Thinkaloud | the unthinkable

You’d think people would plan to meet God

W

e live in an age when personal immortality in this life is almost taken for granted. It is demanded as a right. People think it an affront that death should want to call at their door. Perhaps in some far off country with a strange sounding name and among people who speak a different language, but surely not here, in a country where we can choose to ignore the unsightly and the unsavoury. A few years ago a noted scientist and author Ernest Becker captured the modern attitude towards death in his book The denial of death, a Pulitzer prize winner that was heralded as one of the most challenging books of the decade.

For many it is unthinkable that every person who is now alive will some day come to the end of their earthly life. It may happen quickly as in a plane crash or car accident, or it may be a lingering disease. But there is a time when each person will be changed in the twinkling of an eye from this life to the next.

Despite the well-meaning dream merchants who promise another chance of life after this one, though in an altered form, the unassailable truth is that the Creator has given us one shot only at this life. We don’t know how long we’ll be here. This being the case you would think people who are so careful to prepare for every life eventuality would also prepare to meet God. Tragically, this is not the way it is. Most people never give God a thought.

In their impracticality they leave what they consider to be morbid thoughts to the so-called religious lunatic fringe. They spend their energy and their waking hours in more “urgent” matters such as getting and spending money, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, relaxing and partying. Their moments of terrible loneliness and the twinges of dread at thoughts of their own mortality are quickly assuaged by the latest cultural fad, drowned in alcohol or suppressed by chemical means.

And yet there is much more to the story. There is empirical evidence that those who have taken time to make peace with their Maker are freed from that dread of personal annihilation. They know where they’re going after this life, and they are not at all unhappy at the prospect. Fleetingly, and just when needed, glimpses of what our forefathers called “the better land” are given, as the surging joy of the Lord once again gives the right perspective to life.  And of course this is the overall theme of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

A couple of generations ago it was common knowledge that the purpose of this life was to prepare for the next. This did not mean grim and joyless existence. It meant that once the peace of the Lord had been sought and found, there was laughter and great fun in living. These Christians knew how liberating it was to be released from the fear of death. They were ready for the Lord whenever He chose to call them. They knew the truth of Hebrews 2: 14-15.

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of theRubicon series called Resurrected Writers.

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