I was reading a Doctor of Ministry thesis document dealing with issues of death for the terminally ill. As a result of this, I came to think about the topic of death and life. Here is my thought.
Death is part of life. When we are born, we are meant to die as well. Death can occur anytime, and indeed, death and life are intertwined. Death is also an end of life. We should accept it, as biblical texts tell us so (c.f., Eccl 3:2, 19; Heb 9:27). It is nothing wrong with it. Denial of it, in some sense, is a characteristic of Western culture.
Yet, death cannot have dominion over us, not because we are stronger than that, but because God is the source of us. Our hope is not rooted in us but in God. That must be the basis of our faith. "In life and in death we belong to God" (The Brief Statement of Faith by PC USA).
*Note: There is an interesting phrase in Dao De Jing: "To come out is birth and to enter is death" (出生入死). The implication is that birth and death are paired with each other. There is also similar yet deeper thinking about this in the Buddhist text: "There is no birth and no end" (不生不滅). This means our existence or things we see are not a new creation. They simply came from somewhere, called the source in the universe. Likewise, when things disappear or our life ends, it does not disappear forever. It just returns to the source. It must be noted that modern science confirms that matter does not disappear, but it changes to energy. Energy and matter only interact with each other.
Death is part of life. When we are born, we are meant to die as well. Death can occur anytime, and indeed, death and life are intertwined. Death is also an end of life. We should accept it, as biblical texts tell us so (c.f., Eccl 3:2, 19; Heb 9:27). It is nothing wrong with it. Denial of it, in some sense, is a characteristic of Western culture.
Yet, death cannot have dominion over us, not because we are stronger than that, but because God is the source of us. Our hope is not rooted in us but in God. That must be the basis of our faith. "In life and in death we belong to God" (The Brief Statement of Faith by PC USA).
*Note: There is an interesting phrase in Dao De Jing: "To come out is birth and to enter is death" (出生入死). The implication is that birth and death are paired with each other. There is also similar yet deeper thinking about this in the Buddhist text: "There is no birth and no end" (不生不滅). This means our existence or things we see are not a new creation. They simply came from somewhere, called the source in the universe. Likewise, when things disappear or our life ends, it does not disappear forever. It just returns to the source. It must be noted that modern science confirms that matter does not disappear, but it changes to energy. Energy and matter only interact with each other.