Thursday, June 20, 2013

Aged

I was sitting with a friend the other night discussing "Old Age". It is our future, if we should live so long; we
have friends who are quite aged, near death, and we were seeking to divine why God would design us to
break down and eventually fail physically.
I know I've mentioned it here before, but it's my blog, so...
Humbling. God opposes the proud and gives Grace to the humble. The young man or woman who takes pride in their self sufficiency, their youthful strength, becomes older, eventually more brittle and weak,
humbled by the deterioration of their bodies.
So they may turn to God in their old age, always by His design and by His drawing them to Himself.
Christians who age don't get a free pass-our bodies are as encased in entropy as anyone else s. We become
frail and eventually die, passing to Heaven. The difference is my metaphorical bags have been packed for the journey for over 30 years, and I look forward to dying and making it to the gate of Pearl. I would prefer to
have my ticket punched before I get too old and frail, but that's my pride talking. I don't want to become weak. But God sets the number of our days, so until THAT day...may God Bless you.

3 comments:

Doug said...

Saw the news last night that actor James Gandolfini passed away. He was three years younger than I am.
Saw an article on Mamie Van Doren at Morlocks-she is still going in her 80's and I had no idea she was still alive.

James said...

There are some who believe that the aging process and all it entails (including the decline of one's youthful attractiveness and health) is not part of God's design but rather the result of original sin.

In an ideal world, do we age? I'm not sure.

Doug said...

Hello James-I don't know about those 'some who believe', but what I believe is that the Bible is true when it talks about the fall of Man,how all of this Creation became corrupted through sin, bringing about Death.
The ideal world that you mention will be accomplished by God when He redeems His Creation, then burning it with fire, replacing it with a new heaven and a new earth fit for eternity. This is mentioned in Revelation chapter 21.
I wouldn't want to be immortal in this corrupt world. That's part of the vampire mythos-live forever in this world apart from God with powers greater than those of mere mortals. That's why vampires,according to the myth, recoil from the sight of a cross.
"is not part of God's design but rather the result of original sin."
Everything, every molecule of existence, every moment of time are a part of God's design. Even the bad parts are evidence of a fallen world in need of redemption, which is why Christ had to come and die, paying the price for our sins. If there were any part of existence not part of God's design,then He wouldn't be God. But He is and we are merely part of His Creation.