Posted by Cygnus [Cygnus] on November 28, 1999 at 09:46:42 {hcnmikA.FkxW2S2vvLogL4bdfUTIaI}:
In Reply to: **Life Forever 100% Certain posted by Tantalus on November 28, 1999 at 09:12:20:
: then we begin to feel our age and to lose all we have gained. No, no matter what your beliefs or lack of them are, no one can say it is better to die than to live.
Death is a part of life, my friend.
If I allow myself to glimpse into eternity rationally, I find that living that life as my own self and my own being forever and ever would be excruciating. I love myself, I love my family and friends. But I wouldn't want this identity forever. After the first 10,000 years, what the heck left would there be to accomplish? How could we assign value to anything? Everything would be valueless. How many different ways could I express to my wife that I love her? How many songs could I write that come from the real me? What issues could be debated, and with whom, by that time? And the next 10,000 years, and the next, and the next, etc. etc. etc. forever!
However, I could accept reincarnation, where I (us?) would live different lives over and over again. To me, that is a much more acceptable version of eternal life, even if we could have no recollection of past lives (one employee of mine happens to believe in this).
: Why wouldn't 70 years be worse than 30 if time takes away from your accomplishments instead of adding to them.
Because 70-80 years is about the limit our society has a pegged useful life span as. That is sufficient time to have raised a family, made contributions to one's community, be a productive member of society, and relax and enjoy one's efforts in retirement. It's simply the way it is, whereas dying at 30 means one hasn't lived a "full life." I know, you can't arbitrarily label a "full life" based on a certain number of years, but I think everyone understands this basic concept.
I personally would rather not live much past sixty. Judging from my family's history of old age, either one gets there without being able to remember anything, or one gets there by means of every drug known to man. No thanks.
But I do respect your opinion, and your faith. I simply don't think it is rational, that's all, and that's a main reason why I stopped calling myself a Christian. I don't believe in resurrection, or in personal eternity.