Why the Difference?

THOSE figures on the front cover are not fiction​—they are fact.

Trees often live far longer than man​—among beech trees ages of 250 to 300 years are common. Sturdy English oaks may reach 500. At 1,000 years the giant sequoia of California is still a youngster. By actual ring count sequoias are known to have lived from 3,000 to 4,000 years.

Indeed, with regard to sequoia trees, Dr. Ferdinand C. Lane, in The Story of Trees, said that he “found no record that any had ever succumbed to mere old age and guessed that if the hazards of lightning, fire and storm could be eliminated, some of these great trees might defy the ravages of time for 10,000 years.”

Yet research now shows that bristlecone pines surpass even the sequoias in age! Compared to these plants, man’s lifespan seems disappointingly short. Why is this?

Yes, why are humans also outlived by tortoises, like the giant Galápagos tortoises that regularly live from 100 to 150 years? Cases on record show tortoises passing the 200-year mark. Yet men living just one century are rare.

For that matter, why do even parrots occasionally become centenarians, with the claimed record age being 140 years?

True, modern man’s life-span is longer than that of most other living things, plants and animals, on this earth. But surely you will agree that the fact that even some living things outlast man by such a wide margin​—anywhere from double up to fifty times as great—​is puzzling, thought-provoking.

Does it seem reasonable to you that certain mindless plants, simple reptiles and birds should enjoy the priceless possession of life longer than intelligent humans? Or should it be the other way around?

If we accept the belief that man has a Creator, then to say that this is the way things were meant to be is equal to saying that some trees and animals are worth more to God than his highest earthly creation, man. Yet Jesus Christ, in his Sermon on the Mount, told his followers they were worth far more to their heavenly Father than birds or vegetation. (Matt. 6:25-30) The Bible, in fact, states that man was assigned by God to exercise dominion over all other living things on this planet, animals and vegetation. (Gen. 1:26-30) Appropriately, the one who exercises dominion should not die off before the things that are inferior to him.

To abandon belief in a Creator in favor of the theory of evolution solves nothing. Actually, it leaves us faced with an enigma. That theory portrays man as the ultimate product of an evolutionary process. The question, however, remains: Why would such process deal so bountifully with trees and tortoises and so sparingly with humans in the vital matter of life duration?

The satisfying answer to all these questions is what this issue of Awake! is about. Whether you are young or old, it will be worth your while to read it. Aging Andrew Carnegie once said: “I would give all my millions, if I could have youth and health. . . . I would gladly sell anything to have my life over again.” You undoubtedly love life and would be willing to pay a high price to see your life-span extend beyond the present average. For the cost of only some time and effort you can learn why there is a reasonable, solidly based and attainable hope of seeing that desire realized.

Are You Getting What You Want out of Life?

OF ALL earthly living things, only man is a planner. Brainless, sightless vegetation does not plan. Animals are governed by instinct. If they build nests or dens for their young to be born in, it is only because instinct moves them to do it. Only man thinks seriously about the future, is concerned with it, works toward it.

And man alone has purposes above and beyond merely sustaining life and procreating. He has ideals, goals that he seeks to realize. Man’s abilities and potential surpass those of the animals a thousandfold and more. To realize his purposes man needs time, and that is why he alone of earth’s living things is consciously concerned with time. Tortoises and trees have no interest in watches or calendars.

How far into the future do your plans go? What do you hope to accomplish during your lifetime? Do you personally feel that your capabilities are being used to the full or will ever be? How many things are there that you would like to do, that you feel you are capable of doing​—if you had the time?

Perhaps you would like to develop some talent, in music, the arts, literature or languages, or learn something about woodworking, mechanics, designing or architecture, or engage in studies in history, biology, astronomy or mathematics, or take up the cultivation of certain plants or the breeding of animals, birds or fish. Or possibly you would like to travel, to see new lands, get to know people of many places, develop new friendships, new outlooks. Many would like to do, not just one but a number of these things. Yet, because life is so short, what they actually do is very limited. The desire is there, nevertheless. Only the time is lacking.

Learning Ability and Creativity Outlast Man’s Body

There are so many reasons for desiring a longer life-span. Yet the idea is commonly held that human ability to accomplish worthwhile things just naturally starts coming to an end after a certain age, thus making a longer life of little value or purpose anyway. But is it a fact that learning power, thinking ability and creative talent must all fade after a certain point? No, the evidence is to the contrary.

At the age of ninety-nine Titian, the renowned painter, was still producing splendid works of art with “incomparable steadiness of hand.” Justice Holmes of the U.S. Supreme Court began the study of Greek at the age of ninety. At eighty-five, orchestral director Arturo Toscanini could still memorize the musical score of an entire opera. Were these men “finished,” “ready to die” at such advanced age? If they were, it was certainly not because they were no longer able to produce that which brought enjoyment to themselves and benefit and pleasure to others.

Showing the potential of human learning, Joseph C. Buckley, writing in The Retirement Handbook, says: “The drop in the ability to learn is so gradual that at eighty we still have the learning ability we had at the age of twelve.”

Supporting this are the results from research into the effects of age on mental capacity as reported in the article “Your Mind Improves with Age,” condensed from The American Weekly and printed in Reader’s Digest, January 1959. A group of 127 persons who as college freshmen had taken an intelligence test in 1919 were given the same test more than thirty years later. Their scores in the later tests were higher not only in general-information quizzes and in practical judgment, but also in tests requiring logic and clear thinking. In “concept mastery” tests, persons of average intelligence have kept getting higher scores right through their seventies and eighties. A University of Michigan study showed that memory and ability to learn do not steadily and uniformly decline with age any more than general intelligence.

Clearly, then, men could do so much, much more if physical weaknesses and illness did not hinder their productivity, and death did not cause it to cease as soon as it does. Often men are cut off just when they have really begun to develop a certain talent or have begun to get real insight into a matter.

Even if your interest in personal achievement​—developing a certain talent or ability—​is not so great, what of your interest in others, those you love, family, friends or your fellowman in general? Do you feel that you will have done all that you wanted for them by the time your years of life come to a close?

Really, who of us could willingly pick the time​—the year and day—​when we would like to spend our final hour with our marriage mate, son or daughter, or give them one last kiss? Could you? For that matter, when would you like to enjoy together with them for the last time the freshness of a spring day, the golden warmth of summer, the crispness of autumn or the quiet beauty of winter or share your last sunset or sunrise with them? These are not things you want to think about, are they? Not if you really love your family and friends, not if you care for them. For then you could never view with real approval the prospect of death’s bringing to a complete close your privilege of contributing to their happiness, doing things for them, sharing good things with them. How fine, how desirable it would be if your life with them could be extended far beyond man’s present life-span!

Interest in Mankind’s Future

You have lived long enough to see man’s rockets reach the moon and men walk on its surface. Yet today men cannot walk the earth in peace, free from danger, crime and violence. Would you like to live long enough to see this situation change, to live in a time when those around you are decent, considerate, lovingly helpful and sincerely interested in their neighbors? That change must come eventually or else mankind will cease to be, having continued its present destructive course to the point of global suicide. Surely this planet Earth, with its many unique provisions that make life possible, is not here just to become a massive graveyard throughout eternity.

You live in the age of the automobile, the jet plane, the mass-production industries. But you also live in the age of crowded, even choked and dying, cities; in the age of smog, of pollution of air, land, rivers and oceans. Would you like to live long enough to see brooks, rivers and lakes become sparkling clear again, to see fields and forests regain their natural beauty, to breathe air that is fresh, pure, fragrant? That, too, must come, and the present rate of contamination does not allow for the reversal of modern misuse of the earth to be delayed much longer​—not if mankind is to survive.

You live in the age of mechanical hearts, heart transplants, kidney machines, the age of antibiotics. But disease keeps on, from migraine headaches to cancer and heart attacks. Would you like to live to see the day when disease is really conquered, when not only the major “killers” among sicknesses are wiped out but the very source of human aging, decay and death is removed?

In fact, if you could live in good health, in peaceful, pleasant surroundings, having satisfying, interesting work to do, opportunities to broaden and deepen your knowledge, and live among unselfish and enlightened persons, would you ever want life to come to an end?

As will be shown, there is reason to believe that men and women living today can hope to see these things, that they can hope to live, not just a few extra years, but many times longer than the present life-span of mankind. How can this be? Is such a hope reasonable, in harmony with known, scientifically established facts?

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There are so many things you would like to do for those you love. How fine it would be if life were longer!

What Do We Know About the Human Life-Span

FOR most persons the present length of man’s life-span is just a known fact. They feel it should be viewed as neither strange nor subject to change. “It has always been this way and it always will be,” they say. They do not claim to know the cause of aging and accompanying weakness and death. But they feel sure nothing can be done about it.

How do you feel about it? Have you investigated the subject to any degree? Has man’s life-span always been so short? Is it really unchangeable, and is it “unscientific” to think otherwise?

Did you know, for example, that medical scientists are still very uncertain as to just why men grow old and die? The book Science Year for 1967 states that, at a four-day meeting of gerontologists (specialists in the study of aging), it was agreed that “the aging process is still largely a mystery. ‘We do not have the faintest idea what causes aging,’ said Dr. Nathan W. Shock of Baltimore City Hospital, Baltimore, Md.”

Not that there are no theories about aging. There are many. Most of them involve the death of cells. According to most current theories, during the growing years the body produces more cells than those that die. In a grown person it is estimated that every minute some three thousand million cells die and, in the same time, are replaced​—almost. The evidence is that an imbalance develops between the death of old cells and the formation of new ones. The decline in cell production is believed to cause the body deterioration​—loss of muscle tone, slowing of reactions, fading senses, brittleness of bones, wrinkles and, most serious, the impairment of organic functions—​that we know as aging.

Thus, an article in Science Digest of February 1969 reports: “The collective failings of the cells appear as symptoms of the degenerative diseases and the ravages of age, according to Dr. Howard J. Curtis of Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, L. I.”

When does aging start? Dr. Shock, after ten years of research, is quoted in the same article as believing that “aging begins when growth stops,” that is, at about eighteen to twenty years of age. Then what? The article continues: “Almost all functions then start declining slowly. At 30, they begin deteriorating at a faster but still modest rate which remains constant until death. In plain language, we go over the hill at 20, and the downgrade steepens after 30.” On the basis of his studies, Dr. Shock likewise believes the cause is the death of cells.

The problem is that the scientists still do not know just why it is that human cells, after a period of years, fail to reproduce their kind and thus to maintain the body’s needed supply.

How Long Is It Possible for Men to Live?

Some people, as we know, do live to a hundred years or more today. In modern times, the oldest age at death generally accepted as authentic, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica (1968 edition, article on the human life-span), is that of Pierre Joubert, who was born on July 15, 1701, and died November 16, 1814, at the age of 113 years and 124 days.

Do you believe that is the maximum age anyone could live? The Bible, for example, states that “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old at his death. His eye had not grown dim, and his vital strength had not fled.” (Deut. 34:7) Perhaps you will accept this as also possible, since the difference is only some six and two-thirds years.

What, then, of Moses’ ancestor Abraham, who, according to the Scriptural Record, lived “a hundred and seventy-five years” before dying? (Gen. 25:7, 8) And what of Abraham’s ancestor Shem, who is reported at Genesis 11:10, 11 as living six hundred years, or his great-grandfather Methuselah, whose days prior to the global flood “amounted to nine hundred and sixty-nine years and he died”? (Gen. 5:25-27) Would you draw the line somewhere between certain ones of these men and view the other ages as “unscientific” or “unreasonable”?

Before you answer, consider the following:

In the article mentioned earlier, the 1968 Encyclopædia Britannica shows that the average years men now live and the number of years a man could live are two different things. How long could a man live? The Encyclopædia says the span of life possible to humans is “a theoretical number whose exact value cannot be determined from existing knowledge. Presumably there is a maximum life span for the human race, but until there is discovered some property of protoplasm that definitely limits the possible duration of human life, the exact duration of man’s span of life will remain unknown.”

Do you find this surprising? Continuing, the article says: “At first thought, this statement seems irrational. Surely no human being can live 1,000 years. Even though all may agree that the likelihood of an individual living 1,000 years is infinitesimal, there is no scientific proof that this statement is, or is not, true.”

People, then, may reject the possibility of Methuselah’s age, even joke about it. But they cannot do so on truly scientific grounds, for genuine science admittedly knows no certain or absolute limit to human life.

What age would you set as the maximum that a human could live? Suppose you were to set the positive maximum at 120 years. Would you then adamantly refuse to believe that a man could live 120 years and one minute? And if you are willing to accept an extension of one minute, then why not 120 years and one day​—or one week, month, year, and so on?

Dr. Harold F. Dorn, who served in the Biometrics Research Branch of the National Heart Institute as chief during 1960 to 1963, used virtually the same illustration in the article on the human life-span in the reference work mentioned. In view of the evidence presented, his conclusion is: “Thus, based on existing knowledge of longevity, a precise figure for the span of human life cannot be given.”

What Hope from Medical Science for Longer Life?

What hope, then, do the medical scientists and researchers in longevity offer for the future? Do they expect man soon to rival the tortoise in passing the hundred-year mark? Do they offer any substantial hope for you to enjoy an extended lifespan? If not, is there hope from any other source?

Science Year of 1967 says: “Medical optimists are looking ahead to the 21st century when many present-day problems may be solved. Yet most specialists doubt that the average life span will be extended much beyond the proverbial threescore and 10 years.”

True, now and then some rather sensational predictions are made in newspapers or magazines of great advances expected by some scientist. But there is no solid evidence of any progress toward a dramatic increase in the human life-span from such sources. As the Scientific American magazine of March 1968 put it:

“Even if the major causes of death in old age​—heart disease, stroke and cancer—​were eliminated, the average life expectancy would not be lengthened by much more than 10 years. It would then be about 80 years instead of the expectancy of about 70 years that now prevails in advanced countries.”

Does that mean that there is no real hope for longer life? that generations of men and women will keep right on dying while beech trees, oaks and sequoias keep on living? Is there any source of information that gives reliable basis for believing otherwise?

Reliable Source of Hope

There is. And it is a source that not only specifies the fundamental cause of aging and death, but also shows how human life can and will surpass that of any of earth’s living plants and animals. It is the same source that gives the “proverbial” figure of man’s life expectancy the scientists refer to. It is the Bible, which says at Psalm 90:10: “In themselves the days of our years are seventy years; and if because of special mightiness they are eighty years, yet their insistence is on trouble and hurtful things; for it must quickly pass by, and away we fly.”

You may say, “But that simply confirms the shortness of man’s life-span.” True, that psalm written thousands of years in the past shows that the picture has not changed much as far as human life expectancy is concerned. But it does not say that this was always the case, that men never had a life expectancy of more than seventy or eighty years, or that they never will. In fact, it is the Bible that gives the record of nine men who lived prior to the global flood of Noah’s day and which record shows an average life-span of 847 years.​—Gen. 5:1-31.

Scientists in general admit their ‘mystification’ as to why man ages. The Bible explains it in simple terms. It shows that man ages and dies because of inherited sin and imperfection passed on to him from his first parents, Adam and Eve. For this reason the apostle Paul wrote: “Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”​—Rom. 5:12.

Man’s Creator designed man so that his life was dependent upon certain things. He had to breathe air, drink water, eat food. Without these, man would die. But not just these material things were involved. Man’s life was also dependent on his right relationship with his Creator. God’s Son quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures in saying, “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” (Matt. 4:4) The first man had God’s expressed law but violated it and thereby impaired the relationship of humankind with God. This wrong action resulted in imperfection, and imperfection brought eventual death. When the first pair began to procreate, the law of heredity caused their offspring to inherit their sinful nature and resultant imperfection.​—Ps. 51:5.

Scientists admit that they cannot ‘scientifically’ fix any certain limit on the possible maximum span of life for humans. The Bible shows that span was originally unlimited, that God informed the first human pair that as long as they obeyed they would not die. (Gen. 2:16, 17) It was their breaking their right relationship with God by disobedience that brought sickness, suffering, aging and death to all mankind, us included. From that time forward mankind has steadily weakened and the lifespan has reduced from an average of hundreds of years prior to the Flood to the present seventy- or eighty-year span.

The Bible’s explanation means that without sin man would not experience the aging process, would not weaken and suffer disease producing death. Removal of sin and restoration of right relations with God would therefore result in unending life. In fact, the Bible offers just that, the “hope of the everlasting life which God, who cannot lie, promised before times long lasting,” as the apostle Paul wrote at Titus 1:2. Jesus Christ when on earth said, “I have come that they might have life and might have it in abundance.” (John 10:10) He did not restrict that hope of abundant life to heaven, for he taught his followers to pray to his Father: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”​—Matt. 6:10.

Does it seem unreal to you, this prospect of unending life on earth? Yet within your own body you have evidence that humans were made to live without undergoing the aging process and death. Consider that evidence now and see how it adds confirmation of the reasonableness of the hope the Bible offers.

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Scientists in general admit they do not know why man ages; yet the Bible explains it in simple terms

Designed to Last Forever

IF MAN was created to live forever, we should expect to find evidence of that design in his body and its brain. Does he have the mental and physical equipment showing a design for living, with God’s help, not just hundreds or even thousands of years, but forever?

For everlasting life to be worth while, desirable, man would need a brain that could serve him forever. It would have to be a brain that could take in virtually unlimited amounts of information. It must be one that would enable him to build continually on previous knowledge so that he could make constant progress.

Does man have this kind of brain? Yes, and he is the only earthly creature that does. Among the earthly creation his brain is unique. The World Book Encyclopedia of 1970 (Vol. 2, p. 459) says of it: “The human brain is more highly developed than the brain of any animal.”

In fact, there is a gigantic gulf between the human brain and that of any animal, showing that they were designed for different purposes. No animal has the capacity to build continually on previous knowledge. While they can be trained to a certain degree, they are not able to pass his special training on to their young; each generation of sheep dogs or of seeing-eye dogs has to be trained by man as previous generations were trained. Animals are guided primarily by instincts built into them by the Creator. That is why, century after century, birds continue to build nests, beavers build dams and bees build hives. Never do they progress beyond that.

Man alone has the brain that enables him to build on the knowledge of the past. That is why he alone can harness fire, electricity and atomic energy. That is why he alone can build and use machines, computers​—even rocket himself to the moon. He is not guided primarily by instinct, but by powers of reason.

Yes, man alone has a brain that would enable him to keep learning and progressing forever. That is because God purposed for man to live forever, but not the animals. The Creator provided each with the kind of brain needed: man’s to serve forever; the animal’s to serve a short lifetime.

An Amazing Capacity

The capacity of the human brain is positively awesome. The article in The World Book Encyclopedia states that if scientists could design an electronic computer to match one human brain, the computer would have to be as large as the Empire State Building in New York city!

The key part of the brain is the cell called the neuron. It is estimated that man has about 10 billion (10,000,000,000) neurons in his brain. Of these Life magazine (June 28, 1963) said:

“Neurons in the brain make thousands of connections with each other. But the innumerable extra connections that the larger human cortex provides multiplies virtually to infinity the brain’s capacity for receiving and analyzing data. And it is this sheer, massive power for handling data that places man in a class which is incomparably superior to any other living thing.”

The capacity of each one of these neurons is staggering. Biochemist Isaac Asimov declared:

“A healthy, mature human being of normal intelligence may have upwards of 20 million RNA molecules [thought to serve as a ‘filing system’ for memory] in each neuron. . . . An RNA molecule made up of merely 25 links could have any one of a million billion different combinations, . . . In fact, every RNA molecule contains many hundreds of units​—not merely 25.”​—New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1966.

Just what potential does this construction of the neuron give the human brain? Asimov adds:

“There is no question, then, that RNA presents a filing system perfectly capable of handling any load of learning and memory which the human being is likely to put upon it​—and a billion times more than that quantity, too.”

Think of that! The brain is capable of handling not only any load a person can put on it in a lifetime of seventy to eighty years, but a thousand million times more! So it could serve a thousand million lifetimes, which really means that, with God’s help, it could serve forever.

Is it reasonable that God would create man with such a fantastic brain if it was never to be used fully? Why create a brain of which man could use only a fraction for a mere seventy to eighty years? It is far more reasonable, and it is what the Bible shows, that Jehovah God designed man to live forever on earth and gave him a brain that would wonderfully suit that purpose.

However, a brain that was designed to function forever needs a body that can also function forever. Does the human body have the potential for eternal life?

Cell Renewal

The human body is in a constant state of change. As we have seen earlier, older cells die off and are removed. New cells are formed to take their place. This sustains the body as it is.

You can note this process in your hair or fingernails. You can trim them today, but soon they will need trimming again because they are constantly growing. Other body cells do much the same thing. As science editor Walter Sullivan of the New York Times observed:

“The cells of our bodies (with a few exceptions, such as brain cells) are constantly replenishing themselves. It would seem that, barring accident or disease, this should continue indefinitely, but because of some subtle influence the replacement process is imperfect.”​—We Are Not Alone, 1964, p. 282.

The life of various cells differs. For instance, white blood cells live about 13 days, red blood cells about 120 days.

In the book The Human Brain (1955, p. 3) John Pfeiffer states: “Steady changes occur even in bones, which seem to be the most inactive tissues of all. It has been estimated that every seven years or so the body negotiates a complete turnover of all its substance. In other words, your body does not contain a single one of the molecules that were ‘you’ seven years ago.”

Hence, the process for keeping the body alive forever exists within man: cell renewal. Of this process T. M. Sonneborn of Indiana University’s zoology department said: “It is clear that cells which normally grow and multiply in the body are capable of apparently limitless growth and reproduction. . . . Potential immortality thus exists on the cellular level.” So, the process is there. But more is needed: the removal of imperfection due to sin, so that man’s cells do not fail to reproduce properly after a certain number of years. God can lift the curse of sin and death we now experience, and he has already made provision to do that, as we shall see.

Brain Renewal

Most scientists have felt that the neurons, the major brain cells, did not renew themselves. It was thought that they had to last each person his lifetime, and if one was damaged it could not be replaced. However, in the book Your Brain​—Master Computer (1962, p. 52) we read:

“For many years it was believed that nerve cells, unlike other kinds of cells in the body, could not divide. A destroyed nerve cell was thought to be lost forever, and that damage to the brain could never be repaired. Recently in some research into the brains of rats, some new nerve cells were found in damaged parts. . . .

“This suggests that there may be a chance that the human brain may be able to repair some of its injuries.”

Also, while brain cell renewal or repair on a large scale may not take place now in man’s imperfect condition, who is to say that it will not do so in God’s appointed time?

Even if we were to accept as a fact the claim that brain cells do not, and will never, undergo the same process of dividing and renewal as other cells, would this mean they are not renewed at all? Not according to the autumn 1969 issue of American Scientist (p. 288), in which nerve specialist Paul A. Weiss reported:

“I stumbled on an observation, quite by chance, which thoroughly upset that [formerly held] placid picture of our nerves. What had been viewed as a static fixture, all of a sudden revealed itself to me as a structure in constant flux, engaged in ceaseless, life-long growth, and indeed, growing at a rate which matched the fastest proliferating cells of the adult body.”

He explained that brain cells are renewed, but not by dividing and multiplying as other body cells do. Instead, they continually produce new material to replace what the brain cells give off as they direct operations for the other body parts. This may be compared to having all the parts to make a complete, new machine, but, instead, using them as spare parts for an existing machine of the same kind.

Of this unusual process that Weiss suggests is going on in the brain, he says: “Our brain cells will not be the same next week that they are today.” Hence, the brain cells could be constantly replenishing their substance, while at the same time keeping intact the ‘channels’ that the owner has made through his education and environment.

Whatever the case may be in regard to brain cells, we can be certain that the Creator can provide whatever they need to sustain and repair themselves forever.

Restored to Original Condition

When God created man and woman, he did give them the potential and prospect of living forever. Their minds and bodies were flawless, capable of operating eternally. They were to have loving dominion of the earth and all life upon it. That was their original condition. But when they rebelled against God the process of degeneration set in.

Nevertheless, back there near the start of human history, people lived much longer than we do today. That is because they were closer to perfection than we are now. Note the ages of some of those who lived before the global flood of Noah’s day:

Name Age at Death

Adam 930

Seth 912

Enosh 905

Kenan 910

Mahalalel 895

Jared 962

Methuselah 969

As centuries passed, the life-span shortened, especially after the Flood. Shem lived 600 years. Later Abraham lived 175 years. By Moses’ time the life-span had dropped to an average of 70 or 80 years.​—Ps. 90:10; Gen. 5:3-27; 11:10, 11; 25:7.

From this history, then, we can see that some men in the past lived more than ten times as long as the present 70 or 80 years. Since man’s mind and body operated for nearly 1,000 years even after imperfection set in, it is surely possible for them to operate forever when freed from sin and under God’s blessing and control.

The Bible psalmist said to God: “I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made.” (Ps. 139:14) Yes, God has equipped man with a wonderfully unique combination of brain and body. He has designed humans to live forever here on earth.

But some may feel that living forever in perfection would be boring, tiring. Is this really true?

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The human brain was designed to serve a thousand million lifetimes​—really forever

What Would You Do if You Lived Forever?

SCIENTISTS for scores of years have been trying to extend man’s life-span. A hundred-year life expectancy is the goal often referred to.

Many would like to see that goal realized. Yet if the prospect of living forever is mentioned, some say the prospect is ‘undesirable.’ Why?

Their arguments run like this. ‘Living forever would be monotonous. We would run out of things to do.’ ‘Eternal life would require perfection and perfection would be boring. Without any sickness, troubles and wrongdoing, people would stop appreciating the good things.’ That sort of reasoning may seem to make sense. But does it?

Many who voice such views are simply parroting what they have heard others say; they have not stopped to think the matter out for themselves.

Bad Not Needed to Appreciate Good

Is sickness, for example, really desirable to provide contrast with health? How convincing do you think that would sound to the man who has watched his wife slowly waste away and die from cancer? Really, do people tire of life because they feel well? Do they tire of life because their surroundings are so pleasant and because of having good food? Do they tire of life because they have plenty of wholesome work, of peace, of righteousness?

Or is it the opposite of these things that makes life seem burdensome? Is it not much illness, trouble and friction that make life seem disagreeable?

Moreover, sound thinking tells us that it is sickness and the weakening effects of old age that cause our physical senses to become dull. This lessens our enjoyment of food, drink and activity.

Nothing Boring About Perfection

When you hear the argument that living forever in perfection would eventually end our enjoyment of living, stop and think. In a year the average person eats more than a thousand meals. A man of thirty may have eaten well over thirty thousand meals. But does he necessarily enjoy them less than when he had eaten only a few thousand? If you go for just one day without eating, do you find the next meal boring? No, you do not have to suffer malnutrition from famine to enjoy food​—any more than you need to cut off one of your fingers to appreciate the other nine.

But would a perfect man or woman ever get hungry, thirsty or tired? Most certainly. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, while a perfect human on earth, became hungry, thirsty and tired. You can see that from reading the record of his life in the Bible.​—Compare John 4:6, 7; Matthew 4:2; Luke 8:22-24.

We should not misunderstand what “perfection” means. Aside from the perfection of God, perfection of all others is a relative thing, not absolute. That is, something is perfect according to the purpose for which it was made. A perfect hammer would do a fine job of driving nails; but would you use it as a saw? No; nor would a perfect saw make even a fair hammer. The perfection of each is relative​—related to the purpose for which it was designed and made.

So, too, with humans. The physical sensations of hunger, thirst and desire for rest after long hours of activity are normal. These physical sensations were built into man by his Creator.

What, then, of the Bible’s grand promise that under the righteous rule of God’s kingdom He “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more”? What does this mean?​—Rev. 21:3, 4.

The Bible describes here the removal of “the former things” that came in with the rebellion of the first human pair in Eden. These “former things” are the pain, suffering and death that their sinful course has brought to their descendants, all mankind.​—Rom. 5:12.

Obviously that Bible account does not mean that, if a piece of dust should get in a person’s eye, his tear ducts would then no longer produce tears to wash it out. The same with the reactions of the human nervous system that produce the feeling of touch, pressure and pain. A perfect man stepping with his bare foot on a thorn hidden in the grass would still feel pain as his perfect nerves reacted to the puncture. And the built-in defense system in his blood with its army of white corpuscles would go to work to heal up the wound inflicted. But a perfect man would not develop gangrene. Nor would he be plagued with such things as acid indigestion, ulcers, migraine headaches, arthritis, heart disease or cancer. Surely to be free of such things would not impair our happiness but greatly increase it!

Things of Interest Forever!

But would a person living forever always be able to find things to occupy his mental and physical powers? Would he find new challenges for his intelligence and ability? Would conversation continue to be stimulating and enjoyable? Or would the stage soon be reached where everyone knew what everyone else knew?

Those who think that persons would run out of things to do and learn, fail to consider what a vast and magnificently equipped Workshop and Laboratory our Creator made when he produced this planet. Consider all the things that man has made up to the present time. And then remember that all man’s complex inventions, his computers, his television sets, his airplanes, his rockets, were not formed out of materials brought from some faraway place in the universe. No, but they were formed from the very ground on which we live and its storehouse of chemical elements, its minerals and metals. How vast the possibilities are!

Today knowledge gained through research grows at a rate so swift that neither individuals nor organizations can keep up with it. Because their life-span is so short, persons must content themselves either with knowing a little about many things or a lot about just a very few things. Their knowledge is either broad, but generally shallow, or deep, but quite narrow. They often become specialists in a very restricted field, trying to “make their mark in life” before their short span of years runs out. Scientists say that every time they finally find the “key” to open one door in some field of research they invariably find a dozen other doors on the other side. Surely, then, there is no danger of earth’s becoming filled with “know-it-alls” who have nothing to talk about because everyone knows what the other person knows.

How much do you know about your home, and how much of it have you seen in your lifetime? Not the house you live in, but the planet you live on​—this immense satellite of the sun that astronauts describe as “a jewel in space.”

Even world travelers rarely get well acquainted with more than just a fraction of the earth, often no more than its principal cities and so-called “major points of interest.” Some have seen such places as Arizona’s Grand Canyon, the Norwegian fjords, Africa’s Serengeti plains, the snowcapped Alps of New Zealand’s South Island and the tropical scenery of Tahiti.

But for every towering mountain, every plunging canyon, every cascading waterfall, fertile valley, winding river, table-like plateau, deep-shaded woods, rugged, rocky coast or glistening palm-lined beach they have seen, there are a thousand others, each with its own beauty and eye-holding appeal.

Plants, Animals and People

Botanists list some 335,000 species of plants. The United States alone has 1,035 different kinds of trees. They range from the desert-growing Joshua tree to the magnificent Giant Sequoias, and embrace the colorful Sugar Maple, White Ash and Blue Spruce.

From earth’s flowers one could make a different combination every day for a hundred years. Even then one would barely begin to use the varieties to be found, from Morning Glories to Four-O’Clocks, from delicate Bleeding Hearts and Lilies of the Valley to the giant Rafflesia arnoldi of Indonesia, its flower measuring up to three feet across and weighing up to fifteen pounds.

And what of earth’s animal life? Biologists list some 5,000 kinds of mammals, 3,000 kinds of amphibians, 6,000 kinds of reptiles, 9,000 kinds of birds and 30,000 kinds of fish, not to mention the more than 800,000 kinds of insects.

With how many of those living creatures are you really familiar? Perhaps you have seen some of them in a book or at a zoological garden. But how many of them have you observed in their native habitat, watching their fascinating habits and learning the different qualities of each? For example, with how many of the 400 varieties of hummingbirds are you well acquainted​—such as the topaz hummingbird, the ruby-throated hummingbird, the tiny bee hummingbird that measures only two inches in length? These are living jewels that flash with iridescent colors of flaming red, deep violet, glowing orange and emerald green. Or have you carefully observed the majestic giant condor or the albatross with its twelve-foot wingspan?

It would take a long time to get to know all the living creatures of land, sea and air​—far longer than present life-spans could begin to cover.

Of far greater interest, however, are earth’s peoples. They are almost as varied as the flowers, in their features, styles of dress, preferences in food, architecture, music and other distinctive characteristics. Nor would perfection mean the removal of this variety and contrast of personality, making them the same as one another, any more than for roses to be perfect must they all be red.

It is not easy today to get to know the many races of earth. In many cases, in fact, it is becoming increasingly dangerous. But the Bible promise of everlasting life is only for persons who love and appreciate their Creator, his truth, justice and righteous standards, and who love their neighbor as themselves. By producing the fruitage of God’s spirit​—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control—​they will make this planet a spiritual garden of friendly, cooperative, generous, warmhearted people.​—Gal. 5:22, 23.

Their talents and abilities in craftsmanship, metalworking, architecture, landscaping, home decoration, artistry, music and literature will therefore be used with the right motive. This will stimulate new heights of expression and beauty. Surely meeting such persons, seeing the products of their activity, and getting to know them would be a continual source of pleasure.

Getting Better Acquainted with God

Above and beyond all this, everlasting life would allow for becoming better acquainted with the Universal Sovereign, Jehovah God. Nothing in life is more enriching, more satisfying or more ennobling.

Throughout all eternity one can learn more and more about God, our Creator​—and still it would be impossible to know everything about Him. The Christian apostle Paul wrote of our Creator: “O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are and past tracing out his ways are! For ‘who has come to know Jehovah’s mind?’”​—Rom. 11:33, 34; Eccl. 3:11.

That same apostle also wrote of Jehovah God: “His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship.”​—Rom. 1:20.

Knowledge of the universe with its planets, stars and galaxies leaves no room for doubt as to God’s awesome power and superlative wisdom. He is the Supreme Physicist, Chemist, Mathematician, Designer and Builder. The psalmist of past centuries, filled with appreciation, wrote: “O Jehovah our Lord, how majestic your name is in all the earth, you whose dignity is recounted above the heavens! When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him?”​—Ps. 8:1, 3, 4.

Although the visible creation testifies about its Creator, it is by his Word the Bible that we really come to know him, know his personality, his purposes, his ways, his standards. It is through that Word, the Bible, that we see that he has kept mortal man in mind, that he cares for him.

Really, how could living forever in perfection ever be boring? Living would be filled with delight and pleasure and interest eternally.

But if men had everlasting life, where would all the people live? And could the earth provide for them all?

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Has life afforded you time to get acquainted with all the beautiful places on earth?

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. . . or the variety of birds and people?

Where Would All the People Live?

WHAT honest-hearted person would not thrill at the prospect of living forever on an earth where peace and righteousness prevailed, where health and strength never faded? The Bible promises this under the rule of God’s kingdom. These conditions are to prevail after God has removed the present unrighteous systems and all those who share in their corrupt ways. Then the earth will enjoy a righteous administration in the hands of God’s own Son, Christ Jesus.​—Dan. 2:44.

But some ask, “If people gain freedom from old age and death and if they keep on having children, where will they all live?”

Not only that. The Bible additionally gives the stirring promise that those who have died in the past will be raised from the dead. Jesus himself said: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29; compare Acts 24:15.) Surely it is in harmony with God’s love that those who have died are not to be overlooked or lose out on the grand prospect of living forever in his new order. But where will all these resurrected ones live?

That is a logical question. Even now some regard earth’s present population of about 3,600,000,000 as too large. They warn that the modern “population explosion” threatens to bring widespread famine and disturbances. So, what will happen in God’s new order if people are no longer subject to death?

First, certain factors must be recognized. One is that the earth is actually capable of sustaining a population many, many times greater than that which is now on it. Another is that the number of persons who have died in the past several thousand years is not nearly as great as some might imagine. And finally, the Bible does not say that God purposed procreation to continue endlessly. His command to the first human pair was to “fill the earth,” not overrun it with offspring. (Gen. 1:27, 28) Consider the full significance of these factors.

Earth’s Ability to Accommodate a Vast Population

How much space can this planet provide for all those who gain life in God’s new order? Will it suffice? Well, consider the earth’s surface: It is about 197,000,000 square miles in area. But 71 percent of that is water. The land surface is 29 percent, about 57,000,000 square miles. This is well over 36,000,000,000 acres. The World Book Encyclopedia of 1970 says of today’s population: “If all the people of the world were distributed evenly, there would be about 63 persons for every square mile [640 acres] of land.” This would mean about ten acres of land for every person living today! Yes, earth can accommodate many more than its present population.

However, throughout human history many thousands of millions of people have lived on earth. How many? Well, how long has man been on the earth? According to Bible chronology, almost 6,000 years. But it should be remembered that after 1,656 years of human history, earth’s population drastically dropped​—to only eight persons! This was because of the flood of Noah’s day. (1 Pet. 3:20) The earth’s population grew considerably during the next 2,370 years until the beginning of our Common Era. Yet, when Jesus Christ was on the earth, the human population, according to some estimates, may have been no more than 250 million. In fact, The World Book Encyclopedia (1970) places the estimate at about half that figure​—at only 133 million.

It is just in recent centuries that earth’s population has grown tremendously. In this regard, Dr. Albert L. Elder, as president of the American Chemical Society, stated at a meeting of that society in 1960:

“It took over 5000 years of human history up to about 1820 to reach a world population of 1.1 billion. Within the following century, population doubled. Now, it stands at about 2.8 billion and could reach 3 billion early in the 1960’s [as it has done]. Thus, in less than 50 years there has been an increase in population equivalent to that which occurred during the first 50 centuries.”

So those who are alive today represent a sizable number of those who have ever lived on this earth. In fact, in 1966 a speaker at the Florida State Pharmaceutical Association convention observed: “It is now estimated that 25 per cent of all the people who have ever lived are alive today.”​—Jacksonville Journal, May 18, 1966.

On the basis of that estimate, the population throughout all human history would be only some 14,000,000,000 persons. But suppose that many more than that have lived on the earth. Let us add 10,000,000,000 more persons and assume that a population of 24,000,000,000 is involved. Would there be room for them? Well, since the earth has over 36,000,000,000 acres, there would be more than an acre and a half of land for each person! But would an acre and a half be enough to produce the needed food? There is good reason to believe that only a fraction of that acre and a half per person would be needed for food, leaving room for recreation areas and sanctuaries for animal and plant life.

Earth Can Produce Enough Food

According to The World Today: Its Patterns and Cultures (1966, p. 76), less than one eighth of the total land area of the earth is suitable for growing crops. The yield of much of the land that is cultivated is very poor, and farming methods are often not the most efficient. But even now, under conditions that are far from ideal, it is admitted that earth has the potential to support a much larger population. For example, Time magazine of July 13, 1970, in an article about new, high-yield strains of wheat and rice, reported that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization “now maintains that the world’s agricultural potential is great enough to feed 157 billion people.” Surely, then, the earth could support 24,000,000,000 persons.

Yet, it is not at all certain that the vast number of 24,000,000,000 people have lived on earth. It could be much less. Nor does the Bible state that every single one of those resurrected will continue living forever. The principle set forth at Isaiah 26:10 will doubtless prove true concerning a considerable number of them, namely: “Though the wicked one should be shown favor, he simply will not learn righteousness. In the land of straightforwardness he will act unjustly and will not see the eminence of Jehovah.” Such ones will perish, never to live again. (Rev. 20:11-15) So, too, the Bible shows that not all living today will survive to life on earth under God’s kingdom. To the contrary, it shows that many, the majority, will willfully reject their opportunity to take their stand on God’s side and show faith in his provisions, thereby choosing everlasting destruction rather than everlasting life.​—2 Thess. 1:9, 10; 2 Pet. 3:5-7.

When we consider how abundantly the earth could produce under ideal conditions and God’s blessing, we can see how easily it could support a much larger population, including the resurrected dead, even though these should number as many as ten or twenty thousand million or more!

God, who created the earth, knows how to make it productive. Under the wise administration of his kingdom, the earth will yield as never before. As was true for the nation of Israel when faithful, so it will be then: “The earth itself will certainly give its produce; God, our God, will bless us.”​—Ps. 67:6.

Without a doubt, a vast reclamation project will be undertaken to transform the entire earth into a fruitful paradise. That will include areas that today may be unproductive. So even though about one fourth of the land surface is arid or semiarid today, it will not have to stay that way.

In regard to desert areas, Chambers’ Encyclopedia states: “Even in the most unpromising terrain an occasional shower of rain will bring to life seeds that have long lain dormant and withered in the sand. . . . Where rivers or underground supplies exist it is at once apparent that desert soil is potentially fertile and only awaits the magic touch of water.” And the Encyclopedia Americana says: “Many desert tracts turn green with vegetation once they are irrigated.”

Even today water and good care make some desert areas bloom, such as in parts of Egypt and Israel. Also, much of California would be like a desert were it not for irrigation and good care that make the land produce abundantly.

If much can be done now to support a vast population on the earth, what can be done under God’s kingdom and with his blessing? Jehovah God demonstrated his ability to provide water, as well as food, when he sustained the six hundred thousand men of Israel and their families during their forty years in the arid Sinai peninsula. (Ex. 12:37; 15:22-25; Deut. 8:3, 4) He again demonstrated this ability centuries later when he provided water for the 50,000 Jewish exiles and associates who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon by way of the wasteland of the Syrian desert, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: “In the wilderness waters will have burst out, and torrents in the desert plain. And the heat-parched ground will have become as a reedy pool, and the thirsty ground as springs of water.” (Isa. 35:1, 6, 7; Ezra 2:64-70) He can do the same on a vastly larger scale during the Kingdom rule of his Son.

Filled, Not Overflowing

How many people does Jehovah purpose to have on earth finally? The Bible does not say.

We can be certain, though, that all living then will be delighted with life. What was promised to God’s faithful people in the time of the psalmist David will be true then, namely, they “will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.” Jesus showed that these words of Psalm 37:11 were prophetic of worldwide conditions due to come by quoting from it at Matthew 5:5. Certainly those living under his Kingdom rule could not be delighted with peaceful life if there were crowded, cramped conditions.

Remember, Jehovah told man to “fill the earth.” (Gen. 1:28) He did not say to flood it with people. But to keep from overflowing, will not childbearing have to stop sometime? Yes, that appears to be the case.

How can childbearing stop? Well, who gave man and woman the power to reproduce? It was their Creator, Jehovah God. Since he originated human fertility, he can also bring it to an end. But precisely how and when this will take place God’s Word does not say. Yet, because we do not know the details, it is no cause to doubt that Jehovah can handle the situation.

God has promised without fail to restore earth to a fruitful paradise, one that can sustain all of earth’s inhabitants who gain eternal life. He guarantees this, his Word saying: “The one seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’” (Rev. 21:5) Yes, God’s new system will provide comfortable, enjoyable living space for all.

How Will Everlasting Life Be Attained?

“HOW can everlasting life be attained?’ you may logically ask. ‘If that takes place there will have to be some big changes made.’ That is true. But by whom?

Medical men have long worked to make changes. They have increased man’s average life-span mainly by use of antiseptics and by better sanitation. The decrease in deaths has been most notable in the newborn and the very young.

But as a result of mere human efforts how much longer can you, personally, expect to live? The Encyclopedia Americana (1968 edition, under “Longevity”) reports:

“While man’s life expectancy at birth has almost doubled in [the more ‘advanced’] countries since the mid-19th century, his expectancy at the age of 60 has increased by only one year.”

In the book The Biology of Death author Raymond Pearl states that heredity is a major factor in the secret of long life. Pearl puts this truth in the half-humorous statement: “The best insurance of longevity is . . . a careful selection of one’s parents and grandparents.”

The plain fact is that today medical efforts are admittedly at a virtual standstill as to lengthening of the life-span. And now pollution of air, water and food is becoming more deadly every day, with the threat of shortening life. To whom, then, can one look for long life?

Look to the Source of Life

If one is looking for long life, is it not reasonable to turn to the One who gave man life at the beginning? Only the Creator would fully know all our needs and be able to satisfy them. The Bible says of him: “With you is the source of life.” (Ps. 36:9) “By him we have life and move and exist,” said the apostle Paul to the men of Athens.​—Acts 17:28.

Is it not logical, then, to see what God has to say about life? His Word the Bible is the only source that makes any promise of everlasting life on earth or gives any satisfying hope for those who have already died.

At this point the thought may arise: ‘We have had the Bible for centuries. But still we do not see people now living on and on.’ Well, the Bible tells us: “For everything there is an appointed time.” (Eccl. 3:1) It identifies the time when life-giving benefits begin to flow to all obedient mankind. It shows that this time is at hand.

The first man Adam, our forefather, stepped out on a rebellious course of independence from God. He determined to go his own way. He wanted to ‘know,’ to decide, to judge for himself what was good and what was bad. (Gen. 3:5, 22) God has patiently let men try out their “independence.” But now man has reached the peak of trouble. And now is also the time that God has purposed to end wickedness, in this generation, and to bring about conditions in the earth so that those who desire can live forever.​—Rev. 11:18.

Just how will he bring this about? When we go to God and his Word, we learn of the provision he has made for man to gain everlasting life.

Need for a “Corresponding Ransom”

Jesus Christ said that he came into the world of mankind that men might have everlasting life. (John 3:16, 17) But how could they gain everlasting life since all mankind inherited sin and death from Adam? Jesus explained: “The Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” (Matt. 20:28) And Jesus’ apostle Paul said that God’s Son “gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) As you know, a ransom is the means for buying out persons from captivity or slavery. Christ Jesus gave his human life as a ransom to bring persons out of slavery to sin and death. (Rom. 5:21) That sacrifice provides the basis for restoring vital right relations with God, the Life-Giver. But why is Jesus’ sacrifice called a “corresponding ransom”? And how does it bring the needed relief for mankind?

In the case of Adam’s offspring not just any kind of ransom would do. It had to be a “corresponding ransom.” In what way? Well, what valuable possession did Adam lose for himself and all his offspring? It was human perfection. So the real ransom sacrifice would have to correspond to the perfect Adam and possess human perfection. Only thereby could the ransom satisfy God’s perfect justice that requires like for like, a ‘soul for a soul.’​—Ex. 21:23-25; Deut. 19:21.

No animal could pay the ransom price, for animals are lower than man. They are not of equal value with man, and so it was “not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats [actually] to take sins away,” as the Bible says. (Heb. 10:1-4) And no man descended from Adam could pay the “corresponding ransom.” Why not? Because they were all imperfect. They all had inherited sin and death.​—Rom. 5:12-14; Ps. 49:6-9.

So a perfect man was needed. God provided this need at tremendous cost to himself. As Jesus said: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son . . . For God sent forth his Son into the world . . . for the world to be saved through him.” (John 3:16, 17) How the love of God is magnified by this! For God gave the life of his Son, “the Son of his love,” his “only-begotten Son,” to provide the ransom price.​—Col. 1:13; Rom. 5:6-8.

This required his Son’s becoming human to correspond with the perfect Adam. And God accomplished this by transferring his Son’s life from heaven to the womb of the Jewish virgin Mary. (Luke 1:26-37; John 1:14) Since Jesus did not owe his life to any human father descended from the sinner Adam, Jesus was born free from any inheritance of sin. He was, as it were, “an unblemished and spotless lamb,” whose blood could provide an acceptable sacrifice.​—1 Pet. 1:18, 19.

New Life Heritage Through Jesus Christ

We belong to an imperfect family, with a heritage of death. The rule has been found to be scientifically true: Short-lived or diseased parents do not transmit the life vigor to their children that strong, healthy parents can. We need a new life heritage. We need regeneration. For that very reason Jesus came to earth. But how does the new life heritage come in?

The Bible’s explanation as to how this is accomplished is both simple and profound​—even as the problem of mankind’s dying condition can be simply stated but is profoundly difficult to overcome. First, it should be recognized that at the time of Adam’s sin and his being sentenced to death, his offspring or race were all unborn in his loins and so all died with him. (Compare Hebrews 7:4-19; Romans 7:9.) Jesus as a perfect man, “the last Adam,” had a possible race of offspring unborn in his loins. And when he died innocently as a perfect human sacrifice, this potential human race died with him. Jesus had willingly abstained from marrying and producing a family of his own. Jesus dying as a childless man, his unborn human offspring justly counterbalanced all the race that Adam had reproduced till now.​—1 Cor. 15:45; compare Romans 5:15-17.

So, by giving his human life, together with the potential of having children of his own, Jesus Christ bought “parental” life rights that Adam lost. He holds “credit” for those of Adam’s family who desire to draw upon it.

To illustrate how this satisfies justice, we might use the case of a man who has died leaving a large debt on his estate. His children are unable to pay the debt. But a friend with sufficient money redeems the estate from the dead man’s creditors and then divides out portions thereof as inheritance to those who are worthy children. In Jesus’ case, of course, it is not land or other material possessions that he redeems and grants to worthy ones but life, perfect human life.

By providing the “corresponding ransom,” Jesus repurchased all mankind descended from Adam so that they could become his family. He did this by presenting the full value of his ransom sacrifice to the God of absolute justice in heaven. He “entered . . . into heaven itself, now to appear before the person of God” on behalf of the world of mankind.​—Heb. 9:24.

Jesus Christ can thus have children on earth, not by natural procreation, but by redemption of Adam’s offspring. This was foretold in Messianic prophecies that show that Jesus will have “offspring” as an “Eternal Father.” (Isa. 53:10-12; 9:6, 7) Jesus would not be an “Eternal Father” for his earthly children if they died off. So for this title to be true of him, the earthly children to whom he becomes father by means of his ransom will be given the opportunity to live forever on earth.

Therefore, by faith in Jesus Christ the dying children of dead Adam can transfer to the family of a Father who lives forever. This “Eternal Father” can regenerate their minds and bodies with life, and he can thereafter maintain that life vigor in them. (Rom. 6:23) Yes, by faith in Jesus Christ you can have a new life heritage. And this entire arrangement for a new life heritage manifests Jehovah God’s wisdom and his righteousness in a wonderful way. How so? In his perfectly balancing the scales of justice while at the same time showing undeserved kindness and forgiving sins.​—Rom. 3:21-26.

Righteous Rule Also Through Jesus Christ

To enjoy everlasting life on earth in happiness man needs more than a new life heritage. He needs a new government. God has provided this also through Jesus Christ. This new government is God’s kingdom. For this kingdom Jesus taught his followers to pray: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”​—Matt. 6:10.

For God’s will to be done upon earth the present system of things must end. And the Bible shows that very soon now God’s kingdom will crush out of existence and replace all systems of man that now cause such grief. (Dan. 2:44) That time of destruction is described by Jesus as “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matt. 24:21) After the destruction of this entire wicked system, God’s kingdom, ruling from heaven, will control all of earth’s affairs.

That heavenly kingdom will be the only government that earth will ever have after the end of this wicked system. Its administration will be far superior to anything men have ever devised. Ruling with justice and righteousness, it will work to bring benefits to all, not to just a few.

What assurance do we have that the ruler Jesus Christ will never permit corruption in high places? Because he has proved his subjection to the Creator. And he rules, not for his own glory, but for God’s, and for the benefit of earth’s population. Of him it is written that he ‘loves righteousness and hates lawlessness.’ (Heb. 1:9) The Bible speaks of his loyalty and the exalted position that he has been granted in these words:

“Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. . . . More than that, when he found himself in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake. For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name.”​—Phil. 2:5-11.

Re-creative Work Under Kingdom

Even after the end of this system of things, the survivors of the “great tribulation” will still have imperfect bodies. Some will need restoration of diseased or missing organs. This healing of all mankind will take place during the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of this time as “the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne.”​—Matt. 19:28; Rev. 20:1-6.

So Jesus will do re-creative work from heaven. When he was on earth, we remember, he healed persons with every kind of disease and restored body parts and functions, such as withered hands and sight to those blind from birth. He even resurrected a man who was dead for four days. Some of his healing miracles he performed from a distance. So, from heaven itself, Jesus can do re-creative work in a complete way here on earth.​—Mark 3:1-5; John 9:1-7; 11:38-44.

Gradually the human race will be brought to perfection. It will take time to bring perfection of life to all who desire it. Along with this will be the work of making the environment suitable for perfect humans, a place of delight.

Yes, the tent of God will be “with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.” The former things with all their troubles will seem as out of place then as the future conditions that God’s Word describes may seem unreal now.​—Rev. 21:3, 4.

So, everlasting life is attainable. It can be attained only by transferring from the dying family of Adam to a new life heritage by Jesus Christ, the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”​—Isa. 9:6.

You can achieve what the scientific writer called “the best insurance of longevity,” namely, a choice of a new parent​—the “Eternal Father,” Jesus Christ. He can infuse real life into you. This is your opportunity now. But is there something you must do to prepare for life everlasting under his rule?

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Living forever under present conditions may not sound appealing. But everlasting life in Paradise​—would this not be an endless joy?

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Would it not be wonderful to welcome loved ones back from the dead?

Prepare Now for an Unending Future

WOULD you like to live on this earth when conditions are truly right for genuine happiness? Do you really want everlasting life in that kind of world? If so, you must prepare for it now!

But why now? Why not wait and see how it all works out?

Time of Opportunity Limited

Time simply does not allow for waiting. The reason is not only that life is already brief. Rather it is because the life of the vast majority of mankind is now in grave danger of being abruptly shortened, cut off by a disaster of global proportions.

You may know that world leaders publicly recognize the increasing danger of a nuclear war that would make this planet uninhabitable. You have doubtless read warnings by scientists that modern pollution of air, water and land poses a threat equally as great as nuclear war. But, over and above all these dangers, the greatest factor making action so urgent now is that God’s due time to act has overtaken us.

According to Bible chronology and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the time left for the unrighteous system now operating on earth is fast running out. The Bible does not say that God’s coming war of Armageddon, and the “great tribulation” of which it is a part, can be avoided; the unrighteous course in which men and nations have stubbornly hardened themselves makes it inevitable. (Matt. 24:14, 21, 37-39; Rev. 16:16) But it offers you as an individual the opportunity to put yourself now firmly on God’s side in the controversy and thereby have the hope of surviving. Survival will introduce righteous-hearted persons into life in a new order, an order founded on God’s provision for life through his Son and appointed King, Jesus Christ, and in which respect for, and devotion and obedience to, Jehovah God as the Life-Giver will be the governing principle.​—2 Pet. 3:8-13.

What will you do? This will depend upon whether you have faith in God’s promises or not. For even though you acknowledge that it is illogical for trees and tortoises to outlive intelligent man, that is not enough. Nor is it enough to recognize that man does indeed have a spiritual side to his nature and that the Bible’s focusing on inherited sin and imperfection as the source of aging and death provides the only satisfying explanation for these problems. Even more than that, it is not enough to admit that the hope offered in the Bible of life everlasting under God’s righteous government by his Son is the only genuine means for satisfying the proper desires of righteous-hearted persons. To go this far and no farther will bring no lasting benefit to you.

The disciple James states that “faith without works is dead,” just as the body without its life force or spirit is dead. (Jas. 2:26) Merely to acknowledge the logic and reasonableness of what the Bible says is not having a live faith. Your faith must demonstrate itself by action, by doing. Thereby you will show that you give more than mere mental acceptance to God’s promise of everlasting life. You will show that it reaches your heart, that it truly motivates you.

If you received warning of a coming earthquake, such as that which recently devastated a large section of Peru and snuffed out the lives of tens of thousands of persons in a matter of minutes, you could take action to save your life. Today, something worse than an earthquake threatens all earth’s inhabitants​—the “great tribulation” about which Christ Jesus warned. (Matt. 24:21) Of that time the apostle Paul wrote: “Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. . . . then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them just as the pang of distress upon a pregnant woman; and they will by no means escape.” (1 Thess. 5:2, 3) The way of escape is still open, and you can avail yourself of it before it irreversibly closes up.

Whoever you are, you are surely not alone. You have relatives, perhaps a marriage mate and children, and you have friends. You owe it not only to yourself but also to them to inform yourself now of God’s provisions for survival into life in his new order. Then, rather than following a self-centered course of concerning yourself only with your own immediate future, you can aid them toward an unending future in genuine happiness. True, you may now be showing interest in their lives by providing food, clothing, housing, medical care and other necessities. But even under normal conditions that could only help them to live long enough to die old​—and perhaps in some comfort. True love requires that you seek something better for them if it is attainable. And it is!

More than this, do you feel a debt of gratitude to the original Source of life, the desire to serve to the honor of the Creator of the universe, including this planet Earth and all its enjoyable features? Then you will be eager to learn what God’s righteous requirements are.

What, then, must you do, so as not to waste the remaining time of opportunity?

Take in Life-giving Knowledge

You need to investigate God’s Word, the Bible, study it and find out what God’s purpose for earth and man is, learn what his will is for us in this time, now. God’s Son said in prayer to his Father: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”​—John 17:3.

Life everlasting, then, comes not by drinking some magical potion, going through some mysterious rites or performing some strange exercises. It comes through Bible education. Today Jehovah’s witnesses are carrying on a worldwide campaign of Bible education in over two hundred lands and islands of the sea. In well over one million two hundred thousand homes, free Bible studies are conducted each week with interested persons, men, women and families. Not only are topics such as “Why We Grow Old and Die,” and “Where Are the Dead?” considered, but also such subjects as “Why Has God Permitted Wickedness Until Our Day?,” “The Last Days of This Wicked System of Things,” “Righteous Rule Makes Earth a Paradise,” “How to Identify the True Religion,” “How to Pray and Be Heard by God,” “Building a Happy Family Life,” and “True Worship​—a Way of Life.” By spending approximately an hour a week with an instructor, the basic teachings of the entire Bible are considered in six months’ time.

You can arrange for such a Bible study in your home by making your request known to any of Jehovah’s witnesses in your locality or by writing to the publishers of this magazine. The only cost to you will be some of your time and the effort of reading and preparing for the discussion. After all, it is your life and the lives of your loved ones that are involved, and surely this merits serious effort. The Bible writer James speaks of “the implanting of the word which is able to save your souls.” (Jas. 1:21) That implanting of the word cannot be accomplished without your doing your part. God’s Word cannot bring you life unless you receive its truths into your mind and into your heart so that it motivates you to do the divine will. Jesus said: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Exercising faith in Jesus means more than simply saying, “I believe in Jesus.” It requires action.

Seek Right Environment for Life

Bad physical environment​—including air, land and water pollution, contaminated or inadequate sources of food supply, and crowded, unclean, germ-ridden conditions—​obviously shortens life. People recognize this. Yet few think deeply enough to realize that this is also true of bad spiritual environment. For us to prepare for an unending future we need to be feeding our minds and hearts regularly with wholesome, pure spiritual food. We need right associations with persons whose conversations are upbuilding, healthful, contributing to faith in God, fostering desire for right things, strengthening determination to hold to right standards. God’s new order will be populated with such kind of persons.

But even now we need such association. And we can find it. Where?

Is it to be found in the many churches of Christendom? Well, what is going on in those churches today? You often hear of the Bible’s being downgraded by today’s ministers and clergymen, of their increasing tendency to condone all types of sexual misbehavior, homosexuality included, of clergy support of public demonstrations against constituted authority. You may have personally seen evidence of considerable hypocrisy in such churches. And you likely have read, too, of the decline of the churches, not merely in one land but in all lands. Of what is this evidence? Surely it is not evidence of God’s blessing on them. We cannot blame God for the unhealthy, dying state of such churches. They have substituted philosophy, politics and human traditions for the Word of life, and they are experiencing the consequences.

Is the case with the non-Christian religions any better? No, for the peoples practicing such religions are experiencing the same turmoil, disunity, and general weakening of influence and vigor as found in Christendom’s churches.

False religion is not only deceptive and unsatisfying, it is death-dealing. It produces an unhealthy spiritual climate lacking in genuine love for God or fellowman, deficient of genuine devotion to standards of true righteousness. That is why the Bible depicts all such false religion under the symbol of “Babylon the Great,” an imperial city filled with uncleanness. Revelation 18:4 sounds the warning: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” All Babylonish religion, as well as its supporters, will be destroyed in the coming “great tribulation” so that none of her diseased thinking infects those surviving into God’s new order.

Where, then, will you go? With whom will you associate? The Bible says: “Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call upon the Lord out of a clean heart.” (2 Tim. 2:22) Jehovah’s witnesses invite you to become acquainted with them, to attend their congregation meetings in their Kingdom Halls, sharing with them in Bible study. They invite you to find out for yourself the spiritual climate that is to be experienced there. We sincerely believe you will find it invigorating, like breathing fresh air after coming out of a smog-ridden place. See for yourself whether or not the pure waters of truth from God’s Word flow there in all their refreshing clarity.

Respond to God’s Word

As you take in knowledge of God’s Word, you will appreciate its wisdom, how it can improve immensely the quality of living, even now. You will learn, for example, of God’s requirement of replacing our “old personality” with a “new personality.” Why is this? Well, what will make life in God’s new order so desirable? Earth-wide peace, for one thing. Screaming, fighting, quarreling affect both mental and physical health. For those seeking life in God’s favor, the Bible tells them what to do now:

“Really, put them all away from you, wrath, anger, badness, abusive speech, and obscene talk out of your mouth. Do not be lying to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality.”​—Col. 3:8-10.

This will take time, of course. But progress in such things will make life, family life in particular, so much more enjoyable. So Christians need to respond to God’s Word.

Lying, cheating, drunkenness and other immoral practices, such as fornication, adultery and homosexuality, are all part of the “old personality.” They corrupt and damage physically, mentally and spiritually. But God’s counsel and instructions are “life to those finding them and health to all their flesh.” (Prov. 4:22) They show you how to use your time and strength in constructive, helpful activities that are truly enjoyable and rewarding. As you respond to God’s Word you will want to do as Psalm 97:10 says: “O you lovers of Jehovah, hate what is bad.” If you do this, you will avoid what is bad. And you will do this, not just when you lack opportunity to do wrong, but at all times, because you love what is right. By rejecting wrong thoughts and inclinations, you will “safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.” (Prov. 4:23) This is something that needs to be done now in order to prepare for eternal life.

Your Creator invites you: “Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, and your soul will keep alive.” (Isa. 55:3) Do not neglect or waste the opportunity you now have of learning from Him the way to life everlasting. Use your mental, emotional and physical strength now in his right ways, for your own eternal welfare and that of those whom you love. Yes, prepare now for an unending future in God’s righteous new order.