The Search for God Page 2.1.3.2.4
So we don’t need a supernatural intervention to explain what happens after death? Typical responses for those who don’t think we need a supernatural solution to death include:
The human, natural pre-death solution and the non-human, after-death solution.
- Give us enough time to study. Science will provide the knowledge.
- If we interview all death experiences, we will gather the information.
- Humans are part of __ (universe, energy, etc) Basically offering their own theory about the afterlife.
Humans have a problem. Every single human will suffer the same finality, darn death. So how can we conquer such a dreaded disease? Well, there are only a few options.
The Human Solution
Since the beginning of time, humans have attempted to prolong life and prevent death. We spin tales of immortal life, but even in those tales, the being can and often do die.
We primp our bodies with magical creams and imbibe mystical elixirs, all with the promise of the fountain of youth. Currently, the science behind prolonging youthfulness is all about telomeres and genetic manipulation, hoping to someday offer an infusion or pill that will “prolong your life.”
- But by how much—ten years, fifty, one hundred, a thousand?
- Will increasing the life span improve the human condition?
- Will the wisdom of another hundred years rid the world of evil and folly?
Maybe we can fly to the stars, colonize our own planet, find a few hundred people who agree, and start our own colony away from the degradation of society. One can quickly see that conquering death has two problems.
The first is the “once we know more” problem. Some scientists and philosophers ask us to suspend searching for God to give mankind and scientists more time to improve the human condition and disprove our need for God.
Let’s say, even if we can prolong life, which is a big “if”, what would that do to the human population, the limited resources, and issues of inequality?
This leads us to the second problem with the man-centered solution: inequality, injustice, and might we say evil or sin. We observe these issues around us and see the problems but are unable to solve them.
We try to solve them within ourselves, we try to solve them through education, through government, but will those who live a thousand years gather more wealth and power or less?
- Will the person who lives ten thousand years and has experienced pleasure and love be more wise and loving or less?
- If you think a seventy-year-old is a grumpy old man; how about a seven-hundred-year-old?
Reality
So, can humans ever conquer death? Maybe. But we haven’t yet and won’t in my lifetime. So where is the hope? And even if I could live thousands of years, I would want a better world than this one. So, is there any hope?
Supernatural
Maybe there is a supernatural solution, which is why for thousands of years, humans have looked toward the heavens, to gods, the God, nirvana, or some solution to the problem of death beyond what we can accomplish.
We hope for not only an immortal life, but something that will free us from the problem of evil. For the ancient and modern Buddhists and Hindus, only freedom from the body will accomplish both goals, immortal life and freedom from evil.
For if the soul is immortal, then we have been freed from death, plus the view is that the physical body is the root of evil desires.
So death becomes freedom. Wham, Bam! one stone, two birds. The solution is elegant and reassuring, but how do we know? Who told the ancients?
Truth and Knowledge
If a supernatural solution exists, there are three options:
- A being tells us what will happen after death during our lifetime.
- Humans can discern what will happen during our lifetime.
- We don’t know what will happen after death in our lifetime.
If we don’t know, well then, do we have a solution or any hope? Not really. Maybe something will happen, maybe not. The second option is that humans are able to discern what will happen, which we disregarded in the article “What happens after death?”
So what we need is a credible being who can tell us what happens after we die. This is why we search for God. This is why we explore the supernatural. We are looking beyond what we can see, touch, and feel.
If there is a way to conquer death, we can only know by what another tells us. So, let’s say there is a way to overcome death, do we have any role in the process? Is what happens after death a natural process, which means it’s like a butterfly, totally mechanistic, or is there a judicial quality? Will we have to defend our lives?
Again, the only way to know is to find a communication from the immortal or eternal being(s) to inform us what will happen. We can theorize, wait, or hope in other humans, or we can search for answers from a Being who might have the answers.
My theories unless they are testable are just speculation and will fail. Therefore, I choose to search for God. So even though death drives us to begin the search, we hope the result will be answers and hope to the problem death, that we are unable to solve.
So how do we find the truth about God and death?
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Humans have not conquered death and will not during my lifetime.
- Why is that significant?
- If I want an answer about the afterlife, and since I cannot rely on myself or other humans for a solution, we must search for a greater Being, like God.
- If you agree, the next steps
- If you disagree, please consider reading
References and Links
THE KEY TO CHROMOSOME IMMORTALITY: The discovery of telomerase
- Truth about death – Supernatural solution to death
- Christian way farm – Where is the hope
- When will this happen? – Researchers have discovered the immortality enzyme
- Check out this interesting article – Ending Aging: Telomeres may be the key