Sermon Illustrations

INFINITY

Let me introduce you to a person called Michael Rae. In his own words, he is on a path to immortality which involves a near-abstinence level of food, the dedication of an accountant to approve every calorie, and an obsession with death.

The youthful, 38-year-old research assistant studying longevity and human aging, weighs in at a sparse 115 pounds stretched over his six-foot frame. He is convinced his calorie-slashing lifestyle will lead directly to a life extended by as many as 10 to 15 extra years.

He explained recently in a published profile that "the aging effect is from the calories. It is raw, simple mathematics. Fewer calories, lower aging. Period."

The Calgary native, a self-titled "human test case," is part of a growing movement that believes severely limiting the number of calories will vastly extend life expectancy.

The idea of youth restoration and life extension has long captivated the human imagination, from Dorian Gray’s cursed portrait and Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth to cryogenic freezing and Botox. (http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=648868) As obsessed as these people are in obtaining immortality, how about considering an eternal God? Basic logic tells you that if there ever was a time where there was nothing, there would be nothing today. “Out of nothing, nothing comes”. It is is a philosophical expression of a thesis first argued by Parmenides, often stated in its Latin form: ex nihilo nihil fit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_comes_from_nothing).

This is a concept that is difficult for our finite minds to conceive, a being before time itself. We get so focused on the elements that we experience in time, confusion, questions, suffering, choices, that to consider a being outside of time who interacts with us in time, it is hard to fathom. Even when we may come to know this factually, is it not always integrated with the understanding of our lives.

(Source: from a sermon by Matthew Krantz, "God is Eternal" 7/27/08, http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=124999)

Related Sermons