Pastor's Corner by Rev. David M. Jahn

Part 10 - Eternal Life

Living as mortal beings who are aware of eternity is one of the cruelest parts of human existence. At a very young age we come to the realization that there was a time when we did not exist. We ponder the fact that our families were families before we got there. Our moms and dads had lives that did not include us. From these thoughts it is a very short leap to the idea that one day we will again cease to exist. The world will go on spinning; spring will turn into summer, summer into fall, fall into winter, and back into spring completely unaware that we are gone. A tiny part of humanity, the people who knew us and loved us, will mourn for a moment, but soon even their lives will go on largely unchanged. In the grand scheme of things on planet earth, it is unlikely that our lives will be of any consequence in history. In the context of the universe, even the most famous of human beings passes completely without notice, gone without a trace.

Most people find it hard to think about this for very long. It is upsetting. We can’t imagine non-existence. Life is so full of so much that the thought of having and being nothing can stir up more than a little panic in our hearts. “There must be more. There has to be something after this life.” You can almost hear the thought that must have come to our most ancient ancestors because, if we are honest, it has come to us as well.

In an evolutionary sense, it doesn’t seem logical to me that any mortal form of life would have an awareness of eternity. What possible good could it do for the survival of the species to have everyone anxious about the fact that, one day, inevitably, they will no longer exist? Dogs and cats have a terrific survival instinct, but they don’t lose a single night’s sleep over what happens after they die.

Secular types will argue that our whole system of beliefs about life after death has been generated by our overwhelming anxiety about death and our refusal to except non-existence as our ultimate destiny. But this still doesn’t answer the question, “Why is this an issue for us?” How did we come to even think about eternity let alone care about it?

It seems to me that concern over eternity, the awareness that we exist and the desire to continue our existence into eternity is evidence of what we often call the human soul. Our desire to make a difference, to have lives that will have meant something after we are gone is another symptom of the fact that we are more than biological machines. The sense of regret that some people feel if they see that they have wasted their time on earth speaks to a connection with something greater than themselves. An animal produced by an ecosystem would feel no such connection.

Science tends to equate the person with the body. You are what the systems in your physical being make you. When that physical system is damaged you are diminished. When that system ceases to function you are gone. That’s it. In the realm of science there is no eternal life because you cannot run an experiment which will show that any such thing exists. If you cannot measure it or observe it in a repeatable way, it is not relevant to scientific study. And yet, even in our very science-driven culture, most people believe in eternal life of some kind.

Who is right? Are the secular atheists who believe that we are all accidents of evolution the true realists here? Are they the brave ones because they have the guts to admit that our lives only have the meaning that we can give them here on earth and after that it’s over? Or are the religious folks, the spiritual people who are convinced that there must be more, right? How can we know for sure?

Anyone who is being honest will tell you that we can’t know for sure. The honest scientist will tell you only that her craft can give her no data about these things because (if they exist) they are beyond her current powers of observation and experimentation. The honest religious person will tell you that they believe in eternal life; people they have always loved and trusted have told them that it is real, but they have no way to prove it. It all comes down to faith.

But is eternal life an idea worthy of our faith? After all, if you are about to sit in a broken chair, no matter how much faith you put in it, no matter how much you assume it will hold you, it may still collapse under your weight.

This is where the Christian Gospel can help us. It can’t prove anything, but it can give us some evidence that this particular chair is a reasonable one to try.

Near the end of Jesus’ ministry his disciples were convinced that he was going to become the ruler of a new Israel and that they would rule with him. As often as he warned them that his mission would lead him to a violent end, they never seemed to understand this. When he was arrested and crucified they were devastated and frightened. They fled into hiding. Any young, Jewish male would have been aware of how Rome treated rabble rousers. Once the leader was executed, the rest of the “gang” was rounded up and executed as well. This is why on the 3rd day after Jesus’ crucifixion they were huddled in the upper room of a house, hoping to wait until things cooled down a bit so that they could sneak out of Jerusalem and try to put their lives back together.

A few days later these same frightened peasants were out on the streets in plain view of their enemies proclaiming that Jesus was alive. All of them went to their grave proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead and had given to them the good news of eternal life to proclaim to everyone who would listen. The lives of these men and women speak nothing of a hoax or a cover-up. The evidence at hand instead points to an absolutely life-changing encounter with something. They were changed from broken, fearful, peasants into powerful witnesses to a truth that turned the world upside down.

Is this proof of Jesus’ resurrection and that eternal life is real? No. History cannot prove anything. It can only record that these men and women experienced something extraordinary which led them to believe in Jesus and his message of eternal life enough to die for the idea.

Where does this leave us? If you are someone who needs proof, I’m afraid you will be left disappointed. If, however, you are someone who chooses to believe that the feeling in your gut, the stories of so many different faiths, and the witness of the followers of Jesus are worth putting your faith in, I think you can rest assured that it is reasonable to do so.

I look at it this way; trusting in what Jesus taught about eternal life is at least as reasonable as trusting in the pilots I have never met on the many flights I have taken in my life. Living life believing that God loves me, that my life has meaning, and that I have an eternity to look forward to has been such an incredible source of joy, I can’t imagine choosing to live as if I am an accident of nature that means nothing and makes no difference. Since either point of view could be seen as reasonable, why would I put my faith in a point of view that is so hopeless?

Trusting God’s promises,