Reconstructing

prolong lifespan–perhaps indefinitely–
by reprogramming cells worn down by
stress, disease and genetic mutations.
[6] Never mind that we are, as Tolkien
writes, fighting the long defeat, waging
war against an enemy who appears to
be gaining ground every day and who
will eventually prevail over us. [7]
ONE
CANNOT
CONTEMPLATE
A
MEANINGFUL
DEATH
WITHOUT
FIRST
HAVING
HOPE IN THEIR
RESURRECTION
THROUGH
JESUS
CHRIST.
On the other hand, there are those
who acknowledge their mortality
and believe in a syncretic version of
reincarnation and the afterlife. For
instance, a 2017 innovation that made
headlines on international news was
the tree burial pod, in which one’s
corpse is buried in a biodegradable,
egg-shaped capsule. [8] On top of the
capsule a tree is planted to absorb the
nutrients from the corpse, ensuring
that the deceased lives on in the tree.
In 2020, a Korean documentary
featured a grieving mother who
interacted with a digital recreation
of her deceased daughter through a
virtual reality headset. [9] The virtual
girl’s physical features and voice did
not exactly match the original, yet she
was “real” enough for her mother to
say goodbye and move past three years
of mourning. In a way, this digitized
copy brought the dead girl back to life,
but only in a virtual environment.
WE WANT OUR
DEAD IN MATERIAL,
BODILY FORM.
These narratives all possess some
fragment of truth. Those who try
to extend lifespan through human
innovation correctly believe that
eternity is a part of the good life, and
death is not. On the other hand, those
who find ways to keep the memory of
their loved ones alive rightly recognize
that death is intimately connected with
new life. Yet these explanations seem
unsatisfying. An indefinite lifespan in
a world plagued by evil and violence
would be tormenting. Burying our
dead in tree pods and claiming they
create life dances around the question
of why people die in the first place.
If we’re being honest, we don’t
really want the tree. Nor do we want
digitized copies of our
loved ones. We want
our dead in material,
bodily form. Threeyear-old
Zeki wants
his grandfather back.
Ultimately, it is the
Christian narrative
that fulfills, rather
than negates, these
secular alternatives
for what follows
death. The
Scriptures affirm
eternal life as a
desirable thing
promised
to us–God
would not
have placed the Tree of Life in the
center of the Garden of Eden if it
were otherwise. Yet eternal life is not
attained by fruitlessly attempting to
extend human lifespan, or by conjuring
false, inadequate “resurrections”
through technology. Rather, it is by
giving up such meaningless striving,
instead patiently waiting for a future
where Jesus Christ, who has overcome
death, makes all things new. It is a
future in which our mortal, sickly
bodies are transformed into immortal
ones that do not get sick, experience
pain, or pass away. We must be with
the dead, not away from them, to
prepare ourselves for this future.
Therefore we should not lock the gates
of the cemetery at night. We should
allow people to die at home with
friends and family instead of being
left to die on their own in nursing
homes and hospitals. We should cease
shrouding the experience of death
in euphemistic language, instead
having open conversations with our
community about it. Life is our first
and only rehearsal, but we have the
opportunity to rehearse death many
times over a lifetime, and rehearse we
must.
LIFE IS OUR FIRST AND
ONLY
REHEARSAL,
BUT WE HAVE THE
OPPORTUNITY
TO
REHEARSE
DEATH
MANY TIMES OVER
A LIFETIME, AND
REHEARSE WE MUST.
I may never know if
my grandfather died
believing in the Lord. I
struggle to reconcile
his lifestyle
with my own
Reconstructing: Fall 2022