Posted on 02/25/2003 8:01:45 AM PST by mikeb704
It’s always near. We never go long without hearing or thinking about it. It’s as central to the human condition as breathing or anxiety or love.
We mere creatures sometimes assume we’ve accomplished a great deal. We’ve ostensibly made so many strides in so many areas in a relatively short span of time. Yet on the subject of what is death is about, we have no more certain knowledge than our ancestors did millennia ago.
Recent tragedies at just two nightclubs claimed almost 120 lives. At one club they were black young people, at the other white. All gone much too early and a stark, abrupt reminder of just how fragile this thing called life is.
Is there such a thing as a good way to die? Most don’t concede one. We cling to life with everything we’ve got, while all the time recognizing the inevitability of death.
Dying quickly, with a minimum of suffering, may seem the better way to go. Then again, a long terminal illness affords us the opportunity to say goodbye to loved ones. If we’re religious, we can prepare ourselves for what will come after the darkness.
What happens to people after they die? There are so many questions.
Folks who don’t believe in an afterlife have the easiest of answers. Nothing happens. You’re simply gone, no longer sentient, and no longer aware. No pain, no vision, no nothing.
Most people, though, have a value system that includes a Creator and an existence after death. For them it can all be so very problematical.
Christians believe in a soul that will exist in the Creator’s Paradise for all eternity. Bishop Sheen once said that he expected there to be two surprises after death. The first was the people who he thought for sure would go to Heaven and didn’t make it. The second was the people who he thought for certain would never get into Heaven but did.
And what will Heaven be like? Will it be bright and cheery, with vibrant colors and all the angels floating gently on clouds? Will it be a place where we finally learn the answers to why dreadful things happened to the innocent? Will we come to an understanding of the immensity of infinity? Will we experience a joy that in our mortal form we could never envisage, let alone achieve?
Some maintain that only souls deserving of living in the Divine Presence will have life eternal. So what happens to everyone else?
It depends. Some Christian religions have decided that unworthy souls will merely be snuffed out. The Church of England, for example, declares that Hell isn’t fire and brimstone. It’s not a place of eternal torment. Instead, it’s merely a state of non-being and nothingness. Sort of like being a Democrat.
That last part is my theology, not the Church of England’s, as you probably surmised.
Other religions don’t view the situation that way. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs."
An alliance of millions of British Christians proclaims: "Hell is a conscious experience of rejection and torment. There are degrees of punishment and suffering in Hell related to the severity of sins committed on Earth."
Torment? Punishment? Suffering? This doesn’t sound like something we, especially Baby Boomers, are going to dig. So many of us have decided we’re not going there. In a 1998 Harris Poll, only two percent of Americans said they expected to go to Hell. 76 percent believed they’re going to Heaven, and four percent thought Purgatory would be their initial destination.
Interestingly, 12 percent said they’d be going "somewhere else." Among non-Christians, that figure jumped to 35 percent.
We don’t like thinking about death and what happens afterward. But what we believe, and how we put those beliefs into action, will have consequences. Most people of faith expect those consequences to be everlasting.
All of us will find out the great mystery of what is beyond. That’s as certain as taxes and. . . well, you know the rest.
In answer to his question about the meaning of life, I quoted Tom Leher quoting his friend Hen3ry (the 3 is silent):
"Life is like a sewer, what you get out of it depends entirely on what you put in it."
I don't remember the author of this one:
"Life after death? I'm hoping for some life before death."
Is there life before death? -- Belfast Graffito
Found these too:
Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired. -- R. GeisAnd I believe it was Woody who said: "I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens."Death: To stop sinning suddenly. -- Elbert Hubbard
I want to achieve immortality through not dying. -- Woody Allen
Joni Erickson Tada made a bad decision one day. She dived into a body of water without making sure the way was clear. Since then she has been a quadrapelegic (sp?). Did her bad decision justify spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair? I don't even know how to answer that question. It's the consequence of her choice and she has to live with it.
Hell is the consequence of a choice not to submit to G-d. Those who choose Hell do so freely and never repent. Whether they can choose otherwise or can repent I can not say. I do know that they will not.
I also know that Jesus spoke of Hell about 3 times as much as He spoke of Heaven. Since I trust Jesus I can not believe in one without disbelieving in the other.
Shalom.
I haven't met your ex, but you may owe Hitler an apology.
;)
Shalom.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.