X-Message-Number: 16031
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: Cryonics and religion
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 11:08:45 +0100

Briefly, I think that the cryonics and religion debate can be summed up as
follows:

If a religious person is cryopreserved because they don't trust their god or
other beliefs, then yes this could be wrong unless they have decided to
relinquish these beliefs. But the same could be said of any life-saving
treatment.

But if they are cryopreserved because of any or all of the following, then
logically there can be nothing wrong:

1. Life is a wonderful gift and I want to show gratitude by looking after
it.
2. Jesus (and a lot of other religious founders) went around healing the
sick and raising those given up for dead. Jesus has asked his followers to
do the same in his name.
3. I have not done very well so far in this life and I want to learn more
about this wonderful universe. (or about God, or about whatever)
4. Suicide by neglect is a sin. The fact that cryonics has appeared in my
life is a sign from God that he wants me to live longer in order help those
doing his work. [Remember that if God is omnipotent, nothing will appear in
your life that he doesn't want to. You could say that it is a temptation,
but if this is so, how does it differ from any other medical treatment?
Jesus chose a physician as one of his disciples, so at least the Christian
God wasn't against medicine.]

Can anyone think of others to add to this list?

For further reading, click on http://www.cryonics-europe.org and select
these articles from the contents list on the left:

NF Fyodorov, Russian Come-Uppist

Jesus was an Immortalist

--
Sincerely, John de Rivaz
my homepage links to Longevity Report, Fractal Report, music, Inventors'
report, an autobio and various other projects:
http://www.geocities.com/longevityrpt
http://www.autopsychoice.com - http://www.cryonics-europe.org -
http://www.porthtowan.com


_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16031