Do we need Immortality?

We may believe that God looks upon us with love and compassion, but that does not seem to me to be any guarantee that he wills our everlasting existence -- that is a further (very large) step. We are taught, to be sure, that God wishes to bring us to eternal life; but it is a glaring confusion to equate eternal life with endless survival. As the notion of of eternal life is used in the Johannine writings, for instance, it is spoken of as a present possession, a quality of life, not a limitless quality; nor is it something that happens after death but in this present lifetime. (Grace Jantzen)