[Vision2020] Eternal Life???

[josephc at mail.wsu.edu]

I avoid writing on the topic of eternal life whenever possible. I am only
responding because Chas directed a question toward me and I respect him
greatly. So here goes.

For the last year or so my wife and son and I have attended a local
church. (I won't say which one because it is filled with wonderful people
whom I respect a great deal; I don't want to give the impression that I
speak for any of them in any way.) Each week (that I attend, which is not
EVERY week) I have to recite a particular passage and I use this passage
as a barometer with which to judge my progression toward Christianity.
After all, there was a long period in the not so distant past where I was
a hard-line atheist (which is why atheists will always hold a place in my
heart that is near and dear!) and my Christianity is relatively new.

In any event, this passage that I recite notes "the hope of life
everlasting" and that pretty much summarizes my current views on the
afterlife.

I find it more than a little obnoxious that we would request of God that
we should be given ETERNAL life. I'm not saying that I don't want it. All
I'm saying is that it seems like an overkill. Isn’t a finite existence
enough? Out of all the infinite number of souls who never get the chance
to exist, who are we to complain that our existence is only for 80, or 60,
or even fewer years?

I am grateful and thankful that I exist! If I can exist for all of
eternity, that would be wonderful! But if not, I am nonetheless grateful
for my limited time on earth! Not everyone gets that chance, after all! So
eternal life is a hope, nothing more and nothing less. I don't know that
I'll have eternal life, nor do I think that anyone else does. I don't know
that I deserve it just for believing that God exists, nor do I think that
anyone else does. I hope that I live eternally because no one wants to
die. That's it!

Michael speaks of the resurrection of the body but knowledge of such an
event seems remote at best. Consider the TV show, Star Trek. On that show
folks are tele-transported from one place to the next. Do any of you
understand the metaphysics of this? Well, what happens is that the
material parts of the transported person -- each and every atom -- are
annihilated in one place and then some OTHER material parts are
reconstructed at some other time and place. And the reason you have for
thinking that the person who re-emerges is the same person as the
tele-transported person? Merely that it is built into the narrative!
Captain Kirk steps into the tele-transporter and ends up in another time
and place, even though his entire material constitution has DISINTEGRATED!
But the script says that he is the SAME person, so we accept it.

Can Captain Kirk know that it is he that shows up on the other side? I
don't see how. Likewise, I don't see how any of us can know that eternal
life is even possible. But we can all have hope! For me, that is enough.
I'm thankful for the life I have and if I get nothing else I will be
thankful that I have gotten this much! Of course, I hope for more!

Joe Campbell