“What kind of work do you do?” the surgeon asked, tilting back in his chair. The two of us were having a friendly get-acquainted interview.
“I edit books,” I told him.
“What kind of books?”
“Religious books, mostly.”
He leaned forward, suddenly intent. “And what’s religion going to do when medicine delivers immortality, instead of religion?” he demanded.
I tried to explain that religion wasn’t just about earning eternal life. And it isn’t, though many people do look forward to living forever in heaven. (No one looks forward to living forever in hell.)
I don’t think I convinced him.
Recently, I read Yuval Noah Harari’s latest bestseller, Homo Deus. In his first book, Sapiens, Harari sketched human development over the last million years or so. In this book, he looks into our future.
“In the twenty-first century humans are likely to make a serious bid for immortality,” Harari writes. “Humans always die due to some technical glitch. The heart stops pumping blood. The main artery is clogged by fatty deposits. Cancerous cells spread in the liver. Germs multiply in the lungs…
“The vast majority of scientists, doctors and scholars still distance themselves from outright dreams of immortality, claiming that they are trying to overcome only this or that particular problem. Yet because old age and death are the outcome of nothing but particular problems, there is no point at which doctors and scientists are going to stop.”
It’s inevitable, Harari argues, because thousands of medical researchers are working independently on tiny fragments of the whole picture, all designed to extend human life. They won’t achieve immortality; they’ll simply defer death indefinitely.
In another century, says Harari, people will die only in wars, accidents, and suicides. Or because they don’t have access to the latest technologies.
Mind you, they may be barely recognizable as humans. They may have titanium joints, a mechanical heart, and someone else’s lungs and liver. They may have electronic eyes. They may even have a massive memory chip installed in their brains.
But the uber-wealthy could go on replacing parts forever. If they choose to. Sophia Loren could look as good at 190 as she did at 50.
There’s no point in opposing these developments. You can’t stop of all the current efforts to reduce pain and suffering without condemning millions to continued pain and suffering. Harari calls it “an irresistible momentum.”
Suddenly, my surgeon’s question becomes relevant. What will churches do, when it becomes obvious that human lives no longer have an expiry date?
I can imagine four possible scenarios.
• Some churches will accept reality, and focus on life here and now.
• Some churches will continue to proclaim the attractions of an afterlife in heaven to those who have no intention of ever going there.
• Some churches will insist that God decreed death for all humans. They will find in the Bible an age beyond which humans are not supposed to live. They will lobby for mandatory death at that age. Suicide could become a community sacrament.
• Some churches will rethink theology to show that the consequence of sin is not death but artificially extended life.
Which option do you think your church might choose?
Author Jim Taylor lives in Lake Country: rewrite@shaw.ca