Faith Is The Only Means That Enables Us To Accept & Deal With Death Elias Bejjani/September 20/2019
Death has been and always shall be a dreadful, mystery and a confusing puzzle. The only means to accept and deal with death is faith and only faith.
Our editorial of today dwells with a thorough imaginary and deep personal contemplation on death via Faith and only faith.
Death, this scary and ultimate fate of each creature on earth has always been a mystery and a real dilemma that pre-occupied man since Almighty God created him with Eve and put both of them on the earth.
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19 19)
How much of an awakening and spiritual realization would it be if each and every one of us attended a funeral at least once every year, and fully utilized this sad-short yet precious and odd period of time to deeply meditate and contemplate in an imaginary-day dreaming manner the very human reality of death that is inevitable and irreversible no matter what?
During this short, internal procession of great solemnity and silence, from the funeral home to the church, and then to the cemetery, one should mentally and physically relax and release his self, putting aside all of his every day life burdens to truly learn and benefit from this spiritual experience.
One must temporarily forget who he is, his fortunes, his poverty, all problems that he is encountering, his enemies and friends, physical ailments that he may be suffering from, and marital, or family difficulties he may be going through.
One needs to imagine that his body is so light, so clean, and so innocent, and that his mind and soul so pure, free of sin with no conflict of any kind or magnitude.
One needs to reminisce and go back in time to the period when he was an innocent child, not yet polluted with human evil deeds and thoughts, hatred, grudges, greed, selfishness and fear.
When one feels that every kind of evil feeling and venomous instinct inside him is numb, he needs to ask himself sincerely and honestly, what this dead person who is now just a cold corpse resting motionless and breathless in the coffin, is taking with him from this mortal world to whichever world the dead go to?
No matter how rich, powerful, fearless, intelligent, famous, or mighty this dead person was while alive, would he now be able to carry with him any of his riches, or ask any of his beloved ones to join him in his death, and be buried with him in the cemetery?
At this scary, terrifying, contemplative and very serious moment, the individual needs to in an imaginary way relate with the dead person and accept death, imagining himself actually lying in the casket!
The reality is that by the end of the funeral procession, and after the coffin has been buried, the dead person who could not take anything with him, becomes just a memory and his body returns back to dust. (“For dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19 19)
What one MUST learn from this imaginary experience is that death is inevitable and that the dead do not carry with them any thing that is earthly, while their earthly bodies disintegrated and goes back to the earth that it was created from its dust.
Accordingly, to be the actual creatures that almighty God has created in His own image, and to be wise, humble and forgiving, we need to always ask ourselves three simple questions:
Can we not die?’
Can we not escape death’s inevitable journey?
What can we take with us when leaving this mortal life?
These questions should be asked whenever we are engaged in bloody competitions, conflicts, disputes, grudges, hatred and struggle for power and money.
The one and only answer to all these questions is a definite, NO!
In conclusion, Attending funerals at least twice a year helps us to get back in touch with reality; to know who we are, and where we are going; to wake up and to always remember that God, on judgment day, will judge our deeds, and not the magnitude of our earthly riches, nor our earthly power.
Does any one of us, rich or poor, weak or powerful, sick or healthy, know when almighty God will reclaim his soul? Definitely not!
So let us live each day of our lives as if it were our last. Let us always be ready to face our Creator on the day of judgment with a set of righteous deeds.
It remains that what is reassuring for those who have faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible is that Death, this mystery that has worried, perplexed and confused man since his first day on earth, has been defeated by Jesus’ resurrection and made conceivable by man’s mind.
We do not die, but sleep on the hope of resurrection!
“Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed”
(Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 15 / 51-52).
