Yes, for millennia, death has animated the minds of men. Many theories were propounded about it. Many philosophers have dedicated most of their lives unlocking its mysteries and the very basic question is, how to actually conquer death.
Man knows that every living organism, will at some point, face extinction. We now know that death occurs when our cells die. Our cells have its natural life span, currently at the maximum of 120 years. When a breakdown occurs in our normal functions, especially in some vital organ or what have you, we die.
A scientist by the name of Aubrey de Grey identified the key events that makes us age and die.
First, organs are damaged by gradual cell loss. The gradual cell loss leads to a weakening of our defense system, making us susceptible to diseases and illnesses.
Second, cells getting old and worn out but refusing to die. These old worn out cells infect our body, making our body toxic and impure.
Third, a build-up of crud in our cells' garbage compactors known as lysosomes. The lysosomes break down the waste with enzymes. Overtime, they can get clogged, and the cells become poisioned and tissues goes bad.
Dangerous crud accumulating in the spaces between the cells. Fifth, sugar molecules bonding with protein molecules, over time causing tissues to stiffen and harden. Sixth, mitochondrial DNA mutations caused by exposure to free radicals and lastly, DNA mutatins in the cell's nucleus leading to cancer.
After death our bodies then enter the decomposition stage. What is left of us is normally a pile of bones, which calcifies and then turns into fossils.
Now, what happens to our thoughts? What happens to all those accumulated experiences that we encountered when alive?
It seems that all of these things ceases to exist as we die. Fact is, even us ceases to exist upon death.
Death, it seems, is the inevitable end of life.
Yet, when one observes nature, death is simply not the inevitable end. Life continues to exists even after death.
There is this type of jellyfish that remains immortal by transforming itself back into polyp status. When damage occurs in its cells or system, it reverts back into its "baby stage", and then heals itself and assumes normalcy, growing until eventually it gets damage again, and the process begins all over again.
If this happens in one cell or two celled organisms, can it happen in multi-celled organisms such as man?
The bible teaches us the Way towards eternal life.
We die because we are flesh. Flesh is mortal. We depend on so many things to keep us alive.
We depend on food. We depend on keeping the right body temperature to keep all our vital organs well and functioning. We depend on the functions of our organs. If one vital organ fails to function, then, we die.
At most, flesh lives for 120 years and then it dies. Why does flesh die? Flesh is made of corruptible material. It wastes away. Why ? Whenever we take food, we nourish ourselves yet, we actually deteriorate. The more we eat, the higher the chances of us dying.
When we take food, it does feed our bodies, only for a definitive length of time. Nowadays, despite new technologies, man can only live by about 120 years,[1] and that’s it.
Observe—those who live unholy lives are the ones who die early. The more we sin, the more we live dirty and filthy lives. An example—if we eat dirty food, we die. If we smoke, we die. If we do things that is abominable, for example, incense, we die. We die due to corruption of our bodies. We corrupt our bodies because we live unhealthy and unholy lives.
Romans 7:5 says that while we are in the flesh, the motions of sins, did work in our own bodies “bring forth fruit unto death”. That is the truth. A sinful lifestyle leads to death, because it corrupts the body.
We die because we are flesh. Ezekiel 18:20 says that a soul that sinneth die. A sinning soul is unclean, his heart not pure (Prov. 20:9). For all that is born of a woman is unclean (Job 15:14). And there is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good and sinneth not (Eccleasiastes 7:20).
Our ancestors of old live long lives because they walk with God. What does this mean? It means that their lifestyles follow that of God’s precepts. Enoch lived three hundred sixty five years before God took him (General 5:24). Enoch ascended into heaven—flesh, bones and spirit. Enoch must have known several secrets to a long life because shortly after him, his descendants lived unusually long lives—Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty nine years, while his son Lamech, seven hundred and seven years ( Genesis 5:27, 31). Even Noah, the descendant of Lamech lived 950 years, just 19 years short of Methuselah (Genesis 9:29).
In Genesis 6:3, God declared that flesh can only live by 120 years, yet even after God declared these, several of Noah’s descendants lived more than this: Shem, son of Noah, lived five hundred years. Arphaxad, four hundred and three years.(Gen. 11:13). Salah lived four hundred and three years (Gen 11:15) while his son, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years. Terah, meanwhile, lived two hundred and five years (Gen. 11:32).
How did Enoch do it? Hebrews 11:5 has an explanation—faith. Enoch believed that he would not see death. His unshakable faith in God earned his rewards.
Faith, by itself, could give man a longer life. By “walking with God” one earns the right to live long and even earn the right to eternal life.
Yet, they still died. How then can one earn the right to live forever?
When a soul sins, he is cut off from God (Number 15:31). When one is cut off from God, he does not enjoy the mercies and glory of God. When we die, we all goes back to God,[2] the Father of the Spirits. [3]If our spirits are unpure, God will spake us out of His midst, because only the Holy merits the right to see God. Not all who return to God will merit everlasting life. Some who does good will wake up resurrected while those who worked iniquity, a resurrection of damnation (John 5:29).
John 5:29 is important for us to understand because this means that in the last days, every single spirit will be transformed. All of us will be resurrected. In the Book of Daniel, every single one who sleeps in the dust of the earth shall awake in those last days, some to everlasting life and some to “shame and everlasting contempt.”[4] Only the righteous will merit the reward of life eternal while those who perpetually sin, shall go away into everlasting punishment. [5]
Why is it that those who sin will not be rewarded with everlasting life? Those who sin live in the flesh, which, according to the scriptures, is not of God’s. that which lives by the dictates of the flesh is simply, not of God.[6]
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:16-17)
How do we live forever?
The body is flesh while the spirit lives forever. If we can just merge the flesh with the eternally living spirit, we can live forever. Is it possible for a man to live forever with his spirit clinging to his soul?
What is life eternal? John 17:3 says that life eternal is for man to know God as the only true God “and Jesus Christ”. So, there are two requirements: one needs to know God as the true God and Jesus Christ. Why is it important to know Christ? In John 3:36 it says that those who believed in the son of God will be given everlasting life.
What is the way then that leads to eternal life?
What is the Way?
The Way is a book which teaches us how to attain eternal life. What is the Way, the Truth and the Life that Jesus said in John 14:6? Why did he say that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life?
What Jesus referred to in John 14:6 are stages of illumination for mankind to attain eternal life. The Way is the means towards the Truth and the Truth is the way to life. By doing the things contained in the Way, man will discover the Truth and when he discovers the Truth, he gets Life.
Jesus is the culmination of all these—the way, the truth and the life—because he already attained illumination. He has broken the barriers that hinder man from the attainment of eternal life. He lived according to the law and those of the Prophets, discovered the Truth and now, was given eternal life.
What Jesus is asking us to do is follow his examples, how he lived, because that is the Way. He is not asking us to worship him—worship the one who made him, he says. His life is the Way because it proves that God’s ways can actually be realized by man. That man is totally capable of total obeisance is possible by doing what Jesus did when he lived on earth.
When one lives like Christ, he discovers the Truth. And what is the Truth?
That man can live forever. His corruptible nature can be changed to incorruptibility. How will man attain incorruptibility? It is by realizing that he has to live in a place where there is no corruption. Life depends on the environment it is in. If man goes to a place where there is no corruption, then, he will be able to live more than 120 years, the length of life God gave man as a consequence of man being flesh. [1]
And where is this place that is without corruption? This is a place called the realm of Light. How will man be able to go there? By learning the things which those who inhabit the realm of Light do. What are these things that they do? They keep themselves pure. How do they keep themselves pure? By thinking of things pure and Godly and keeping away from things which makes their bodies impure.
The human body is not made to last forever. It is made up of cells created and destined to die. When the cells of the body perish, death comes. The life span of cells is the internal clock of man.
For man to live forever, he must transform and release his eternal spirit from the bonds of his body. That which is incorruptible lies within man. When the body is no more, the spirit needs a dwelling place.
When an evil person dies, his spirit becomes defiled. A spirit that is defiled will obviously seek a place of defilement.
When a holy person dies, his spirit becomes blessed and holy. A holy spirit will seek a place of utter bliss and holiness.
In the last day, the spirit of those who obey the Way will merit a reward—their spirits will attain another form, a holy form, that is pure. This form will enable them to live in the presence of God.
Remember that the heavens were described by the Ancients as “somewhat like water, an ocean.” That is allegorical. It just says that man cannot live in the heavens without an apparatus, or something that will enable man to breathe and act normally as what he does on earth.
The corruptible body of man cannot contain the holiness of paradise. The only way for man to live in paradise is for his corruptible body to attain incorruptibility so that he can now breathe and move freely in paradise. That is the Truth.
When man realizes the Truth, he is now prepared to accept Life. And what is Life that Jesus and the Prophets refer to?
It is the life spent eternally with God in his garden. It is a life which Adam and Eve experienced some millennia ago.
It is a life shared under God.
[1] Genesis 6:1.
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