Thursday, May 30, 2013

Long life

So last month's National Geographic had a baby on the cover who was about the same age as my baby boy. The cover line was "Will this baby live to be 120? Science says probably."

120? That is a stinking long time. The article show that genetic sociologists have identified communities with people who are quite old and quite healthy. Through that identification they have found specific genes that prevent diabetes and heart disease. The implication is they will be able to "fix" other people's genes to prevent these types of diseases and therefore they will live longer.

All that aside, it got me thinking about do I want to live to be 120? Do I wish that for my children?

I look at my mother who is not yet even 60 and she has had 2 knee replacements and has a myriad of physical and health issues that make living quite painful for her. The things she has wrong are totally non life threatening, but life is not so awesome with them. I don't think she wants to live another 60 years with those things. I don't want her to suffer with diabetes or heart disease, but my question is not here. It lies with the other factors that make life stink. Now if this research finds ways to get rid of dementia or alzheimer's, then I will quite satisfied.

With the exception of a few, most people can not work past 65 or 70, especially if they worked in physically demanding fields. Mentally, your brain starts to diminish its capacity around the same age. It is a natural part of aging. So do we want to live in a world where we still exist 50-60 years after our bodies and minds stop functioning at top capacity and begin to diminish?

This world is hard, heaven is a promise. Is it a good thing to put off seeing the glory of God for sooooo long?  My mother has told me on many occasions she is praying for the end of this world and the second coming of Christ. I used to not like that idea. I wasn't ready. I wanted to get married have kids, see the world. But now that I know a little more about the bible and about the hardships of life, if I could spare my children the difficulties of life and give them Heaven instead- yes. Absolutely.

Feeling philosophical lately. Maybe it is my quiet moments...

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