What Happens When We Die?

Mar 9 2005

Question:

What happens to us when we die?  How do you know? I admit I worry about death a lot, but most of my friends don’t seem to even think about it.  Is something wrong with me? I’m a college student, and I guess it’s not cool to think about death very much.

Billy Graham’s answer:

It might not be cool to think about death, but it is realistic. … Death is inevitable, and to deny it or ignore it is tragic.  But when we know Christ, death no longer grips us with fear – and the reason is because Jesus Christ has conquered death!  How did He do this?  He did it first of all by dying on the cross to take away our sins.  You see, death came into the world because we have rebelled against God which is what the Bible calls sin.  But by his death and resurrection Christ broke the chain of sin and death.  We don’t need to fear death any longer, because Christ has overcome it!  For the Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23)

Jen’s response:

First off, no one really knows what happens when we die.  We could just stop existing (which to many people is a scary thought), we could go to some sort of heaven, or we could become ghosts.  The real point is that, as Graham says, death is inevitable.  Death is not something you should worry about.  Worrying excessively about something that you can’t prevent is a waste of time. 

 Worrying about when it will happen and how it will happen is something else entirely.  If you enjoy life, it is natural to want to keep living.  It is also natural not to want to die a painful death.  So, from that perspective, you are perfectly normal.  And worrying can serve a useful purpose if it helps you make health choices about diet and lifestyle etc.

 However, if your worrying is getting in the way of you living here and now, then, I would suggest you avail yourself of your schools counseling system.  Let us assume that you have only this one life to live.  Do you want to spend this one life worrying about something you can’t control, or do you want to spend this life living to the fullest and enjoying yourself?  I would suggest that the best way to spend this life is to spend it fully, and enjoy it as much as possible.  Worrying isn’t pleasant and takes away from the joy that your friends are finding just by being alive.  So, if you aren’t able to control your worrying, get help.

 As for the sin issue that Graham refers to, “There are words I have never understood, such as ‘sin.’ For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in depairing of life as in hoping for another life and eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.” A Camus (Summers in Algiers)

 Coming to terms with mortality is important for thinking people (people who think about life the universe and everything).  You may just find that when you accept death as inevitable, it will allow you to stop worrying about it, and allow you to live more fully.  That was my experience anyway.  I know I may die at any minute, so I live life to the fullest now.   “No matter what, I want to continue living with the awareness that I will die.  Without that, I am not alive.  That is what makes my life possible.” Banana Yashimoto (Kitchen).