{"id":35727,"date":"2023-06-09T09:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T09:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/"},"modified":"2023-06-09T09:56:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T09:56:00","slug":"scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Worldwide, 60 million people die annually from any or all causes. That&#39;s about two deaths every second. In his most recent book, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson asks whether it is good and preferable for human beings to potentially live forever:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It&#39;s better to be alive than dead. Though more often than not, we take being alive for granted. The question remains, if you could live forever, would you? To live forever is to have all the time in the world to do anything you ever wanted.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Knowing that we will die may force us to live fuller lives:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>If you live forever, then what&#39;s the hurry? Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? There is perhaps no greater de-motivating force than the knowledge you will live forever. If true, then knowledge of your mortality may also be a force unto life itself &#8211; the urge to achieve, and the need to express love and affection now, not later. Mathematically, if death gives meaning to life, then to live forever is to live a life with no meaning at all. For these reasons death may be more important to our state of mind than we are willing to recognize.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Sin brought a curse (Gen. 3:16-19) and our current fallen state (Rom. 3:10). God did not want us to live forever in that condition (Gen. 3:22). Christ came to give us eternal life so that we might live forever in heaven, renewed and restored (1 Cor. 15:46-49). <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3399,3401,3516,3521,3737,3752,3886,3888,4180,4223,4385,4442,4493,4530,4558,4716,4802,4970,5160],"tax_ctp_topics":[396,397],"class_list":["post-35727","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-age","tax_ctp_tags-aging","tax_ctp_tags-boredom","tax_ctp_tags-brevity-of-life","tax_ctp_tags-death","tax_ctp_tags-delay","tax_ctp_tags-eternal-life","tax_ctp_tags-eternity","tax_ctp_tags-human-limitations","tax_ctp_tags-immortality","tax_ctp_tags-longevity","tax_ctp_tags-meaning-of-life","tax_ctp_tags-mortality","tax_ctp_tags-need-for-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-old-age","tax_ctp_tags-procrastination","tax_ctp_tags-renewal","tax_ctp_tags-short-life","tax_ctp_tags-time-management"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Worldwide, 60 million people die annually from any or all causes. That&#039;s about two deaths every second. In his most recent book, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson asks whether it is good and preferable for human beings to potentially live forever: It&#039;s better to be alive than dead. Though more often than not, we take being Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/\",\"name\":\"Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-09T09:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-09T09:56:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/scientist-describes-problem-of-living-forever\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scientist Describes the Problem of Living Forever - CT Pastors","og_description":"Worldwide, 60 million people die annually from any or all causes. 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