Here is a response from Billy Graham to someone who has recently lost her husband to cancer. It’s good advice and from someone who still feels the loss of his own wife.
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/08/1798495/billy-graham-grief-is-very-real.html
All religions say something about death and its consequences but Jesus is unique in that he has experienced the pain of loss for himself. One of the most moving moments of the Bible is to read the words “Jesus wept” when he hears that his friend Lazarus has died.
That is not the end, though, because Jesus then raises his friend from the dead, a reminder to us that God has control over life and death and that Jesus is going to do something amazing that will release us from the power of death. We still have to face the moment when our body dies but this is not the end of life.
Christian living cancer, death, life, loss, pain, resurrection
Death is always a tricky subject, most of us don’t like to think about it until we are forced to. When you are forced to think about death it can be pretty hard. As a minister of a church I had to think about death on pretty much a daily basis, people die and there is no way of getting around this.
Some people have wanted to discredit Christianity on the basis that part of what it says is that there is a life after death. Christians are accused of making up the story of Jesus so that they have a way of avoiding the finality of death.
Well just because something is desirable doesn’t mean that is can’t therefore exist. I think the nonsense of this argument is pretty clear really. I might desire to have a great big bar of chocolate but that doesn’t mean that the great big bar of chocolate therefore does not exist.
I want to go back to Jesus again. Jesus doesn’t make all the questions about life and death go away but he does provide some answers to the hardest questions. Jesus died on the cross – nearly every serious historian believes this. The evidence for this event is overwhelming.
Then Jesus rose from the dead. Most historians accept that the disciples believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. Now we could argue about whether the disciples were deluded but I think the evidence is pretty good that they weren’t and even in the ancient world people understood that when someone died they stayed dead. Something remarkable happened.
There isn’t time to explore the meaning of the resurrection in detail in a blog but let’s say that the resurrection of Jesus says something very important about death.
It tells us that there is something after death. Jesus described this something as pretty amazing and wonderful. We could spend a long time exploring that as well.
I think you should bother with Jesus because he tells us something very important about death – that it is not the end.
Jesus death, suffering
People sometimes get annoyed with Christians because they only ever seem to think about what will happen when we die. So does it matter that we will die?
I think it does. I think it is important for everyone to consider what is going to happen to them when this life is over. I’m suggesting that we should think about whether there is anything after this life. Prominent Atheists want us to believe that there is nothing, that once this life is over then there is no more. Perhaps you feel this way yourself. However I don’t think that way myself. I believe that there is something more when this life is over – not because I can’t face the reality of mortality but because it makes more sense to me.
When I’m faced with questions about death I come back to thinking about Jesus. Because I believe that Jesus is divine it means that I have to believe that what Jesus said about the afterlife is true. If I question the existence of life after death I come back to the teachings and life of Jesus who wanted to make it very clear that there was. Once I’ve accepted the authority of Jesus to talk about such things I have to listen to what he says very carefully.
Of course if I believe there is an afterlife then I want to know what it is going to be like. Again to answer this I have to go to Jesus.
Jesus had a lot to say about life now and life after death. He spoke about judgement (I don’t like the subject but I have to deal with it) but more importantly he spoke about how wonderful heaven is. Jesus wanted us to know that heaven is a wonderful place to be and he was very keen to let us know how to get there.
Other religions talk about the afterlife but none of them are able to speak with the authority of one who has been there. Only Jesus has this unique ability to talk about heaven.
So don’t shy away from thinking about death but instead look for understanding and peace.
Thoughts death, jesus christ