“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:21).
It is inherent in the nature of man that there is within him an emotional desire to live forever; it is irrational perhaps, because he knows he must die, but it exists nevertheless and explains why people, Christian and non-Christian, can be unbelievers. The concept of dying and not existing any more is just too difficult to grapple with; it is too hard to understand how the “self”, that vital being, can just cease and no longer exist. The driving life-force within each of us refuses to accept that the fire can be put out and life itself extinguished.
The explanation behind this is simple, man was made, not to die, but to live forever; eternity is in his created nature and even though sin has resulted in the death of all those born of man, yet that remnant of man as God created him, lingers in the soul.
While this should be a useful tool for evangelization of the godless, the sad truth is that the inherent sin, in which all descendants of Adam are born, and its fruit of eternal death, are rarely offered up these days as a reason for turning to the Lordship of Christ for redemption from bondage to the flesh, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation with the Father, sanctification, salvation and, ultimately, glorification. The reason is simple enough; the Churches today are more interested in building the business than the kingdom; more interested in organizational development than the development of the nature and character of Christ in the people of the congregations for whom they have responsibility; when the Church devotes its energy to its own growth and development, it ceases to be the ekklesia of Christ and becomes the church of men.
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