Eternal life

A search on the phrase "eternal life" returns 43 references in the RSV of the New Testament. The best known will undoubtedly be John 3:16.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

With so many references to eternal life, it is clear that "eternal life" is not merely a side issue. In fact, Paul says clearly that eternal life is the Christian's main goal, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. More than that, it is eternal life in the presence of God the Father and Jesus, his son. Eternal life under absolutely perfect conditions, so perfect our wildest expectations will most likely fall far short of what it will turn out to be.

Obviously, eternal life is an issue of far greater importance than whatever may befall us here on this earth, be it riches, health and happiness or poverty, chronic disease, disability or whatever.

One dreams strange things, often of a widely varied nature. The other night I dreamt of someone saying to me: "you know, of course, that many will miss out on eternal life." This was so shocking I woke up.

Miss out? Like missing out on dessert because the dessert ran out? Or missing out on a cheap home loan because one did not do one's homework and went for a more expensive home loan? These range from a slight irritation to an unecessary expense of several thousands of dollars. Nothing, you will agree, in comparison to missing out on eternal life.

So, what may make one "miss out" on eternal life? Clearly, if it does not exist one cannot miss out on it. If it exists it is unlikely to be in short supply. Hard to come by, yes. But not in short supply if the Creator of the universe is behind it all.

So, if it exists, is plentiful but is hard to come by, what is the most likely cause of people "missing out" on eternal life? Most likely the fact that most people do not take it seriously and do not even try for it. Many may even believe it does not exist. You will agree that all who will "miss out" on eternal life mentioned in this paragraph have only themselves to blame for it.

Some, with all the data available to them if they but cared to look for it, stuck with what will not result in eternal life because it is what they were brought up with, is part of the tradition or religion of their group or because they are know-it-alls who cannot be told anything. To these I can only say:

Deut 4:29: But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Your search may be long and hard, but if you really try, get help and persist and pray, you will find God.

Now, I urge you, do not "miss out" on the ultimate prize available to all human beings. If you miss out on eternal life anything you might have achieved here on earth will be as nothing. Take eternal life seriously and strive after it with all your being.

You can stop reading here. The rest is for those with technical questions about eternal life.

Many will say, how can eternal life be possible? If it is to be in the body, we all know the body runs out and wears down and cannot last forever. If it is to be as some ephemeral, wispy spirit, well, that won't really be me.

Let's look at some possible answers. First of all, the concept that every human has an immortal spirit in him is not Biblical. There is no indication in the Bible that eternal life will be as some kind of disembodied spirit, floating among the clouds, making weird noises.

How can the human body be made to last forever? And how can the body of uncle Jack Brown, who was blown to smithereens in a mining accident, come together - like the title of The Beatles song - for a happy eternity? And there are other people, like the para-trooper sergeant of the army song who jumped from seventy thousand feet - "they scraped him off the tarmac like he was of strawberry jam". How is it possible to resurrect their bodies and make them live forever? In fact, the answer is simple.

First, get your head around this: think of yourself as mainly information, not mainly matter. Most people end their lives with very few of the cells they began it with and very few of the atoms they started out with. If you look at yourself purely as matter, you now are not who started out as, or even who your were twenty years ago. So, what makes you still you?

Your genetic code. You are still the person with the same genetic make-up you started out as. Add to that everything you experienced laid down as "engrams", and you have you at any stage of our life.

I am not saying what I propose here is how things are actually going to be. I am merely saying that if humans can come up with a way to make this possible, you can bet the milk money that the Creator of the universe can do it.

So, to make a new you, the Creator of the universe simply takes your genetic code from the big database in the sky and puts together a new you. Next step is to take all your engrams (again, stored in the big database in the sky) and implant them in the new you. And there, drumroll for effect, stands the new you. You know everything you knew before, can recall all experiences you ever had, recognise everybody you ever knew... You get the picture. If that is not you, then what is?

What makes our bodies age and eventually die of old age, if we live that long, is the Hayflick limit. That merely means our cells are programmed in such a way that they can divide at most about 50 times. Say we have a parent cell we are born with. This cell has, in programming terms, an int variable called divisions. In the parent cell the value of this variable is 0 (zero). The parent cell divides into two child cells. The value of the variable divisions is 1 (one) in each of these child cells. They divide and the value of divisions is now 2 (two) in each of their children. After 48 more divisions the value of divisions is 50. You are now, like Job at the end of his life, old and full of days. It is time to cash in your chips, call it a day, whatever. Fact is, you have reached the end of the line.

This has to do with telomeres at the end of the chromosomes. They grow shorter with every cell division. An enzyme, telomerase, is supposed to recreate them with every cell division, but it doesn't. It is active in stem cells, not fully differentiated cells. Be that as it may, you still have reached the end of the line. This is all a question of programming. If you had taken my advice and bet the milk money on the chance that the Creator of the universe will know how to fix the problem of widely dispersed bodies, and there is still a bookie willing to give you decent odds on the Creator of the universe being able to make the necessary programming changes so we can live forever in our earthly bodies, you should take your winnings on the previous bet and lay them down, betting that the Creator of the universe will be able to fix up our genetic code so we can live forever.

It is always safe to bet on the power and knowledge of the Creator of the universe. So, as you see, these are not problems even humans can't solve, or at least, conceive how they can be solved. Eternal life is very possible. The Bible tells us it waits as the ultimate prize for all humans. But many will "miss out" on eternal life.

Matt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
Matt 7:14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Make sure you are one of the few and see how many others you can lead through the narrow gate.

Well, what do you think? If you want to you can e-mail me.