Eternal Life
Every one of us will die some day. For some people, this is such a terrifying thought they refuse to think about it altogether. Instead, they think of more pleasant things. It is unfortunate that they bring up their children with an aversion to the very idea of death. They teach them to live in a state of self-delusion. When death inevitably strikes it leaves unwilling mourners overwhelmed, stricken and broken in spirit by something they might have anticipated. It might make sense to avoid thinking about it if there were any possibility of avoiding it, but there is not. They say only death and taxes are certain. While some people are able to avoid, or at least reduce, their tax liabilities, but no one avoids death. When we are dealing with something that is inescapable, common sense tells us to face it and be ready for it.
Death is often treated as a calamity. On the other hand, consider the alternative. Suppose there were no such thing as death? In an essay, Stephen Leacock describes a world in which disease and old age had been conquered and natural death abolished. Accidents were the only perils to life and were the only cause of anxiety. Consequently, anything that could cause an accident was eliminated. All motor vehicles – cars, railroads, airplanes, ships and elevators were eliminated. Machinery was reduced to a minimum and sharp instruments were not allowed. As a result the whole world slowed down to a creep. Then they realized that with no one dying, overpopulation was inevitable. Births had to be abolished, so there were no children. There was a lot of accumulated wisdom in the endless old age but no youthful enthusiasms. There was no spirit of adventure, no courting, no gaiety, and no zest for life – only an excess of aged wisdom.
Why should death be a fearful thing? It is not because it is accompanied with so much suffering. In fact, most deaths are far more peaceful than the illnesses and accidents from which we recover. Separation cannot be the only reason as we deal with separations constantly. It does disrupt our plans and interferes with what we are trying to accomplish. When that happens in other areas, we simply take the disruption into consideration and adjust our plans accordingly. The real reason is that we hold death in our minds as the antithesis of life. We cherish life to the point that we shun death.
As Christians, we are taught that there is life after death. Life and death are opposites only in this world. The only real reason to fear death is the absence of any faith in immortal life. Death is a transfer. It is not the end of the line. Since the dawn of human history there has been a strange universality about the conviction that death cannot be the end of all things. People find their own intellectual and spiritual capacity so much greater than what can be utilized in this life that they know there must be more life to come. Their moral attainments on earth fall so short of their moral desires that it would be irrational to suppose they could stop when earthly life ceases. There is also the claim of justice. We accept that justice will never be imperfect in this life. Surely there is a place where it will be allowed to reach perfection.
Our knowledge of our selves also indicate there is more to life that a collection of chemical elements. The loss of a leg does not mean the loss of the person. It is not uncommon to wear out several replacement parts in our lifetimes. Even our circulation system shows the ability to reroute the flow of blood and restore parts inhibited by the lack of oxygen. Our bodies may be mortal but we are not.
When we speak of the “immortal soul” we speak without little to no precision. It means the essence of life and includes reason, memory, will, personal identity, and self-consciousness. To make a human being, this soul is encased in a human body. The more we learn about life, the more we realize that the soul has an existence of its own superior to its bodily container. All in all, there is good reason to believe that it does not perish with the dissolution of the physical body.
However, the immortality of the soul is not really enough for the Christian. What is really desired is eternal life, not just a meaningless existence. As Stephen Leacock pointed out, life without purpose is a worthless burden. That is why Christ’s promise of eternal life includes quality and purpose as well as duration. Eternal life carries with it the experience of vital fellowship with God. Christ possesses it in full measure, and He imparts it to those who accept Him and enter His Kingdom. The distinction between life on earth and eternal life is not between existence and non-existence. It is between spiritual destitution here and living fellowship with God. Eternal life is a participation in the divine nature.
The study of evolution shows successive stages of advancement in the created world with certain clear-cut and unaccountable breaks between the stages. It consistently illustrates renewed applications of God’s creative power. At the beginning was the inanimate, inorganic world – the rocks and hills and minerals with no indication of life. Next was vegetation and organic life. There is no connection between these first two stages. One did not grow out of the other. Later animal life appeared as something entirely new and different. Again, it did not grow out of vegetation. When human life appeared, it bore physical similarities with animal life, but its difference cannot be attributed to evolution. For all its efforts, science is unable to link the soul to anything but God’s creative power. Finally a new divine creative energy manifested in the gift of eternal life. A new kind of life was imparted. It could not be evoked by human conditions. It was a gift from above.
To Christians, eternal life means much more than immortal. It is possessed of divine qualities, beginning here and rising to limitless heights hereafter. It is more than a prolongation of life, through direct and intimate connection with the Source of all living.
“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” That is a question answered by common sense. People of sound judgment will relinquish a temporary benefit if it involves a future loss. They will also accept an immediate sacrifice if it promises a greater benefit in the future. The prodigal son’s wasting of his inheritance is sheer folly. Even the squirrels lay up a winter’s supply of food in advance. Still, many otherwise intelligent people immerse themselves in the affairs of this world without a thought for the life to come.
There is surely a danger in ignoring this life and being concerned only with the world to come. The church sometimes talks much about the beauties of heaven and little of how to deal with the human needs of this world. On the other hand, it makes no sense to go to the other extreme and drop even below the instincts of animal life.
We need to remember that life is a continuous process beginning here and continuing hereafter, with an experience between which we call death. There is a distinct connection between the two. We know there are no pockets in shrouds. The connection between the two will not involve the material things of this life. When we die we will have accumulated both material and spiritual things. The material things will perish. The spiritual things will not. One of our challenges is to cultivate the aspects of human life which has eternal worth and gathers spiritual things.
Our Lord tells us that this world is properly a preparation for a better world to come and that we must learn how to fit the one into the other. Christ would undoubtedly warn us about the “success” salesmen so prevalent today. They preach a psychology of self-assertion. “Blow your own trumpet.” Magnify your importance.” “Inflate your ego.” “Claim everything.” “Act as if you owned the world, and soon someone will come and give it to you.
Our Lord said, “Take heed and bewared of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” He also said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”