PREMSWAROOP MINISTRIES

Discussion Questions

1.How Long Do You Want to Live?1. Why did Hezekiah think he deserved to live past 39?

2. What reasons may be given to explain why earliest men lived nearly  1,000 years?

3. When God told Noah "man . . . is mortal; his days will be ahundred and twenty years," was he referring to the expected life span?

4. Why wasn't it good news when the Psalmist said our life span would be 70 to 80 years?

5. Fifteen hundred years ago people only lived to be 45, now we live to the later 70s. What explains the increase?

6. What are some possible explanations for the fact that women live longer than men?

7. If Solomon was commended for not asking for "long life," whywould he leave the instruction to "keep my commands in your heart, forthey will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity."

8. What particular command given by Moses and reiterated by Paul included a promise of long life for those who obey?

9. What three different understandings about our length of life aresuggested by these three words: theist, humanist and fatalist?

10. What is the fundamental flaw in being preoccupied with how long is our life-span?

11. What is the actual life-span of the Christian?

          This apparentlyis a question that has always carried a lot of interest. From the storyof Hezekiah, we learned that he was not happy with the prospect ofdying so young, at the age of 39, and he successfully petitioned God toextend his life, and he lived to be 54. Perhaps Hezekiah had goodreason to feel cheated.

        Going back to the beginning of the Bible, we learn from Moses thatthe first man, Adam, lived to be 930 years old, but that one of hisdescendants, Methuselah, lived even longer than that, 969 years.

          Genesis 6:3 seems to imply that after Noah, length of life would bereduced to 120 ("My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he ismortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.") However, welater learn that all of the Patriarchs lived past 120. Abraham died atage 175, Isaac at 180 and Jacob, 147. Not until Joseph did the age spandip below 120 - he died at 110. Obviously what Genesis 6:3 meant that there would be 120 years from the time of God's announcement and thecoming of the Great Flood.

     A verse in the Psalms set the expected length of life to be around70 - "The length of our days is seventy years -- or eighty, if we havethe strength." (Psalm 90:10) But then the Psalmist goes on with apessimistic tone, "yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for theyquickly pass, and we fly away."

       A cute story is told that on the day when God began to create animal life, He first created the ox. He said to the ox, "Today I have createdyou! As an ox, you must go to the field with the farmer all day long.You will work all day under the sun! I will give you a life span of 50years."

The ox objected, "What? This kind of a tough life you want me tolive for 50 years? Let me have 20 years, and the 30 years I'll giveback to you." So God agreed.

After the ox, God created the dog. God said to the dog, "You aresupposed to do is to sit all day by the door of your house. Any peoplethat come in, you will have to bark at them! I'll give a life span of20 years."

The dog objected, "What? All day long to sit by the door? No way! I give you back 10 years of my life!" So God agreed.

Next, God created the monkey. He said to the monkey, "Monkeys haveto entertain people. You've got to make them laugh and do monkeytricks. I'll give you a 20 year life span."

The monkey objected. "What? Make them laugh? Do monkey faces andtricks? Ten years will do, and the other 10 years I'll give back." SoGod agreed.

Finally, God created man and said to him, "Your job is to sleep,eat, and play. You will enjoy very much in your life. All you need todo is to enjoy and do nothing. For this kind of life, I'll give you a20 year life span."

The man objected. "What? Such a good life! Eat, play, sleep, donothing? Enjoy the best, and you expect me to live only for 20 years?No way, man! Why don't we make a deal? Since the ox gave back 30 years,and both the dog and monkey gave back 10 years, I will take them fromyou! That makes my life span 70 years, right?" So God agreed.

And that's why in our first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play, enjoy thebest and do nothing much. For the next 30 years, we work all day long,and suffer to support the family. For the next 10 years, we entertainour grandchildren by making monkey faces and doing monkey tricks. Andfor the last 10 years, we stay at home, sit by the front door and barkat people!

So how long do you want to live? Or perhaps the question is, howlong do you expect you will live? More recent recorded history tells usthat before 1900, very few lived to see their 70th birthday, andpractically no one lived to be 80.

Archeologists in England unearthed 65 burials of people whowere alive between 400 and 1,000 A.D. and found that none of them livedpast 45.During the next period of history (1,000 A.D. to 1600 A.D.), theKings did a little better. The mean life expectancy of kings ofScotland and England was between 51 and 48 years. The royal courtmanaged about as well as their kings, but the monks did not fare aswell - only five percent survived past 45.

In another royal court, from 1600 to 1899 A.D., the 20 men studiedlived an average of 62 years. There were five men who lived into their70s but none into their 80s.

In more recent times, during the last 150 years, life expectancy forhumans has doubled as a result of progress in medical science.(http://www.worldhealth.net) In 1930 the average life span for Americanwomen was 61.6 years, and the average for men was 58.1 years; by 1997the average female and male life spans had risen to 79.2 and 73.6years, respectively.

There's been a lot of speculation about the well known fact thatwomen live longer than men. (Among centenarians worldwide, womenoutnumber males nine to one.) Recently it has been discovered that thisis due, in part, to the fact that women are more likely to live byJesus' comment, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." A studyreported in USA TODAY under the title "Generous spirit may yieldgenerous life span," pointed out that social contact yields a longerlife, and specifically the kind of contact where the person is giving,helping, and supporting on a day-to-day basis.(http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-11-13-long-life-usat_x.htm)

So how long do you want to live?

When we look back to the Bible, we find one prominent man, Solomon,who was commended because when he was given the chance to ask forwhatever he desired, he did not seek for long life.

(I Kings 3:11) Fromthat, we might conclude that this is not an important question at all.On the other hand, we are told that one of the rewards to be enjoyed bythe faithful will be long life. Psalms 91:16 says, "With long life willI satisfy him, and shew him my salvation." and in Proverbs 3:1,2 itsays, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in yourheart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring youprosperity."

Specifically, we are told that those who fulfill the commandto honor mother and father are given this promise of a long life. Itwas first stated by Moses in the second giving of the law, "Honor yourfather and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you; that yourdays may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the landwhich the LORD your God gives you." (Deuteronomy 5:16 - RSV)In the New Testament, this promise was reiterated by Paul inEphesians 6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this isright. 'Honor your father and mother' -- which is the first commandmentwith a promise -- that it may go well with you and that you may enjoylong life on the earth.'"

So how are Christian believers to handle this life and death matter? What should be our attitude?

1. Some read the Biblical promises in a literal manner and gladlysing "Every Promise in the Book is Mine, every chapter every verseevery line" and then they hold God hostage, demanding their right tolive a long life. Then when someone dies young, especially someone whoappears to have lived an exemplary and faithful Christian life, theyget mad at God.

2. Others believe that they must take the matter into their ownhands, with the firm belief that they can impact their own longevity bydoing all the right things such as: eating healthy food, gettingadequate sleep, exercising regularly, seeing a doctor often, andmanaging their stress. They believe in the A-G-I-N-G formula - longlife results from having good: Attitudes, Genes, Exercise, Interests,Nutrition and "Get rid of smoking."

Just for fun, I recently filled out a life-style inventory(http://www.livingto100.com) to see what my own life expectancy mightbe; I found out that my "calculated health span" is 85.9 years. Thisprogram pointed out that not only do I have genes in my favor, but I'mmarried, and it is clear that in the case of men, being marriedprovides a survival advantage. ("New England Centenarian Study" Myquestion is, do married women die younger than single women because ofthe high stress level caused by their husbands?)This little life-span inventory also said, "You are drinking toomuch coffee" and "Avoid those checkout lines at the grocery store thatsell candy bars! You are eating too many sweets and/or candy bars." Ofcourse I quickly debunked those comments because I am almost never seenin a grocery checkout line!

3. However, on the other hand, I'm afraid that even some Christiansare too quick to adopt the fatalistic approach - "when it's your timeto go, it's your time to go."

Perhaps you've heard the story about a man who was takingcare of business at the local Bank when he caught sight of the "DeathAngel" waiting by the outside door. Being somewhat alarmed, he went outthe side door and walked around the building to his car and hastilydrove home. When he came into the kitchen, his wife noted that his facewas white a chalk, and asked him what the matter was.He said, "I just saw the death angel."

"So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm getting out of town as fast as I can - I'll go to my brother's in Scranton."

Being somewhat skeptical, as soon as his car pulled out of thedriveway, the wife rushed down to the bank. Sure enough, there was theDeath Angel, still standing by the door. Being more bold than herhusband, she walked up to the Angel and told him that her husband hadbeen very frightened to see him there.

The Death Angel replied, "Well actually, I was also somewhatsurprised to see your husband here. I was sure I had an appointmentwith him later today in Scranton."

So there are these three answers to the question about the length of life

- "God owes me long life because I'm good," or "It's all up to meto ensure my own long life by taking care of myself," or "It's all set- I'm doomed." We might call these the theist, humanist and fatalistanswers to the question about how long we will live.

Which of these answers is correct? Well, all of them and none ofthem. Yes, the promises of God are reliable, and yes, we have somethingto do with our own wellness for we are partners with God concerning thequality of our lives, and yes, there certainly are factors outside ourcontrol which impact our lives.

But they are all wrong because they only deal with the physical, our life in the body.

For us, the best answer to the question, "How long do you want tolive?" is "forever." The Christian has known from the very beginning,that the most valuable promise in the Book is found in John 3:16, "ForGod so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, thatwhosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlastinglife."

You may remember that last week I made reference to the author ofthe hymn, "More Love to Thee," and also to the book she wrote,"Stepping Heavenward" (by Elizabeth Prentiss).

Near the end of the book, there's a brief conversation with a very godly woman, Mrs. Campbell, who was coming to the end of her life. Hervisitor, noticing that she was quite tired, made an attempt to leave,but this godly woman prevailed on her to stay a few more minutes.

"Yes, I am tired, but what of that? It is only a question of daysnow, and all my tired feelings will be over. Then I shall be as youngand fresh as ever, and shall have strength to praise and to love God asI cannot do now. But before I go I want once more to tell you how goodHe is, how blessed it is to suffer with Him, how infinitely happy Hehas made me in the very hottest heat of the furnace. It will strengthenyou in your trials to recall this my dying testimony. There is nowilderness so dreary but that His love can illuminate it, no desolationso desolate but that He can sweeten it. I know what I am saying. It isno delusion. I believe that the highest, purest happiness is known onlyto those who have learned Christ in sick-rooms, in poverty, in rackingsuspense and anxiety, amid hardships, and at the open grave."

Is that your hope? Do you understand that true life is measured, notin years, but in light years - those who walk in the light, those whohave received and believed the Gospel message, those who simply believein Jesus will live forever, and ever.

- A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick

Forever is a long time, but the day you were born...you were born into forever. Where you spend your forever is up to you. God is not making you serve Him, our God Jehovah; Jesus and Holy Spirit only asks that you believe that God sent His only Son to die for your sins. It is by believing this that your life transforms into eternal oneness with God the Father of all creation. Once you do Holy Spirit enters in and begins guiding and directing you to know more about Jesus so that you can walk in obedience to His commandments. He said IF you love me you Will Obey my commnands. He is not a creul taskmaster, He doesn't want you to hurt or kill anyone. He only wants you to love God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength; AND He wants you to love one another. That just isn't you personal next door neighbor it is ALL of mankind. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 though 8 will explain the true meaning of love. Once you get it, it will change your life forever. You really will live forever in the joy of the Lord and be one with God.

Love you now and forever, Apostle Ruth