When my brother was three years old he was performed an operation on removal of appendix. His organism was totally poisoned. Doctors were struggling to bring him to life. I was four years old at that time. I remember that doctors had asked for some medicine which my parents couldn’t get in Armenia. They went to Holy Echmiadzin (Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic church) where the bishop helped them to get the medicine from Georgia. Whole month my little brother was in the hospital and his body was connected with any kind of medical hoses. After a month of struggles my brother started to get better. He couldn’t walk as his organism was totally exhausted. He was learning to make steps with the help of my parents like a one year old child. We thanked God for that miracle as my brother started a new life. Every year we used to go to Holy Echmiadzin to light candles and celebrate his “birthday”.
Somewhere deep in my heart I knew that there is God who rules over everything and who can take or give life to us. Some twenty years later I have learned that Jesus Christ is son of God who died for us so that ‘whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’. What is eternal life? It should be something that never ends. Does it make any sense? I don’t know any person who would like to die. Even the old would like to start the lives over again. Nobody wants to perish and close his eyes forever. This is true for every human being without regard to sex, age, ethnicity, education and even religion. I find this inner desire to live something that is installed in us when we are born.
In 1960 Californian millionaire James McGill died. He left detailed instructions that his body should be preserved and frozen in the hope that one day scientists might discover a cure for the disease that killed him. There are hundreds of people in Southern California who have put hopes of one day living again in this process which freezes and preserves human bodies. The latest development in Cryonics technology is called neuro-suspension which preserves just the human head. One reason why it is becoming popular is that it is much cheaper than preserving and maintaining a whole body.
Such attempts to avoid the inevitability of death are plainly absurd and, indeed, unnecessary. Jesus came to bring us ‘eternal life’. Eternal life is a quality of life which comes from living in a relationship with God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Jesus never promised anyone an easy life, but he promised fullness of life (John 10:10). This new quality of life starts now and goes on into eternity. Our time on earth is relatively short, but eternity is vast. Through Jesus, who said, ‘I am . . . the life’ we can not only enjoy fullness of life here, but we can be sure that it will never end.
