So when our Sun "dies" how will future humans surv

[Phoenix]

As a Christian, whenever the topic of the end of the world comes up, we are told that that is not true. Evangelists say that this world will never end, that Jesus will return someday etc.. Yet eventually this world will end because of our sun. I'm curious as to how this fits into Christianity. Eventually life will not be able to live on Earth any longer. So what happens to future humans?

"The Sun's Future
As the Sun slowly runs out of hydrogen fuel, it will gradually start growing hotter with time as the core contracts and heats up due to the increased pressure. It is estimated that in about 1 billion years, most complex life will not be able to survive on Earth due to the heating.


Artist's conception of the remains of artificial structures on the Earth after the Sun enters its red giant phase and swells to roughly 100 times its current size.Eventually the Sun will end its primary life in a violent explosion. The Sun does not have enough mass to explode as a supernova. Instead, in 4—5 billion years, it will enter a red giant phase, its outer layers expanding as the hydrogen fuel in the core is consumed. Helium fusion will begin when the core temperature reaches about 3×108 K. While it is likely that the expansion of the outer layers of the Sun will reach the current position of Earth's orbit, recent research suggests that mass lost from the Sun earlier in its red giant phase will cause the Earth's orbit to move further out, preventing it from being engulfed. However, Earth's water and most of the atmosphere will be boiled away.

Following the red giant phase, intense thermal pulsations will cause the Sun to throw off its outer layers, forming a planetary nebula. The Sun will then evolve into a white dwarf, slowly cooling over eons. This stellar evolution scenario is typical of low- to medium-mass stars."

[Felgar]

Hmmm... Well my understanding is that this Earth indeed will pass away. According to Revelation 21:1-3:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Also, I would state that our final state of being will not be physical as it is now, but rather spiritual. In order to have a full relationship with God, I envision that we will become much like the Angels are now. I'm not sure that physical worlds will be very important to us.

[Canuckster1127]

As a Christian, whenever the topic of the end of the world comes up, we are told that that is not true. Evangelists say that this world will never end, that Jesus will return someday etc.. Yet eventually this world will end because of our sun. I'm curious as to how this fits into Christianity. Eventually life will not be able to live on Earth any longer. So what happens to future humans?

"The Sun's Future
As the Sun slowly runs out of hydrogen fuel, it will gradually start growing hotter with time as the core contracts and heats up due to the increased pressure. It is estimated that in about 1 billion years, most complex life will not be able to survive on Earth due to the heating.


Artist's conception of the remains of artificial structures on the Earth after the Sun enters its red giant phase and swells to roughly 100 times its current size.Eventually the Sun will end its primary life in a violent explosion. The Sun does not have enough mass to explode as a supernova. Instead, in 4—5 billion years, it will enter a red giant phase, its outer layers expanding as the hydrogen fuel in the core is consumed. Helium fusion will begin when the core temperature reaches about 3×108 K. While it is likely that the expansion of the outer layers of the Sun will reach the current position of Earth's orbit, recent research suggests that mass lost from the Sun earlier in its red giant phase will cause the Earth's orbit to move further out, preventing it from being engulfed. However, Earth's water and most of the atmosphere will be boiled away.

Following the red giant phase, intense thermal pulsations will cause the Sun to throw off its outer layers, forming a planetary nebula. The Sun will then evolve into a white dwarf, slowly cooling over eons. This stellar evolution scenario is typical of low- to medium-mass stars."

Hey Phoenix,

You've answered most of your own question.

If you were looking at things just naturalistically, Human life on this world could end several other ways than what you note.

There's always the possibility of a comet or large asteroid hitting the earth and wiping out life or most of it as we know it. There is indications that this has happened in the past.

Other scenarios before this could include

1. A Massive shift in the earth's axis that radically affects the climate and cycles in place that support life,

2. Melting Ice Caps (Some fellow named Al Gore has been sounding that alarm lately.)

3. World WIde Floods (remember I'm speaking naturalisitically here ... I know God promised Noah no floods of that scale would reoccur.)

4. Weather Related Natural Disasters - vastly more violent storms than anything we've seen before.

5. World War III or IV or V .... you get the idea.

6. Space alien attacks (assuming there is any other life and we don't get off planet with out own fleet before then ....)

7. Take your pick ... many other possible scenarios.

When the Bible speaks of the end of the world it usually uses the greek words aeon, which usually are translated as an age or period of time. It can be translated at times as World, and in that situation is usually means the current age or world system. The other is cosmos, and that usually referes to the physcial earth and may at times go beyond to the concept of all that is physical or the whole universe.

Probably the most direct passage to the issue you are raising would be

II Peter 3: 1-18

2 Peter 3

The Day of the Lord

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

So, I hope that helps. In terms of the sun and what would happen on into the future, I don't believe the Bible answers specifically. Then again, the answer may well be in the promise in Revelation of a new heaven and a new earth, so it may well be that this universe, will not run it's course in that regard. I can take that as an implication. The truth is the Bible doesn't address it directly in any more direct terms of which I am aware.

Bart