Is Immortality Knocking?

The amazing accounts in the Word of God that so perfectly define our origins, history, and final destiny have, since the beginning of time, been challenged and ridiculed by carnaldom.  But when diligent search is performed, the words of the Holy Bible found in the Authorized King James Version are discovered to be supremely accurate.  GodSaidManSaid is committed to defending the faith.  On this website, there are presently 340 subjects that prove and support the majestic veracity of the Word of God.

One challenger asked us to prove God without referring to the Bible.  That is exceptionally easy to do, but the real challenge is to define who God is through the Scriptures and to prove that the living God authored the Scriptures, and that they are His inerrant Word, and that He will hold all men accountable to it at a soon coming (very soon coming) judgment day.  When this Holy Word is proven in the mind of the believer, it becomes definitive of all things: who God is, who we are, why we need a Savior, who this Savior is, what’s required of us, the outcome of obedience versus disobedience, and so much more.  Psalms 138:1-2:

1.  A Psalm of David. I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

2.  I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

God’s Word is lifted above all—even above His own name God, and certainly above all the names of the world’s false gods.  Proving the Bible to be the inerrant Word of the living God is the real challenge, and those who perform the due diligence will be satisfied that it is true and righteous altogether—true spiritually; true scientifically; true academically; true socially; true politically; just true, true, true. 

Are you ready to embrace the truth?  Are you ready for the answers to all of your questions?  Today is your day of salvation.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for the immediate, glorious solution.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:16-17:

16.  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17.  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:22-24:

22.  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23.  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24.  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

GOD SAID, Romans 5:12:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:               

MAN SAID: Adam was to live forever?  What a farce!  This is just another fairy tale from the Bible-thumping fanatics.

Now THE RECORD.  The priest said to me that the first five books of the Bible are fairy tales.  You can be sure he saw all miraculous accounts in God’s Word with the same unbelief.  I’m reminded of a brother in Christ having a discussion with his pastor concerning miracles.  The pastor said, “What if I told you I don’t believe?” 

The brother answered, “You should consider laying brick.”  In another instance, two priests told the lay minister that their black robes made white bread.

Partializers pollute the world’s pulpits.  Romans 16:17-18:

17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Beware of the message couched in “good words and fair speeches.”

Could something as fantastic as immortality be any more than a fairy tale?  Is there some historic trail or scientific knowledge that establishes or points to such a concept?  The answer to both questions is yes.  As usual, the credibility of the Word of God continues to be verified.

Theorists in the scientific field predict that one day we will have reached theoretic immortality.  They base their predictions on two simple ideas:

1. Life expectancy for the American male was approximately 50 years in the year 1900.  One hundred years later, it rose to 74—a 48% increase.

2. Knowledge is increasing.  The following paragraph is from the “Dean’s Message” from the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s website:

We're all striving to keep up with the quantum leaps being made in all areas of knowledge.  It's estimated that medical knowledge, for example, doubles every seven years, and scientific knowledge doubles every twenty years.  The total written knowledge in the world is said to have doubled between 1450 and 1750, and then to have doubled again between 1750 and 1900. Between 1900 and 1950, human knowledge doubled once more, and then again from 1950 to 1975.  Now, it is believed to double every 900 days.  By the year 2020, global knowledge is predicted to double every 72 days!  [End of quote]

The theory suggests that if you can live for the next 20 years, technology and understanding will have increased to such an extent that cures will be found for the physical problems you’ll be experiencing at that time, extending your life another 20 years.  When you’ve lived your 20-year extension, technology and understanding theoretically will have again increased to cure the physical problems you’ll be experiencing, extending your life even another 20 years, and so on.  Now, that’s providing you’re not murdered, or killed in an auto accident, or killed by terrorists, or the like.  Of course, students of the Scriptures know that Hebrews 9:27 reads:

 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

That settles it.  However, the purpose of this article is to demonstrate that Adam and Eve’s immortality was a very practical concept.

GodSaidManSaid has hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, with a vision of 100,000 per day.  Yet, a feature article published in October 2002, dealing with immortality, has logged 4,047 visitors.  The information in this article is seismic, and new information has since been published, gaining serious global traction for the concept.  Foundational information from the GodSaidManSaid article “Adam Was To Live Forever” is needed to place the new discoveries concerning immortality into the Biblical perspective.  The info is listed as follows:

After our original parents disobeyed God, that very day they died spiritually and the physical death process began.  The Bible dubs it “the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2),” while science calls it “the second law of thermodynamics.”  From the original plan to live forever, man’s life span prior to Noah’s flood, drops to 911 average years (See “Dinosaurs” on this website.).  After the flood the average life span is recorded to be 120 years (See “One Hundred Twenty Years” on this website.) and drops even further to the Psalmist’s record (Psalms 90:10) of threescore and ten years, or 70 years.  This is very interesting when you consider what science has discovered concerning why we age.

One scientific rationale on aging that carries serious credibility is called the somatic mutation theory.  Authors Morris and Clark define it: “A somatic mutation is a sudden, random change in the structure of a cell of the body.  Since almost all mutations are harmful, the gradual accumulation of mutations in the cells of various organs and tissues will inevitably lead to impaired bodily efficiency and eventually to complete breakdown of one or more bodily components.”  Keep in mind that nearly all mutations are a product of ultraviolet rays from the sun.

Found during recent scientific research delving into why we die, was this discovery: at the end of every chromosome is a long strand of DNA called a telomere.  Every time the cell divides, its DNA strand shortens until there is none left.  At this point the cell begins to age and die.  Now keep in mind that DNA can be killed only by bacteria and ultraviolet radiation from the sun (and if I had to guess I would suggest that most bacteria is also a result of UV rays).

I’ve emphasized the concept of radiation and UV rays, and the fact that man’s life span is only one thirteenth of what it was before the flood, in order to bring your attention to a critical piece in the puzzle of mortality.  Remember, DNA is destroyed by bacteria and UV rays.  Prior to Noah’s flood, a water canopy existed above the sky, encompassing the earth (See “One Hundred Twenty Years” on this website.).  During the flood, God opened the windows of heaven and poured rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.  Also, the fountains of the deep were opened.  According to scientists, this water canopy, which ancient peoples knew as the celestial ocean, would have filtered out the UV killer rays from the sun, which destroy life.  It would have also created a greenhouse effect causing the whole earth to be of a tropical‑type climate (See “Dinosaurs” on this website.).  Now that the water canopy no longer exists and has been replaced with a one‑and‑one‑half inch thick (approximately) ozone layer, the UV rays bombard the earth incessantly, contributing in a major way to man’s abbreviated 70‑year life span.

A very brief divergence from “Adam Was To Live Forever” is the following pertinent paragraph from “One Hundred Twenty Years:”

In Dr. Reginald Cherry's book, The Bible Cure, the following paragraph is found:

Scientists have been trying to unravel the mysteries of aging for decades.  In the early fifties, Leonard Hayflick, a scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered a very interesting thing: All human cells are able to reproduce themselves only a certain number of times.  This is estimated to be about fifty cell divisions, which Dr. Hayflick estimated would place the human life at between one hundred fifteen and one hundred twenty years.  Researchers still don't know what drives this cellular timetable, but the life span of humans seems to be set at approximately one hundred twenty years.  Researchers can study a culture of human cells as they divide repeatedly until a maximum of fifty to sixty divisions, which equates to one hundred twenty years.  [End of quote]

Now, back to “Adam Was To Live Forever:”

As an aside, these tremendously long pre‑flood life spans answer many questions.  Consider Neanderthal man, one of the evolutionists’ supposed links between ape and man (See “Neanderthal Man” on this website.).  Because pseudo‑science has rejected the Bible and the creation model, the following truth has escaped the followers of pseudo‑science.  A.L. Gillen writes in his book, Body By Design, the following:

Dr. Jack Cuozzo, a research orthodontist for over 30 years, in his book Buried Alive, explains Neanderthal man skeletons.  His studies show that the human head does not stop growing as we age.  Contrasting the measurements of people’s heads when they were 19, in their late forties, and some at age 80, he discovered that the head changed in the following manner: 1) the brow ridge came forward; 2) the jaw came forward; 3) the nose got bigger; 4) the chin came forward; 5) the cheeks came forward and flattened out; 6) the teeth came forward; 7) the back of the head started to point out.

Think of a baby’s soft head.  It is fashioned with cartilage as well as bone.  Our skull gradually changes over time from fetus to infant to adolescent to adult.  This has been known for some time.  But more recently Dr. Jack Cuozzo has found that our skull continues to change in our old age, and assuming man could live to 150, 200, 300, or even 500 years of age, this pattern of change would produce an individual that looked remarkably like Neanderthal man.

Now that we have a modicum of understanding concerning aging and death, let’s consider the information that suggests man could possibly have had the ability to live forever.  First let me mention that today’s woman begins life with a half million eggs in her ovaries and only God knows how many the first woman Eve had and even whether they could be replenished.  Not only was Eve to live forever but she had the potential to bear many, many children.  The Bible does say that Adam and Eve had sons and daughters but the scriptures do not quantify, although Jewish tradition claims 33 sons and 23 daughters.

New research now being conducted by Michael Rose, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, is focused on extending life.  He is experimenting with fruit flies.  Fruit flies are likely candidates because they reproduce rapidly and make it possible to see the generational effects of their experiments very quickly.  In his laboratory he has managed to double the life span of fruit flies – raising a lot of eyebrows.  When he was asked how far this life extension could go on he answered, “The flies in my lab can potentially live forever.  But of course they don’t, because they have a high likelihood of dying by accident.”  When the question shifted to the human life span and ‘are there discernable limits?’ Rose said, “Not at all. I believe the limit of the human life span is the limit of human technology.”

The following excerpt is from the article in U.S. News and World Report, titled, “The Cells of Immortality.”  It reads:

Over the past century, vaccines, antibiotics, and good sanitation have upped the average American’s life expectancy by decades, to today’s 74 years for men and 79 for women.  Now, new understanding of the genes and chemicals involved in aging may not only help humans live far past that age but, more important, may also help people retain health and strength in those latter years.  The discovery of biological clocks ticking away in each of our cells, and a knowledge of how to reset those clocks, open the possibility that a human would never die – at least not from old age.

Then again, reiterating information about DNA we discussed earlier, the article continued:

But even if everyone were to receive special longevity genes, each cell in the body nonetheless carries the plans for its eventual death right in its DNA.  At the end of each chromosome is a long strand of “nonsense” DNA called a telomere.  Each time a cell divides, the strand gets a bit shorter, like a burning candlewick.  When it runs out, the cell can no longer divide and is left to age and die.  But scientists have found that the enzyme telomerase can rebuild the strand over and over again.  With the help of this substance, human cells have been enjoying immortality in a petri dish at Geron Corp. for more than 200 normal lifetimes.

Now don’t forget, UV rays and bacteria kill DNA.

The following is a lead paragraph in an article in Discover magazine titled, “Immortal Cells:”

The clusters of human skin cells basking in a sterile incubator, with alarms poised to go off if the level of carbon dioxide drops or the temperature wavers from 98.6 degrees, appear to be blessed with eternal youth.  Under normal circumstances, skin cells divide about 50 to 70 times and then quickly wither and stop dividing.  But after nearly two years in a laboratory at Geron, a Menlo Park, California, biotech company, these genetically altered cells are approaching 400 divisions and still show no signs of aging.  They just keep multiplying.

From the same article, biochemist Cal Harley had this to say:

Telomeres are now known to be the clock of cell aging.  Telomerase is the enzyme that can rewind the clock.  It gives us a way to restore an increased life span, a youthful life span, to aging cells.

Romans 8:22:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Isn’t it exciting to know that God is preparing to fix it?  He begins the fixing process by first purging the world of the ones who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  He casts them—the sinners and the ungodly—into the lake of fire.  This happens at the Great White Throne Judgment.  (Read Revelation 20:11‑15.)  Then God destroys the old, contaminated heavens and earth with a loud sound and fervent heat (II Peter 3:9‑11) and replaces it with a new heaven and a new earth where no sin exists.  The new Jerusalem then comes down out of heaven.  (It is approximately 1500 miles wide, deep, and high.)  Concerning the sun in particular, the Word of God says in Revelation 21:23:

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

And then again, in Revelation 22:5:

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Note the absence of the sun in this eternal equation—the source of ultraviolet death rays.  Also note the pure river of water and the tree of life with its fruit and leaves as recorded in Revelation 22:1‑2:

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

God fixes everything for His children—no more sin, no more contaminated earth and heaven, a new Jerusalem where there are no more damaging effects of the sun, and the pure river and tree of life to replenish our eternal bodies.  But in order to participate in this “blessed hope” you must be born into the house of God.  Click on to “Further With Jesus” on this website for entry details.  [End of quote]

Many of you have heard of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, or are familiar with his new book and documentary, Chasing Life.  Gupta, a practicing M.D., is assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital, and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, where he practices.  He is also the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN and arguably the most listened to medical voice on earth.  Just recently (August 2007) the journal, Life Extension, featured Dr. Gupta on the cover with the headline, “Dr. Gupta’s Search for Biological Immortality.” 

The doctor’s search took him the world over interviewing leading scientists, physicians, and theorists in their fields concerning the prospects of extending life.  Some excerpts from the article follow (“LE” stands for the question posed by the Life Extension reporter, and “SG” for Sanjay Gupta.):

LE:  In the book you profile the futurist Ray Kurzweil and the various methods he is utilizing to live longer.  In summary, his theory is that in the not too distant future, medicine will be sophisticated enough to repair or cure a number of the major degenerative diseases.  His position is that he is doing everything he can to live as long as possible and avoid the big killers like heart disease and cancer until medicine can actually deliver these new life‑extending technologies.  After hearing him propose this, what are your thoughts?

SG:  I think in the next couple of decades, we’re going to get to a point of practical immortality.  It’s not true immortality, but practical immortality, meaning that we’re going to live much longer without getting sick, and as a result we’ll have many more functional years.  It seems that we are going to get to the point where some people will be able to decide how long they want to live by doing some of the things that Kurzweil talks about.  There is a lot of interest and activity around promising technologies such as exchanging body organs, rejuvenating cells, and even nanotechnology which will eliminate even a single cancer cell in the body before it can ever start replicating.

LE:  In the last five years, it seems as if the possibilities of medicine have exponentially exploded.  You can almost see the future happening right before our eyes.

SG:  That’s correct.  Along that line of thought, right now there is a great deal of extremely sophisticated technology that a lot of people still don’t know about or even use.  For example, I have a history of heart disease in my family.  Previously you had to wait until you had a coronary event to really know what was wrong or even do something about it.  Now, through noninvasive means, we can look at all of our coronary vessels—all the blood vessels in our heart.  Just a few years ago, this didn’t exist and could be considered science fiction.  Plus, there are medications that not only stop the production of plaque that narrows your blood vessels, but actually reverse it.  This isn’t a life enhancing technology or medication that you have to wait for ten years for, this is now.  There are people like Arthur Agatston, who’s a friend of mine, who says, “You know what, no one in this country needs to have a heart attack again.”  [End of quote]

The final statement in the interview is this quote from Dr. Gupta’s book, Chasing Life:

All over the world and right in your backyard, there are people who are steadily pushing back the frontier of aging.  They are not content to simply wither away, becoming frail and feeling worthless.  Instead, they are achieving a sort of practical immortality—living as long as they want to live and dying only when they are through living¼  Immortality is on the horizon and it is within our reach for the first time.  [End of quote]

Is it possible?  Could the Bible’s account of Adam and Eve originally being immortal actually be true?  YES!  And, YES!  The amazing record is true and righteous altogether.  The Word of God is true once again, of course.

GOD SAID, Adam and Eve were to live forever.