Every now and then I’m struck by how weird it is that I am so interested in death and decay. I don’t think I’m a morbid. I don’t think I have an unhealthy interest in or attraction to the macabre. But still, I seem to continually circle back around to this topic, admittedly with some intention, but often without even realizing what I’m doing. And then I stop and look around and notice that not very many others are here with me.
What seems obvious to me though, is that the question shouldn’t be “why am I so interested in death,” but rather, “why isn’t everyone else as interested as I am?”
My life experience has taught me that death is something that none of us can expect to be free of. Some of us come into contact with it sooner than others, but we will all see the deaths of loved ones—parents, spouses, friends, even children. And that’s not to mention the loss of acquaintances, or friends of friends, whose loss can usher in a rather confusing form of grief.
This is why it is important for human-kind in general to care about death—it impacts every single one of us, and is perhaps one of the most painful experiences in human existence to both experience and observe. Who of us doesn’t have questions about death?
For Christians, it carries perhaps an even greater weight. We claim to know the truth about the eternal destinies of human souls—not so much that we have confidence in any particular person’s eternal destiny, but that each human has an eternal destiny. Death, we believe, is a sort of checkpoint. A border crossing where we transition from one state of being into another. And more than that, it is the place where we move outside of time to join the God who created us, his son who has prepared a place for us, and whose presence we have been longing for since the first day we met him.
So, the question is—if death is such an important time for humanity, and for Christians specifically, why would we not spend time seeking to understand and prepare for it. Why would we not think about it, so that when we lose loved ones we are prepared to answer the questions and inevitable grief that comes at their loss?
This blog, then, is primarily, and for the foreseeable future, dedicated to this topic. My aim is to read a lot, and then process my reading here. Alongside my reading, I will share my own stories of loss and grief.
Would you like to come with me? If the answer is yes, go ahead and enter your email address in the sidebar to subscribe. I’d love to have your company!