Designed to Last Forever
IF MAN was created to live forever, we should expect to find evidence of that design in his body and its brain. Does he have the mental and physical equipment showing a design for living, with God’s help, not just hundreds or even thousands of years, but forever?
For everlasting life to be worth while, desirable, man would need a brain that could serve him forever. It would have to be a brain that could take in virtually unlimited amounts of information. It must be one that would enable him to build continually on previous knowledge so that he could make constant progress.
Does man have this kind of brain? Yes, and he is the only earthly creature that does. Among the earthly creation his brain is unique. The World Book Encyclopedia of 1970 (Vol. 2, p. 459) says of it: “The human brain is more highly developed than the brain of any animal.”
In fact, there is a gigantic gulf between the human brain and that of any animal, showing that they were designed for different purposes. No animal has the capacity to build continually on previous knowledge. While they can be trained to a certain degree, they are not able to pass his special training on to their young; each generation of sheep dogs or of seeing-eye dogs has to be trained by man as previous generations were trained. Animals are guided primarily by instincts built into them by the Creator. That is why, century after century, birds continue to build nests, beavers build dams and bees build hives. Never do they progress beyond that.
Man alone has the brain that enables him to build on the knowledge of the past. That is why he alone can harness fire, electricity and atomic energy. That is why he alone can build and use machines, computers—even rocket himself to the moon. He is not guided primarily by instinct, but by powers of reason.
Yes, man alone has a brain that would enable him to keep learning and progressing forever. That is because God purposed for man to live forever, but not the animals. The Creator provided each with the kind of brain needed: man’s to serve forever; the animal’s to serve a short lifetime.
An Amazing Capacity
The capacity of the human brain is positively awesome. The article in The World Book Encyclopedia states that if scientists could design an electronic computer to match one human brain, the computer would have to be as large as the Empire State Building in New York city!
The key part of the brain is the cell called the neuron. It is estimated that man has about 10 billion (10,000,000,000) neurons in his brain. Of these Life magazine (June 28, 1963) said:
“Neurons in the brain make thousands of connections with each other. But the innumerable extra connections that the larger human cortex provides multiplies virtually to infinity the brain’s capacity for receiving and analyzing data. And it is this sheer, massive power for handling data that places man in a class which is incomparably superior to any other living thing.”
The capacity of each one of these neurons is staggering. Biochemist Isaac Asimov declared:
“A healthy, mature human being of normal intelligence may have upwards of 20 million RNA molecules [thought to serve as a ‘filing system’ for memory] in each neuron. . . . An RNA molecule made up of merely 25 links could have any one of a million billion different combinations, . . . In fact, every RNA molecule contains many hundreds of units—not merely 25.”—New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1966.
Just what potential does this construction of the neuron give the human brain? Asimov adds:
“There is no question, then, that RNA presents a filing system perfectly capable of handling any load of learning and memory which the human being is likely to put upon it—and a billion times more than that quantity, too.”
Think of that! The brain is capable of handling not only any load a person can put on it in a lifetime of seventy to eighty years, but a thousand million times more! So it could serve a thousand million lifetimes, which really means that, with God’s help, it could serve forever.
Is it reasonable that God would create man with such a fantastic brain if it was never to be used fully? Why create a brain of which man could use only a fraction for a mere seventy to eighty years? It is far more reasonable, and it is what the Bible shows, that Jehovah God designed man to live forever on earth and gave him a brain that would wonderfully suit that purpose.
However, a brain that was designed to function forever needs a body that can also function forever. Does the human body have the potential for eternal life?
Cell Renewal
The human body is in a constant state of change. As we have seen earlier, older cells die off and are removed. New cells are formed to take their place. This sustains the body as it is.
You can note this process in your hair or fingernails. You can trim them today, but soon they will need trimming again because they are constantly growing. Other body cells do much the same thing. As science editor Walter Sullivan of the New York Times observed:
“The cells of our bodies (with a few exceptions, such as brain cells) are constantly replenishing themselves. It would seem that, barring accident or disease, this should continue indefinitely, but because of some subtle influence the replacement process is imperfect.”—We Are Not Alone, 1964, p. 282.
The life of various cells differs. For instance, white blood cells live about 13 days, red blood cells about 120 days.
In the book The Human Brain (1955, p. 3) John Pfeiffer states: “Steady changes occur even in bones, which seem to be the most inactive tissues of all. It has been estimated that every seven years or so the body negotiates a complete turnover of all its substance. In other words, your body does not contain a single one of the molecules that were ‘you’ seven years ago.”
Hence, the process for keeping the body alive forever exists within man: cell renewal. Of this process T. M. Sonneborn of Indiana University’s zoology department said: “It is clear that cells which normally grow and multiply in the body are capable of apparently limitless growth and reproduction. . . . Potential immortality thus exists on the cellular level.” So, the process is there. But more is needed: the removal of imperfection due to sin, so that man’s cells do not fail to reproduce properly after a certain number of years. God can lift the curse of sin and death we now experience, and he has already made provision to do that, as we shall see.
Brain Renewal
Most scientists have felt that the neurons, the major brain cells, did not renew themselves. It was thought that they had to last each person his lifetime, and if one was damaged it could not be replaced. However, in the book Your Brain—Master Computer (1962, p. 52) we read:
“For many years it was believed that nerve cells, unlike other kinds of cells in the body, could not divide. A destroyed nerve cell was thought to be lost forever, and that damage to the brain could never be repaired. Recently in some research into the brains of rats, some new nerve cells were found in damaged parts. . . .
“This suggests that there may be a chance that the human brain may be able to repair some of its injuries.”
Also, while brain cell renewal or repair on a large scale may not take place now in man’s imperfect condition, who is to say that it will not do so in God’s appointed time?
Even if we were to accept as a fact the claim that brain cells do not, and will never, undergo the same process of dividing and renewal as other cells, would this mean they are not renewed at all? Not according to the autumn 1969 issue of American Scientist (p. 288), in which nerve specialist Paul A. Weiss reported:
“I stumbled on an observation, quite by chance, which thoroughly upset that [formerly held] placid picture of our nerves. What had been viewed as a static fixture, all of a sudden revealed itself to me as a structure in constant flux, engaged in ceaseless, life-long growth, and indeed, growing at a rate which matched the fastest proliferating cells of the adult body.”
He explained that brain cells are renewed, but not by dividing and multiplying as other body cells do. Instead, they continually produce new material to replace what the brain cells give off as they direct operations for the other body parts. This may be compared to having all the parts to make a complete, new machine, but, instead, using them as spare parts for an existing machine of the same kind.
Of this unusual process that Weiss suggests is going on in the brain, he says: “Our brain cells will not be the same next week that they are today.” Hence, the brain cells could be constantly replenishing their substance, while at the same time keeping intact the ‘channels’ that the owner has made through his education and environment.
Whatever the case may be in regard to brain cells, we can be certain that the Creator can provide whatever they need to sustain and repair themselves forever.
Restored to Original Condition
When God created man and woman, he did give them the potential and prospect of living forever. Their minds and bodies were flawless, capable of operating eternally. They were to have loving dominion of the earth and all life upon it. That was their original condition. But when they rebelled against God the process of degeneration set in.
Nevertheless, back there near the start of human history, people lived much longer than we do today. That is because they were closer to perfection than we are now. Note the ages of some of those who lived before the global flood of Noah’s day:
Name Age at Death
Adam 930
Seth 912
Enosh 905
Kenan 910
Mahalalel 895
Jared 962
Methuselah 969
As centuries passed, the life-span shortened, especially after the Flood. Shem lived 600 years. Later Abraham lived 175 years. By Moses’ time the life-span had dropped to an average of 70 or 80 years.—Ps. 90:10; Gen. 5:3-27; 11:10, 11; 25:7.
From this history, then, we can see that some men in the past lived more than ten times as long as the present 70 or 80 years. Since man’s mind and body operated for nearly 1,000 years even after imperfection set in, it is surely possible for them to operate forever when freed from sin and under God’s blessing and control.
The Bible psalmist said to God: “I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made.” (Ps. 139:14) Yes, God has equipped man with a wonderfully unique combination of brain and body. He has designed humans to live forever here on earth.
But some may feel that living forever in perfection would be boring, tiring. Is this really true?
[Picture on page 12]
The human brain was designed to serve a thousand million lifetimes—really forever