That last post gave me the idea for a dystopian novel.
Suppose the global elites could really do it–squish their minds into a robot and live forever. While the rest of us peasants grow old and die. A Bible verse springs instantly to mind: And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them (Revelation 9:6).
I imagine the protagonist screaming at one of his friends, “O my God!” [What god would that be?] “That must be the ten millionth time you’ve told that stinkin’ joke! Aaaaargh!”
Enabled by their great god Science, globalist big shots have their minds inhabiting special, incredibly costly, fantastic artificial bodies. And these are virtually indestructable, so suicide is out of the question. As for going mad from boredom and frustration–well, that happened to him 160 years ago.
All he wants to do now is die–and he can’t. But almost everyone he knows is in the same boat, and life for these earth-bound, Godless immortals is nothing but a form of Hell. All pleasures have long since gone stale.
I won’t have time to write this, but maybe one of our younger brothers or sisters will.
In the meantime, don’t say God didn’t warn us.
There used to be a saying that Hell is the place where you have to do for all eternity the things that got you there in the first place. What these people describe is a form of Hell on earth. Same problem — after the first 100,000 years the things you’re doing get pretty stale, and you never get to be with God, the source of all goodness.
By the way, if I’m making even less sense than usual today, it may be because I spent the morning at the dentist, going through the first stages of having a crown replaced, and I’m still pretty groggy.
I know that groggy feeling, for sure. I feel very wretched today, the usual symptoms magnified. My son’s Aussie female had 9 pups on Sunday, and what a stress. He is working 2pm to midnight right now, so I have a hard time getting any peace and rest, but hopefully, they will be sold soon, or at least moved outside as soon as weather permits. w hew.
Gee, it was a lot easier to take care of baby fence lizards.
That is really a good idea. I like it. And it really seems that is just what the global elites are striving to do. And what a hell it would be for them. But it would take a good writer to flesh out the beings, the protagonists, and the story-line. I would be willing to review the manuscript, but don’t think I could write it.
The plains Indians are said to believe that everything you steal in this life, you will be forced to carry with you, everywhere, in the next life. Now, I don’t necessarily see things the way they do, with regard to the afterlife. We carry all that we have done, eternally, thereafter.
Over 50 years ago, I helped myself to a piece of notebook paper, from someone else’s notebook. It was theft, but the item stolen was worth a fraction of one penny. The fact that I remember this event from 1970, speaks volumes. I have been carrying that piece of paper everywhere I go, for 52 years. (It’s not heavy, but I could get a nasty paper cut.) 🙂
Some interpret the “new heavens and new earth” from the Bible as meaning that literally every molecule, every atom, every quark; everything in the material and spirit realm will be done away with, and remade. Then, and only then, will I be able to leave that piece of paper behind. So the wicked are prisoners, already. They can claim to be free, however, they are anything but free.
Paul discussed his sins in many of the epistles. The point is, they’ve been paid for, all of them, by Jesus Christ Himself.
That ransom paid by Christ allows us access to our Creator, and that’s vital, but we still remember our shortcomings.
We have to remember them, or we wouldn’t have a conscience.
My point involves some very long-term issues.
Mankind is in a fallen state and humans have sinned, egregiously. King David, for example, committed adultery and the arranged the death of the husband of the woman he had been involved with. As sins go, these are pretty hard to ignore. Lives were disrupted and even ended, because of David’s sin.
Now, in the eternal scheme of things, David’s actions have a profound effect. He was forgiven, by God, and is favorably remembered in scripture. However, unless God comes up with a way, not to erase history, but to give us a new start; David, or any of us, for that matter, will never truly be free.
Viewed from that perspective, a literal “new heavens and a new earth” seems to make a lot of sense. If the only part of me that remained was my consciousness and self awareness, I could forget about the mistakes I made with regard to things made of atoms, be they a sheet of paper, or some human that I negatively affected because of my sin nature.
Forgiveness from God is actually quite easy to come by. He gave the life of His Son for that very reason. If we accept Christ, we can be forgiven, and that’s a great thing.
Forgiveness from other humans is less easy to come by. If someone lost something precious because of someone’s misdeeds, they might feel that loss for life. My family still feels the effects of losses which happened over 90 years ago, losses both material, and losses from death. Even when forgiveness is proffered, the effects of a misdeed can go on for a long time.
Forgiveness from ourselves is the most difficult to come by. Every so often, I will think of some harsh word I spoke, or poor decision I made, decades ago, and I will shudder at the memory. I’ve done what I can to make my peace with God, and when the opportunity has presented, I have done what I can to make my peace with the people I’ve let down, but making peace with myself is not so easy.
It’s a terrible thing, to contemplate one’s own sins. As Paul said in Romans, “The things I hate, I do. And the things I should do, I don’t do.” And that was after he was saved.
Paul speaks for all of mankind. Simply losing patience can happen easily, but can be very hurtful.
I know a man whose father was a moral and decent man, but whom treated his children the way a drill sergeant treats a raw recruit on the first day of boot camp. He thought that he was doing the right thing, but he harmed all of his children because he did not know how to treat others with kindness and understanding. His children lived in terror of him, and grew up to face significant problems interacting with others. To the best of my knowledge, none of his children had offspring of their own, and his lineage ended with his children. It may be said that he had his reward in full, dying without any grandchildren, but even in death, his name continues to be scorned … and this was a man that, at least by all appearances, was devout.
It’s hard for us to do it right.
Challenge accepted!
That’s a great idea. If you don’t mind, I might work this concept into the dystopian sci-fi/fantasy detective series I’m planning to begin in November as a recurring “immortal” character who wants to die…but can’t. And since it’s a Christian series, I can work in that verse from Revelation.
Tally-ho to that! Please keep me posted.