Monday, June 13, 2011

Immortality Through Science And Technology

We who honor historical Christian worship practices have just completed our celebration of Easter and Christ's resurrection from the dead. Last Sunday we celebrated the festival of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Empowered by that Spirit, we believe we are sent out into the world with the message that Christ offered his perfect life for all mankind and thereby rescued us from the power of sin and death. He is risen and we who believe in him already have his life within us, a life that will never end. When Christ returns He will also grant us immortal bodies in a renewed creation (cf. Romans 8:9-34; 1 Corinthians 15:12-58). However, before that happens we must accept the hard fact that we will all die. Even though we already share his eternal life, our bodies, corrupted by sin, remain under the curse of death (John 11:23-27). There is no alternative.

However—and this fascinates me—a sizable group of humanistic-oriented scientists believe there is indeed an alternative. They need no Christ nor good news about some distant resurrection and renewal. They are working to bring mankind immortality through science and technology now! I want to acquaint you in more detail with the building of this new tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), with what they assert. I hinted at this in one of my recent blogs. The basic claim:

  • The singularity approaches. Many alive today will finally see death conquered by human science and technology. Immortality is within our grasp within the next 35 years! 
How should a Christian respond? For today let's consider what these scientists are saying. 


The main proponent for the 2045 singularity event is Ray Kurzweil. Time, in a February 10, 2011 article, says Kurzweil "believes that we're approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity—our bodies, our minds, our civilization—will be completely and irreversibly transformed. He believes that this moment is not only inevitable but imminent. According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it is about 35 years away."

The Immortality Institute claims that science is already increasing human longevity and ultimately will discover the causes of biological death and eliminate them. They argue for more funding for longevity research since slowing down aging will stop many diseases before they occur. They believe the aging process is modifiable, that it can be decelerated. In turn that discovery will dramatically delay and lower the incidence of chronic disease and achieve a much longer health-span for us all. Could it ultimately even bring human immortality? Yes, yes, yes!

Fight Aging! insists, "We stand on the verge of a revolution in medicine: understanding, treating, and ultimately preventing the causes of degenerative aging." One posted article on that site quotes Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Terry Grossman in  Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever. Kurzweil and Grossman conclude:

"In our modern era of abundance, all generations can contribute to the ongoing expansion of human knowledge. Our life expectancy will be in the region on 5,000 years ... by the year 2100. By following the three bridges described in Fantastic Voyage, you should be able to reach the year 2100, and then, according to Aubrey de Grey (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence), extend your longevity indefinitely" (italics added).
Do your own research. The internet is packed with sites and related claims. How naive and out of touch are we Christians who claim that only Christ can and will conquer death. Stay tuned. We may have finally discovered Ponce deLeon's mythical fountain of youth!

16 comments:

  1. "It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him." Hebrews 9:27,28.
    Who wants to look at a 200 year old wrinkled face and body with a 101 mechanical parts keeping the machine humming. ?
    ... h.a.h.

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  2. what a good read interesting BLOG IT MAN...

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  3. I cannot wait to be mostly machine... just as god intended me to be :) Praise Jesus

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  4. Your comment is flawed. Science will stop aging period, which means you will not be wrinkled or brittle. Science will help all humans reverse the degeneration of tissue and will maintain a healthy body and a young look. This is not from the Bible and we will not have to wait for the resurrection...this is real and is coming soon. It is a beautiful thing. God would want us to take advantage of this technology, would he not?

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  5. Your comment is flawed. Science will stop aging period, which means you will not be wrinkled or brittle. Science will help all humans reverse the degeneration of tissue and will maintain a healthy body and a young( and maintained) look. This is real and coming soon. God would like us to take advantage of this technology would he not? Mechanical parts? This just shows how much you honestly do not know of this research. If you wish to age fast and die soon, that is your choice. Me on the other hand will take full advantage of this technology to live a long healthy life. Immortal? probably not. But the longer I live the more these scientists will learn to help me keep my body from aging and destroying itself.

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  6. The use of technology and scientific knowledge is not the issue. It is the WORSHIP of such that is. The Bible makes it clear that we humans are to make full use of our minds to learn about the earth and all its wonders. We are to exercise our God-given abilities to rule over the creation. Read the first couple chapters of Genesis again. This is part of what the Image of God is all about. However, we are ourselves under the Ruler and Creator Himself and must use His creation in accord with His direction. Personally, I would not be alive and active today were it not for medical technology.

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  7. any one who think tht these guys developing such technology is going to share it with the profane masses are simply dellusioal!

    they put flouride in the water, so why in the hell would they grant us eternal life? wake up, christiantiy is an astrologial metaphor with many elements of historical truth as well as proufound philosiphy but not literal truth!

    you do realise that thsi kind of increase in lifespand would requirte some pretty strict "curbing" of population growht, or a totally wipe out of huge populations ie the third world.
    They most likly can already do anything they are telling us about, only those at the top will gain such technologies and will go on to be a separate civilisatrion to our own!

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  8. Aging is a psychosomatic (psycho-physiological) disorder which can be reversed/cured. As for those who are already dead, we will learn how to bring them back using science.

    A wise man once said: "supernatural is simply a term which we use to define aspects of nature which we don't understand"

    "The past never really ceases to exist it only moves to a different part/time of the Cosmos"

    In-depth info about Aging, the human psyche, and psychology here:
    http://tkn2.activeboard.com/t43356530/work-in-progress-anti-aging-and-noise-pollution-the-sound-ma/
    http://tkn2.activeboard.com/t44107275/love-is-a-word/
    http://wup-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=19961&sid=b3472db012561ea7dc2d221adb05bc52

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  9. Revelation 9:6, "During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them."

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  10. Everyone who reads this article should go read Revelation 9:6 before thinking this is a good idea.

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  11. I'm against this immortality, we all have to face the fact that we will all die, and besides I only want to live to be 300 years old. so I can pass on knowledge of life before the year 2000. Kids these days will never know how awesome it is for people like me born before 2000. I dissaprove not because im catholic, but because living for Eternity with machines keeping you alive & young has gotta suck.

    Lets not forget that in 2012 I predict there will be major natural disasters many earthquakes, and tsunami's wiping out a handful of our population. In fact we'll have to start over with what technology we have left.

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  12. I wish I believed in some life after death but unfortunately I don't so here's hoping immortality arrives soon.

    But here's a question without the fear of death will people stop believing in religion?

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  13. i'm not really clear about this but wouldn't a longer life result in overpopulation?

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  14. One of the many technologies at work to extend human life indefinitely is Alcor (http://www.alcor.org/). "Cryonics is a speculative life support technology that seeks to preserve human life in a state that will be viable and treatable by future medicine. It is expected that future medicine will include mature nanotechnology, and the ability to heal at the cellular and molecular levels."

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  15. we human have spent 600 thousands years on this mysterious earth. our brain is supreme in all living being here so we deserve immortality. look at our great past how we survived facing many natural disasters. it is our natural-brain-nature to think, explore, invent & make our lives more convenient & comfortful in all aspects of our life whether it be religious or scientific. we are the beauty of universe. universe made us to sense itself through being human in supreme.

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  16. God's self-revelation in Scripture makes it abundantly clear that no one of us "deserves immortality" (Romans 3:23;5:12). He also makes it very clear that the abstract term "universe" explains nothing if it does not refer to the Creator of the universe. We are well advised to speak humbly about these matters rather than speak about ourselves as deserving anything. Our first question must always be, How do things stand between me (not 'us' humans), me as an individual, and my Creator? We must each given an account of our lives before Him (Romans 14:12).

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So what do you think? I would love to see a few words from you.