Palmer St. Podcast: Romans 5:12-21

Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a British researcher on aging, seeks immortality. He challenges the most basic assumption underlying the human condition — that aging is inevitable. He argues instead that aging is a disease – and one that can be cured. He claims he has drawn a roadmap to defeat biological aging. He provocatively proposes that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born. He may even be right.

If you’d like to familiarize yourself with Dr. de Grey and his work, you’ll find helpful media to view on  his media page.

Today we will begin by asking the same fundamental question that Dr. de Grey asks, but whereas he asks it from the physical, biological side, we will approach it from the biblical, spiritual side. That question is:  Why do we die?

Romans05.12-21.mp3

Rom05.12-21.pdf

Something That Lasts

Let’s face it. Everything we do in this world is plagued by impermanence. Our own mortality – that nagging, irritating, upcoming appointment with death – can bring a sad sense of dissatisfaction to anything we hope will endure. “All flesh is grass,” says the prophet. “The people are grass.” That’s us.  

The voice said, ‘Cry out!’
And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’
‘All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.'”
          – Isaiah 40:6-8 (NKJV)

Because we mortals cannot keep going, the best we can hope for is to latch onto something that will outlast us – something like the Word of God. The Bible; let’s devote ourselves to it. The Scriptures; let’s keep them ever before our eyes. God’s thoughts, God’s words; let’s fill our minds with them…

Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because

    ‘All flesh is as grass,
    And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
    The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
    But the word of the Lord endures forever.'”
          – 1 Peter 1:23-25 (NKJV)