– Imagine a technology developed that gives two people the ability to share feelings, emotions, physical sensations, etc., with each other as if they were truly experiencing the other person in the exact state that they are in at that moment in time. I’m thinking of a situation where John is trying to explain how he feels about something important, but he just can’t put it into words for Jane to understand. To solve the problem, they both connect their minds with the technology and for a brief moment, Jane knows exactly the how’s and why’s of John’s emotions, even his physical sensations or pain or pleasure. She is now able to understand him on a level that is too complex for words, resulting in greater intimacy and love between them. If we apply this to Church teaching on marriage, would a husband and wife be obligated to participate in this activity as a means of total giving of oneself to the other? If not, could you think of some variation of this technology or scenario that the Church would promote or even require? For the purpose of this thought experiment, assume that you wouldn’t be able to abuse this technology or generally use it in a negative way.

– Is there competition in heaven? It seems to be part of human nature.

– Assuming that there is life on other planets and that they have been given the same immortal souls as we have, and assuming that they are susceptible to death as we are, does that mean that Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory are currently comprised of human souls and the souls of what we would consider aliens, too?

– Has a convert ever been Pope?

– Are the proposed alien sightings aliens or angels and/or demons?

– My understanding is that the soul is the life principle. When stem cells are removed from a body and cultured, do they receive a new sensitive soul but not rational soul?

– Some writers through history have depicted multiple “levels” of hell and heaven (e.g. Dante). Is there any biblical support for distinct experiences of heaven and hell?

– Could the other people mentioned in Genesis be the Neanderthals? (See Genesis 4 and the reference to the people who might kill Cain)

– What happens to your soul if you get assimilated by the Borg?