“Answering Life’s Most Basic Question”

Religion in Daily Life

 © By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

Rector, All Saints’ Church

Written 26 March 2002

http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

A preacher said, “Someday every member of this parish will die.” The congregation was stunned, but one man laughed and said, “I don’t belong to this parish.” That man will die, too. Here is life’s most basic question: “If a person dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14).

Some people answer that question by saying, “No, a human being will not live after death.” They reason we are mortal; therefore, we shall all die. When the heart stops beating, the brain activity ceases, and the life of the body is gone, then that is the end. These people say it’s obvious that death is final. One could symbolize this view by picturing the bright, active flame on a candle. The flame is like a human being. Physical death comes. The flame is extinguished and there is only eternal darkness. Death is the period at the end of life’s sentence. As the Philosopher in the Hebrew Bible said, “The living are at least aware that they are going to die, but the dead know nothing whatever” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, NJB).

“If a person dies, will he live again?” Other people answer this question with a firm “Yes!” While it may seem obvious that physical death is the end of a person’s existence, things that seem obvious are not always true. It seems obvious that the horizon is a flat line, but the Earth isn’t flat. It seems obvious that you are motionless as you sit in a chair. Though obvious, it isn’t true. You are actually moving in three directions. Relative to the sun, you and planet Earth are making its 24-hour revolution. Again, the Earth is making its yearly orbit of the sun. Then, too, the entire solar system is moving through space.

At the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Duke of Wellington commanded the allied forces against Napoleon. After the battle, the news was signaled up the English coast. The message said, “Wellington defeated . . .” A mist arose at that point. England plunged into sadness. Then, the mist lifted and the full message came through: “Wellington defeated Napoleon.” When the sun set at the cross of Jesus on Friday, the message seemed to say, “Jesus defeated.” On Easter morning, the mist lifted and the full message came through: “Jesus defeated death!” On the Sunday after Jesus died, God raised him to a new level of life, the first of the resurrection of the dead. He was not resuscitated to the old life that would die again. God raised Jesus in a transformed body that left the tomb and the grave clothes empty.