{"id":2183278,"date":"2024-02-21T17:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T22:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-problem-of-physical-death-was-solved-centuries-ago\/"},"modified":"2024-02-21T17:52:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T22:52:12","slug":"the-problem-of-physical-death-was-solved-centuries-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-problem-of-physical-death-was-solved-centuries-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Physical death was resolved long ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-problem-of-physical-death-was-solved-centuries-ago%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2183278&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Eternal Voice\u2064 of Being: A Conversation with Dr. Jordan Peterson and\u200b Dr. John Lennox<\/h2>\n<p><i>The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan \u2064Peterson\u2019s conversation with Dr. John Lennox on Nietzsche\u2019s seventeenth-century prophetic observation, the eternal voice of being, the\u2064 concept of transcendence, the glory and weight of being, and Jesus\u2064 Christ\u2019s \u200btriumph over death. \u200dYou can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast\/a-conversation-about-god-dr-john-lennox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">listen to<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/episode\/a-conversation-about-god-dr-john-lennox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">watch<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prayer-is-not-a-wish-but-a-practice-of-gratitude-to-stave-off-resentment\/\" title=\"Prayer is gratitude in action, not a mere wish to avoid resentment.\">full podcast episode<\/a> on DailyWire+.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Start time: 36:16<\/i><\/p>\n<h3>Jordan Peterson:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the late 1800s, Nietzsche observed that God was dead. It was a very complex\u2064 observation because people like to think of that as\u200c a triumphalist\u2062 proclamation by this emancipatory philosopher. But that wasn\u2019t the case at all because\u2062 Nietzsche basically said that God was\u200d dead, we had killed him,\u200d and we \u2064will never find enough water to wash away the\u2064 blood. He knew it \u2063was a \u2064catastrophe, and he prophesied that three things would\u2064 happen. One was that there would\u200d be\u2064 a wicked turn toward a kind of\u2063 hopeless nihilism because every structure of morality had fallen apart. The second was the \u200crise of totalitarian substitutions\u2063 for God; Nietzsche\u200b actually \u2063specified communism as a likely candidate and also prophesied that hundreds of\u200d millions of people would \u2063die as a consequence, which was quite \u2064the damned prophecy for the mid-late 1800s. Then he also said the alternative is that\u200b we \u2062could create our \u200cown values. And that was the root that Nietzsche saw as the way out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, there are a\u2062 couple of technical\u2064 problems \u200cwith that, you might say. One is that we\u200c don\u2019t live very long, \u2063and it is not obvious that any of us are wise\u200c enough to create our own values. \u200cThe second problem \u200bis, as the psychoanalysts pointed out \u2064very quickly, it is not obvious at all that we\u2063 are masters in our own houses because even if you only look \u200bat the spiritual realm as equivalent to something like the unconscious,\u200c we are all haunted beings \u2014 and\u2064 we cannot necessarily trust our judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Therefore, the third problem is, who do \u2063you mean by the \u201cwe\u201d \u2062who will create our own\u200b values? \u200dWhich aspect \u200cof the psyche is now \u2064going\u200c to create value? Nietzsche said\u2064 himself \u2063that\u200b each drive tends to philosophize in\u2062 its own spirit, \u2064so in order\u2063 for us to create our own values in some sort\u2064 of \u200dtranscendent sense, \u2062you have to hypothesize the hierarchical integration of the \u200dpsyche\u2062 towards some super ordinate\u200b end that is speaking in some voice. And it is not\u200d obvious \u200bto\u200c me at all that that would be a subjective voice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So when Moses investigates the Burning Bush, he goes deeper \u200band deeper into the \u200cinvestigation, and the first thing that happens is, his attention is attracted. The second\u200c thing is \u2063that he starts to notice that he is treading on sacred ground because he is getting deep into the phenomenon.\u200d The third thing\u200c that happens \u2014 and \u2062this\u200c is relevant\u200c to your notion\u2063 of levels of revelation \u2014 is that the voice of being itself speaks to him.\u2064 The eternal,\u200b transcendent voice\u200b of <i>being<\/i>. Moses is smart and wise enough to know\u200c that\u2063 that is not him. It is\u2063 something above and beyond him, and he does not take credit for it. That\u2063 is partly why he never turns into \u2062a\u2064 pharaoh in the desert. He separates himself from the source of sovereignty as such,\u200d and I\u2064 do not see how that can be done in the \u200crationalist, \u200batheist, materialist realm of conceptualization. You fall into that subjectivist trap.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/show\/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WATCH: The\u200b Jordan B. Peterson Podcast on DailyWire+<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h3>John Lennox:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nor do I, and I think nature in that sense \u2062was a \u2062kind of prophet. \u2063And we\u2019re seeing the damage done. You know, ever since I was very young, I was fascinated by the \u200dpolar\u2064 opposite of my Christian heritage. That has led me to spend quite a lot of time in Russia and\u2064 I\u2019ve talked about these kinds of\u2062 things\u2064 to Russian friends, many of whom suffered in the\u200b Gulag. I remember one \u200bconversation \u200cwith a \u2062leading academician and he said\u2064 to me, \u201cYou know,\u2064 John, we thought\u200b we could get rid of God and retain a \u2064value for human beings. And we \u2062woke up too late to realize that it cannot be done.\u201d It was nature that \u200csaid if you destroy God, you lose all right to the\u2062 kind of values that we accept, in a sense, deep down in\u200c our Judeo-Christian culture.\u2064 What is so interesting about Moses \u200b\u2014 and I loved your discussion about that \u2014 is that\u2062 he came face to face not\u200b only with the concept\u200c of transcendence, but transcendence itself. He was\u2062 brought into \u2064the presence of the very glory of God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You were discussing in your \u200dround \u2062table how in Hebrew, \u200bglory is associated with weight, and that leads \u200cme to think, relevant\u2062 to what you\u2019ve just said, about C.S. Lewis. I\u2019m old enough to have listened to C.S. Lewis, by the way, when I was younger. C.S. Lewis in the 1940s saw \u200dexactly what was going to happen if a group \u2064of human beings\u200b took it into their heads to determine and\u2062 redefine all future\u200c generations through genetic experimentation and so on. And in two books, \u201cThe \u2062Abolition of Man\u201d and \u201cThat Hideous Strength,\u201d \u200che spelled that out, and \u200bhe made the point that if that happens, it is not going to liberate human beings. In fact,\u200b it\u2019s going to \u2064abolish them because what \u2064would be created by, say, playing around with the germline, is not human beings but artifacts. So he writes [in] the \u200dfinal triumph of humanity, scientists\u200c will be the abolition of man. It\u2019s that that\u200b I \u200cfear is really permeating our culture.\u2064 I mean, the Caesars in Rome and the Babylonian emperors who\u200d thought \u2062of themselves as gods looks pretty trivial \u200dcompared \u200dwith this insidious teaching \u2064that\u2019s around in particularly the Western world today, that we are actually all gods, that we ought to rise to this, and the only way to rise to it is to reject the \u200dtranscendent\u2063 completely; there \u200dis nothing above us.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Jordan Peterson:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let\u2019s\u2064 delve into that a little bit because the devil\u2019s always in the\u200d details. When I had \u200clittle kids, I thought about \u2063there being a terrible fragility\u2063 to children. Adults are \u2062fragile too, obviously. We all are because we are\u200c mortal and vulnerable and prone to suffering. But I\u200b thought about \u2064my three-year-old son; he has this terrible vulnerability. Wouldn\u2019t it be \u200cgood \u2062if \u2064that could be ameliorated? You can do that two ways: You can institute protective mechanisms that shield them from the depredations of the world or you can strive to make them into the sort of competent people \u2064who can take the world\u2064 on their own. This is akin to the gospel \u2064ideas,\u200d I would say, that you can learn to \u2063handle serpents,\u200c and that is your best defense \u200dagainst \u200bserpents. That way you get to have\u200b the benefits of <i>being<\/i> and develop into someone simultaneously capable \u2063of bearing the weight of <i>being<\/i>,\u2062 let\u2019s say. And I do not know if \u2063you can have <i>being<\/i> without\u2063 it having a weight. I do not even \u2064know. It is like it is possible that mortal\u2062 limitation is the price you pay for \u2063being. I do not know \u200bhow\u2062 things are constructed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>John Lennox:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It could well be. \u200bWhat you are saying reminds me of \u2063Dostoyevsky, who said that he couldn\u2019t imagine a great person who had not known some \u200bkind \u200cof \u200dsuffering. What we try to do with \u2062our children is somehow \u200dto limit that, but we realized that part of their maturing has to do with how \u200dthey learn to \u200bhandle life and \u2062we don\u2019t\u2063 want \u2062to leave \u200dthem defenseless, \u2064do \u2064we? So \u200cwhat\u2062 you\u2019re raising is a very\u2062 big set of questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, you mentioned that transhumanism attempts to solve some of this vulnerability and, of course, some\u200b things \u200bare very \u200cgood. I wear glasses, and \u2064they \u200denhance \u200bmy vision and they\u2019re very important. But this idea \u200cof Harari\u2019s where he sets two agenda items for \u2063the 21st century \u2062\u2014 firstly to abolish physical death, to solve that as a tactical medical problem, and \u200bthen to enhance human happiness by genetic engineering \u200band cyborg engineering and so forth \u2014 \u2063I take a very radical view of that. When people hold out this promise to me, I \u200dsimply say to them, \u201cYou\u2019re too late.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The problem of physical death was solved 20 centuries ago because I think there is strong evidence that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. \u200bAnd the problem, therefore, of developing some kind of immortality was simultaneously sold \u2063to \u200cthat because Christ promises to those that trust him and follow him that he\u200b will\u200b eventually raise \u200dthem from\u200d the dead, and that will be the best\u200c uploading you can ever imagine of brains, body,\u200b and everything else. \u200cSo I take a \u2063very radical view that the transhumanist ideal is bound\u2062 to fail and there\u2019s deeper reasons behind that as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>* \u2062* *<\/p>\n<p><i>To \u200bhear the rest of the conversation,\u200b continue by listening or watching this episode on \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/episode\/a-conversation-about-god-dr-john-lennox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DailyWire+<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson<\/a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of\u2064 Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served\u2063 as assistant \u2063and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He\u2063 is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-was-a-chicago-restaurant-closed-after-the-owner-killed-and-cooked-a-person\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Was A Chicago Restaurant Closed After The Owner Killed And Cooked A Person?\">international bestselling author<\/a> of \u2063Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond\u200b Order. You can\u200c now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">listen\u2064 to<\/a> \u200d or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/watch\/jordan-peterson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">watch<\/a> his popular\u2064 lectures on DailyWire+.<\/i><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What is the flawed belief in our modern world that\u2064 encourages us\u2062 to reject \u200dthe notion of\u200c a \u200bhigher power?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  They allow me to see clearly.\u200c But \u2064it\u2019s one \u2064thing to improve our\u2063 physical abilities and quite another to \u2062try to transcend our human nature altogether. The\u2063 danger, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, is that in\u2062 our quest for god-like power, we may end up \u2062losing our very \u2062humanity.<\/p>\n<p>In our modern world, there \u200bis a growing belief that we can create our own values and determine our own destiny.\u200d We are encouraged to reject any notion of a higher power and place ourselves at \u200bthe center\u200c of the universe. But \u200das \u2062Dr. Peterson and Dr. Lennox discuss, this view is deeply flawed.<\/p>\n<p>Nietzsche\u2019s observation that God is dead was not a celebration of human freedom, \u200bbut a recognition of the catastrophe that had occurred. Without a moral framework, Nietzsche prophesied that \u2063society would descend into nihilism, where nothing has inherent value or meaning. \u2062He also foresaw \u2063the rise of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-signs-bill-requiring-high-school-students-learn-evils-of-communism-and-totalitarian-ideologies\/\" title=\"DeSantis Signs Bill Requiring High School Students Learn \u2018Evils Of Communism And Totalitarian Ideologies\u2019\">totalitarian ideologies<\/a> as people sought \u200cto fill the void left by God. And finally, he suggested that\u2064 we could create our own values, but this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reagan-attorney-general-weighs-in-with-court-filing-in-fani-willis-2020-election-case\/\" title=\"Reagan AG files in Fani Willis' 2020 election case.\">raises fundamental\u200b questions<\/a> about the nature of the self and the source of morality.<\/p>\n<p>If we are to create \u2064our own values, which aspect of ourselves is doing the creating? Can we\u200c trust our own judgment? The psychoanalysts quickly realized that we are not \u200cmasters of our own houses, as even\u200c our unconscious mind can haunt \u2062and influence us. It becomes clear that if we are to transcend our limited perspective, we need \u2062to look beyond ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the concept of transcendence comes in. Moses, in his encounter with the Burning Bush, delves deeper into the mystery of existence. He\u200c realizes\u2064 that he is treading on sacred ground and is confronted by the\u200b voice of being itself.\u200d This \u2063transcendent \u2062voice is\u200d not subjective but \u2062speaks from\u2063 a higher \u200border, beyond the individual.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to the subjectivist \u200dtrap of creating our\u2064 own values, Moses separates himself\u2064 from \u2063the source of sovereignty. He does not take credit\u2062 for the eternal, transcendent voice of being. And this separation, this \u2062recognition of something greater \u200dthan oneself, is crucial \u2062in maintaining a moral framework.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Lennox brings in the \u2062example of C.S. Lewis, who warned of \u2064the dangers\u2062 of playing God. Lewis saw that if we tamper \u200dwith the very essence of what\u2063 it means to be human, \u200dwe risk losing our \u200dhumanity altogether. This is\u200c especially relevant in our current age, where the idea that humans\u200c can become gods is gaining\u200d traction.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, \u200dthe conversation between Dr. Peterson and Dr. Lennox highlights the\u200d importance of recognizing\u2063 a transcendent \u2063voice of being. Without such recognition,\u200d we risk\u2063 falling into nihilism, substituting \u2062totalitarian ideologies for God, and\u2063 losing our very humanity. It is through humility, introspection, and a willingness to acknowledge something greater than ourselves that we can navigate the complexities of existence and find meaning in this\u2062 world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The transcript excerpt features Dr. Jordan Peterson and Dr. John Lennox discussing Nietzsche&#8217;s prophetic observation, transcendence, the weight of being, and Jesus Christ&#8217;s victory over death. The full podcast episode is available on DailyWire+. (55 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1006,"featured_media":2183279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/02\/MixCollage-21-Feb-2024-03-38-PM-6672.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2183278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/02\/MixCollage-21-Feb-2024-03-38-PM-6672.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2183278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2183279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2183278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2183278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2183278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}