HAVE YOU EVER looked at a picture of yourself when you were a child and thought, ‘How short life really is’? Have you wondered, ‘Can I live much longer than I expect to now?’

Humans have long sought an extended life in youthful vigor on earth. But is such a prospect only wishful thinking? Consider the optimistic views of some, and examine why there are solid reasons for optimism.

The Search for Long Life

THE quest for a longer life is almost as old as life itself. So it is not surprising that history, both ancient and modern, abounds with stories and legends of people searching for the secret of long life.

Romantic history would have us believe, for example, that the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was searching for a fountain of youth when he journeyed north from Puerto Rico in the year 1513. But contemporaries stated that he made the trip to acquire slaves and new land. He discovered, not a fountain to restore youth, but what is now Florida. However, the legend persists.

Going further back in time, the Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh, drawn from clay tablets dated prior to the 18th century B.C.E., tells how Gilgamesh became obsessed with the fear of dying after his friend Enkidu died. It describes his travels and strenuous but fruitless efforts to attain immortality.

More recently, in 1933, in his novel Lost Horizon, James Hilton portrayed an imaginary land called Shangri-la. There the inhabitants enjoyed nearly perfect and greatly extended life in paradisaical surroundings.

Even today, there are those who are dedicated to pursuing unusual and exotic schemes that promise improved and longer life. Others, however, take a more pragmatic approach. They follow rigorous health measures or observe strict diet and exercise routines. They hope that this will help them to look younger and feel better.

All of this underscores the basic human desire to live longer, happier lives.

The Scientific Approach

The study of aging and the problems of the aged has become a serious science. Reputable scientists feel that they are on the verge of discovering the cause of aging. Some think that aging is programmed in the genes. Others feel that it is the accumulated result of damaging diseases and harmful by-​products of metabolism. Still others attribute aging to hormones or the immune system. Scientists feel that if the cause of aging can be isolated, then perhaps it can be eliminated.

In the pursuit of immortality, the line between science and science fiction is becoming harder and harder to distinguish. Cloning is one such example. The idea is to clone, or reproduce, an identical body of an individual by cell and gene manipulation. Then, as the body parts disease or fail, a new organ can be taken from the clone and transplanted, much as a broken part in a car is replaced by a new spare part. Some scientists claim that theoretically there is no limit to what could be done by cloning.

Carrying matters one step further is the process called cryonics. When a person dies, explain the proponents, the body can be frozen to preserve it until the time that a cure is found for what is incurable today. Then the body can be thawed, reanimated, and restored​—hopefully to a longer, happier life.

In view of such efforts and the expenditure of countless millions of dollars in research, what has been the outcome? Are we any closer to breaking free from the yoke of death than were all those thousands of millions of people who lived and died before us?

What Are the Prospects?

Judging by the optimistic proclamations and predictions by some of those who have engaged in such research, it would seem that life much longer than we are accustomed to is just around the corner. Here are a few examples gleaned from the late 1960’s.

“The knowledge we acquire in such a search will give us the weapons we need to fight the last enemy​—Death—​on his own grounds. It will place relative immortality within our reach . . . It could come in our time.”​—Alan E. Nourse, physician and writer.

“We will lick the problem of aging completely, so that accidents will be essentially the only cause of death.”​—Augustus B. Kinzel, then president of Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

“Immortality (in the sense of indefinitely extended life) is technically attainable, not only for our descendants but for ourselves.”​—Robert C. W. Ettinger in The Prospect of Immortality.

While at the time not all gerontologists and researchers shared such enthusiasm, the general consensus of experts appeared to be that by the beginning of the 21st century, aging would be controlled and life would be extended significantly.

Now that we are much closer to the beginning of the 21st century, what is the picture? Is longer life, let alone immortality, within reach? Consider these observations.

“Many gerontologists will agree that these are highly muddled times for us. We neither know what is the underlying mechanism of aging, nor are we able to measure the rate of aging in precise biochemical terms.”​—Journal of Gerontology, September 1986.

“No one knows exactly what the process of aging is or why it runs a different course in different people. Nor does anyone know how to increase human longevity, despite the often fraudulent and sometimes dangerous claims of the ‘life extension’ hucksters and others who traffic in the fears and ills of the elderly.”​—FDA Consumer, the official journal of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, October 1988.

Predictions made in the past about conquering death and extending life indefinitely are clearly overenthusiastic. Immortality through science is still a farfetched dream. Does this mean that until there is a major breakthrough in science or technology, there is nothing that can be done to prolong or at least improve life?

Longer, Happier Life Now?

Although researchers have not uncovered the secret to long life, they have learned a great deal about life and the aging process. And some of the information thus gained can be applied to good advantage.

Experiments with animals, for example, have revealed that “controlled underfeeding can extend the maximum survival times by more than 50 per cent and delay the appearance and severity of many age-​related problems,” reports the London Times. This has led to studies as to whether the same may hold true with regard to humans.

Consequently, in his book The 120-​Year Diet, Dr. Roy Walford recommends a low-​calorie, low-​fat, and high-​nutrition diet coupled with a good exercise program. He points to the people of Okinawa as an example. Compared with the diet of the average Japanese, theirs is about 40 percent lower in calories; yet they “have from 5 to 40 times the number of centenarians as other Japanese islands.”

The natives of the Caucasus region in western Soviet Union are another frequently cited example of longevity. Sula Benet, who lived among the Caucasians, reported in her book How to Live to Be 100 that an unusually high number of those people live healthy and active lives well past 100 years of age, and several are said to have lived longer than 140 years. She noted that “two factors remain constant in the Caucasian diet: 1. No overeating . . . 2. An extremely high intake of natural vitamins in fresh vegetables.” In addition, “their work provides them not only with physical exercise but also with the knowledge of their own meaningful contribution to their community.”

What You Can Do

Is moving to Okinawa or the Caucasus or some other area where the natives enjoy longer life the solution? Probably not. But there are some things that you can do. You can imitate the good habits of those long-​lived people and follow the advice of competent doctors, nutritionists, and health experts.

They almost universally recommend a life of moderation. This means not only being conscious of the amount of food you eat but also being alert to eat nutritious and healthful foods that are available to you. The good effects of regular exercise are also well-​known. A reasonable effort to apply these principles and to eliminate the damaging habits of modern society, such as smoking and drug and alcohol abuse, cannot help but make you feel better.

Logically, the better we treat our body, the healthier we will be. And the healthier we are, the better our chances of living longer. However, no matter what we do, the average life span remains the Biblical 70 or 80. (Psalm 90:10) Is there any hope that this life span will ever be extended, and if so, for how long?

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HOW OLD ARE YOU?

Whether you realize it or not, you are much older than you may think. Biological science tells us that at birth, a woman’s ovaries already contain all the ova, or eggs, that she will ever produce. This means that if your mother was 30 years of age at the time of your conception, the egg that eventually became you was already 30 years old.

That probably does not make you feel older, but day by day, you are getting older. Young or old, all of us are aging, and most of us are interested in slowing down that process​—if not actually stopping it.

How Long Can We Live?

“MANY PEOPLE alive today will have the opportunity for a greatly prolonged life span. Even immortality now seems possible.”

“Millions Now Living May Never Die.”

What is the difference between these two statements? The first is a statement by Dr. Lawrence E. Lamb, medical columnist and professor, in his book Get Ready for Immortality, published in 1975. The second is the title of a public address and subsequent book by J. F. Rutherford, the second president of the Watch Tower Society. The public address was first delivered in Los Angeles, California, in 1918.

The two apparently similar statements, however, differed widely in the reasoning and research that led up to them. Dr. Lamb’s words are typical of the many so-​called immortalists. These persons feel that advances in medical science, including research on aging, will soon solve the mystery of why we grow old and will eventually conquer death itself. Yet, despite the achievements of modern science in lengthening the average life expectancy and in helping many to enjoy better lives, predictions of immortality remain just that​—optimistic prognostications.

J. F. Rutherford, on the other hand, was not making forecasts based on science or medicine. His discussion was based on the Bible. He demonstrated by means of fulfilled Bible prophecies that the world of mankind had entered into its “time of the end.” (Daniel 12:4) He then pointed to the Bible-based hope that just as Noah and his family survived the end of the world in their day, millions will survive the destruction of this world and live on into a righteous new world to enjoy everlasting life in a paradise earth.​—Matthew 24:37-39; Revelation 21:3, 4.

To many of those in his audience, Rutherford’s speech was startling. Even today, many people find such talk about living forever on earth under the rule of God’s Kingdom unrealistic and hard to believe. (Psalm 37:10, 11, 29) But is what the Bible says about why we grow old and die really so unbelievable? What, in fact, does it say on the subject?

Made to Live, Not to Die

Logically, the Bible opens with the account of the beginning of human life. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that after creating the first human pair, “God blessed them and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.’”​—Genesis 1:28.

For the first human pair, Adam and Eve, to carry out that assignment, it would necessarily mean that they would have to live a very long time, and so would their offspring. But for how long? Reading on in the Bible book of Genesis, we find no mention of any specific life span prescribed for Adam and Eve. Nevertheless, there was one condition that they would have to meet if they were to continue living. God said to Adam: “As for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”​—Genesis 2:17.

Thus, death would come upon them only if they disobeyed God’s command. Otherwise, they had the prospect of living on indefinitely in that earthly Paradise called Eden. Clearly, humans were made to live, not to die.

The Genesis account goes on to relate, however, that the first human pair chose to ignore God’s clearly stated command and thereby sinned. Their course of disobedience brought upon them, and subsequently upon their descendants, the condemnation of death. Centuries later, the apostle Paul explained: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”​—Romans 5:12.

The law of inheritance is such that Adam and Eve could only pass on to their offspring what they themselves had. As created, they were capable of passing on perfect, unending life to future generations. But now that their own lives had become marred by sin and death, they could no longer bequeath that grand heritage. Sin, imperfection, and death have become the lot of all mankind ever since, in spite of the efforts to extend the human life span.

In a sense, this can be likened to a computer program in which there is a flaw, or bug. Unless the bug is isolated and corrected, the program will not work properly, and the results may be disastrous. Man has not been able to isolate, much less correct, the inherent flaw that results in the malfunctioning of our human bodies, resulting in aging and death. However, man’s Creator, Jehovah God, has made arrangements to correct it. What is his solution?

God has provided the perfect human life of his Son, Jesus Christ, “the last Adam,” who thus replaces, in effect, the original Adam as our father and life-​giver. Therefore, instead of being condemned to die as children of the sinner Adam, obedient humans may be reckoned worthy to receive everlasting life as children of their “Eternal Father,” Jesus Christ. Jesus himself explained: “This is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholds the Son and exercises faith in him should have everlasting life.”​—1 Corinthians 15:45; Isaiah 9:6; John 3:16; 6:40.

At the conclusion of his earthly ministry, in prayer to his heavenly Father, Jesus Christ declared the basic requirement for attaining this grand reward of life by saying: “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.

“Like the Days of a Tree”

Think of planting a sequoia seed and watching it grow hundreds of feet into the air, enjoying its growth throughout its lifetime. Then imagine surviving it and planting another one thousands of years later and again enjoying its growth and beauty.

Is such a notion realistic? Indeed it is, for it is based on the promise of man’s Creator, Jehovah God, who says: “Like the days of a tree will the days of my people be.” (Isaiah 65:22) This promise helps answer the question, How long can man live? The answer is: on into the indefinite future, yes, actually forever.​—Psalm 133:3.

An invitation is being extended now, namely: “‘Come!’ And let anyone hearing say: ‘Come!’ And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.” (Revelation 22:17) This is an invitation that Jehovah God is having extended to all honesthearted ones. The invitation is to take advantage of God’s spiritual provisions for everlasting life on a paradise earth.

Will you choose to accept this invitation? Your prospects for longer life, everlasting life, depend on your choice now!

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LIFE EXPECTANCY

Someone born at the end of the 18th century in North America or Western Europe could expect to live to be 35 or 40 years of age. Today, men and women in the United States can expect to live to about 71 and 78 respectively, and similar improvements have been made in other countries. We are realizing more of our potential as far as longevity is concerned. But is there a limit to how far life expectancy can be extended?

There is no one in recent history who has lived or has expected to live 500, 300, or even 200 years. In spite of advances in medical science, life expectancy today is still under 80. Yet there are reports of individuals living to 140 or even 150 years of age. And in Bible times, people lived to be hundreds of years old. Is that mere myth or legend?

Interestingly, The New Encyclopædia Britannica states that “the exact duration of human life is unknown.” As the article explains, assuming that some individual did live to be 150, “there is no valid reason for rejecting the possibility that some other individual may live 150 years and one minute. And if 150 years and one minute is accepted, why not 150 years and two minutes, and so on?” The article continues: “Based on existing knowledge of longevity, a precise figure for the span of human life cannot be given.”

What can we conclude from this? Simply that what medical science has learned about aging and death is based on the human condition as we see it today. The crucial question is whether the human condition has always been the same or whether it will always remain the same. God’s promise is: “Look! I am making all things new.” In the fast-​approaching new world, “he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”​—Revelation 21:4, 5.

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‘A river of water of life, clear as crystal, was flowing out from the throne of God.’​—Revelation 22:1