Bodies and everlasting youth

Last week I was flipping through channels and stumbled across Oprah. Dr. Oz was talking about advances in medicine that would allow us to live to 120 or more. My wife would tell you that I take a lot of supplements and fish oil in the hopes of living long and healthy. So I watched the program, until I realized that it was a rereun that I had seen before.

So what do you think about living to be 120 or more? My hero, Gandalf, lived a long time. I used to fantasize about living long and doing many things. But I'm not sure anymore. Here's why.

• sin All of us have weaknesses, foibles, sins. I used to think that I would get over them as I got older. Ha! Too lazy, too sinful, too weak. I don't want to fight the same weaknesses and sins for another 70 or more years.
• bodies My knees aren't what they used to be, nor are my eyes. And I'm in fairly good shape for my age. I know of people my age who are dead, or in far worse shape than I am. Do I really want to live in this body another 70 or more years?
• relationships Do I want to be in the same relationships, sinful and weak as I am, with other people sinful and weak as well, for another 70 or more years? Do I want to outlive my friends and relatives? (Although if we all live that long, then we wouldn't outlive each other by too much.)
• retirement Could I retire at 70 and then live another 50 years? How would I support myself?

No thanks. I'm really beginning to think that limiting us to 70 to 90 or 100 years is a favor that God has done us.

So what's to think about Dr. Oz? I'm not planning on giving up my supplements or fish oil. I hope to be healthy while I'm here, and enjoy a long life, within the span that most people live now. There's nothing wrong with that. But my hope is in the resurrection. Not this body for 120 or more years, but a new, changed body for eternity.

The hope to live to 120 or more is firmly rooted in the belief that this life is all that there is. I've discussed that in past blogs. The Christian hope is resurrection.

So - why are Christian radio and TV full of medical broadcasts about supplements on the weekends? hmm.

The next generation

The June/July 2009 Focus on the Family magazine contained an article entitled "The Baton of Faith." In it the author describes his father's strongest desire in his last few weeks of life to see the baton of faith passed to his children and grandchildren.

I remember when I was in high school and college. I had the opportunity to live at a boarding school for two years when in high school. From the beginning I had the opportunity to decide whether to continue with Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance. It was not easy getting to church, but from the beginning I did. During the summer between my two years I hitch-hiked through Europe alone for most of the time. My companion was a Gideon's Bible (I still have it). The Psalms especially were a comfort. By the time I returned home, my faith was mine. I never struggled with leaving it, just with how to best express it and where.

Soon my children will be adults, on their own. Will my faith and their mother's faith be theirs? What can I do to move them along in that direction?

I was talking with some young people about this last week, and I was struck by something I hadn't thought of. MY goal is to see them following Jesus Christ, but what if that isn't something important to them? How can I help persuade them that this is a goal worth following? Here are some thoughts:

• Fire insurance. While this sounds crass, why else did Jesus warn people to repent and trust him?


• Having a solid base to build one's life on. Jesus' parable of the builders on the rock and the sand comes to mind.


• Being on the winning side in history.


• Being with the creator and redeemer forever.


• Being part of God's plan to redeem humanity and all of creation.

Do you have any others that I should add? Thoughts, comments?

So how do I and other parents encourage our children to follow after us? Obviously we need to live lives that back up what we say we believe. We should also challenge our children. (Check out this article and this one on ten lessons to learn from great Christian minds.)

My Country 'Tis of Thee

Today is the day before Memorial Day. In church we sang the
Battle Hymn of the Republic and the hymn below.  I love it.
But as a Christian, I can only sing it with the last verse.
I love my country, I love this land, but my allegiance
is to God.
My country,' tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!
I'm thankful to live in this land.  I'm proud of
the accomplishments of my ancestors from the
landing of the Mayflower through their settlements
in this country.  One of my ancestors was in
the Continental Congress and a general in the
Revolutionary War.  Others fought in that war.
Three ancestors died because of the Civil War.
My native country, thee,
land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.
I love to travel and would love to see more of Europe.
But there is much to love here.  I've not seen
New England nor the South
Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song;
let mortal tongues awake;
let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.
This last verse brought tears to my eyes this morning.
We sing of our land with love and allegiance.
But it is to God that we sing and give our allegiance.
Our freedoms come from the hand of our God, through
the sacrifices of many men and women.  To all of
them I give my thanks.

But I worry.  As we lose sight of the great God,
our King, will we also lose our liberty that
we have enjoyed for so long?  Pray God no.
Pray to God that we remember him and that he
will give us many years of liberty so that our
sons and daughters may continue to enjoy the
freedoms that we enjoy.

Gay marriage - some thoughts

So with some trepidation (I've read the comments that follow similar posts on other blogs), I'll offer some thoughts on this topic. I'm not hostile to gays, nor am I necessarily (at this time) opposed to some sort of contractual arrangement for gay relationships.

First, up front - I'm not in favor of gay marriage. Some of my reasons come from Scripture and the roles of men and women that are taught there and the rejection of homosexuality in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. There are other reasons that I have, similar to those in the first link below.

Gay relations are not the same kind of relationship that heterosexual marriage is.

An excellent post on marriage and its role in society and why gay marriage should not be accepted.
An article by Dennis Prager on homosexuality and the Bible.

Education thoughts

I'm a little short of original thoughts at the moment. End of the school year, and all that! Here are some interesting quotes about education I thought I would share with you.

"We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate." (--Martin Luther King, Jr.)

I teach in a school for the gifted - all the students are above average in intelligence. Unfortunately, not all of them have the self-discipline to use their abilities. Also, sometimes we see some of the students misuse their abilities - their characters are not good, in at least some of their decisions. They are children, so we understand that they are still growing and maturing. The goals for our students include becoming better people, as well as more skilled and knowledgeable. Simply making people more knowledgeable may lead to smarter bad people!

Howard Hendricks tells us,
“All true learning only occurs after you are thoroughly confused.”

I think this is a bit of an overstatement - a little confusion is probably all that is needed!! When you or I think that we know something, then there is little incentive to learn. On the other hand, if I know that I don't know something, or if I am uncertain as to details about the material, then I have more incentive to learn and to remember the material. When I teach my students I try to raise a healthy amount of confusion or uncertainty.

And lastly, a link to an interesting blog on giftedness and hard work. (Read it and then come back!!)

One of the amazing (and discouraging) things that I deal with is the idea that some my students (fortunately not all of them) have that learning must always be fun and interesting. If something isn't immediately interesting and easily learned, they lose interest in it. This especially tends to be a problem for gifted students, who on the plus side are often interested in learning for its own sake.

In the sports and music worlds we recognize that those who are good in those areas must work hard so that they can use their gifts to their fullest. Those who aren't naturally talented in those areas can still increase their abilities with hard work and practice. We must develop this same attitude in academics. Hard work and study from an average person will probably contribute more toward success in life and contributions toward society than laziness and lack of focus from a genius.

Success is 90% perspiration.

Don't know. I'll hope for the best.

A few weeks ago I mentioned this option as the last in the list of what happens after we die. Actually, it's not really an option, it's an attitude. If God will judge us after we die, then he will judge us, whether we do anything or not about it.

Surely it is important to decide what you think about what happens after death. If nothing happens, and death is all that awaits us, then doesn't this direct us to live in a certain way? If we are reincarnated, then shouldn't we again live in a certain way?

And again, if judgment awaits us, then we should live in a certain way because we know that what we have done will affect the life that we have after this one.

So why do people not think about what happens after death? I think that it is because the possible outcomes are unpleasant. This Spring I faced the possibility of not returning next year to the school where I teach. The wise thing to do would be to look for new jobs, update my contacts and resume and network. Naturally, I did a few of those things, but I kept putting the rest of them off in the hopes that things would work out and I wouldn't need to do anything. (Things turned out just fine.) Don't we do this a lot in our lives? And what is more unpleasant than death and judgment? (Here's another article on how we live our lives in denial of what's to come.)

But how irresponsible to not address the one fact that will affect us all! Death will come, and what awaits us? I urge my readers to examine the inevitability of your death and to decide what you think will happen. Examine the claims I made (brief though they are) in the previous posts.

Lastly, I will restate the claim that I believe is the most likely to be valid. That is, after death we will answer for what we have done in this life. To believe otherwise ultimately makes a mockery of morality and of the deep longing that every human has to be loved, cherished, and recognized. If I am correct, then you need to decide how you will answer on that day.

Here's my hope:
Romans 8:1
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Resurrection

Over the last few weeks I've been commenting on various answers to what happens after people die. And now, by sheer coincidence this weekend, we come to the Christian hope. A few weeks ago I wrote:

Resurrection. We receive new bodies, similar to, but better than our old ones. Life is lived in God's presence with others who are acceptable to him.

This is the hope of Christians in the New Testament and in the nearly two thousand years since. This is the theme of 1 Corinthians 15, that great chapter on the importance of Jesus' resurrection. Tomorrow we celebrate Easter - Resurrection Sunday, if you prefer.

So why is resurrection the hope of Christians? As I have said in the last few posts, humans long for significance, and not to be forgotten. And yet death destroys both. All of us will die, and people will forget about us, and we will become insignificance.

Resurrection restores us to what we believe we should have been. No second chance at life to do it better (reincarnation), but the destruction of death and sin themselves. New bodies, that lack the shortcomings and difficulties of this life. Forgiveness of sins. No more death and decay. And best of all will be the company of like minded others in the presence of God himself.

Isn't this the option that we would choose if we could? (of the various ones I outlined earlier?) Doesn't this option ring the truest? Of course, that doesn't make it true. (Check out this for some good evidence to think about.)

It all hangs on the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus did not come back from the dead, then there is no resurrection for us. But he did come back from the dead, and promises victory over death for those who follow him.

So, consider the claims of Jesus and consider this: What happens to YOU after you die? (Check out the Sermon on death and dying)



Next time: I'll hope for the best.