Mystery Of Deaths

Humans have always sensed the ghosts of loved ones. It’s only in the last century that we convinced ourselves this was a problem. In the late spring of 2015, my brother-in-law paid a visit to my sister’s grave, in a lush meadow cemetery amid the Gatineau Hills of southern Quebec. My sister had been dead, at this point, for seven years, and the couple had been separated for twelve. Doug sat in the grass among planted geraniums for half an hour or so, musing about the rise and fall of their marriage. He told Katharine, or her grave, that he was sorry for the part he had played in the dissolution. Then, plucking up and tossing a handful of grass, desultory, he began his two-and-a-half-hour motorcycle journey back to Montreal. “The landscape is open there, with a big wide sky, but it was overcast and had started to rain—just barely, but it made me a bit nervous,” Doug later told me. Even fit riders in their fifties experience the occasional lapse in confidence. “It wasn’t until I was maybe...

Death is one of life's greatest mysteries. Do we really die, or do we have a soul that lives on apart from the body? Many are confused about this, and this has led to great misunderstandings about death. Does the Bible provide answers? Death is a fearful, often traumatic event. Sometimes it is preceded by suffering, the result of the infirmities of age, disease or injury. Often death is shocking and unexpected. Family and friends suffer the pain of loss. The Scriptures refer to death as "the last enemy" to be conquered (1 Corinthians 15:26) and note mankind's innate fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). Death remains one of life's greatest mysteries. Religions offer a variety of answers, some credible and some beyond belief. Their explanations often contradict one another, adding to the confusion and uncertainty about what happens after death. Some teach that people are born with immortal souls; some say people are immortal souls. Many believe that after death the soul is...