IS DEATH AN EVIL?

INTRODUCTION
A person may be here today and tomorrow he/she is gone. We do hear of obituaries everydayand almost every day there is burial here and there in different churches, mosques, villages orin family or town, you must have had someone who died, either friend or family member etc.one thing that is clear is that you will not see that person again. You may be there when theywere buried. It is very difficult to understand why, it may even make you to think why struggleto work at all since suddenly we may abandon the fruit of our labour and sufferings anddisappear from the face of the earth. The power of death over man is so overwhelming thatpeople express their helplessness in the hands of death in the names they give. Some of thesenames among Mumuye people are Voviyere (death is something from God) Vogadabi (deathstarted from father) vodaweya (who is spared from death) Vozeramba (death does not look atpoverty) Voyonikeya (can you die because of work) etc all these names expresses manhelplessness before death.Death does not discriminate but rather takes the young, the old, men, women and youthsalike. Death manipulates man as it pleases. Christianity teaches that death is a transition. TheCatholic Church teaches that death is a sleep, repose and death is only the passing over froman imperfect and perishable life to that full life which has no end. The Catholic preface of thedeath has these expressions; the sadness of death gives way to the bright promise ofimmortality. Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of ourearthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting place in heaven. Going from the abovedeath for a Christian should be a thing for joy but why is it that the mere mention of the worddeath everybody is afraid, the word death brings a lot of commotion among people. Does thatmean that death is an evil? Or people prefer perishable things on earth than everlasting life inheaven. This article seeks to delve into the nature of death as conceived by different peoples.THE CONCEPT OF DEATHEvery culture, ancient or recent, Eastern or Western, black or white, has its own beliefs andreligious dictates regarding the perceptions of death. Take for example the indestructibility orimmortality of the soul, a concept that is common to many religions. Hindu teachings indicatethat the soul passes at death to another body, even if the body is nonhuman. For Christian,death is not natural but a punishment, the first people, Adam and Eve were not created mortal,they were created in the image of God, and this perfect condition seems to excludedecomposition and mortality. Physical death is not the continuation of man’s original mortalcondition, after he failed to rise to the height of immortality by his disobedience. Physicaldeath is the result of the fall into sin, a fall from the possibility to continue in immortality tothe depth of mortality! In the bible, physical death is not represented as something natural toman, but rather as an expression of divine anger (Ps90:7-11), as a judgement of God (Rom1:32) a condemnation (Rom5:16) and curse (Gal 3:13). If God were only just, he might imposedeath immediately after Adam’s transgression (Gen2:17). Christianity teaches that with thecoming of Jesus, for Christian death has become a sleep, repose... it is only the passing overfrom perishable life to that full life which has no end. Therefore death is a return. Man is soiland returns to the soil (Gen.3:19). The spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecc.12:7). The soulreturns to the unseen whence it came (Psa.9:17 and Acts 2:27, 31). In fact Job speaks of deathclearly when he says: For I know that Thou wilt return me to death. (Job 30:23).Neither man as a whole, nor any part of him enters a new, unknown condition at death, but allreturns to the state from which it emerged when life was imparted. Even as the body wascreated of existing entities, so with the spirit which was given by God; and at death thesereturn to the same condition in which they were before. Further on Christian’s conception ofdeath, The Apostle's Creed, an ancient statement of Christian faith, ends with the followinglines:(I believe in...) the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen This resurrection is notjust a return to the old life of sickness and pain (as was the case when Jairus' daughter andLazarus were raised to life) but a beginning of an entirely new life where sickness and deathhave no sway. This life is a share of Christ's Resurrection.Every Christian is scared of dying. The uncertainty of what lies beyond is frightening, nowonder John Donne Re-echoes “No man is an Island. Any man’s death diminishes me,because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for the bell tolls, is tollsfor thee!!! For the philosophers, like Martin Heidegger Dasein that is man is a being towardsdeath. For him death is not only part of the Dasein, but Dasein reaches his wholeness in death.Hence, he affirms once born, dasein is old enough to die; which mean no one dies so young.For the Muslim, the whole of this life constitutes a trial and a test for the human by means ofwhich his final destiny is determined. Death is therefore the return of the soul to its Creator,God. the concept of death and the afterlife in Islam is derived from the Qur’an the finalrevealed message from God For Muslims, it is clear that Allah, not man, is in charge of death,as revealed in the following verses:“... at length when death approaches one of you, our angels take his soul ..."(Qur'an 6; Verse61) and "It is He who doth take your souls by night and hath knowledge what ye have done byday. Then He doth raise you up again that a term appointed be fulfilled ...” (Qur’an 6; Verse 60)Then again, It is Allah that taketh the souls (of men) at death and those that die not, He takesduring their sleep. Those on whom He has passed the decree of death He keeps back (fromreturning to life) but the rest He sends (back to their bodies) for a term appointed."(Qur'an 39;Verse 42) These ayat tells that the permanent disconnection of soul from body is death. Muchof death remains a mystery to men, as Allah reminds Muslim that "... of knowledge it is only alittle that is given to you."(Qur’an 17; Verse 85) The basic premise of all Qurʿānic teachingconcerning death is Allāh's omnipotence: he creates human beings, determines their life span,and causes them to die. The Qurʿān states: “Some will die early, while others are made to liveto a miserable old age, when all that they once knew they shall know no more (22:5).DUAL NATURE OF DEATH AS CONCEIVED BY PEOPLEDuality has been defined as a situation or nature that has two states or parts that arecomplementary or opposed to each other. Death has been conceived as having dual nature asexpanded bellow, some holds death as an evil while others holds death as a means tohappiness.A. Death as an evilEvil has been defined as that which is morally bad or wrong, or that which causes harm, pain,or misery. Death, being the cause of all lost souls and destroyer of every bridge built by birthcan be seen as evil because it causes pain misery to the bereaved, the thought death is an evilis well articulated in Aristotle argument. Here is Aristotle’s argument:Sappho says, to die is an evil; for the gods have thus decided. For otherwise they would bedying,The argument would appear to be something like this:If dying is a good, then (since the gods have all goods) the gods die. It is not the case thatthe gods die. So, dying is not a good. Consequently, dying is an evil.Many others too hold this belief, that dying is evil because it deprives the deceased of thegoods of life. According to the holders of this belief, Death is bad because the deceased’sentire life would have been better if she/he hadn’t died. For example, Stella Obasanjo’suntimely death was bad for her because: Stella Obasanjon’s entire life would have been betterfor her, had she not died when she did, than it in fact was.The holder of this kind of thought believed that since god can not die so death is an evilB. DEATH AS A MEANS TO HAPPINESSDeath and physical-plane life are stages in an endless journey to perfection, one of thecharacteristic doctrines of many Eastern religions and New Age philosophies is the concept ofreincarnation – that is, “the successive rebirths of a soul into this life, as the soul progressestoward perfection or salvation”. While the idea of a second chance at life might soundattractive, it has no basis in biblical fact. Bible teaches that death is a sleep, “And many ofthose who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some toshame and everlasting contempt.” The prophet clearly states that what sleeps in death is thatpart of man that is placed “in the dust of the earth”. The body sleeps in death, not the spirit.Therefore, If the body merely sleeps in death, then it will be raised again (1 Corinthians15:35-49; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). In the gospel again Jesus describe death as a sleep, atthat time He said to the disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awakenhim” (John 11:11). When they revealed their ignorance of the Lord’s euphemistic language, Heplainly told them, “Lazarus has died” if we view death as a beginning, necessary to prepare fora rebirth and as a change in consciousness through the removal of limitations, then deathbecomes more of a desirable event than a threat because Jesus invites us not to the feasts ofthis world, but the wedding feast of the lamb, the banquet of heaven where life is shared withall.CONCLUSIONDespite the vast amount of evidence gathered over the years that life of some kind continuesafter death; despite the acceptance by many religions that death is but an awakening into newand freer life; in spite of the growing belief in reincarnation; notwithstanding the testimony ofthe wisest Teachers down the ages, we continue to approach that great transition with fear,People are afraid of death while they are not afraid of the cause, which is sin, Jesusencourages us not to fear death, for it has pleased your father to give you the kingdom (Luke12: 32) and on that day there will be no more tears or suffering and death will be no more. Afeast will be prepared for all people and our God will be close and wipe away our tears. FinallyJesus said be like men waiting for their master to return from wedding feast ready to open thedoor as soon as he comes and knocks (Luke 12: 36) once we give listening ear there is noneed to be afraid of death, dearth is not completely evil