Eternal Life (thanks, but no thanks)

I've also often found this dilemma intriguing. What is it they say? The body completely replaces every cell every seven to ten years or something? If that's true then I have been completely replaced some four to five times since birth.So the thing I am wondering here Modulous, is if you are going to set up a discussion where we are conjecturing "what if" eternal life is true, then why do you still require it to strictly adhere to your conception of reality? I mean this is kind of like saying "what if" Oompaloompas really do work in Wonka's Chocolate factory, then how come he doesn't have to provide health insurance like every other business owner?Do you see the problem? If you are going to take that step and allow (for the sake of argument) that Oompaloompas exist at all, then you have to go with the full story which says they also never get sick and they also work for nothing.Likewise if you are going to allow for the sake of argument that there is a God, heaven, and eternal life to be had, then you have to spring for the full package which also states that you have a soul. And though your body has changed since you were 18, and is not the same body, your soul though hopefully wiser and more mature, is and always will be the real you. That part of you has the ability to expand infinitely in understanding and knowledge, however it is not replicating itself. Therefore according to Christian theology, you do not ever become something entirely different from the person you are now, you merely expand upon that person. Think of the love you feel for the person on earth to whom you are the closest. The one person in your life who gives you the greatest joy and meaning to life. Now imagine feeling that relationship grow stronger day by day forever and ever. You never become board and you keep discovering new and fascinating things about that person every day. Now imagine that feeling with someone who is an infinite creator who you could literally spend eternity discovering the depths of HisNo webpage found at provided URL: love and grace.Now imagine an eternity separated from that love. An eternity that you chose by squandering away every chance that you were given to freely receive it.

Yes that is true. I was only trying to focus more on the intensity of the relationship rather than the "tense" of past or present. Imagine the intensity of that love growing and blossoming more and more for an eternity.

Yes absolutely!! And that is what we are taught in the scriptures. We will have all of or memories from here. But the afflictions we endured now will pale like a candle to the sun in comparison to the glory we will experience then. Well I think this is a really skewed point of view. It's like a baby in its mothers womb saying it doesn't want to be born and live for the next 70 years or so because it will have forgotten all about the warm comforts of its life in the womb it enjoyed for the last nine months. It neither has the mental ability nor developmental capacity to even comprehend what life outside the womb will be like.Likewise now it is not revealed to us what we shall be like, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him. And it has not even entered into the most wildest imaginations of man, what it shall be like when we are there. We know it shall be glorious beyond all comprehension.