X-Message-Number: 18383 Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 10:02:22 -0800 (PST) From: Scott Badger <> Subject: Re: Religion and Cryonics George Smith wrote: > Cryonics is NOT a religious decision at all. > > Cryonics IS simply a MEDICAL choice intended to > extend physical life. On the surface this seems true, but I have taken a rather informal poll of Christian-minded individuals with the following questions: Imagine there's a pill that could keep you young and healthy for as many years as you wanted to stay alive, and the only way to die is to somehow kill yourself on purpose. Q #1: Would you take the pill Now, imagine that each pill only keeps you young and healthy for exactly 50 years. (You can't stock the pills to take later) Q #2: How many pills would you take? The great majority say no to the first question because suicide is too heavy of a sin and they might not get into heaven, but if they stay on earth they're not getting there either. The great majority answer the second question by saying, "one pill". A few say "no pill" and a few brave ones sometimes say 2-3 pills. Practically no one thinks in terms of thousands of years. For Christians, our time on Earth is meant as a test. The reward is in heaven so there's little point in staying here longer than necessary. They are, by definition, deathists. Choosing cryonics isn't really like choosing other medical procedures, because cryonicists will most likely be reanimated into a young and healthy body that will not be subject to natural death. It means one is saying yes to Q #1 above. That's very different than saying yes to a heart operation that will extend your life another decade or two. One solution might be that the church could adapt to the coming end of biological aging by changing it's view on or interpretation of suicide. In the meantime, perhaps Cryonics organizations should suggest to potential cryonicists that they should make explicit their preferences with regard to being reanimated in a healthy body that "does" or "does not" have an indefinitely extended lifespan. Scott Badger "Vita Perpetua" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18383