Why We Fear Death

You know why death is really scary? Because first, we don't know what is beyond despite our religion (though we pretend we do), and we cannot control that which is unknown to us. And anything we cannot control (but bears a lot of weight in our lives) we fear. We fear when we cannot decide our fate. Photo above by Matthew Osborn on Unsplash.

Second, we also fear that moment when we finally cross the border to the hereafter--when spirit leaves the body--and our family is left behind. What would become of them?

1. Not Sure About the Hereafter

We all know that souls go to either heaven or hell. The problem is, we don't know which one we end up in. Somehow we assume that all of us will go to heaven some way or another. I note this during funerals or when someone dies and the bereaved says something like this to the departed: "You're now in heaven, in a better place. You'll feel no more pain. See you there some time!" We assume everybody's going to heaven.

Very comforting words, and all of us want to hear them. But we need to really pay attention to what Jesus says about life and death. He says going to heaven is solely by taking him and his Word seriously and believing in his Father. It has nothing to do with religion, our goodness or what we do. Or how people love us during our funeral.

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We cannot just ignore what Jesus said about heaven or hell and just insist on what we want to believe. Jesus is the Truth, so we badly need a Jesus meet-up now while we're still alive. Meeting him in person. Hell is real and sinners, no matter how small or big their sins are, end up there, without exception. Even if your sin is just an iota of a dot, you still end up in hell. And the bible declares we are all sinners. We all deserve hell. 

Jesus is our only hope!

Without HIM being the center of our lives, we're hopeless and rightly fearing death. So, how come we're so sure that we and our dead loved ones are going to meet in heaven and will enjoy no more pain?

"He's really a nice person. He's not that bad," we often hear about the dead during funerals. But being nice won't get us to heaven. "He's helped a lot of people. He has a good heart." Helping people and having a good heart are admirable, but they won't get us to heaven either. "He's very religious and never misses church on Sundays." Awesome, but the bible says all our good deeds are like dirty rags to God.

Here's God's verdict about our spiritual standing:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." [Romans 3.10-12]

Actually, somewhere back in our minds, we have a good idea about this, I'm sure, but our religion has covered this up and replaced it with false assurances--especially that our religion, whatever it is (born again religion, Protestantism, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, etc.) has secured our safe passage to heaven. 

Nonetheless, the conviction of the Holy Spirit remains stronger so that uncertainties still loom in some corners of our minds. The Holy Spirit does not want us to base our confidence on what our religion claims for us. This is why despite our religiosity and superb churchmanship, we secretly fear the moment of dying. Because the bitter truth is, we are not assured unless the Holy Spirit assures us, bearing witness deep within our spirits--unless we let the Holy Spirit fully have his way in us.

That fear is designed by God to help us come face to face with truth and find out the real score--before it's too late. Are we or are we not going to heaven? We can find out and make certain right now while we're still alive through God's Word in the bible (and not just take our church's word for it), because the Scripture says, once we die there's no more second chance. "After death comes judgment." Our loved ones cannot pray for us when we're dead to somehow help us get promoted or plead or lobby for our gradual acceptance to heaven.

We see this in Lazarus and the Rich Man. When they both died, a verdict was swiftly made and they immediately found themselves in their rightful places in the hereafter. It was a quick, lightning-speed judgment. Lazarus was in Paradise at once and the rich man in hell. No intermediate anything. No more second chances. And Abraham told the rich man that the key to evading hell is believing God's Word. 

Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets (in short, the Old Testament or the bible); let them listen to them...If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets (the bible), they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” [Luke 16]

 Search the bible now and find out the truth for yourself.

2. The Family We Leave Behind

Some people search the Scripture and discover the words of Jesus on eternal life. Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me." Scriptures in the bible are reliable because they bear witness about Jesus. As people wholeheartedly study the bible they find out that receiving Jesus into their lives and fully surrendering to him makes them children of God. 

Yet to all who did receive him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. [John 1;12]

Children of God are "born of God," or in Jesus' words somewhere in the Gospel according to John, "born again." Born again is NOT a religion or church membership. It is the experience we have when we receive Jesus into our hearts and become a new creation in him. His promise is that those who become children of God through Him (and who take God's Word in the bible seriously) have the assurance of eternal life.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. [John 10. 27-28].

"They shall never perish." This is the only way we can be assured that when we die we go straight to heaven. Not because of our religion or good deeds or nice personality or church attendance or donations. It is because of Jesus' promise and what he did for us on the cross and his resurrection--and how all these things are seen in our lives and characters. 

But some people who already have Jesus and experience him in their lives sometimes still fear death, not because they're not assured of heaven or afraid of crossing from here to the hereafter. They fear for the loved ones they'd leave behind. What would become of them? We fear the moment we lose control of things, especially if we see how those we'd leave behind don't seem ready to take on life without us.

Yes we trust Jesus, but we're not so sure if they do, too. And we believe we need to be with them a little while longer to guide them in this matter. But we need to learn to trust God even for this. Anyway, we can hang on to his promise in Acts 16.31 that if we believe in Jesus, our families will be saved, too, provided we have shared the Gospel to them and prayed for them a good deal. Have you? Make sure you do this while you're with them.

Now, back to the assurance of salvation. We need to fully surrender our lives to Jesus to enjoy this assurance. And surrendering, we need to understand the following. See below.

Surrendering to Jesus 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Then receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord, then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do, but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.

Surrendering to Jesus Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Then receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord, then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do, but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.