| Axe To The Roots: 50 Questions To Challenge Traditional Christian Beliefs |
WHAT IS DEATH?
by LC
We build tombs, monuments and memorials to commemorate lives as if they are gone and all
we have left are the memories. Does the person who has tasted death still exist? If you
answered, "yes," then why do we act as if they are gone? We seemingly exalt death
as if it is a "grim reaper" who steals lives daily. What a cruel and unjust world. I can't help but
feel death is hiding a great truth and blinding us from our peace and freedom. Could God be the
power who gives us life and could that life-giving energy ever be destroyed? These are hard,
puzzling questions to consider in the midst of what our eyes have sadly shown us. Can we
explore death's veil and test its' bold statement and find error? Do you want to explore death or
have you decided it is what it is?
Death is a subject many of us do not wish to talk about. We just try and forget about it while
believing one day we will have to face it. Most of us hope that day will not come anytime soon.
Staying back in our minds it becomes a nagging fear for most people. Is death something to be
feared? Paul said, "Oh, death, where is your sting?" Jesus' life was a triumph over death. He
proved by his resurrection that death does not matter or change who we are. He proved we are
eternal. Jesus couldn't really be killed. He lives on. We shall live on. Do we really understand
death, as Jesus knew it? Is our definition of death the same as his?
Why do we live now hoping for tomorrow to be better? It appears to me that we only have today,
because the future is not here right now and yesterday is gone! Now, some want to live in the
past, but that is an illusion. The past can only exist in the mind's memory. What if we could live
right now as Jesus lived? I think we have come to believe it cannot be done. He lived in power
and in control, overcoming all that this world could throw at him, right now. Most of us, however,
want to wait until after we physically die, thinking death to be a quick fix. Is it? I am not sure,
but I do know Jesus walked in the "right now." Did he teach to wait until after death to have
peace? Did he ask us to put off today for tomorrow? Was he triumphant in death or
resurrection? Was death important or life? Was not his life triumphant and incredible before his
death? Could death triumph over Jesus? Did death direct and dictate Jesus' life?
Question Fourteen: Did Jesus believe in death? Is death real?
Question Fifteen: The scriptures indicate that no man could take Jesus' life. In fact, Matthew
tells us the people tried to stone Jesus and throw him over a cliff and he walked right through
them! If death is an absolute, why couldn't the people kill him until he laid his life down
to be taken? (Luke 4:28-30; I John 3:16)
Question Sixteen: If we truly understand death, then why did Jesus say the little girl and
Lazarus, both of whom he resurrected, were not dead but only sleeping? By Jesus' definition of
sleeping, what must one awake to? (Matt. 9:18-26; Mark 5:35-43; John 11:11-15)
Question Seventeen: When a man who wanted to follow Jesus asked if he could first go home
and bury his father, what did Jesus mean by telling him, "let the dead bury the dead?"
(Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60)
Question Eighteen: Some teach we are not to speak to the dead on the other side of the grave,
so why did Jesus speak to Moses and Elijah at the mount of transfiguration?
(Matt. 17:3; Mark 9:4)
Question Nineteen: If Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah, why did Saul get into trouble by
speaking to Samuel through a medium? (I Sam. 28:11-15)
Question Twenty: What did Jesus mean when he quoted scripture saying, "God is not the God
of the dead but of the living?" (Matt. 22:29-32)
Question Twenty One: Many denominations and doctrines of men deny the existence of
ghosts as being possible. Why is this so, when clearly the disciples believed in their existence
when they mistook Jesus for a ghost when he came walking on the water? What about the
appearing of Samuel's spirit or ghost to Saul? (Matt. 14:25-26; Mark 6:49)
Axe To The Roots 50 Questions To Challenge Traditional Christian Beliefs (Continued)
by LC
We build tombs, monuments and memorials to commemorate lives as if they are gone and all
we have left are the memories. Does the person who has tasted death still exist? If you
answered, "yes," then why do we act as if they are gone? We seemingly exalt death
as if it is a "grim reaper" who steals lives daily. What a cruel and unjust world. I can't help but
feel death is hiding a great truth and blinding us from our peace and freedom. Could God be the
power who gives us life and could that life-giving energy ever be destroyed? These are hard,
puzzling questions to consider in the midst of what our eyes have sadly shown us. Can we
explore death's veil and test its' bold statement and find error? Do you want to explore death or
have you decided it is what it is?
Death is a subject many of us do not wish to talk about. We just try and forget about it while
believing one day we will have to face it. Most of us hope that day will not come anytime soon.
Staying back in our minds it becomes a nagging fear for most people. Is death something to be
feared? Paul said, "Oh, death, where is your sting?" Jesus' life was a triumph over death. He
proved by his resurrection that death does not matter or change who we are. He proved we are
eternal. Jesus couldn't really be killed. He lives on. We shall live on. Do we really understand
death, as Jesus knew it? Is our definition of death the same as his?
Why do we live now hoping for tomorrow to be better? It appears to me that we only have today,
because the future is not here right now and yesterday is gone! Now, some want to live in the
past, but that is an illusion. The past can only exist in the mind's memory. What if we could live
right now as Jesus lived? I think we have come to believe it cannot be done. He lived in power
and in control, overcoming all that this world could throw at him, right now. Most of us, however,
want to wait until after we physically die, thinking death to be a quick fix. Is it? I am not sure,
but I do know Jesus walked in the "right now." Did he teach to wait until after death to have
peace? Did he ask us to put off today for tomorrow? Was he triumphant in death or
resurrection? Was death important or life? Was not his life triumphant and incredible before his
death? Could death triumph over Jesus? Did death direct and dictate Jesus' life?
Question Fourteen: Did Jesus believe in death? Is death real?
Question Fifteen: The scriptures indicate that no man could take Jesus' life. In fact, Matthew
tells us the people tried to stone Jesus and throw him over a cliff and he walked right through
them! If death is an absolute, why couldn't the people kill him until he laid his life down
to be taken? (Luke 4:28-30; I John 3:16)
Question Sixteen: If we truly understand death, then why did Jesus say the little girl and
Lazarus, both of whom he resurrected, were not dead but only sleeping? By Jesus' definition of
sleeping, what must one awake to? (Matt. 9:18-26; Mark 5:35-43; John 11:11-15)
Question Seventeen: When a man who wanted to follow Jesus asked if he could first go home
and bury his father, what did Jesus mean by telling him, "let the dead bury the dead?"
(Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60)
Question Eighteen: Some teach we are not to speak to the dead on the other side of the grave,
so why did Jesus speak to Moses and Elijah at the mount of transfiguration?
(Matt. 17:3; Mark 9:4)
Question Nineteen: If Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah, why did Saul get into trouble by
speaking to Samuel through a medium? (I Sam. 28:11-15)
Question Twenty: What did Jesus mean when he quoted scripture saying, "God is not the God
of the dead but of the living?" (Matt. 22:29-32)
Question Twenty One: Many denominations and doctrines of men deny the existence of
ghosts as being possible. Why is this so, when clearly the disciples believed in their existence
when they mistook Jesus for a ghost when he came walking on the water? What about the
appearing of Samuel's spirit or ghost to Saul? (Matt. 14:25-26; Mark 6:49)
Axe To The Roots 50 Questions To Challenge Traditional Christian Beliefs (Continued)
| Content copyright 2002-2009 Jesus Religion .com |
"Not all who wander
are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien
Axe To The Roots:
Jesus: Crucifixion,
Resurrection & Return
Sin, Satan & the
Antichrist
What is Death
Hell and Heaven
Hell and Heaven (cont'd)
The Church
Truth & the Word of
God
Love, Power & Health
are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien
Axe To The Roots:
Jesus: Crucifixion,
Resurrection & Return
Sin, Satan & the
Antichrist
What is Death
Hell and Heaven
Hell and Heaven (cont'd)
The Church
Truth & the Word of
God
Love, Power & Health