Griffin Speaks

YE SHALL SURELY NOT DIE

Life is the period of existence between birth and death. What happens when we experience a physical death? Do we transcend into a spiritual existence? What was Satan’s first lie? Genesis 3:4 tells us that Satan’s first lie was the serpent saying unto the woman, “YE SHALL SURELY NOT DIE!” I believe that the serpent was talking about physical death and not spiritual death? There is a major difference.

Do we really die? Everyone has an appointment with death, but we all have an inner feeling that we really do not die. I believe that there is an internal feeling within all living creatures that they have always existed and always will exist.

Young people have this sense of immortality and therefore take more risk. Perhaps this explains the reason for so many traffic fatalities among the young. They are closer to the feeling of immortality than older persons.

Perhaps physical death is merely the physical body being paralyzed. The mind and will are still operative, though deprived of expression. Death of the body may very well be simply total paralysis.

My close friends are always fascinated by the number of people that I have become close to near the end of their human existence. Many of these persons have been old but some have been young. I can still feel their presence within my life even though I know that they have experienced a physical death.

I surmise that there is an immaterial reality (soul) within all of us that defy the laws of matter and its death. When a person moves any body part, they do magic. If there were no mind then the body parts would not move unless they were lighter than air. The mind is not part of the system of matter. Therefore it does not have to die when the physical body dies. Trust me there is a difference between mind and brain.

A soul has no parts, therefore it cannot be decomposed, as a human body can. Whatever is composed of parts can be decomposed. There is nothing in the universe that simply and absolutely vanishes. Everything in existence has a cause.

We are all immortal and will never die as most people think. Until someone calls you and tells you that someone has died they are still alive in your mind. The truth is as long as you hold their memory in your mind they exist.

Overcoming your fear of death is realizing that there is no such thing as death. People do not cease to exist. It is without doubt that our physical existence will come to an end, however, the part of us that feels immortal will survive the physical transition.

The question of what happens when we die has been one of our chief obsessions. I believe that people that commit suicide come to the realization that they really do not die. As I participate in interviews with persons on Alabama’s Death Row a few days before their execution, I am always amazed at their calmness. I believe that they realize that even though they are executed they really will not die. Death my friend is life’s biggest “LIE.”

Greg Griffin is a columnist for the Montgomery-Tuskegee times. He can be contacted at www.greggriffin.com