Living for eternity in the here and now
 Regular Network Norwich columnist James Knight takes a look at our world, the universe and eternity.
Many people fear a nuclear war, particularly with instability in the Middle East likely to be the catalyst. It is amazing to think that the whole history of human achievements could be wiped out in next to no time if a few dangerous people get itchy trigger fingers.
But interestingly enough, if scientists are right that the universe is going run down anyway - what does it matter how we die, you might ask? Those who do not believe in God can surely answer that it matters in a transient sense; that is, to have 80 or so years on this planet is better than dying tomorrow. But belief in God offers a very different alternative - an eternal plan in which we are destined to be with God.
It is certainly true to say that if we are going be alive for 80 or so years, and that a great many people claim that there is an eternal life after this one, it is certainly a consideration worthy of at least some of our years here. Every time we see a death in Iraq or Afghanistan (or anywhere, for that matter), we are reminded that it could happen to any of us at any time and that we should be unwise to take life for granted. Thus we see that the most important question is not what are we going to achieve on earth, nor how long are we going live on earth - the most important question, given the sheer magnitude of the outcome, is whether earth is our only life or whether Christians are, in fact, right in saying that this life is only the precursor to an eternal existence.
The facts of life on earth
Suppose we say that we think the former is true, we then have to consider only facts about life on earth - what we hope to achieve, what difference we can make in our lifetime, and in what state we can leave the planet for future inhabitants. I honestly believe that in the back of most people’s minds there is some vague belief that there will be an afterlife. It seems likely (although I can’t prove it) that if we lived in a world where the majority of people thought that this was the only life, they would behave rather differently in their 80 or so years.
It seems likely that if we thought this life was all that there was, life would be vastly different from life as we know it. Who could read the poetry of George Herbert or John Donne in the same way if they were only talking about temporal things? Who could love another person in the same way if one believed that the person whom they were loving was merely a collection of matter originating from a cobbled together, blind purposeless force? All of our pleasures and enjoyment would mean nothing more than facts about our physicality - facts that we were destined to have by an inescapable random universal process.
 Whatever good we were to make of this life, whether we achieved worldwide fame and fortune or whether we were downtrodden and forgotten in the backstreets of a slum, we would still be heading for the same futile destination - and if left to the very end, the big crunch would get us all. And any claims that we can ‘get over’ this fact by making the best of our situation amounts to nothing more than transient facts about our attempts to set ourselves up against the wastefulness of the universe. The very nature by which we define things, including every part of philosophy and every part of science are swallowed up in one purposeless black hole.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that didn’t wonder in the deepest part of their soul if we were created for something much bigger than what we have right now - for everyone seems to have a sense of the transcendent in them. If there was no perfect circle somewhere outside of our universe, how did we know that nature’s circle was so imperfect? If there was no correct and absolute form of reasoning, how did we conclude that our reasoning would not be reliable if it came from an accidental source? The answer is simple if we see nature as a created thing. We were created for another world.
Nature and reason only become ultimately explicable if we see that the former did not create the latter. How often we have seen that those who wish for peace most are those that go to the most destructive lengths to achieve it. The same is true of many of the higher things. Those who try to do most for posterity very often do most harm to those alive in the present day. Those who preach against poverty are often those who cause more poverty than anyone else. The need to belong in another world is only successful if one realises that need and what to do with it. Passionate striving may not do much good if the eternal isn’t at the forefront of our endeavours.
It is here that we see one of the biggest paradoxes that Christianity has to show us. To care more about the next world than this one is by far the best way to care more for this one. To care more about God than about nature is by far the best way to ensure that nature - the part which we occupy - is the best we can make it. Those who love God more than man are those who treat men better. That is the awesome nature of God - to love Him and live for Him is to live for everything He created in the most abundant way, and is, in the process, an assured way of living a full life yourself.
Another message next week.
The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users. We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted below, upon the ideas expressed here. You can also contact the author direct at james.knight@norfolk.gov.uk
James is a Norwich local government officer, author and Proclaimers church member in Norwich. You can access his current collections of columns here
Meanwhile, if you want to find out more about Christianity, visit: www.rejesus.co.uk
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