For whom the Bell tolls!!!

Posted on September 17th, 2004 by Jeremy.
Categories: Religion.

So last night I kind of had a weird panic attack…about death.

Yeah that’s kind of heavy huh? Maybe it’s because I was reading Frank’s blog! Hahah.

Anyways…

It wasn’t so much the “after death” that I guess frightened me, it was the actual passing away. I am absolutely sold on the idea that I’ll be in Heaven. What frightens me is that moment that we all are going to face. I mean EVERYONE. So bear with me as I work through this death thing in my own head.

The first time that I had seen a dead body was in High school. A cadaver who looked more like a piece of beef jerky than a human being. I think my mind just clicked off as the doctor removed the chest plate to show us the insides. Some were visibly shaken, me…eh…nothing but a thang.

The next time was my Grandmothers funeral. It was an open casket and there she laid, her family members crying over her, me sitting between my grandfather and father nonplussed, which was strange.

Thing of it was is she didn’t look like she was “there”. It was literally a shell. It wasn’t grandma anymore, but some husk that sort of reminded me of Grandma.

And that my friends is what will happen to all of us.

It’s kind of scary, and sometimes I freak out a bit about being old and taking my last breath.

So should I be afraid?

The Bible says no. It says (1st Corinthians 15:55)
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?””.

Christianity dwells not on the death, but the resurrection. Its tenant being that the soul/spirit are eternal things that were made in the “image” of God, a strand of an eternal tapestry that never ends. So death isn’t a terminal destination, it’s merely a transition into eternity.

1 Corinthians 15:13-19 (NLT)
13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! 19 And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.

The resurrection is the hinge on the door of Christianity, without it there is no religion worth following.

Christs death and subsequent resurrection is his proof positive that there is nothing to fear. And fear I won’t, or try not to.

I had shown Jaybo this a couple days ago.

We know not what we shall be; But we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth. Our natural experiences (sensory, emotional, imaginative) are only like the drawing, like penciled lines on flat paper. If they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape, not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun.

From “Transposition” (the Weight of Glory) – C. S. Lewis.

( I know a lot of CS). I think it’s profound what he said though. Something “more, not less..” I think that death is really going to be the passing from this shadow world to “actual” reality. Our reality can often get far too skewed by biological, cultural, and circumstances that get us down on what the real Prize is…what it is we are moving toward.

But in MY life God has been amazingly faithful, and has always come through. I know that this fear is unwarranted and I’m sure that the good Lord will see to it to rectify that situation.

He loves me more than myself or anyone on the planet, same with everyone…even Kim Jong Il. “His Patience is eternal” 1st Timothy 1:16.

God isn’t going to let go, he’s never going to stop wooing, stop asking, stop wanting a relationship with his kids. He outruns us and just will take out anything that is going to be in our way…even if that’s fear….

Romans 8:33-39 (Message)

33 And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? 34 Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us - who was raised to life for us! - is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. 35 Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: 36 They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. 37 None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. 38 I’m absolutely convinced that nothing - nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, 39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable - absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

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