Unlimited Lifespans?

 Sakari Momoi made the headlines yesterday. Not because of anything he did, but because he is alive. At age 111 Momoi, who lives in Japan was declared to be the world's oldest man. How long he will hold that honor is, of course, unknown.

Note that he is the world's oldest "man". The world's oldest person is another resident of Japan, Misao Okawa, age 116. Two years ago the title of world's oldest living person belonged to a woman with ties to the area in which I live. Besse Cooper passed away on December 12, 2012 at the age of 116.

Supercentenarians (people who live past the age of 110) are a novelty. Interviews with these folks will almost always include the question, "To what do you attribute your long life?" The answers given are entertaining, if not entirely scientific.

Katie Couric today quotes David Sinclair, researcher with the Harvard Medical School, as saying, "I wouldn't begin to put a limit on the human lifespan." He has long been involved in a search for molecules that not only slow down the aging process, but can actually reverse it. He believes we will one day see people living to be 150.

I've learned to be careful with my predictions. I won't say that people will never live to be 150 years old. But I'm quite certain that living to the age of 150 is not anywhere close to having unlimited lifespans. Whether sooner or later, an end will come.

Moses' observations about aging have become famous: "The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away" (Psalm 90:10). In his day a life of seventy years was considered normal. Eighty-year- olds were occasionally seen. But everyone in his day eventually finished their course.

Lifespans may be a bit longer today than they were then, but the terminus is still a certainty. James wrote words to which most of us will quickly say "Amen": "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14).

And then what? That's the real question, isn't it? Does our existence come to an end at death? The Bible says there is more ahead. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). "Nothing is certain except death and taxes," we've often heard. Add one more item to that list: Judgment Day.

If death is certain, followed by judgment, shouldn't we be making preparations? That's why God gave us the Bible. Let's give it serious attention.

Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you'd like to discuss these ideas further. Timothy D. Hall.