By Will Green.
"Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, having seen and done everything there is to see and do, decides to dedicate the rest of his existence to insulting every single living being in the universe - in alphabetical order. It is interesting to note that the Guide points out that those who are naturally immortal are born with the psychological capacity to cope with immortality and would not suffer from this trope; Wowbagger's immortality was thrust upon him by accident, which is why he has such a hard time of it."
-From
TVTropesDouglas Adams' makes an interesting point in the Hitchhikers series about immortality and happiness. He points out that being immortal would actually have a lot of downsides. Although perhaps the first few hundred years would be pretty interesting, eventually it would get tedious.
Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that humans are not naturally immortal. We are finite beings who live on earth for a short period of time. We get bored rather easily and I suspect we aren't naturally able to cope with eternity.
But even if we never died physically we would still not be eternal in the way that God is. Even if we never died physically and 'continued' forever we would still exist within time. So we could never say that we had actually lived for an eternity, like God can (
Psalm 90:2), even if we were immortal.
God is naturally eternal and outside the restrictions of time, so surely God is naturally able to cope with eternity; with living forever. Whatever happiness God has must be an eternal happiness that never gets boring or pointless, otherwise God would not be able to 'cope' with His own nature (and that would be strange).
This may explain why the Bible talks about eternal life (God's plan for humanity) as experiencing God's happiness:
Romans 14:17: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Psalm 16:11: You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 36:8-9: They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
Because God is naturally able to cope with living forever, God's happiness is an eternal happiness that never becomes monotonous. That is, eternal life. So giving that happiness to humans would be giving humans eternal life, a life that is fulfilling and pleasurable for eons; forever.
The only problem is that according to the Bible, failing to do what is right separates us from God strongly enough that God cannot give us eternal life (
Rom 6:23). God cannot be that close to sin. That's why Jesus died on the cross for us (
Rom 6:6), where God did a 'character swap', exchanging our moral failures for Jesus' perfection, to be fully manifested after we die.
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Comments (11)
You spend eternity somewhere though; heaven or hell. Eternity still means eternal life. It's just up to us where we decide to spend it, and God shows us how.
@presque_la@xanga - Too true...although, to be a little picky on details, God does call eternity in hell death. And life with God is, in fact, true life as He intended it. Since God knows the soul will never die, maybe it's worthwhile to take into account God's specific ideas on the matter. Just a thought. :) In the long run, I still agree with you.
Humans are naturally immortal beings. Our spirits live forever. And before the sin of Adam, humanity was physically eternal as well. Only because of sin do we have to die. In the flesh. So naturally we were meant for eternity.
"...humans are not naturally immortal."
That's not quite true, in that we are body and soul. The soul in not just natural; it can not be seen and studied; it's not a where but a what. Eternity, likewise, is not a where but a what.
We won't get bored with Eternity; we just have to believe in God.
Eternity is not so much a when either. A taste of eternity is here for us now; we know we are not quite at home in the finite world, and long for a center outside of the self, a home in God, our Reality, our real center. We have to start here following Christ in the now... don't try to cope, try to believe, try to follow, to become.
Until we obtain our promised glorified bodies, we will not be able to fully comprehend how it will be like while still in our mortal bodies. It's like a caterpillar trying to understand what it means to be a butterfly.
sure hope so. one way to find out
i don't really believe in an afterlife, as i think it cheapens the experience of this life. if something so much better is awaiting you on the other side, and you're so confident you're gonna go there, why not kill yourself and get it over with? why have children just to put them through a miserable temporary existence?
if an afterlife exists, then this life is simply a test to determine what your afterlife is like. everything you do isn't really done because the outcome matters now... it's done because you want to tip the scale in your favor. if i thought that's all my life was, i would have killed myself out of sheer disappointment years ago.
You don't understand it now, but you will when you get there. God gives us a new body, and a new frame of mind. We can't even comprehend it in this form, so why try? We will understand it ALL When we are there. :D
We all came from somewhere in the Heavens, where Jesus and the angels were, once God said The Words, "TO LOVE." Nearly all of us have an infinitely-long length of life, called Eternity. The devil's reign is only temporary, and his lifetime is finite. The rest of us will all return to God and the angels, once the New Jerusalem is ready. Until then, we all come back to life on Earth, time and time again. Sometimes we return as children. Jesus would have us all folllow Him. Good luck! ...Love, Sandy
I don't think I believe in the afterlife. I think it's something that humans have made up in various religions in order to lessen fear and make it feel like we really are here for something. If there really is nothing, the religious people won't be dissapointed about anything.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - i agree.
@presque_la@xanga - I agree with that
and as to the post God do not need our approval to stand by His word He said we will have new bodies a new world and everlasting life in my case I believe He God can't and won't lie with our belief or not He's God.