Ressurect The Dead Through Science?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Job42
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Job42

Guest
This is a bizarre question (mostly asked for fun so don’t overreact), but could science find a way someday to ressurect the dead or is that impossible according to theology? I know that if someone were condemned to Hell or was saved that it is irreversible. What are some thoughts?
 
Science can only do so much in terms of resuscitation – what we have today is about the best it will get. Science cannot resurrect a skeleton, or a mummified corpse for instance. Once the brain and the tissues throughout the body has deteriorated to a point, God only knows how to restructure them.

Read Ezekiel 37. 🙂
 
Forgive me, I don’t know much about this area of science (biology?), or much of any other branches of science for that matter :o So you are saying that the DNA will not be preserved in a decomposed corpse? Is that what you are saying? What about in cases where blood has been preserved, say through cryogenic freezing? Or are you saying that it is impossible to restructure the skeletal system and the rest of the body even with DNA present?

But I also wanted to hear speculation as to what would be the spiritual and temporal consequences and implications if such could be done and was indeed done.
 
Resurrection, strictly speaking, would never be logically possible through science anyway. The most that could be done, especially for fully decomposed corpses or skeletons with little to no traces of DNA remaining, would be to clone the deceased, not literally “bring them back.” Science would only be able to construct a similar person, not re-construct the same one who had been long dead.
 
Roman_Catechism said:
Resurrection, strictly speaking, would never be logically possible through science anyway. The most that could be done, especially for fully decomposed corpses or skeletons with little to no traces of DNA remaining, would be to clone the deceased, not literally “bring them back.” Science would only be able to construct a similar person, not re-construct the same one who had been long dead.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm, yes, and like an animal, the clone would not necessarily have a soul.
 
I think it would incredibly presumptuous to say that science will not progress further and even reach the point where it can do things we never thought possible. How many things are we already doing that nobody ever thought would be possible. Also, to assume that we won’t be able to do something is to view it in today’s understanding of that subject. I try not to assume that man won’t be capable of something someday, because look what we have already done. The world was once flat, the sun revolved around the Earth. We once had no antibiotics, no cures for cancer, people with AIDS died within a year of diagnosis, we can clone and manipulate DNA, we can create a human without the act of sex, we can implant organs, skin, even faces. Some deaf people now hear because of implants. Even simple things like vision correction were probably once thought to be impossible.

However, and more importantly, the fact that it can be done doesn’t make it right or morally acceptable…
 
Boulder257 said:
I think it would incredibly presumptuous to say that science will not progress further and even reach the point where it can do things we never thought possible. How many things are we already doing that nobody ever thought would be possible. Also, to assume that we won’t be able to do something is to view it in today’s understanding of that subject. I try not to assume that man won’t be capable of something someday, because look what we have already done. The world was once flat, the sun revolved around the Earth. **We once had no antibiotics, no cures for cancer, people with AIDS died within a year of diagnosis, we can clone and manipulate DNA, we can create a human without the act of sex, we can implant organs, skin, even faces. **Some deaf people now hear because of implants. Even simple things like vision correction were probably once thought to be impossible.

However, and more importantly, the fact that it can be done doesn’t make it right or morally acceptable…
Click to expand...
All of these things you’ve mentioned that “people once thought were not possible” were always logically possible. Therein lies the distinction. It would be useless to pretend that one day science would be able to “progress” to, say, change the past, make me God, etc.
 
I suspect that the main reason, or at least a major one, for the other 2 posters’ rejecting the possibility is the fact that the particular judgment is irreversible. For me it is certainly the biggest issue regarding this idea, but I see some ways around it. I would be interested in their ideas and the ideas of others. But I certainly don’t reject the doctrine of the particular judgment and I definitely don’t want to wander into heresy if this thread catches any steam.
 
I guess anything is possible, but I highly doubt it.

Scientists are not even able to get a brain-dead person back to their natural state, so to speak. And, once your dead your brain starts to break down, and your body decomposes. So, I don’t see how they could revive a skeleton with no brain.

Then again, what do I know? Science is my worst subject, haha.
 
Job42 said:
Forgive me, I don’t know much about this area of science (biology?), or much of any other branches of science for that matter :o So you are saying that the DNA will not be preserved in a decomposed corpse? Is that what you are saying? What about in cases where blood has been preserved, say through cryogenic freezing? Or are you saying that it is impossible to restructure the skeletal system and the rest of the body even with DNA present?

But I also wanted to hear speculation as to what would be the spiritual and temporal consequences and implications if such could be done and was indeed done.
Click to expand...
“You” are not just your DNA; you are also all of the information in your mind. This is not in any sense encoded in the DNA.

Sure, science could, theoretically, retrieve you DNA, and maybe get it through gene-splicing into a new embryo, and (assuming someone would go through all the trouble) rebirth that DNA as a new fetus. It would still not be you. The mind, like any other newborn, would be empty. Your mind would not resume, the way our LORD’s did after HIS Resurrection.

The only way to resurrect a literally dead human being (where the brain has degraded due to entropy) is to take a time-snapshot of his or her mind prior to death, and encode into a new soma (body). Only from Eternity can that be done. And only our LORD has command of Eternity.

So scientists will never get it.

ICXC NIKA.
 
Job42 said:
This is a bizarre question (mostly asked for fun so don’t overreact), but could science find a way someday to ressurect the dead or is that impossible according to theology? I know that if someone were condemned to Hell or was saved that it is irreversible. What are some thoughts?
Click to expand...
you mean like zombies?!? It would be like Night of the Living Dead. LOL.Just shoot em in the head.

I think if that were to happen, they would be soulless. But another question would be, what happens then at the resurrection. The scientist would have messed that up for those whose bodies were re-animated.
 
Roman_Catechism said:
All of these things you’ve mentioned that “people once thought were not possible” were always logically possible. Therein lies the distinction. It would be useless to pretend that one day science would be able to “progress” to, say, change the past, make me God, etc.
Click to expand...
Is it not logically possible that the body could be resurrected by science, without a soul, and then God would resurrect at the general judgment binding it again with the soul once held? Or, why not resurrect a body of a soul that has been condemned to Hell? Why not resurrect the body of a saint that shows no decomposition. Or the body of a human who was proclaimed dead only minutes before?

I would also argue that people once said human life could not be created without sex. It just isn’t logically possible, yet here we are. I also bet that people once said it was not logically possible for two people to have the same DNA, yet here we are. My point is only this, what we perceive as not possible today may be possible in the future. Surely it cannot be denied using the countless historical examples.
 
It may be possible to clone a human that had been dead for many years, but this wouldn’t be the same as resurrecting the dead, unless you are talking about resuscitation. Scientists may find a way to resuscitate a body after a period of time that seems impossible today, though it is very unlikely. After one dies, their body immediately begins to decompose. Their blood pools and clots, the neurons cease to fire, and every cell in the human body dies without oxygen. It seems highly improbable that science will ever be able to resurrect a life after cells die. We don’t even understand why some cells defeat the principle of cellular replication and pass G2 without the proper signals and begin to replicate causing cancer. Bringing something back to life would require an enormous amount of cellular information, and frankly seems impossible to me. Especially if you mean taking an ancient mummy or something and bringing it back to life. We may be able to make a clone that looks like them, but it won’t be them, as in their memory and character will be absent.

When I think of resurrection, I think of Jesus. Defeating death and coming back to life as the same person, with the same memory, temperament, and character (Obviously Jesus was a little bit of a special case ;)).
 
karebear92 said:
We may be able to make a clone that looks like them, but it won’t be them, as in their memory and character will be absent.
Click to expand...
Right, and the clone will have its own memory, character, personality, and soul.
 
karebear92 said:
It may be possible to clone a human that had been dead for many years, but this wouldn’t be the same as resurrecting the dead, unless you are talking about resuscitation. Scientists may find a way to resuscitate a body after a period of time that seems impossible today, though it is very unlikely. After one dies, their body immediately begins to decompose. Their blood pools and clots, the neurons cease to fire, and every cell in the human body dies without oxygen. It seems highly improbable that science will ever be able to resurrect a life after cells die. We don’t even understand why some cells defeat the principle of cellular replication and pass G2 without the proper signals and begin to replicate causing cancer. Bringing something back to life would require an enormous amount of cellular information, and frankly seems impossible to me. Especially if you mean taking an ancient mummy or something and bringing it back to life. We may be able to make a clone that looks like them, but it won’t be them, as in their memory and character will be absent.

When I think of resurrection, I think of Jesus. Defeating death and coming back to life as the same person, with the same memory, temperament, and character (Obviously Jesus was a little bit of a special case ;)).
Click to expand...
I completely agree that it seems highly doubtful that we will ever reach this capability (nor should we), but I only offer than it may be possible. I don’t think we are debating probability, only possibility. In which case, we cannot say it will not be possible, we can ONLY say it is highly improbable.
 
Boulder257 said:
Is it not logically possible that the body could be resurrected by science, without a soul, and then God would resurrect at the general judgment binding it again with the soul once held? Or, why not resurrect a body of a soul that has been condemned to Hell? Why not resurrect the body of a saint that shows no decomposition. Or the body of a human who was proclaimed dead only minutes before?

I would also argue that people once said human life could not be created without sex. It just isn’t logically possible, yet here we are. I also bet that people once said it was not logically possible for two people to have the same DNA, yet here we are. My point is only this, what we perceive as not possible today may be possible in the future. Surely it cannot be denied using the countless historical examples.
Click to expand...
karebear92 said:
It may be possible to clone a human that had been dead for many years, but this wouldn’t be the same as resurrecting the dead
Click to expand...
This is what I was saying.
 
I 100% agree that it is highly improbable and that should it become possible it should not be done. Again this was just intended as a fun “what if” thread to generate speculation and creative ideas.
 
Oh it’s definitely possible. I saw it in an old movie once. This scientist had a cadaver strapped to a platform. During this big storm the platform was lifted high in the sky. Some lightning hit the cadaver in the bolts that had been attached to it’s neck. And it just zapped him back to life. Sort of. I think it definitely is worth a try

“Its alive! It’s Alive! It’s alive!”
 
Job42 said:
I 100% agree that it is highly improbable and that should it become possible it should not be done. Again this was just intended as a fun “what if” thread to generate speculation and creative ideas.
Click to expand...
I think it has been a great thread and certainly created wonderful dialog. It has certainly made me listen and think! Thanks for the great thread!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top