Tuesday, May 18, 2004

death

maggie's aunt passed away last week from cancer. she (maggie, not her aunt) asked me last night how i felt about death. even though i had a brief semi-goth period in highschool and i dressed up gothic for fun some nights, i was never one to dwell on it. depression and suffering are much more fun to fill your mind with ;). besides a month in highschool where three friends died (suicide, illness, climbing accident) and a pair of dead dogs, i've never really had to face it. all my family on my dad's side is still alive, both my mom's parents have passed, but having never really known them, it affected me little. so ayways, here are my thoughts...

death just happens

i think the main way i look at death is pretty much my shit happens view on life. i don't think god necessarily plans our deaths. just like everything else in our lives, the timing of our passing is not certain. we just die. some people die too young, others live too long. we aren't born with our time of death already set. some deaths happen by accidents, others we bring on ourselves with disease, and i think that others have god's hand in happening (i.e. ro relieve suffering).

is death good?

yes and no. if someone is suffering from a terminal disease or something similar, i think death is can be a good thing. if someone is so old that they cannot care for themselves and are pretty much a burden on everyone around them, then death can be both a blessing to them and their loved ones. because of this, i think euthanizing the terminally ill and elderly can be moral and should be allowed.

death can really suck too

for the loved ones of those who have died, death usually sucks. even with the realizing that their suffering is over, it can and should be painful to have them gone. even worse is for those who die too young. car accidents, suicide, disease, and other things can take the lives of persons who had so much more to offer in the world. it can be a sudden loss for the loved ones and a life left unfulfilled for those who die. sure, they might be in a better place, or have a different mission to fulfill, but if that were so, then we should all be dying sooner. just like my stubbed toe, deaths can just happen without any purpose. it sucks. it's unexpected. it hurts a lot. god did not plan it. it's just up to us on how we are going to deal with it.

aint jesus the coolest?

as hard at it is, at least we can have the hope that it isn't the end.

what about?

some people find relief in believing that death is something planned and foreknown by god. perhaps it's because i don't believe in god's absolute foreknowledge... i just don't see how it can help. if it were true, i'd find myself constantly searching for why this had to happen and i'd prolly find myself unimpressed with the answers. i'd hate to believe that the timing of my death was certain and that i ultimately had no control on how or when it would happen.

2 comments:

  1. hahaha i am loving your song right now- classic 80s cheese- REO SPEEDWAGON FOREVER!

    uh yea so it probably wasn't cool to make that comment on your entry about death- sorry.

    God obviously hasn't planned everyone's deaths. that's absurd. if he had, then no one would ever die who tried to committ suicide because that is considered a sin and god wouldn't choose to have anyone die like that. people die cause they speed (remember that loyd!), run stop signs, get diseases, and get old so their bodies stop functioning. God doesn't "need people on the other side"- he has billions of people. i hate it when people are like, oh so and so died and it's because god needed them to fulfill a mission in heaven- we have eternity to fulfull our eternal missions and he's got plenty of servants to do take care of the current stuff, we are on EARTH to fulfill missions, it doesn't make sense that he'd take you from the plan...although i don't suppose there's any harm in believing that. people automatically cope in traumatic situations by decieving themselves or clinging on to a hope like we've been talking about- if it makes them feel better, that's great. although i don't know why it would because it doesn't really make a difference. regardless of how or why someone died, jesus' atonement is the same. everyone will continue learning and growing and have the chance to rectify or repent for mistakes. so accidental or foreordained death- it doesn't matter. christ doesn't discriminate among those who tried their best and have always strived to improve.

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  2. i think i might just do cheesy 80's love songs for the rest of the month... so send in your requests.

    just as you said, if god knows how and when we are to die, then it becomes necessary that certain people die in ways (such as suicide, murder, self-inflicted disease, and such) and then sin occurs outside the agency of the persons involved. this is the same reason why i don't believe that our parents were foreknown in our pre-mortal lives. i think i'll make a new post about that.

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