Matt Postiff's Blog
Posted by Matt Postiff December 31, 2024 under Theology Death Eschatology
I heard that your pet dog or cat died today.
I am very sorry to hear the news. When this happens, I am reminded of Proverbs 12:10. Why don't you take a moment to look that up in your copy of God's word and see what it says? Christian people care for their animals, as they should because animals are part of God's creation and we have been assigned stewardship over them. Animals cause us toil and tears from time to time, but they also bring great joy. God has created them for our enjoyment and use (Gen. 1:26-28). They also to help us learn responsibility. But they can also become a misplaced priority that reduces our love for God or our resources to do God's work.
We are thankful to God in every situation (1 Thess. 5:18). I am thankful that you had the years of enjoyment that you did with your beloved pet. I am sure you are ten times more thankful than I am because you had a personal stewardship connection with the animal. I hope you will make the conscious choice to thank God for His gift of your pet, so that instead of focusing on what you no longer have, you thank God for what He gave.
Sometimes people ask me if their pet will be in heaven. We naturally hope that the answer is "yes," but we do not have Biblical data to indicate this is the case. We know there will be animals in the millennial kingdom (Isaiah 11:6-9). Scripture does not say explicitly that there will be animals in Heaven. However, it seems plausible that there will be animals there because when God created animals in the beginning, they were part of his "very good" creation (Gen. 1:31). In other words, there is nothing "wrong" with animals that would prohibit their presence in Heaven. In fact, we know that some of the angelic beings appear to be part animal in form (Ezekiel 3:10).
A diverse and peaceful animal kingdom in the Heavenly state would glorify God because they would show His handiwork for all eternity. Of course, redeemed people will show God's saving handiwork in a far more significant way. Animals were hurt as a result of mankind's fall into sin (Romans 8:22) and in the restoration of all things it would be fitting for the animal kingdom to be restored from the suffering of death. But the Bible does not indicate salvation or after-life for animals. So while I cannot say that your particular pet will be in heaven, I believe that animals like your beloved pet will be there. There will likely be some that look similar or are even more wonderful than your pet (if that is possible!). But of course, our focus in heaven will not be on pets or the environment; rather, it will be focused squarely on the Triune God.
Meanwhile, look to the Lord for comfort and guidance so that you are not overwhelmed with sorrow and lose sight of why you are here on this planet--to trust in God through Christ, to live for God, to honor God, to worship God, and to do good works. May He help you do that in these days and also give you wisdom about your next steps.
May God's grace direct you toward Himself so that you not be overtaken with inordinate grief.
Posted by Matt Postiff May 30, 2019 under Theology Death Eschatology
Today's question is an interesting one:
I have a question about names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It was my understanding that our names are added to the Book of Life when we accept Jesus' atonement for our sin natures (i.e., saved by grace through faith). But some verses seem to indicate that all people are in the Book of Life until they reject that God-designed provision. These texts include Exodus 32:33, Deuteronomy 29:20, Psalm 69:28, Isaiah 48:19, and Revelation 3:5.
The first book is the "book of the living" which is mentioned in Psalm 69:28. It is poetic way of referring to the census or list of all people who are alive at a given time. So, to wipe someone out of that book is a very poetic or euphemistic way of saying that the person would be killed. In other words, they would be "cut off out of the land of the living." Other phrases express the same thing. For example, Deut. 29:20 says that someone will be blotted out from under heaven. This means that they will be killed. Isaiah 48:19 is a bit different because it is used in a corporate way to refer to the offspring of Israel (48:1, 12). The "cutting off" is the same as above, that is, ceasing to exist on the earth. With this background, we can better understand Exodus 32:32-33 in which Moses wishes to die physically. If the Lord will not forgive Israel, Moses prefers death to life. This idea is found mostly in the Old Testament.
The alert reader may remember a similar case in Romans 9:2-3. There, Paul says that he wishes he could be accursed from Christ for his Israelite brothers, that they might come to faith in Messiah. This does not necessarily include the idea of physical death (at least, immediately). The real focus is on spiritual separation from Christ. That is, if it were possible, Paul would trade his salvation for theirs. Paul would have his name erased from the book of the saved so they could get theirs put into that book. And that is the second book, to which we now turn.
The second book is the Lamb's book of life. This is revealed mainly in the New Testament (but see Daniel 12:1) and is not the same as the first book. The book of life is the registry of all the redeemed of all ages, whether in the church age, Tribulation, Kingdom, or Old Testament period.
I'm not big on emphasizing that there is an actual codex/book in heaven, made with paper and cardboard and glued at the spine, that has a huge list of names in it. But in effect we can think of it that way. God knows that list of names intuitively and instantaneously, and the reason for that is that He has graciously chosen to bestow eternal life on each person listed in the book. Passages that refer to this book are Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 20:15, 21:27, and 22:19.
Of these, several passages offer difficulties to the Bible reader. Revelation 3:5 says, "I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life." I take this not to say that names will be or can be erased, but that they will NOT be erased! Most people read this and believe that there is a possibility of erasure, particularly if you fail to "overcome." I don't read it that way, and I believe that it is an Arminian tendency to emphasize the erasure view. Overcomers (by faith, 1 John 5:4) will never lose their salvation. They will never be erased from the book.
Revelation 13:8 attaches the phrase "from the foundation of the world" to "the lamb that was slain." This is a good interpretation based on the word order, but it can be understood to refer to the names of the people not in the book of life. Revelation 17:8 makes it clear that "from the foundation of the world" is associated with the names not written in the book of life. The point is this: there are names that are NEVER written in the Lamb's book of life. In other words, there are people whose names have never appeared in there. By implication, (1) those names cannot be erased, since they have never been present; and (2) there must be names in the book which have been present since the foundation of the world.
Revelation 22:19 is another passage that indicates the possibility of a name being taken away from the book of life. But there are major textual transmission problems at this point in the Textus Receptus (and thus the English KJV and NKJV translations). The correct text is not "book of life" but "tree of life." (Why? The critical text AND the vast majority of Greek manuscripts say "tree of life.") Reading it as "tree of life" eliminates the only other verse in the Bible that could suggest a person's name can be removed from the book of life. The "removal" is simply a statement of judgment—if you mess with God's book, God will see to it that you have no share in the tree of life = basically heaven.
To summarize: the "erasure" view is that the names of all humans who ever exist are written in the book of life from the start, and names are erased as people die without exercising faith in Christ. One problem with this view is that there is no text that clearly says names WILL be erased. Furthermore, Revelation 17:8 tells us plainly that there are some names which are not written in the book ever. Therefore, we could also call this the "start full" view, but it fails at Revelation 17:8.
Then there is the "start empty" view. It would seem to make more sense to have zero names in the Lamb's book of life at the beginning—because we are all sinners deserving of eternal punishment from birth, our names don't deserve to be there. One's name could be added when one comes to faith in Christ. I think that is a very common understanding. But even that doesn't work, because it seems there are some names that are present in the book from the foundation of the world, and some that are not (see above explanation).
Neither the "start empty" nor the "start full" views of the book of life work.
Think about this very important related issue. Who has the power to put a name in or out of the book of life? If your answer is "people" then you will likely have a start-full or start-empty view. You are reflecting the idea that salvation not only involves a person's participation, but it is ultimately based on that person's choice. If your answer is "God," then you have an entirely different perspective. Then you are saying that salvation is ultimately based on God's choice. The latter better fits the Biblical revelation--God is the author of the book of life.
But since God knows everything and in fact has decreed everything to come to pass as it does, He never has to make edits to His book. Consequently, I understand that names are not ever added or subtracted from the book of life. The names were set down there from before the foundation of the world and that list is fixed and inviolable for all eternity. It is the list of those known as the elect. Some of them have already come to faith, and some shall come in the future, but all will eventually come to faith while they are alive. (I believe that even infants who die in infancy are listed in this book, and God graciously regenerates them so they can partake in the eternal kingdom. But I digress into an area of some debate among theologians.) The impossibility of erasure reflects the doctrine of eternal security. The impossibility of addition means that people who are not elect won't be saved. This may sound harsh, but follow the next paragraphs.
Now, who are the elect? I don't know, and no one but God knows. Well, we can know if someone comes to genuine faith, and we can know about ourselves if we are believers. We do know there those whom God has graciously chosen to bless with salvation because of certain clear texts of the Bible (2 Thess. 2:13, 1 Thess. 1:4, 2 Timothy 2:10, Titus 1:1, and others). But as for the billions of people on the planet, we cannot know who the elect ones are in advance. Consequently, we preach the gospel widely, praying to reach people who will respond. Ultimately we won't know who is elect until after the fact. God knows the elect before the fact.
If there is someone who genuinely wants to get saved, and is afraid they are not elect, I would quickly disabuse them of that thinking by telling them that God commands us to repent and believe the gospel. If you do that, you are saved, and thus prove that you were listed in the book. From the human perspective, since we don't and can't know who is "in" and who is "out," we should not worry about who is in the book, and instead focus on obeying God, and everything will be fine. This goes for evangelism too. Our job is not to figure out if someone is elect. Our job is to proclaim the gospel.
Posted by Matt Postiff April 30, 2019 under Theology Death
In my seminar on death and dying, section 8 is about cremation. Because the question about cremation comes up frequently, I reproduce the section below.
Introduction: He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab.
Deut. 34:6 records the burial of Moses. It tells us that Moses was buried by God in the valley in the land of Moab. His grave was concealed so that no one knew where it was. We can speculate this was done purposely to avoid future generations turning Moses’ grave into an idolatrous stumbling block. But for this lesson, the point is that God buried Moses. So is burial the biblical way to dispose of a dead body, or are there other ways, particularly cremation?
This lesson will argue in favor of burial as the best way to dispose of a corpse. I will not say that cremation is an outright sin, for there are a few instances in the Bible where it is used, but it should not be the general practice. Furthermore, you may have had a relative cremated while not understanding all the principles that may be raised in this lesson. Do not think you are being condemned in these notes for doing that.
In preparation for this lesson, I found very helpful a paper delivered in 2006 at the Rice Lectures at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. The paper is entitled “Is it Better to Bury or to Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture” by Dr. Rodney J. Decker, who was at the time Professor of Greek and New Testament at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. This esteemed servant of God is now with the Lord.
The Question
In the whole issue of death and dying, a very common question is this one: “Is it OK to cremate?” But not much is written on the subject from a conservative Christian perspective. Decker reports that very few books on ethics even address the topic. Davis’s book Evangelical Ethics which I happen to have on my shelf does not have the subject listed in the index.
One importance of Deuteronomy 34:6 is that it shows how God preferred to dispose of a dead body. This would immediately seem to give priority to burial, but the question is somewhat more complicated than that. Let’s look at a few issues to clarify how we as Christians should think about burial and cremation.
The Culture and Cremation
Generally cremation is practiced when there is less knowledge of and belief in the Bible. Consider cremation in other religions: Hinduism and Indian belief as well as Buddhism all practice cremation. In these eastern religions, the burning is supposed to release the spirit of the person and prepare it for reincarnation. Buddha was cremated and his example is followed down to today. Confucianism initially did not allow cremation but later forms did allow it. Cremation is associated generally with non-Christian spirituality.
Burial was a cultural practice for Jews and early Christians, whether Jew or Gentile. That does not make it right or wrong per se. Furthermore, the Christian sub-culture with burial developed in various places around the world in the face of the pagan systems that it lived within, including the use of cremation. Christians lived—and died—differently than the pagans around them.
The first phase of the history of cremation in America is connected to liberal Christian belief, Masons, Unitarians, and atheists. A second phase was a pragmatic phase, including the building of many crematories and perfecting methods. The cremation rate was about 5% by the late 1960s. Funeral directors had the upper hand in the market of disposing dead bodies, because bodies were cosmetically altered to make them look more natural.
The third phase of cremation in America is from the 1960s until now, and it has been affected by the counter-culture movement (which often did the opposite of what was traditional), Vatican II (which allowed cremation in 1963 for Catholics), and the exposure of funeral industry practices. Cremation became an economic and commodity issue instead of just a religious one. Environmentalism also plays a role in the recent history of cremation (it is claimed to be better for the environment). The cremation rate today in the United States (2010) is about 30%. By 2025, it is projected to be about 43%.
Cremation and burial are contrasted and promoted by the popular books and movies Star Wars (cremation of the Jedi heroes) and Lord of the Rings (burial for the good guys and cremation for the bad guys).
The Bible and Cremation
Does the Bible encourage cremation? No. There are no passages that encourage cremation.
Does the Bible allow for cremation? Yes, but only in extreme circumstances. Thus cremation cannot be called a sin in every case, but in some cases it is. 1 Samuel 31:8-13 tells of the burning of Saul and his sons after their bodies were recovered from the Philistines. They were probably terribly decomposed and mutilated. This is a war-situation and not a normal civilian situation with regard to handling of dead bodies. Furthermore, 2 Samuel 2:5 shows that this was considered a kindness to treat the bodies the way they did—perhaps to avoid further desecration by the enemy. Finally, note that after the burning, the bones were buried, so burial was still done. 2 Samuel 21:14 shows that the bones were re-buried much later. Amos 2:1-3 and 6:8-10 also mention cremation—the first one as an atrocity and the second as a necessary way to dispose of a massive quantity of bodies. These are the only references to disposal of a body by cremation in the Bible.
There are some other references to murder or attempted murder by burning. See, for instance, Judges 15:6 and Daniel 3.
There are three passages where people are burned in judgment, so the primary emphasis is not on disposal of a body but rather on judgment. Leviticus 10:1-2 is the first, where Nadab and Abihu were killed by fire for offering “strange” or unauthorized or profane fire. Evidently they were drunk when performing tabernacle service and did not follow the proper procedures (Lev. 10:9). Numbers 16, particularly verse 35, recounts how fire came out from the LORD and consumed Korah and his co-conspirators. Joshua 7:25 is the third passage, which tells of the stoning and subsequent burning of Achan for his sin of covetousness and not obeying the “ban” put on the spoils of Jericho. In Joshua 6:24 the city was burned after killing of its inhabitants. This burning was used to implement the ban of 6:17. Achan was burned, in a sense, to complete this destruction of the city and all its inhabitants and spoils. In a sense, all these objects of judgment were cremated.
The other times that bodies were burned was in human sacrifice (2 Kings 17:17; Jer. 7:30-31; 2 Chron. 28:3; forbidden in Deut. 12:31; Lev. 18:21). There is obviously no connection to cremation with these examples.
So, the practice of cremation is not endorsed by the Scriptures.
The Bible and Burial
Many clear examples show that the normal Biblical practice is burial. Jesus was buried, and it was prophesied to be so (Psalm 16:10, Isa 53:9). Lazarus was buried (John 11:39). Sarah was buried (Gen. 23:19). Abraham likewise was interred (Gen. 25:10). Jacob was buried (Gen. 49:29). Many of the kings were buried too (e.g., 2 Kings 23:30 regarding Josiah).
Do the Bible and Biblical example encourage burial? Yes. This is a pattern in the narration of what happened, but does not explicitly teach that burial is the only method allowed to dispose of a body. To solidify our understanding, we have to examine the Bible’s teaching on subjects related to the body and human nature and future.
Biblical Theology and Cremation
This category is called out separately from the previous category because these are ideas put together from systematic theology and not directly from texts in the Bible.
The Connection with the Image of God
We believe it is important to treat the human body with dignity and respect because it is part of God’s creation of man in the image of God. We do not honor the body by itself, but we show respect for the whole person and the person’s memory, of which the body is a part.
Note that the burning of bodies, such as in the trash dump in the Valley of Hinnom (Isaiah 30:33, 66:24, Mark 9:48), is a sign of reproach and shame. Bodies left out for the dogs and vultures (2 Kings 9:36-37, Jer. 34:20), or even hung on a tree, indicated a curse on such people (Deut. 21:23, Joshua 8:29; cf. Acts 5:30, 10:39, Gal. 3:13). Such were not dignified or proper treatment of the body. Additionally, the symbolism of fire is not usually good. It is sometimes connected with purification, but more often it is connected with contempt, with judgment, and with Hades or Hell.
If you are a materialist or believe in nihilism, then cremation is natural. That is because a materialist believes all of life is just matter and there is no “image of God.” The mind and spirit are just molecules and chemicals and electricity and so forth. When we die, we just cease to exist. The natural thing for such a person would be to elect to be cremated.
If you view the spirit as the “real person,” then you will be more likely to accept cremation because the body is not relevant after death. If you believe that the body is a part of the image of God, then burial will be the acceptable way to dispose of the corpse.
What method of disposal is most dignified? Does active burning and destruction best honor the image of God in man? Or does allowing the natural process to decompose the body seem a better method?
The Unity of the Human Body and Spirit
A person is not just his spiritual part, nor is he just his material part. Both together make a human being according to Genesis 2:7. Furthermore, the natural state of human existence in this life and in Heaven or Hell is an embodied existence. All will be resurrected at one time or another (1 Cor. 15:22, Rev. 20:12). The state of the spirit being “naked” at death (2 Cor. 5:3-4) is not normal, and it is only temporary. Because both are part of the human, the body should not be treated as irrelevant.
At a funeral, I almost always say that the old tent (2 Peter 1:14) is not being put away forever, but will be resurrected according to 1 Cor. 15 and 1 Thess. 4:13-18 and many other passages. It is common to hear the phrase that “Grandma so-and-so is not here at the funeral, she is in heaven.” But the reality is, a part of her is down here, and her spirit is in heaven. Obviously, her conscious existence is not down here; it is in heaven. But that body is her body. It belongs to her.
If instead you believe that a person possesses a body instead of the body being an integral part of the person, then cremation will not be a problem for you.
The Connection with Resurrection
Does the Christian’s future hope have anything to do with how to dispose of the body? Yes. Just like baptism by immersion in water symbolizes death and resurrection with Christ, so burial follows the teaching of Paul in 1 Cor. 15 about being planted and raised. Burning and grinding up a body does not seem coordinate with planting and the hope of a future imminent resurrection.
The question arises as to how God will resurrect a cremated or otherwise destroyed body. This is no problem for the omnipotent God, who will resurrect our bodies so they have a substantial identity with our bodies before we died. As to the question of the precise molecules he uses, we do not need to concern ourselves with that. Our bodies are always changing with old cells dying and new ones being formed. And, our resurrected bodies are like plants compared to the seeds that were planted in death. Seeds and plants obviously have differences, but they are inextricably linked. We cannot object to cremation on the basis that it will somehow prevent us from being resurrected because that is just not the case. Our objection has to come from other reasons, which we have discussed already.
Summary of Theological Issues
When the many burial narratives are connected to theological issues of the image of God, the unity of the human personality, and resurrection, the narrative is strengthened so that it gives direction about what we should do—burial.
Other Issues
Organ donation is not a sin and is up to the discretion of the person before they die, or family of the person who has just died. It does not prevent the rapture or resurrection in any way.
Someone may be inclined to donate their body to science. This is a noble goal, since the person probably wishes to help their fellow humans have less pain and suffering. I could not say that it would be a sinful decision. From what I have heard, bodies that are donated are treated with a certain dignity, though whatever is done to the body in terms of anatomy or other studies may be less than dignified. For instance, at the University of Michigan Medical School, there is a memorial service for families after the bodies are "used."
Conclusion
What is the best way to display our Christian convictions about honoring the image of God, about following the Biblical example, and about picturing a future resurrection hope? Cremation seems to fall short in all these areas. A more wise approach is to follow the example of burial.
Decisions should not be reduced only to economics. Otherwise, cremation would win every time since it is cheaper. We should decide things based on the Bible and on the glory of God.
Posted by Matt Postiff July 1, 2013 under Theology Death
For the occasion of our joint Singspiration Worship Service with Hiawatha Bible Church, I wrote the following parable. I hope it may be a help to someone who may be trusting the wrong thing for their salvation.
A man maybe about your age was resting in his recliner Sunday afternoon. He dozed off and as he was sleeping, he dreamed about the time when Jesus would come back to the earth. The thought he had in his mind had to do with how it would go with him when it came time to be examined to see if he were fit to enter the kingdom of heaven.
There was a long line of souls in front of an immense and beautiful throne, upon which sat One he was sure was the Lord.
He heard a few people ahead of him in line call out the name of the Lord and tell Jesus how they had done some spectacular things in His name. The man then heard Jesus reply that he never knew those people, and he threw them out and prohibited them from entering the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).
The sight was very troubling to the man in his dream, because he realized those people were finished. They had no hope.
He also heard some others tell Jesus that they had done their best to keep the 10 commandments. "Did you keep all of them?" Jesus asked them. "No," they replied, "not quite. We messed up on a few things, but for the most part we are good people." Then the man heard Jesus say these words, "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (Gal 3:10).
These poor souls had not kept the law that they had professed to keep, so it made some sense that they would not make it into the kingdom. It was still troubling though, because they had falsely thought they were OK when they were not. The man began to wonder, as he watched the scene continue, if he himself was deceived about some things.
Then there were those who didn't at first speak to the Lord on His throne. So He broke the silence and asked them, "Who is it who was in charge of your life before you came here? Whose instructions did you follow or whose name did you respect?" As I listened in to their conversations, there were many different answers to that question. Some said that they themselves were in charge of their life; or some other historical religious figure or prophet. Jesus quickly dismissed all of these people.
To the question of who had been in charge of their lives, others replied that Jesus was. But the man who was dreaming all this got the feeling that they were confused a bit, because the expression on their faces indicated that the answer they gave did not match up to the person they were looking at. They almost had a question mark at the end of "Jesus" when they said it. This elicited a further question from the Lord on the throne. He asked, "Which Jesus are you talking about?" Some wrongly identified Jesus as one of the angels; some began talking about His mother in a way that seemed to deflect attention from the question; others said that it was the Jesus who was the first of God's creation; yet others emphasized it was the Jesus who sought to pour out life's material blessings on their lives. Once again, Jesus dismissed all of the people who answered in these various ways by saying, "If you do not honor the Son as you honor God the Father, you do not honor God the Father."
There were a few who said that they were talking about the Jesus who is Lord, the creator of all things and the Son of God, who offered Himself as a sacrifice for their souls. They didn't seem to have a question mark in their voices when they said the name of the Lord. These the Lord permitted to pass the throne and enter a small doorway to the right side.
There were more people in line than the man could count. It was a very emotional experience to see so many people going the one way, and so few the other way. There were a whole bunch of people standing in line who, as their turn came, explained to Jesus that they had done a lot of good things that they expected would be added to what Jesus did to pay for their entrance ticket to the kingdom when He lived on the earth Himself so many years ago; some told Jesus that they thought He had not resurrected from the dead; some, surprisingly, openly admitted they were sure He would not be coming back to the earth again--but of course, here He was. The man dreamed that Jesus told these people to depart too. There was an air of hopelessness surrounding such folks, because it was pretty obvious that there were no second chances.
Occasionally, there were those who said something different. When the Lord asked what they had done to enter the kingdom of heaven, they said, "Nothing, Lord. I believed that on my behalf you did everything Yourself to make it possible for me to enter the kingdom heaven. My sins were many but your righteousness was greater than my sins. You and your action on my behalf is the only way to enter here." Jesus replied in an affirming tone, "Whoever believes on [me] will not be put to shame" (Romans 10:11). These were ushered past the throne and into the kingdom like a few of the people earlier.
The man had not gotten to the front of the line by the time he awoke. He breathed a sigh of relief that it was only a dream, but he felt as if he had learned a valuable lesson. "Time to break out my Bible and make sure I know the right way to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Romans 10:17, John 3). [June 30, 2013--MAP]
If you are visiting tonight, we want to thank you for attending our singspiration worship service. We are a group of Christians who delight in knowing the Jesus that the books of the Bible describe. He is our Lord, the Son of God, the perfect man, who died in our place, who rose again from the grave, who ascended into heaven. He is our LORD. Because of our gratefulness to Him, we sing tonight. He has put a new song in our mouths--even praise to our God; we pray that many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD (Psalm 40:3).
Posted by Matt Postiff August 30, 2010 under Death
As I mentioned in June, this summer in the Adult Bible Fellowship we studied the topic of Death and Dying. The notes for the summer turned out to be about 34 pages and are available here as a PDF. I'd be interested in your feedback.
Posted by Matt Postiff June 14, 2010 under Death
In the Adult Bible Fellowship at our church, we are studying a series on death and dying which I've entitled "At the End of Life." A morbid subject, to be sure, but one that I think has some good application for us. In yesterday's lesson, we covered five reasons as to why people can become desensitized to death. Here they are:
1. Culture. Our culture in effect anesthetizes us to death. That is, culture deadens us, numbs our senses, sedates our awareness of reality, or puts us to sleep about the matter of death. It treats death in an unreal kind of way, with violent movies and so forth, but still distances us in a sense from the reality of it. This is not surprising. Why should people want to think about death? It is certainly not a very pleasant subject. Life is interesting or busy, so we don't have time to think about what comes afterward.
2. Satan. Why should the Devil want us to think about death? He would rather surprise us at the end after we live an entire life opposed to God. If you don't think about death, you don't think about what comes after death, and you don't think about the implications of it for your life “here and now."
3. Senses. Another fact that drives this insensitivity toward death is that what we can see about death with our senses basically amounts to this: my loved one => death => his/her body goes to the grave and he/she goes to a ‘better' place. What our eyes see and what our ears hear gives us all we have to go on-that is, from a naturalistic perspective. And in a way, not knowing more than this makes things easier than they really are. The reality we know apart from the Bible is basically “I miss that person." But with the Bible, we would know that an unbeliever is suffering for his sins, a far worse situation. God has made it possible for us to know more than our senses can tell us. He has revealed certain things (1 Corinthians 2:9-16) that are beyond the ability of mere empiricism to obtain them. And so, there is more beyond the grave. We know this from the Bible. People apart from the Bible surmise that this is the case, but always go astray on the particulars. With the Scriptures, we have accurate specifics about what happens to the soul and what happens after the grave.
4. Theology.Another factor that can dull our senses toward death is what I will call the theological factor, either good or bad. We can focus on the Biblically correct hope of the rapture in such a way that we lose the sharpness of the reality of death. Or, we can have bad theology, such as reincarnation or “all roads lead to God" and so try to mute the effects of death. The reality is that death is still an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26).
5. Medicine.Another de-sensitizing factor is the medical factor. We can get the idea that modern medicine works miracles in bringing the dead back to life or sustaining the body while it heals enough to function on its own. There are wonderful technologies available and we should encourage their use when appropriate to extend human life. Human life has value because it is made in the image of God. But trusting in the physicians (2 Chron. 16:12) so much that we forget about dying can put us in a real pickle. We can be stuck in a no-man's land “in-between" state of hanging between life and death on a ventilator and feeding tube while our brain is basically dead. Or we can get so involved in the oncologist's treatment that we don't realize until the last minute that death is settling over us and we only have a couple of days before this life is over. Sometimes treatment extends life. Other times, treatment does not extend life but only extends misery, or treatment may increase misery and shorten life.
We should be careful not to let these factors dull our sensitivity toward death. Except for the rapture, we will all face death.