[Arthalion]

Our physical body *does* matter; it is part of who we are, and at the resurrection we will be reunited with our bodies (these very bodies), but our bodies will be glorified.

In many areas of the world, ground conditions are such that skeletons completely disintegrate within a century or two, often leaving nothing more than teeth to mark the location of the burial. Is it your position that these people will not ressurect? How about those who lived good, holy lives, but who's relatives decided on cremation after their death? And those unfortunate souls lost at sea, or in the worlds wild places, where all remains vanish into nothingness into just a few decades? Are they cursed to eternal damnation simply because there is no body to resurrect?

The focus of gnosticism is on the unknowable God, not on the irrelevance of our bodies. Nowhere in the Bible does it claim that these particular physical bodies will be resurrected, and if you want to be technical, any burial other than a cave, crypt, or above ground vault violates the traditions laid down in the Bible.

[adiaireton8]

I never claimed that our bodies must remain intact until the resurrection, in order for them to be resurrected. Nor has the Church. But those who say that our "physical body doesn't matter" are devaluing the material part of our human nature. Gnosticism is particularly distinguished by its low view of matter and anything material, including the body. The Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body stands in direct opposition to the gnostic/platonic rejection of the body.

-A8

[Salamander]

Not to mention those who were literally vaporized on 9/11.

Will a lack of "physical remains" keep them out of heaven?

I happen to believe that all-powerful God will find you on resurrection day, no matter "where" you "are".