In my last two columns I wrote about the reality of death. I tried to make the case that when death looms we have a choice: surrender to its power and doom, or see the journey as a rich opportunity to celebrate the awesome gifts of life and love God has given us.
Today I want to suggest that the presence of death helps us understand more deeply what it means to be human, and it helps us recognize that there simply must be a god/God.
Imagine if you were suddenly told that you have a fatal condition and you will be dead in 6 months. (My condolences to those folks reading this who are exactly in this painful situation – may God give you His presence, peace and strength.) What would go through your mind? What would be the most difficult loss to contemplate – your pickup, your dog, your house, your loved ones? In the midst of this profound turning point in your life what would you deem to be most precious in your life?
From another angle, as you contemplate your future, what do you think will happen to you after you pass? Will you simply cease to exist and your earthly remains return to the “circle of life” as the Lion King explains life and death to his son Simba?
Will you be reincarnated as another human or life form? Will you somehow become a warm spiritual presence in nature and sky which your loved ones can perceive enough to be reminded of your life among them? Recently at a funeral I heard a similar concept: when you die you become part of the stardust of the universe?
Let me try to connect these last two paragraphs. Most of us upon facing imminent death would explicitly recognize what many of us intuitively sense, that love and relationships are the most important elements of life. In elementary school we were taught that “you like animals and things, but you love people”. Unfortunately our culture has pretty much erased this distinction as most of us use “love” for just about anything – “I love my car”, “I love my job.” When death is imminent the old distinction once more makes sense: what we value most in our lives, what we truly love, are the people.
Pastor Timothy Keller makes the case that this feature of being human – love/relationships – is what distinguishes us from other “animals”, and inspires us to the selflessness, sacrifice, intimacy, generosity – love – that we have come to know as humans at their best. Indeed Tim says that this is a key aspect of what the Bible is describing when it says that humans are created in the image of God. Not only this, our embrace of this precious quality of humanness is a clear indication that life is about more than evolutionary adaptation. When we see and experience our humanity at its loving best we are moved to surmise that this is a reflection of something beyond this temporal world, that this strongly indicates that there is a Creator who made this to be.
Tim Keller goes on to say this centrality of love to our humanness elevates the importance of each person – the Judaeo-Christian faith’s recognition that every person is created in the image of God and is a unique loving and loved being. We love our loved ones as individual persons, warts and all, and are loved likewise in return. That’s why when death comes we are so troubled – because we are losing individual people who are so dear to us, who are the most important pieces in our lives.
How can we not then, asks Tim, see that surely these important, powerful, fulfilling, dear, irreplaceable pieces of life – love/relationships and personhood – cannot just end with death? While it can’t be proven in a lab, our contemplation, if we let it, will surely draw us to recognize that the loving goodness in life comes from a loving Creator God, and upon death does not cease to exist but continues in the presence of that loving God including the continuation of the relationships that enriched our lives in life.
This is indeed the powerful message of Christian faith:
– that each one is a precious person, created in the image of God, deserving of love and capable of loving;
– that each person is equally loved and prized by God who wants them to be His precious child;
– that the most important things in life are not things but love and relationships;
– that because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has opened the door for every individual person to know Him, love Him, serve Him, and be with Him for eternity;
– that this offer is not earned, but is a free grace/gift given to whomever would receive it;
– that the promise of eternal life and the resurrection of the dead assures us of being able to enjoy all of the good gifts of God – which we have but experienced a microcosm of in this life – for eternity, especially being an utterly loved person and being in relationship with God/Jesus and loved ones who have gone before.
This is why Christians celebrate: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? … thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:54-57).