04-06-2007, 03:19 AM
The purpose of this essay is to make the case that death is natural to human life and will always remain that way. Just to clarify, I am not talking about a spiritual or symbolic death. I mean the real thing. Ceasing to exist as a human being. The end of physical life. And I am not talking about death through sickness, diseases, and other things that cause premature or accidental death. Nor am I saying that we are supposed to live only 70 or 80 years. I am merely saying that all physical forms of life, because of their nature, will eventually die.
The first evidence for this is in God's creation. In Genesis, when God creates all living things, he gives his work a big stamp of approval (Gen 1:31). Everything is good, exactly how he wants it to be. Now, was death part of nature at that time? It most certainly was. The plants and the animals had finite lives right from the very beginning (cf. Gen 3:21), as they do today. All things eventually die. Why should we think that we humans are different in that sense? We're made from the same perishable materials.
Do some people believe we will not die because God told Adam that he would die if he ate from the tree of knowledge, thus implying that if he obeyed he would not die?
That could only be the case if God told Adam that disobedience would result in a natural death, a death by old age, but the death God spoke of could hardly be that sort, if it was caused by eating a fruit.
Some people say that human nature underwent a radical change after Adam's first transgression. I cannot fathom such an idea. Is it really so that Adam's DNA, his genetic blueprint, was altered when he reached his hand out and took the fruit and took a bite? This seems to me a ridiculous notion, and, if true, is a fact of which we might with reason expect to find some record in the Bible. We, however, look in vain for it. The Genesis narrative says nothing of such a change. Adam and Eve received punishments. But no curse was uttered upon them. Even if it could be maintained that the humans' circumstances or condition on earth were modified by Adam's sin, still this would prove nothing with regard to his nature, nor can it be pretended that there is the slightest allusion in the Bible to the change of his nature as a historical fact.
But, some might argue, the change of human nature is inferred from the earliness and frequency of human sin ever since Adam, from the fact that sins are among the first acts we do. But the eating of the forbidden fruit is the only recorded act of Adam's and Eve's use of their moral sensibilities. They yielded to the first temptation they had, even though they were surrounded by what seemed to be motives to obedience. Certainly there never was a first sin so flagrant, or so difficult to be accounted for, as theirs. They were allowed to eat of every other tree in the garden! The direct voice of God had commanded them not to eat of this! Gratitude, hope, fear, all these should have ensured their obedience. But they sinned as soon as they were tempted! They sound a lot like us! Their sin was of the same kind as most of the sins of their descendants. In other words, they yielded good principles to impulse, they seized momentary gratification, without much thought. If OUR sins prove that WE are by nature sinful and imperfect, then equally does the first transgression of Adam and Eve prove that they had the same nature.
(For more on the Adam and Eve punishment, see this thread: http://www.paradisecafediscussions.net/s...php?tid=22)
We all know that death is the payment for sin (Rom. 6:23; James 1:14-15). If we, by nature, are sinful and imperfect, we will always die. There is not a smidgeon of a scripture that says that we will achieve perfection on earth, or that we will be sinless on earth. Instead we are told over and over that humans are sinful (Rom. 3:23).
But what about this one?
"The righteous themselves will possess the earth,
And they will reside forever upon it" (Ps 37:29).
I think we have to take the word "righteous" in the same sense that it is usually used in the OT. The "righteous" are those who are declared righteous by faith, but not ones who are righteous in the strict sense (i,e, perfect, sinless). Many of the OT figures are called "righteous," but we are told that they were only counted as righteous because of their faith (Gal 3:6; Rom. 4:5). I think the word is being used in Psalms this way too.
Now, some might say--the Bible promises everlasting life. Surely this proves that humans one day will not die of old age.
However, whenever the Bible writers go into any detail about everlasting life, it seems to refer either to spiritual life here on earth (and is thus figurative) or life as a spirit in heaven.
Time and time again we are told that the hope we have is the resurrection from the dead. By its very description, the resurrection is only for those who have died. And yes, after the resurrection we inherit everlasting life, but this always seems to be in a heavenly context. Paul makes it clear that the conquest of death is realized in the heavenly resurrection (1 Cor. 15). In other words, death does not take us, because we will be immediately changed to spirit life.
So this is why I have a hard time believing that we will gain everlasting life on earth. I don't think it's possible for a human body (or any physical body) to live forever, nor do I think the Bible teaches this.
The first evidence for this is in God's creation. In Genesis, when God creates all living things, he gives his work a big stamp of approval (Gen 1:31). Everything is good, exactly how he wants it to be. Now, was death part of nature at that time? It most certainly was. The plants and the animals had finite lives right from the very beginning (cf. Gen 3:21), as they do today. All things eventually die. Why should we think that we humans are different in that sense? We're made from the same perishable materials.
Do some people believe we will not die because God told Adam that he would die if he ate from the tree of knowledge, thus implying that if he obeyed he would not die?
That could only be the case if God told Adam that disobedience would result in a natural death, a death by old age, but the death God spoke of could hardly be that sort, if it was caused by eating a fruit.
Some people say that human nature underwent a radical change after Adam's first transgression. I cannot fathom such an idea. Is it really so that Adam's DNA, his genetic blueprint, was altered when he reached his hand out and took the fruit and took a bite? This seems to me a ridiculous notion, and, if true, is a fact of which we might with reason expect to find some record in the Bible. We, however, look in vain for it. The Genesis narrative says nothing of such a change. Adam and Eve received punishments. But no curse was uttered upon them. Even if it could be maintained that the humans' circumstances or condition on earth were modified by Adam's sin, still this would prove nothing with regard to his nature, nor can it be pretended that there is the slightest allusion in the Bible to the change of his nature as a historical fact.
But, some might argue, the change of human nature is inferred from the earliness and frequency of human sin ever since Adam, from the fact that sins are among the first acts we do. But the eating of the forbidden fruit is the only recorded act of Adam's and Eve's use of their moral sensibilities. They yielded to the first temptation they had, even though they were surrounded by what seemed to be motives to obedience. Certainly there never was a first sin so flagrant, or so difficult to be accounted for, as theirs. They were allowed to eat of every other tree in the garden! The direct voice of God had commanded them not to eat of this! Gratitude, hope, fear, all these should have ensured their obedience. But they sinned as soon as they were tempted! They sound a lot like us! Their sin was of the same kind as most of the sins of their descendants. In other words, they yielded good principles to impulse, they seized momentary gratification, without much thought. If OUR sins prove that WE are by nature sinful and imperfect, then equally does the first transgression of Adam and Eve prove that they had the same nature.
(For more on the Adam and Eve punishment, see this thread: http://www.paradisecafediscussions.net/s...php?tid=22)
We all know that death is the payment for sin (Rom. 6:23; James 1:14-15). If we, by nature, are sinful and imperfect, we will always die. There is not a smidgeon of a scripture that says that we will achieve perfection on earth, or that we will be sinless on earth. Instead we are told over and over that humans are sinful (Rom. 3:23).
But what about this one?
"The righteous themselves will possess the earth,
And they will reside forever upon it" (Ps 37:29).
I think we have to take the word "righteous" in the same sense that it is usually used in the OT. The "righteous" are those who are declared righteous by faith, but not ones who are righteous in the strict sense (i,e, perfect, sinless). Many of the OT figures are called "righteous," but we are told that they were only counted as righteous because of their faith (Gal 3:6; Rom. 4:5). I think the word is being used in Psalms this way too.
Now, some might say--the Bible promises everlasting life. Surely this proves that humans one day will not die of old age.
However, whenever the Bible writers go into any detail about everlasting life, it seems to refer either to spiritual life here on earth (and is thus figurative) or life as a spirit in heaven.
Time and time again we are told that the hope we have is the resurrection from the dead. By its very description, the resurrection is only for those who have died. And yes, after the resurrection we inherit everlasting life, but this always seems to be in a heavenly context. Paul makes it clear that the conquest of death is realized in the heavenly resurrection (1 Cor. 15). In other words, death does not take us, because we will be immediately changed to spirit life.
So this is why I have a hard time believing that we will gain everlasting life on earth. I don't think it's possible for a human body (or any physical body) to live forever, nor do I think the Bible teaches this.