Jack K
Puritan Board Doctor
In class yesterday, a nine-year-old made the comment that our resurrected bodies will no longer be able to feel any pain. Her example was that if we are walking along and stub our toe, it won't hurt.
I hesitated to affirm that, and we had a brief conversation about our resurrected bodies, the new creation, and what we do and do not know about these things. I told her she might be right, but we don't know enough to be sure.
Certainly, our resurrected bodies will not die, but does being "incorruptible" mean not able to feel any sense of pain? And certainly, our future life with God will mean no more "mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore" (Revelation 21:4), but the context there seems to be the end of evil and death and serious suffering, and the comfort of being with God, rather than stubbed toes. So I hesitated, mostly because it feels to me like some kind of pain response is a natural and good part of being fully human and having a truly human body, and to assert that we won't feel anything when we stub a toe sounds dangerously close to imagining an ethereal, less-than-bodily existence.
But was I right? How should I have responded?
I hesitated to affirm that, and we had a brief conversation about our resurrected bodies, the new creation, and what we do and do not know about these things. I told her she might be right, but we don't know enough to be sure.
Certainly, our resurrected bodies will not die, but does being "incorruptible" mean not able to feel any sense of pain? And certainly, our future life with God will mean no more "mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore" (Revelation 21:4), but the context there seems to be the end of evil and death and serious suffering, and the comfort of being with God, rather than stubbed toes. So I hesitated, mostly because it feels to me like some kind of pain response is a natural and good part of being fully human and having a truly human body, and to assert that we won't feel anything when we stub a toe sounds dangerously close to imagining an ethereal, less-than-bodily existence.
But was I right? How should I have responded?