without an intelligence behind it all? Science and God are two sides of the same coin. Such order and design perfection is evidence of a creator.
Utter fictional nonsense
Yep, the Universe from nothing makes more sense (?)
Les Indeed. Only "intelligent" atheists make sense for them.
The onus is on John Polkinghorne to provide the proof. He is the one making the, as yet, unfounded assertions.
Michael P ok Sam Harris.
Look at his scientific work....amazing stuff....he suggests a bridge between the empirical and the unconsidered, which frankly is life, all life.