Should We Try to Live Forever?

The media bombards us daily with messages
about becoming younger and cheating death.
Blogs and news magazines tout new miracle
cures, and diet ads promise a youthful figure and
more energy. Some key thinkers actually predict
that we can defeat aging and death. One of these
is inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who takes over 150 nutrition supplements
every day and believes that physical immortality may be possible within the next 20
years. If Kurzweil is right, would it really be a good thing to stop the aging process?

It’s obvious that something is terribly wrong about our earthly existence. We long
for freedom, transcendence, and wholeness, but we look around and see everywhere
the evidence of a curse. As Romans 8:22 tells us, “The whole creation groans and
labors with birth pangs,” waiting for relief from its bondage to sin and corruption.
Continuation of our mere physical existence would not solve this basic problem.

Christians, who look forward to relief from sin and corruption, can take comfort
that in this life even our infirmities shape our character. A Christian friend of mine
likes to point out that weakness as we grow older is a blessing. As our bodies decline
and we become more forgetful, as our vision darkens and our vitality wanes, we
become more and more dependent on God. In a very real sense, we are rehearsing to
be eternally at rest with Him.

Godly wisdom lies buried within Moses’ prayer, “So teach us to number our days
that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). By recognizing that our days are
limited, we can strive for true humility and develop a heart for service. After all, isn’t
that why God put us on this earth? True believers know heaven will be much greater
than continued earthly existence. Rather than clinging to this life, we should make
the most of our opportunities to serve God and reach others with the gospel.

So believers should embrace our limited lifespans and rejoice in our finitude. Each
one of our lives, regardless of its length, has deep purpose and meaning. And ultimately,
we will experience a sweet victory that is greater by far than any earthly,
physical existence: “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptible, and
this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:52–53).

Christians can be truly grateful for our mortality: as the next verse in this passage
tells us, all of the wrong of our existence, all of the pain of this world, and all of the
sting of death will be “swallowed up in victory” (15:54).

https://answersingenesis.org/human-body/should-we-try-live-forever/

Views: 0