Are We Bodies With a Soul - Or Are We Souls With A Body?
Participating in PHILLYDREAMER's "Poetry Challenge: Faces Of Death" hub, I offer this minor poem . . . with this minor explanation;
As a Christian I have experienced a second birth, a spiritual birth, I am no longer the man I was prior to this conversion - I am a new creature. I very significant aspect of my spiritual birth is the recognition that I am not my own, that I am not merely a particular species trying to survive on this planet as long as I can - I am God's creation and He creates with purpose, He has a plan that apparently (because I'm here in His creation) includes me. So, my view of my life is not one wherein death is an enemy that will win a final victory - the sting of death has been undone; Jesus of Nazareth died and then fully overcame death and lives even now . . . and Jesus gives the prize of His victory, eternal life, to all and any who trust in Him as their only hope.
So, as a Christian, I do not fear death, I do not count death as an end but as a passageway. It isn't the end of this life that is fearful - it is the unavoidable unknown we fear. In death we will all pass from this material life into an eternal spirit life, in one state or another . . . how will that passing transpire, what will that transformation be like, that is the unknown that many fear.
Death ~
Does death bring the end or does death transform,
Will death be dark and cold or all bright and warm;
Are we beings with a body or just flesh and bone?
In the end death holds us hostage to a dreaded unknown.
It's the inevitable step that each of us must take,
Yet throughout life it's a disquiet none can shake;
But what exactly is it that all contemplate in fear,
Is it merely the simple fact that we'll no longer be here?
Are we just our bodies and that's all that we are,
Or is there an 'us' inside that's more perilous to scar?
If we're more than merely our parts, if we are a soul,
Then it's only our frame in the end and not us in that hole.
As loved ones stand sadly staring at the ground,
I will be hearing the most beautiful sound;
The voice of Jesus calming any fear,
And wiping from my eye one final, last tear.
