Will the human race ever become extinct?

Question

Even for those of you out there who are Christians, the Apocalypse may not be the answer. I don't remeber it saying that man will cease to exist; in fact, in Revelations, humans are sai to live on Earth after the rapture until the final judgement. But then what? Does the Earth cease to exist along with all life on it? (I may need to touch up on my theology)

For those who believe something entirely different, will man live on forever? Even IF the earth becomes uninhabitable, what about space colonization? Will human life find a way to exist, being the extremely adaptable kind we are?

Answer 1

Isaiah 24:20 - "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again."

Isaiah 65:17 - "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind."

Matthew 24:35 - "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." -- Jesus

II Peter 3:10 to 13 - "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11: Seeing then that all these things shall be DISSOLVED, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. 12: Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. 13. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise look for A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH, wherein dwelleth righteousness."


Revelation 21:1 - "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea." -- John's vision given by God

Revelation 21:8 clearly shows the destiny of those who reject Christ. Man as a human will cease to exist. Man as a spirit will live forever.

Revelation 20:11-15 shows the final destination of both the righteous who accepted the truth of Christ and the wicked who denied this truth.

These scriptures are only some dealing with the subjects of earth and heaven, and the final condition and destination of man. There are many more.

Answer 2

I just read an article on Yahoo! News that says scientists found some planet way out there that is just like Earth. So maybe we will colonize it. Or maybe its too far off. Too soon to tell for now.

But if things go according to Revelations, then no, the human race will never cease to exist, as everyone who gains entry to heaven will live on eternally, therefore making it impossible for the race to go extinct.

Answer 3

Yes, it will become extinct someday, but as to when it will happen, I can't really say. We are overdue to have an asteroid or meteor hit the earth. When that happens, a big percentage of humans or possibly all of humans could be wiped off the face of the earth. I feel this will not happen in our lifetime, though. We also have the threat of nuclear weapons. If all of the nuclear weapons on earth were detonated, it would be enough to wipe humanity out 3 times over. It is not a pleasant thought, but I don't believe all of the nuclear weapons would all be detonated at one time. Those are the main two threats that could lead to our extinction. We don't have to worry about diseases as much, because we have very advanced medicine and we know how we could survive without coming into contact with other human beings.

Answer 4

When the comet's are getting close, people will call it the end of days. Others will claim reincarnation but there won't be any life on this sad rock. As for the paradise theory in the bible. It is not going to be here so the earth will just sit liek a lump, like the rest of the planets in this solar system. However you dice and slice it, human beings become extinct.

Answer 5

The further into the future one attempts to make predictions, the less certain those predictions become. The most urgent threat to humanity at the moment is religious extremism. If fundamentalist Christian factions gain control of America's nuclear weapons arsenal and use it to trigger their beloved end-of-days scenario, the human race is doomed to extinction by suicide. With every passing day it is becoming more obvious that Christian extremists and Muslim extremists both place their faith before their humanity. Such persons have always imagined their superstitious beliefs justify torture, murder, warfare, and genocide. Now they imagine it is their duty to fulfill Biblical prophecy and trigger a massive world war they call Armageddon. Intelligent people with a good secular education understand that humanity's destiny will be determined by how successfully we learn to tolerate our many differences and work together for a fair and sustainable future for all human beings. Religious extremists today imagine the revelations of their sacred prophets justify the potential destruction of the entire human race, allowing the ancient prophecies will be fulfilled. Persons who hold such beliefs are the enemies of human civilization and embody the very real possibility that the human species will exterminate itself for the sake of ignorant superstition.

Answer 6

I think it's possible, if, somehow, we were able to travel to other planets and live there, that we could go on forever. We would evolve in to unrecognizable forms, however, and I can imagine one group of humana evolving in one direction, another, in a totally different environment, evolving in a different one, and the two being unable to recognize each other except through DNA.

Eventually the universe will become uninhabitable, and at that point we're still doomed.

Answer 7

I'm an atheist. Given that we as a race don't do anything incredibly stupid (always a possibility) or have some incredible bad luck (like a whopping great big asteroid falling on our planet) I think we stand a good chance of weathering the billions of years ahead of us. Of course, by that time, I don't think we'll be quite homo sapiens sapiens any more.

What are the upper limits on your definition of 'human race'?

Answer 8

We will eventually spread our wings and influence throughout the Universe given enough time "Hopefully"

Answer 9

If the universe collapses then yes (unless we find a way to escape it). If it does not collapse then the answer is "very highly probable".

Answer 10

No, overtime mankind will evolve into something completely different, or a comet will end our existence.