I was watching the tail end of an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The Starship team were viewing a posthumous "video" of a fellow warrior
who had died. She said, "Death is the state where you live in the
memories of others. No good-byes, just memories."
This seemed to be a typical, common approach to death--you have your memories,
life goes on. There is no God, or Higher Being, involved. If we "live"
IN memories, what happens to "us" when those having the memories are gone?
If no one remembers us, then there are no memories, and hence, no life.
Memories are no substitute for the Essence Of Life. Memories fade. Think
of walking in a cemetary. People from years past, then, no longer exist
since no one alive remembers them. To tell a bereaved family, "You have
your memories," is totally inadequate. We may say "no good-byes," but "good
memories" is only part of it. True, we have memories. They comfort us in
our loss. I recall a seminary professor who said, "I'll live in my books."
Someone said in response, "I'd rather be more than dust on a library shelf."
Memories depend on someone remembering.
To say we "live in memories is to assert that life is memory. Aren't we
more than memory now? If we live in memories after death, what is the essence
of life now? Is the Power which enables and sustains life mere memory?
Doesn't it make sense that if we are an expression of a Higher Power now,
we are STILL part of that Power after death?
This power formed us in the womb. It, then, transcends the body because
it comes before it. Isn't that Power more than a memory, or more than an
idea? It makes no sense to reduce life to memory. We do it because we do
not believe that man is any more than a body, or a personality. We remember
a person, yet we can't comprehend the tuth that a person is, in essence,
a spirit, soul. We can't see and touch a person, but we can't see or touch
a soul or spirit. We remember good times, laughs, smiles, warm moments,
we reminisce and say, "I remember when..." But life is more than sensuality.
We remember what we see, touch and feel, and, really, as far as we can see,
it's all there is. When we can't see, touch, or feel something, it doesn't
exist. We can REMEMBER it, or how we FELT about it. However, memories are
not life. They cannot give or create life. They can bring a laugh or a
sigh, but no genuine, conscious life.
If God exists, is not life from god? If God is eternal, so are we, as expressions
of God. In light of this, how can we say to someone at the death of a loved
one, "You have your memories"? To be sure, we should remember those who
have gone before us. Pray for them. Love them. But they ARE spirit souls,
expressions of God. They live in the realm of God. Does a "realm of God"
exist? Can we believe that there is such a place? We weep for those who
are "dead," yet if there is a "realm of God," why weep? Is the realm of
God a place of sadness? Is it sad and depressing to be with God? The Bible
says that in Him "is the fullness of joy.." Our idea of joy is physical
gratification, good times, and fun. Life is not something that fades, yet
memories fade. memories require someone to remember. If I exist as long
as someone remembers me, then I perish if no one remembers.
The Bible said that Jesus came so that we would not PERISH, but have ETERNAL
LIFE. Jesus taught that eternal life was our destiny, not perishing in nothingness.
Eternal life is everlasting. Otherwise, it wouldn't be eternal! If God
is the Source of Life, then life expresses His being, whether we're in the
body, or apart from it. The body would not "life" without the Spirit, so
the body isn't life or what actually "lives." Only Spirit is life. Only
Spirit remains after the body is laid to rest. The body perishes, but not
the soul. The soul IS real life. We must, therefore, affirm the truth of
life, that it is eternal and everlasting. There are no "good-byes," but
only "good-bye for now." We have more than "good memories," we have the
truth and promise of eternal life. In this truth may we derive hope and
comfort.