Hike or scroll down to the bottom to find out what we are about.
credit: Efrain
GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
No, Christian Immortalists is not a hiking club. Just liked the images, that's all. However, exercise is healthier than a sedentary lifestyle. We simply combine our interest in extreme life extension and longevity ("prolongevity") with our faith.
I have to wonder how "Operation Immortality turned out.
Christian Immortalism and your style of worship
Note: This section addresses the top fifteen medical causes of death. It also makes lots of science fiction references because that is the only literature or drama that seriously deals with technology or the future of modern society. Christian literature often dodges dealing with this life and might let us all die rather than deal with issues like war, overpopulation or pollution. So-called visionary fiction used to offer seemingly bright futures but has fallen into New Age cultism, sorcery, fantasy, and even horror -- the same nonsense that plagues much of what passes itself off as science fiction. One would be better served by reading utopian literature instead in order to find positive visions of the future. The Bible warns --
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18)
As Catholics, you have a two thousand year old institution and its resources to draw upon in furthering the advancement of immortalism. In this website, you have read some references that are clearly Catholic in origin. As your editor, I cannot speak for Charismatic Catholics since my experience is non-Charismatic but I have had Charismatic friends.
As Protestants, your tradition is somewhat fragmented because their is a long list of denominations each with its own contribution. The Peace Churches, for example, offer the world's best chance for peace and what peace means to an immortalist is less chance of being killed in a war as military combatant or civilian victim of falling bombs. Some churches support environmentalism. Clean air, water and soil that is not laced with toxins and poisons and carcinogens means that we immortalists are less likely to drop dead from cancer.
Although Latter Day Saints are not Christians (according to Kingdom of the Cults), Mormons are less likely to die of lung cancer because they don't smoke and less likely to die of cirrhosis of the liver because they don't drink alcohol. I admire a lot about Mormons and so ex-Mormons are certainly welcome in our ranks. The Church of Jesus Christ LDS also teaches preparedness and survival skills and one cannot claim to be a serious immortalist if these skills are not learned. Lastly, this denomination encourages its members to drink a lot of water. I would expect Mormons to have low rates of kidney problems as a result.
Safety ought to be taught by every denomination because the highways slaughter more people from drunks, texting while driving, sleepy drivers, and cell phone usage than transportation by airplane, ship, or train. The members of any church that emphasizes hygiene such as frequent hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes would have lower rates of flu and pneumonia. Any church that encourages its members to exercise should show a statistical increase in health as a result.
Suicide is forbidden by the Catholic Church and Catholics have one the lowest suicide rates. This is important insofar as one cannot live forever if one commits suicide. Duh.
Atheists like to claim that atheists are less likely to commit homicide. Since we immortalists have a vested interest in making this crime a relic of history, should we all become atheists? Maybe not. Atheists may be quoting studies from the early 20th Century and also ignoring the fact that atheist communists in Russia, China and Cambodia have killed more people than Christians have done. We are talking upwards of one hundred million souls. To atheists, anyone who is not an atheist is a "Christian" since they do not bother to distinguish those who are nones who claim no religious affiliation, agnostics, people raised in a church but who stopped attending as an adult, cults, pagans, Muslims, and members of other religions. It simply is not fair to blame Christians for what non-Christians do. Hitler was a pagan as were most Nazis. Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot were atheists.
As for Christian denominations with low homicide rates, prison statistics are misleading. They reflect the demographics of their states. If a state is predominantly populated by Baptists then one could think that Baptists are all sociopathic serial killers and mass murderers based on who is on Death Row. But it is doubtful if devout people who attend any denomination church run out of the doors of their church each Sunday eager to rob a convenience store and to off the clerk behind the counter. Generally, prisoners don't attend church at all until and if a prison ministry converts them and the most active may be the Muslims and Scientologists. Enough said.
The best way to avoid being murdered is to move to a town with a zero murder rate and then set up a community watch so that if some homicidal maniac from outside the community enters, then everyone pulls out their concealed weapon. Hooray for Blue Zones but I'm not sure Jesus would approve of gunning down someone. The Bible does allow self-defense though.
In Western nations, Catholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox people seldom hear of the other two branches of Christianity — Non-Chalcedonians, Coptics and Churches of the East — unless it is a news report of them facing genocide at the hands of Muslims in Islamic states. Since being able to live without fear of terrorists is a minimum standard of living for immortalists, there are few lessons about immortalism to be learned from this part of Christendom or advantages to be gained. On the other hand, they have survived in the midst of total hostility by a death-oriented religion. We have to acknowledge that.
I am a Fundamentalist myself which means I focus on theological correctness, discernment and the aforementioned book by Walter Martin. It is mostly a default choice since the other choices among born-agains personally turn me off. Those other choices are Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic Catholic (which I already mentioned). Some people add Messianic Judaism and I have no problem with that since Yeshua, His mother, Saint Joseph, the Apostles, John the Baptist, the Patriarchs (and two Matriarchs) of what we call the Old Testament, the Nazarenes of the Way (early disciples), and the Essenes and Therapeutae that the Holy Family may have met in Egypt all have one thing in common: They were all Hebrews or Jewish if you prefer excepting the patriarchs before Shem such as Noah. Any one who has read my stuff on the internet knows that I am a severe critic of Fundamentalism even though I am one myself. I think that one cannot improve unless one engages in constant self-critique. "An unexamined life is not worth living." said Socrates. I don't plan on drinking any poison but the idea of examining life is apparently accepted by many Christians.
Pentecostals prefer an emotional style of worship. While not for me, I have Pentecostal friends and can testify that Pentecostals do understand that life should be celebration and joy not unending suffering and submission. You know, Christians are supposed to be victorious and have dominion. I am more the Mister Spock and Vulcan type myself because any civilization (even a fictional one) that can simply by logic eliminate war, murder, pollution, and overpopulation has beat all other philosophies and forms of government. Plus Vulcans live for centuries. The only thing better would be being a Q from the Continuum since with one exception (the one who wanted to commit suicide), they have immortality and a few other perks. Plus they don't like interfering in the affairs of other people which the Federation gives lip service to but violates all the time. That makes the Q more ethical and a possible role model for us Christian Immortalists. I am entirely serious because the Q Continuum is where I see us Christian Immortalists in a few billion years. No Borg dismantling of your body, no implants, no AI taking away control of our destiny, no robot terminators, no drug addiction & endless repeating of history in some Dune scenario, no transhumanism, no loss of individuality in some Childhood's End or Starmaker scenario, no organ swapping or neural jacking in some cyberpunk scenario, no wars, no unethical behavior. Using the Q Continuum as a model, we skip over the bad stuff and jump straight to the perfect utopia. What always got me was that the Enterprise was supposed to seek out new life in order to learn and when they met people like the Organians and Metrons (classic Trek) or the Q Continuum (Next Generation and Voyager), all of a sudden they lost interest in seeking out new life. I would change citizenship from Federation to one of these civilizations in a heartbeat and not look back.
Peaceful and placid like the Organians, Metrons and Q Continuum does not mean you give up your body or technology or fun. Perhaps their idea of fun does not involve alcohol tubing to toxic level, guns going off, fast cars in fatal accidents, gambling away mortgage money on a credit card, or the police being called by neighbors trying to sleep. There are many ways to have "fun" and some of them are healthy and perhaps our Pentecostal friends could teach us a few things. God knows that I am a workaholic and could use some downtime. I see us Christian Immortalists using our long lifespans to explore space, increase our mental intelligence, and perhaps terraform entire uninhabited stellar systems to create natural parks, natural forests, resorts, spas, retreats, and better uses of wealth than star wars and the militarization of space. The entire universe should be used for life extension research, eco-tourism, and the creation of a peace industry to replace the war industry. If the Pentecostals among us Christian Immortalists can help push us toward this future, then the human race should be very grateful.
That brings us to the Evangelicals. Because of some traumatic experiences, I swore off the Evangelical style. And yes, I have known some very nice Evangelicals. I believe in keeping open lines of communication despite my personal preference. I was listening to a sermon by Joel Osteen and it hit me that Evangelicals among us Christian Immortalists will be the ones who by the witness of their lives rather than their words spread the light of Christian Immortalism to a dying world and a dying civilization. If Earth is to be saved from pollution and climate change and terrorism, then it will be in no small measure to people inspired by their silent witness. Action not words. If Western civilization is to be transformed into the precursor of some Q Continuum-type supercivilization, then it will be activists among Evangelicals doing the transformation. ISIS/ISIL can only offer slaughter of Christians and Jews as their cure for everything. China can only repress dissidents and pollute the air, water and soil of China. Russia only knows how to invade its neighbors. So it is Evangelicals in Brazil, India, African nations, European nations, Australia/Oceania, Canada, the USA and other nations that are the hope of spreading the good news that there is a better way than killing and dying.
If you can think of a better future for Christian Immortalists, then by all means send an essay.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18)
As Catholics, you have a two thousand year old institution and its resources to draw upon in furthering the advancement of immortalism. In this website, you have read some references that are clearly Catholic in origin. As your editor, I cannot speak for Charismatic Catholics since my experience is non-Charismatic but I have had Charismatic friends.
As Protestants, your tradition is somewhat fragmented because their is a long list of denominations each with its own contribution. The Peace Churches, for example, offer the world's best chance for peace and what peace means to an immortalist is less chance of being killed in a war as military combatant or civilian victim of falling bombs. Some churches support environmentalism. Clean air, water and soil that is not laced with toxins and poisons and carcinogens means that we immortalists are less likely to drop dead from cancer.
Although Latter Day Saints are not Christians (according to Kingdom of the Cults), Mormons are less likely to die of lung cancer because they don't smoke and less likely to die of cirrhosis of the liver because they don't drink alcohol. I admire a lot about Mormons and so ex-Mormons are certainly welcome in our ranks. The Church of Jesus Christ LDS also teaches preparedness and survival skills and one cannot claim to be a serious immortalist if these skills are not learned. Lastly, this denomination encourages its members to drink a lot of water. I would expect Mormons to have low rates of kidney problems as a result.
Safety ought to be taught by every denomination because the highways slaughter more people from drunks, texting while driving, sleepy drivers, and cell phone usage than transportation by airplane, ship, or train. The members of any church that emphasizes hygiene such as frequent hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes would have lower rates of flu and pneumonia. Any church that encourages its members to exercise should show a statistical increase in health as a result.
Suicide is forbidden by the Catholic Church and Catholics have one the lowest suicide rates. This is important insofar as one cannot live forever if one commits suicide. Duh.
Atheists like to claim that atheists are less likely to commit homicide. Since we immortalists have a vested interest in making this crime a relic of history, should we all become atheists? Maybe not. Atheists may be quoting studies from the early 20th Century and also ignoring the fact that atheist communists in Russia, China and Cambodia have killed more people than Christians have done. We are talking upwards of one hundred million souls. To atheists, anyone who is not an atheist is a "Christian" since they do not bother to distinguish those who are nones who claim no religious affiliation, agnostics, people raised in a church but who stopped attending as an adult, cults, pagans, Muslims, and members of other religions. It simply is not fair to blame Christians for what non-Christians do. Hitler was a pagan as were most Nazis. Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot were atheists.
As for Christian denominations with low homicide rates, prison statistics are misleading. They reflect the demographics of their states. If a state is predominantly populated by Baptists then one could think that Baptists are all sociopathic serial killers and mass murderers based on who is on Death Row. But it is doubtful if devout people who attend any denomination church run out of the doors of their church each Sunday eager to rob a convenience store and to off the clerk behind the counter. Generally, prisoners don't attend church at all until and if a prison ministry converts them and the most active may be the Muslims and Scientologists. Enough said.
The best way to avoid being murdered is to move to a town with a zero murder rate and then set up a community watch so that if some homicidal maniac from outside the community enters, then everyone pulls out their concealed weapon. Hooray for Blue Zones but I'm not sure Jesus would approve of gunning down someone. The Bible does allow self-defense though.
In Western nations, Catholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox people seldom hear of the other two branches of Christianity — Non-Chalcedonians, Coptics and Churches of the East — unless it is a news report of them facing genocide at the hands of Muslims in Islamic states. Since being able to live without fear of terrorists is a minimum standard of living for immortalists, there are few lessons about immortalism to be learned from this part of Christendom or advantages to be gained. On the other hand, they have survived in the midst of total hostility by a death-oriented religion. We have to acknowledge that.
I am a Fundamentalist myself which means I focus on theological correctness, discernment and the aforementioned book by Walter Martin. It is mostly a default choice since the other choices among born-agains personally turn me off. Those other choices are Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic Catholic (which I already mentioned). Some people add Messianic Judaism and I have no problem with that since Yeshua, His mother, Saint Joseph, the Apostles, John the Baptist, the Patriarchs (and two Matriarchs) of what we call the Old Testament, the Nazarenes of the Way (early disciples), and the Essenes and Therapeutae that the Holy Family may have met in Egypt all have one thing in common: They were all Hebrews or Jewish if you prefer excepting the patriarchs before Shem such as Noah. Any one who has read my stuff on the internet knows that I am a severe critic of Fundamentalism even though I am one myself. I think that one cannot improve unless one engages in constant self-critique. "An unexamined life is not worth living." said Socrates. I don't plan on drinking any poison but the idea of examining life is apparently accepted by many Christians.
Pentecostals prefer an emotional style of worship. While not for me, I have Pentecostal friends and can testify that Pentecostals do understand that life should be celebration and joy not unending suffering and submission. You know, Christians are supposed to be victorious and have dominion. I am more the Mister Spock and Vulcan type myself because any civilization (even a fictional one) that can simply by logic eliminate war, murder, pollution, and overpopulation has beat all other philosophies and forms of government. Plus Vulcans live for centuries. The only thing better would be being a Q from the Continuum since with one exception (the one who wanted to commit suicide), they have immortality and a few other perks. Plus they don't like interfering in the affairs of other people which the Federation gives lip service to but violates all the time. That makes the Q more ethical and a possible role model for us Christian Immortalists. I am entirely serious because the Q Continuum is where I see us Christian Immortalists in a few billion years. No Borg dismantling of your body, no implants, no AI taking away control of our destiny, no robot terminators, no drug addiction & endless repeating of history in some Dune scenario, no transhumanism, no loss of individuality in some Childhood's End or Starmaker scenario, no organ swapping or neural jacking in some cyberpunk scenario, no wars, no unethical behavior. Using the Q Continuum as a model, we skip over the bad stuff and jump straight to the perfect utopia. What always got me was that the Enterprise was supposed to seek out new life in order to learn and when they met people like the Organians and Metrons (classic Trek) or the Q Continuum (Next Generation and Voyager), all of a sudden they lost interest in seeking out new life. I would change citizenship from Federation to one of these civilizations in a heartbeat and not look back.
Peaceful and placid like the Organians, Metrons and Q Continuum does not mean you give up your body or technology or fun. Perhaps their idea of fun does not involve alcohol tubing to toxic level, guns going off, fast cars in fatal accidents, gambling away mortgage money on a credit card, or the police being called by neighbors trying to sleep. There are many ways to have "fun" and some of them are healthy and perhaps our Pentecostal friends could teach us a few things. God knows that I am a workaholic and could use some downtime. I see us Christian Immortalists using our long lifespans to explore space, increase our mental intelligence, and perhaps terraform entire uninhabited stellar systems to create natural parks, natural forests, resorts, spas, retreats, and better uses of wealth than star wars and the militarization of space. The entire universe should be used for life extension research, eco-tourism, and the creation of a peace industry to replace the war industry. If the Pentecostals among us Christian Immortalists can help push us toward this future, then the human race should be very grateful.
That brings us to the Evangelicals. Because of some traumatic experiences, I swore off the Evangelical style. And yes, I have known some very nice Evangelicals. I believe in keeping open lines of communication despite my personal preference. I was listening to a sermon by Joel Osteen and it hit me that Evangelicals among us Christian Immortalists will be the ones who by the witness of their lives rather than their words spread the light of Christian Immortalism to a dying world and a dying civilization. If Earth is to be saved from pollution and climate change and terrorism, then it will be in no small measure to people inspired by their silent witness. Action not words. If Western civilization is to be transformed into the precursor of some Q Continuum-type supercivilization, then it will be activists among Evangelicals doing the transformation. ISIS/ISIL can only offer slaughter of Christians and Jews as their cure for everything. China can only repress dissidents and pollute the air, water and soil of China. Russia only knows how to invade its neighbors. So it is Evangelicals in Brazil, India, African nations, European nations, Australia/Oceania, Canada, the USA and other nations that are the hope of spreading the good news that there is a better way than killing and dying.
If you can think of a better future for Christian Immortalists, then by all means send an essay.