Wrestling with Life after Death

   This week, I decided to wrestle with an angel and tackle the question of life after death. To help me with this brawl,  I pulled out Dr. Thomas Shepherds,  Glimpses of Truth.

  

 Theologians throughout the century  have wrestled with the concept of what happens when we die: The Pharisees believed in life after death, the Sadducees believed in extinction. Feuerback called the hope for eternal life wishful projection with Freud concurring calling the idea unrealistic and psychologically immature.

    Perhaps I’m egotistical, but I resonate with Hans Kung’s  statement that the belief in eternal life gives it meaning. And I echo Dr.  Shepherd’s statement, “If death ends it all, life itself is the ultimate absurdity in a scandalously wasteful, bitterly cruel Universe.”

 

   As I ministerial student, I try to combine scholarly research, wisdom of the ages, and my inner Knowing to come up with the best conclusion possible. However when it comes to life after death, I have no clear answer.

   From judgment to reincarnation to extinction to universalism, there are many theories on life after death. Some theories are sounder than others. Most of us hope there is something more after this life, and I join in with that crowd--it just seems to make sense. But in the end, all eschatologies are educated guesswork: none of them can be absolutely proven.

   As Truth students, there are times we have to admit, there are some things we will never know for certain. So what can we do to navigate this uncomfortable field of unknowing? Perhaps we can take a cue from Dr. Shepherd and make a decision to make our lives count.  We can grab a pen and a notebook and make a list of things we could do that would allow us to say, in the end, we had life worth living.1

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1 Shepherd,Thomas W. Glimpses of Truth. Unity Village, Mo: Unity, 2013