All Body & No Soul?

 I just read about this guy who's spending 2 million a year. To look and feel younger. He calls his program "Project Blueprint". 

This is his prerogative but I wonder how often he thinks about his soul? 

We are all living to die. No matter how hard we work to outsmart aging, we will not outsmart God. We are born, we live, then we die. Period.

As a woman in her sixties, I use face creams and body lotion. I try to eat right. I want to be healthier. I do miss my 20-year-old body - being thin and cute. But being 20, thin, and "cute" will never be my life goal. To each his own but, for me, emotional and spiritual growth are true goals. Growing into what God created me to be is a goal. Living eternally is a goal and that will not happen in this mortal body.

I'm not hating on this guy. I'm trying to understand him. My heart hurt a little when I read that he once felt so unhappy because of life stress and overwork. He said he was overweight, depressed, and nearly suicidal. His solution seems to be revamping his physical self. He obviously sees himself as the god of himself.

To be honest, even if I didn't believe in God and if I had all the money needed, I wouldn't want to pursue this guy's regimen. I needed a nap after just reading about his routine.  He's not even really living to live a life I'd want. He is living, eating, sleeping, and breathing an around-the-clock routine that excludes everything but this weird pursuit to live younger. When does he get to enjoy the benefits? 

One quote from him: 

"What I do may sound extreme, but I'm trying to prove that self-harm and decay are not inevitable."

Thanks to sin, all the self-harm was already a done deal. Decay - does he mean death? - is inevitable.

Money can buy good medical care but it can't buy life. Money can't buy a good time but it can't buy eternity. Money can buy things that make us temporarily happy but I wonder if this man is now happy. I wonder if he isn't just wearing himself out so that he doesn't think about the inevitable. 

Here's a quote from one article about some results of this "regimen":

Test results from doctors suggest that Johnson has the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lung capacity of an 18-year-old, Bloomberg's Ashlee Vance reported. 

What good does the skin of a 28-year-old do for a person with a deadened soul? I have a quote from the Bible that I wish this man would study:

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. (2 Cor. 5:1-3 NASB)

If I was so unhappy with my "earthly" tent that I'd spend 2 million dollars a year to pursue youth, I wouldn't want to live another year, let alone forever. 

I did say a little prayer for this man. I prayed that he will look to God for answers. I prayed that he will come to think of his soul as deeply as he is thinking about his physical body.

Peace

--Free

Depression & Joy

 Before I got saved, I had the idea that Christians didn't get depressed - I mean, not deeply, darkly depressed. I grew up as a victim of pamphlets with illustrations of only-happy Christians.  Happy, happy happy, joy, joy, joy, all the day long!  Well, I know now how false that is. At least part of it.

I am once again in the midst of one of my dark struggles with depression and I had to see my doctor. She's great and suggested the various options for getting through it this time. One of the questions a doctor always asks a depressed patient is if they feel like harming themselves. My answer: When I die, if someone says it's a suicide, call in the police! She knows that I am a Christian and that suicide is the one thing I would never do so we both did get a little smile that day.

I've struggled with what's called "mood disorder" all my life but things got worse when I was diagnosed with this autoimmune situation. But somehow my depression, no matter how bad it gets, does not cancel out my joy. It's hard to explain but there it is.

One day, chatting with a neighbor at the mailbox, I could tell she was feeling very down. A lot of people in my building are in their late 70s and 80s - a few are in their 90s - and it's tough getting older at any rate but especially when you are on a really limited income. Some of my neighbors - like the woman I mention - have outlived all their friends and some of their children. This lady is someone who had a really busy life and career as a mom and a teacher. These days, she is quite alone and, I think, bored. At the mailbox, we chatted about the up-and-down weather we've been having and I mentioned that if she was planning to go out anywhere, she should do it before the temps went back down. She said that she never goes out anywhere but to doctors' appointments because she has nowhere else to go. She seemed so lost and sad that it broke my heart.

This woman has a depression worse I think than my own. She once told me that when she lost her only child (he was fairly young at 53) just before she moved here, and she never really got over it. She was already a widow and her health is not awful but not great. She'd lost her one sibling but had hopes of spending her retirement with her spouse at least. She has no grandchildren and her one nephew (or niece?) lives overseas.

So here we are, two depressed older women - without spouses or kids. But she is depressed with no joy.

I have shared my faith with her, bringing it up during one of our casual chats about our common woes. She didn't seem interested and told me that she has never been "into church and all that". Ever since then, I have been trying to find a way to tell her that faith and hope are not about a building. Shame on me that I'm having trouble working that into one of our chats.

Thinking about people like this woman, I wonder if a doctor has ever asked her about her desire to live or die. I'd like to think that a doctor - any of her doctors - will see the signs of her despair and reach out with help.

For me, even though I am lucky to have such a doctor, my faith is my main lifeline. 

In the darkest kind of depression, I can hold onto the knowledge that my life has meaning. My existence here might not be as impactful as anyone else, but God has me here. There are times when I should have died - from doing crazy stuff in my youth to running into and with the wrong kind of people to just being a breath away from dangers I didn't even know about - but, for this moment, I am here. I matter to God if I never matter to anyone else. And that gives me joy and wonder that maybe I won't understand until my afterlife.

So today, I am thinking of all the people who struggle with their physical, mental, and emotional ailments. I am trying to remember to pray that they find Jesus and through him, peace.

I was trying to remember the verse that applies to this and just looked it up:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 MKJV) [my bold]

This is something I never understood when my mother spoke of it until I turned to God and gave my heart to Jesus. I hope that it touches someone today.

Peace

--Free

What To Ask Skeptics?

 During my Bible study lesson the other day, a brief part of the discussion was about why some people don't believe in Divine Creation. I was thinking about how I as a believer often approach skeptics. 

Usually, if I get the chance to possibly witness to someone - or am just talking with them and the subject comes up - I will ask a variation of the question "Do you believe in God?" After that Bible study, I spent a lot of time thinking that my typical approach might be flawed.

Asking someone if they believe in God or a Divine Creation, etc., is too broad, I think. I also think it can come across as confrontational or accusatory. Maybe asking why they do or don't believe is a better way. 

Sometimes, people believe in something even if they don't believe in the God of the Bible. Over the years, I've met many people who believe in the vague "a higher power". Even before I became dedicated to my faith, I thought that was a polite copout. When I started becoming bolder about discussing my faith, I'd ask people to name that higher power. They usually gave even more vague answers by citing morals or good vs evil,  and so on. I have never been bold enough to ask if morals or good vs evil died for them.

By asking people why they do or don't believe (in whatever), I'm opening up a better route for discussion. I genuinely do want to know why. I want to know why believers believe as much as I want to know why skeptics don't believe.

Maybe asking fellow Christians the question is just as important. If someone had asked me this years ago, I would not have been able to give a plausible answer. I probably would have said it was because I was raised to believe (I was), or that I didn't know why but that I just did. That's as bad as not believing at all because it's a believe founded on nothing but nothing.

Anyway, I just wanted to bring this up in a short post. Thinking about how I personally have approached people about their faith (or lack of it), has made me think more deeply about how to have more open and honest discussions with them. I don't want to just preach at someone. First of all, I'm not qualified. All I am qualified to do at this point is share why I believe. I'm going to give others the courtesy of letting them explain their viewpoint.

Peace

--Free