Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Death is the Answer

Death is the Answer

Last updated on: July 21, 2009 at 1:32 pm by John Shore

Death is the Answer 2009-07-21T13:32:47-08:00 John Shore

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I think about death a lot. I figure anyone alive does, but I could be wrong about. I think I’m more impatient than most people. I’m always abnormally interested in how things are going to end.

Anyway, death is terrible. It’s an unthinkable affront to everything that’s dear to us. Everyone knows that.

So it makes me wonder: Why do we have to do it? And why is it so final? And how come people who die are sooooooo totally gone from this world? All this time, and no one’s come back from the dead to tell us anything about it? How can it possibly be that after eight zillion years of humanhood, we still have no idea what actually happens to us after we die? We can think we know, we can believe we know—as Christians we are in fact confident that we do know—but the bottom line is that none of us on this side of the life/death combo really and truly knows what exactly happens to us after we die. We cannot see from here to there.

So my question is always: Why is our system the way it is? What purpose can there be in constructing a system designed in such a way that when humans stare into the great abyss at the edge of life, all they can see is nothing? If God (or nature, if you’re not religious) is good, then why or how is that good?

The biggest single objective fact about anyone’s life is that it’s guaranteed to end, right? So it just stands to reason that means there must be something about the fact of death that’s meant to teach us something hugely important about life.

I think that something is that, just like we can’t define death, we’re not supposed to define life. I think we’re supposed to take the ever-present fact that we don’t know what death is, and then turn around, and use that same not-knowing, that same mysterious wonderment, to inform and shape the way we experience life.

When you define something, you kill it, insofar as you rob it of its potential to ever be anything else. If I say that I utterly know you—that I know everything about you—then I have denied you the very nature of your personhood, which is to change, to respond, to grow. I’ve closed off what I should see as ever open. I’m saying there’s no more mystery to you. That denies both you and me what amounts to the very essence of life: the potential to change.

All of us are infinitely mysterious and complex. And so is everything else in the world. That’s what makes the world and our experience in it so deeply, insanely fascinating. If we go through our lives acting like we already know everything there is to know about life, then we ruin the experience of it. Then all we can do is be bored and restless and angry—because then we’re telling life what it should be, instead of letting life tell us what it is. Then we’ve closed ourselves off to the only thing that makes life fascinating, which is our lack of comprehensively, or absolutely, understanding what in the heck is really going on out here.

If we act or think that we know it all, then we’re playing God. And that’s as wrong as wrong gets.

As awful as death is, I don’t think we’d want it any other way. I think the fact that death remains such a constant and immediate mystery to us is exactly what we need to remind us that every moment of life is meant to be experienced as a phenomenon exactly as rich as the mystery of death. Just like we can’t define death, we should never be too quick to define any aspect of life. And I believe that especially includes God.

************************************************************************************************************************

Email: [email protected]

Follow: http://twitter.com/johnshore

Befriend: http://www.facebook.com/john.shore1

Be Fan: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Shore/89494795412?ref=s

Christian Spirituality

Previous Post

July 20, 2009

The Unique Notion of "Parenthood"

Next Post

July 23, 2009 My Life as a Major Criminal

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Christian Issues Christian Spirituality Dear John En Espanol Everywhere She's Not Humor Look See Pastor Bob's Corner Personal Portuguese Relationships Russian Short-short story Smith Family Chronicles Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2024 August 2022 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 February 2020 December 2019 June 2019 December 2018 May 2018 May 2017 January 2017 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Boaz's wife?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Naomi Ruth Sarah Orpah

Books by This Author Books by John Shore

See All Titles »