Life, death, hibernation, cryogenics and resurrection.

By the process of lowering and controlling body temperatures animals hibernate for an extended amount of time. Recently, experiments have been done to allow human beings to "hibernate" for a short duration from hours to even days. The intent is to develop a process for space travel.

Many things we have today are a direct result of the innovation from space travel. Long before billions of people took endless numbers of digital photographs, the process was developed for space travel. When the first digital pictures came back from the moon, I thought "Those aren't true photographs. It's a reconstruction of what the lens sees!" Guess what, that's a near true view of what really exists! Today people ogle over photographs of women in bikinis and men's six packs, but they're really seeing a clever construction of ones and zeros. That becomes more obvious when digital pictures "break-up" with a poor signal. What was once pleasant all of a sudden becomes mathematics. Pictures are images digitized. What's beautiful is made beautiful by algorithms.

Therefore, don't be surprised that someday people will hibernate for extended periods of time and join the bears and snakes in a deep sleep where even the brain slows to near non-function! Not only that, but just like digital photography, it may become the "norm"! Millionaires believe in it. Some have used cryogenics to preserve themselves for life in posterity. That's many steps beyond hibernation, but may lead to replication of the person by DNA. It won't be the individual, but the individual's clone will live on. It's mankind's attempt to live forever!

People who are narcissistic enough to believe that they should be special cases, defeating death, seem to be the very ones who miss the way that death can be defeated!

John 11:25 "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live..."

Let's compare "resurrection" with "suspended animation" which encompasses cryogenics and goes beyond hibernation. Those whose life functions are suspended for a time, upon being reanimated will still die at some later time. Those who are "resurrected" will arise after having DIED and will LIVE forever. People who hibernate don't die. They are adding mere moments to their short life span. People who are cryogenically preserved are dead! They too shall arise, but there will be two options: resurrection with eternal life or resurrection with eternal "death". The outcome of their destiny depends on what they believe in this life!

We know from scripture that the one who has been raised from the dead and is still alive, has the same characteristics and personality as he had in this life! That man is Jesus. In the tomb his body was dead for portions of three days. He lay there lifeless just as we will someday. Now Jesus has arisen from this physical state and physically enjoys life again. Of course even though his body was dead, his soul yet lived! For all humans who are "born again" when death is trumped they will never be all the way dead because their soul will hibernate in heaven. All physical functions of life will cease, but yet they will be alive spiritually!

For a short period of time, until Jesus comes that is, the "person" will hibernate in heaven, but the body will rest in the grave, even deteriorate, but as with all God's miracles, what he returns from dust will be restored from dust. He did that for Adam and he shall do it for us! The soul will not be in hibernation as we understand it, because the soul will still stir! (Read the account of Lazarus and the Rich Man). It may be more like "preserved" in the grave as with cryogenics, until a process comes along which will bring life back to the dead! For the Christian, that is the resurrection of the body and the cure comes with the "hope of salvation". Those who are "born again" spiritually, are soon to be "born again" physically!

Therefore, those who are frozen awaiting a "cure" or hibernating to extend their time on this earth, the "process" of doing that is the same for everybody: rich or poor, infant or elderly, healthy or infirm, Jew of Gentile, or anybody for that matter. It's making a decision to live on after the grave:

 John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

Our first birth is a physical birth. We are all born of the flesh and we are flesh. However, there is an empty cup within us, called the "soul". It will be filled with something: an evil spirit or the Holy Spirit of God. When we are "born again" by belief in Christ and trusting in him, that cup will be filled by God! His Holy Spirit will enter into us and when that happens we will be "born of the Spirit". That is our rebirth and we are "born again"!

Therefore, being "born again" is a Spiritual change. The reward for being "born again of the Spirit" is at the "General Resurrection", we will be "born again" of the flesh, when our Spirit reunites with our bodies! That body will be the one we always had. It will go from mortal flesh to immortality. We will live again!

With that said, what scientists are to attempting to do in the laboratory, has been done for real. Jesus has been made mortal and he is of the same flesh as when he was here on earth. Because Jesus made it possible and showed that it can happen, we have the "hope of salvation" that someday we too shall have immortal bodies!

There is a process for having immortality. It's faith in Jesus. We must believe that Jesus arose from the dead before we will be able to! All we have to do is make a decision: believe in and accept Jesus and his sacrifice of himself for us, and that he arose and still lives! That's God's gift to us: eternal life which all men seek, but few find!