Why did God create mortal bodies?

Trailblazer said:

With all due respect, the Bible does not say that mortal bodies can live forever on earth.

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In Scripture Adam and Eve were offered everlasting life on Earth as long as they did Not break God's Law.
Earth was Not a stepping stone to another place. Just as Heaven was Not a stepping stone for angels to another place.
Disobeying God introduced death on Earth.
Mortal Adam ' returned ' to where he started according to Genesis 3:19

Trailblazer said:

.....How does that prove that God gives a twit about the animals who suffer and die?

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I find the conditions described at Isaiah 11:6-9 shows God cares because what is recorded there is God's purpose.
In Eden there was No animal suffering.
Under Christ (1,000 year reign) Earth will be as described in Isaiah 35th chapter; Isaiah 65:25 peace between animals: wolf and lamb; lion and bull.

Sages have said: "nature has all the answers."

What is the message of chambered nautilus shell and butterfly metamorphosis?

Trailblazer said:

I am really angry at God because He created humans and animals with mortal bodies such that they will die. Why did God have to create humans and animals this way? If I think about it for very long I hate God for what He did, but what other choices did He have?

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There is another option for why there is suffering in the world, for why this world is not a utopia.

tayla said:

There is another option for why there is suffering in the world, for why this world is not a utopia.

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What is it?

Trailblazer said:

What is it?

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That there is no good God at all who is responsible for the condition of reality.

tayla said:

That there is no good God at all who is responsible for the condition of reality.

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So do you believe that God is bad or that there is no God at all or that God is not responsible for reality?
I agree, the reality of death really sucks, and no, I am not going to get used to it.

Trailblazer said:

So do you believe that God is bad or that there is no God at all or that God is not responsible for reality?
I agree, the reality of death really sucks, and no, I am not going to get used to it.

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As an atheist, I find there to be no evidence of a supernatural realm having God or gods. And so,... there is no need to harmonize the good and bad of this world with the attributes of God, or to consider whether God is truly good in allowing for suffering by conscious creatures.

tayla said:

As an atheist, I find there to be no evidence of a supernatural realm having God or gods. And so,... there is no need to harmonize the good and bad of this world with the attributes of God, or to consider whether God is truly good in allowing for suffering by conscious creatures.

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Lucky you. I really do not like being a believer but I cannot be an atheist because I believe God exists.
I struggle to harmonize the good and bad of this world with the attributes of God, trying to believe that God is good in allowing for suffering by conscious creatures. It is a work in progress and I have made some progress lately.

Trailblazer said:

Lucky you. I really do not like being a believer but I cannot be an atheist because I believe God exists.
I struggle to harmonize the good and bad of this world with the attributes of God, trying to believe that God is good in allowing for suffering by conscious creatures. It is a work in progress and I have made some progress lately.

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I struggled with this same question. In my opinion, it is the key question.

tayla said:

I struggled with this same question. In my opinion, it is the key question.

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So was the answer to the question the reason you are an atheist?

I have settled upon that there are things I just do not understand but I am cannot believe in an All-Loving God, so I just live with that. I cannot believe that mainly because of the suffering and death of animals, not because of the suffering and death of humans, because I have an explanation for human suffering and I am sure humans have a recompense in the afterlife, but I am not sure what happens to animals when they die, or if God cares.

George-ananda said:

You might not think so, but living forever in a finite body would actually be torturous.

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What if you stayed young (or youthful-looking), & never got sick?

I mean, our bodies rejuvenate themselves now….about every seven years on average, our cells are replaced by newer ones.
What if that continued happening, never stopped, and our skin never wrinkled , and nothing ever broke down?

Adam & Eve could have had that; that was the prospect God put before them. (It just required their continued obedience.)

They were made to live forever. Why do I say that? Because the account tells us they lived so long. And their immediate offspring, for several more generations, lived long, too. But gradually, as generations became more and more distant from Adam & Eve (their original parents), lifespans became shorter & shorter.

But that wasn’t God’s original purpose.

Take care, my cousin.

Hockeycowboy said:

What if you stayed young (or youthful-looking), & never got sick?

I mean, our bodies rejuvenate themselves now….about every seven years on average, our cells are replaced by newer ones.
What if that continued happening, never stopped, and our skin never wrinkled , and nothing ever broke down?

Adam & Eve could have had that; that was the prospect God put before them. (It just required their continued obedience.)

They were made to live forever. Why do I say that? Because the account tells us they lived so long. And their immediate offspring, for several more generations, lived long, too. But gradually, as generations became more and more distant from Adam & Eve (their original parents), lifespans became shorter & shorter.

But that wasn’t God’s original purpose.

Take care, my cousin.

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I was meaning torturous in a mental and not in a physical way. I can only do the same things an infinite number of times. And never know what’s beyond my finite level of understanding.

In my Eastern (Hindu) view we should experience continual spiritual growth until we realize the infinite Oneness. Living in this finite physical body forever is not seen as desirable.

George-ananda said:

In my Eastern (Hindu) view we should experience continual spiritual growth until we realize the infinite Oneness. Living in this finite physical body forever is not seen as desirable.

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And how is it conducive to spiritual growth to live forever in a physical body on Earth? It isn't.
It is just what some Christians want but why anyone would want that is beyond my comprehension.

Trailblazer said:

And how is it conducive to spiritual growth to live forever in a physical body on Earth? It isn't.
It is just what some Christians want but why anyone would want that is beyond my comprehension.

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Full-body apparitions are the closest I've ever seen to earthbound human spirits that resemble living humans. These spirits can accumulate enough energy to manifest into more than a spectral image. They can appear and feel like a real living person, but then they will totally shock the hell out of the living by walking through a solid wall or door, vanishing right before their eyes, or vanishing without a trace in a matter of seconds. In my experience encountering these spirits, they are typically dressed in period clothing and have often been mistaken for historical reenactment actors or local residents who are into the history of the location. I've seen these extraordinary spirits mostly in homes from the Civil War era, in Civil War museums, and on Civil War battlefields.

In the paranormal field, full-body apparitions are considered to be the Holy Grail of spirits that a living person can see and/or interact with. It's quite an experience. I've seen them many times over the years (as I mentioned in a previous post here). To be honest, encountering them never ceases to amaze me. My husband understands how I feel. I've mentioned his personal encounters with the paranormal in another thread (see my other post here). He once interacted with a full-body apparition that he thought was an actual living man like him and didn't know he was conversing with a spirit until after the fact.

Cuz his creation is bound by the laws of physics. However, when it comes to him it’s a different story

Sgt. Pepper said:

Full-body apparitions are the closest I've ever seen to earthbound human spirits that resemble living humans. These spirits can accumulate enough energy to manifest into more than a spectral image. They can appear and feel like a real living person, but then they will totally shock the hell out of the living by walking through a solid wall or door, vanishing right before their eyes, or vanishing without a trace in a matter of seconds.

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Do you think it is possible that that is what the disciples and others saw after Jesus died and was buried in the tomb?
That would sure explain a lot of things.

Trailblazer said:

Do you think it is possible that that is what the disciples and others saw after Jesus died and was buried in the tomb?
That would sure explain a lot of things.

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I suppose it's possible, but I don't believe the accounts of Jesus in the Bible, especially regarding his alleged resurrection from the dead.

Sgt. Pepper said:

I suppose it's possible, but I don't believe the accounts of Jesus in the Bible, especially regarding his alleged resurrection from the dead.

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I don't believe those either. I was just trying to make sense of the stories.

Trailblazer said:

I don't believe those either. I was just trying to make sense of the stories.

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I believe the stories about Jesus are either embellished or were copied and adapted from Greek mythology and other pagan religions that predate both the Bible and Christianity. For example, if you replace the name Jesus with Attis (the Phrygian-Greek god of vegetation), you'll have a strikingly familiar savior story similar to that of Jesus, except the Greek myths about Attis are dated 1250 BCE, which predates the Bible and Christianity (see here). In fact, you could replace the name Jesus with any of the other gods described in the following articles linked below, and you'll have more familiar stories that not only parallel the stories of his alleged crucifixion, death, and resurrection but also parallel other stories that have been written in the Bible about him.

And, like the myths about Attis, these other stories about Christ-like figures from Greek mythology and other pagan religions predate both the Bible and Christianity. I recommend learning more about Jesus in comparative mythology. You can start here: Jesus in comparative mythology. In my opinion, these other accounts of Christlike figures demonstrate that paganism had a significant influence on the stories about Jesus and that Christianity's beliefs are not unique. In other words, the savior story of Jesus isn't the first of its kind and, in my opinion, isn't any more believable than all the other savior stories that predate it. I know that Christians like to claim that the Bible was divinely inspired by God and that Christianity is the only true religion, but I don't believe that is true based on the information provided in these articles and in other similar ones. Christianity, in my opinion, is a cheap imitation of other religions.

10 Christ-Like Figures that predate Jesus

The Truth About Mythological Figures Similar To Jesus

Other Gods That Rose From the Dead in Spring Before Jesus Christ

Based on the information I've read, if a religious leader named Yehoshua (also called Yeshua or Jesus) existed in biblical times, he was most likely just an ordinary man and popular religious teacher whose devoted followers embellished the stories about him, and more embellishment and folklore were later added to these stories to make him appear to be more than he actually was. I believe that it's probable that he was simply a well-liked religious teacher whose loyal followers spread false stories about him to make him appear godlike. I also think that it's likely that a few stories about him were copied and adapted from Greek mythology and other ancient pagan religions, which predate Christianity and the Bible. In my opinion, it's plagiarized pagan myths.