Thought for today November 4th Going to graveyards and people going to dust

Yesterday we thought about the greatness of our Divine Creator, Who has to become recognized and praised as the One and Only True God. Him being the Most High Living God, Lord above all gods and lords, and should be greatly praised, and be beautiful in elevation, so that the whole world may come to see the joy of the whole earth being Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King. (Psalm 48:1-2)

Many of us look forward to the day that multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2) The past weekend, in Belgium and France we could find many people visiting the cemeteries talking to their dead. It might be a great comfort for them to think their beloved are in heaven, but that is not what the Bible tells us where they are. According to the Word of God all those who die are like in a deep sleep, knowing and feeling nothing.

Though we do not want to die, we all know that one day we shall come to die.

Many people would love to give honour and rewards to their beloved who have left this earth, but the dead know nothing.
Dead people have no more reward, and we also can notice after some time people start forgetting them.

⁵For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:5 ASV)

We may wonder what the people want to get from those who are buried in those graveyards. Many go and clean the tombs and put flowers on the stone on the first and/of second of November, but for the rest of the year they seem not to think much about them. Whatever work they do, thinking to be doing their best, because they are going to the grave, where there is no working, no planning, no knowledge, and no wisdom, they are more interested in the human philosophies and many stories about what would happen to the dead and in other worlds where there would be ghosts and afterlife.

¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand ^[a]findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest. (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ASV)

Not many want to accept that the same thing would happen to them as to animals; they both having the same breath, both feeling pain when the live and both going to die one day. People do not want to accept that they would be no better off than the animals. They do not like the idea that everything would be useless, people ending up the same way as animals; both coming from dust and both going back to dust.

¹⁹For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one ^[a]breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity. ²⁰All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 ASV)

The past weekend and Autumn holiday we could see how many people wanted to honour their dead in place of honouring the living God. Is it because they fer death so much or that lots of people are really afraid for what dead people might do to them, that they love to have all events going about the mystery of death and the dead, witches and ghosts?

For many it can not be that their beloved would not receive a special place in heaven. Most of all, they love to see their beloved to become set apart or to be a saint to whom they can ask for things in their life. Several believe that God has knit together their beloved dead ones as His elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of His Son Christ.

These days lots of people spoke about death and the dead.

Talking about death reminds us of our own mortality, our own powerlessness, the one thing that even the best doctors cannot ultimately fix, only delay. Like taxes, we can sometimes file for an extension, but we cannot avoid death. {Curation}

For the rest of the year people prefer not to speak to much about the death and dead. Lots of people prefer not to say the person is death but say “asleep” him or she being a star high in the sky.

We avoid the word “death” –we don’t say someone died. “He passed,” “she transitioned,” “he crossed over,” “she has gone to a better place.” We “celebrate their life” but go to great lengths to avoid the cold hard word “death.” We prolong life in hospitals, we avoid making wills or estate plans or advanced directives. We don’t tell our pastors when we are sick or in trouble because we “don’t want anybody to see us like that.” We may show death and gore in action and fantasy film plots, but we avoid talking about how it happens in real day to day life. {Curation}

It is a very well-known fact that people do not want to be reminded of their own mortality. Talking about that mortality is like showing to others we fear such an end to our own life. For many it is also a matter of weakness and our own powerlessness not being able to take our own life in our own hands.

… the one thing that even the best doctors cannot ultimately fix, only delay. Like taxes, we can sometimes file for an extension, but we cannot avoid death. {Curation}