Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of Death

I have been watching the way the church has been handling this crisis and some are doing alright but many seem to be handling it poorly. I don’t have the information to judge everyone’s motives but it seems to me that a lot of people are behaving purely out of fear. We shouldn’t be afraid of death.

The Church of Christ in particular seems to be placing in more measures and behaving more timidly than the world is. I am not here to judge precautionary practices and will not be telling you what practices are and are not faithful to God. I only want to look at our motivations. As Christians we should already know why we shouldn’t fear death but all around me it seems to be a key driving force in all our decisions just like the world.

In my last blog, I discussed how I believe the Church behaves far too much like the rest of the world. Today I want to ask what it would look like if the absolute perfect example of Gods church existed here right now. How would they behave and what would govern their actions?

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long;    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 8:34-39

And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.1 corinthians 15:30-31

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Clearly the members of the early church faced the possibility of death at any moment and most knew premature death was the most likely outcome.

What is there to be afraid of?

Think about it. What happens when you die? You go to a place of unfathomable joy that makes your current existence look like purgatory in comparison. That’s so terrible! what the heck! why is this the most pressing thing on our minds? There are many reasons for that but at its face, there is no legitimate reason for Christians to be afraid of death, quite the opposite.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.Philippians 1:21-24

I’m am not afraid of Covid in the slightest. I have practical reasons to believe there is nothing that can happen to me or my family that has the chance to kill us any more than one of us has the chance of dying in a car crash.

However I am still afraid of the moment of death. Why? I may understand that death has no mastery over God’s children but there is a difference between knowing intellectually and knowing in my heart through the spirit of God. We don’t think enough about or focus on the spirit of God any more. What about the hope of heaven/the new earth? At some level I don’t think we really believe in the supernatural.

Belief in the supernatural

Do not attempt to water Christianity down. There must be no pretence that you can have it with the Supernatural left out. So far as I can see Christianity is precisely the one religion from which the miraculous cannot be separated. You must frankly argue for supernaturalism from the very outset. . . .The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, came into nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing nature up with Him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left.C.S Lewis

Jesus was not afraid of death and we can have that kind of confidence through the work he has done for us. We are afraid of death because we are still attached to this world. Deep down we don’t really believe in the resurrection and still fear that we will lose everything. If we are to have mastery over death, we must bring back the supernatural. Satan would much prefer us to live under the old law rather than accept the incredible gift the work Christ is offering us. I am every day accepting and gaining more and more of his power and I believe that some day I will be able to face death with the same brazen confidence that all the apostles did and even with joy on my face. Don’t continue to live in fear clinging to this feeble world but accept the freedom of Christ and live forever.

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