ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Faith For Dying

Updated on June 3, 2017
Christ welcoming the believer home
Christ welcoming the believer home

Why I'm making this page on Faith For Dying:

A recent death in my own family has driven home the reality of the subject and caused me to be even more concerned than I was before that many people don't have faith for dying. I know that death is an unpleasant subject for many and one which many people like to try to avoid. Yet, death need not be feared at all, and can even be something to look forward to, I hope to show why here. I sincerely hope this page will be of help to someone.

A classic on death and dying in general:

Death is NOT the end.

The first thing you must realize in order to have faith for dying is that death is not the end. The Bible clearly states that there is life after death, despite the musings of Solomon in Ecclesiastes (such as in Ecclesiastes 9:5, where he states that the dead "know not any thing." Ecclesiastes, though inspired, is simply a record of man's search for meaning. Many people think as Solomon mistakenly did that death is the end. Yet. the New Testament has many references to life after death. (For example, see Matthew 22:32, Luke 16:30, Luke 20:35, Hebrews 9:27). In II Corinthians 5:1, the apostle Paul, speaking metaphorically, assures believers that if the tent of our earthly existence be dissolved, we have a permanent building in the heaven.

Check out this book on life after death:

There are many books on life after death. Here's one. Drawing on some of the most powerful theories and trends in physics, evolutionary biology, science, philosophy, and psychology, D'Souza shows why the atheist critique of immortality is irrational and draws the striking conclusion that it is reasonable to believe in life after death

Accepting His sacrifice
Accepting His sacrifice

The basis of dying faith:

What dying faith means to me:

Faith for dying means to me that trust I have in my Lord Jesus to take me safely across and into His waiting arms. I realize that there are many different religious beliefs out there and it would be easy just to shrug and take the position that all roads lead to heaven, but that is no more true in the area of faith than it is in the area of cross country travel. Jesus plainly said, in John 14, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I'm not saying that you have to be religious and go through a lot of ceremonies. What I'm talking about is a simple act of faith. Paul said in Romans 6:23, the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, His Son. You have only to open your heart to Him and receive His gift by faith. He died on the cross for you. He suffered an agonizing physical death in payment for our sins so that we would not have to suffer an eternal spiritual death, but rather could gain eternal salvation and thus spend all eternity with Him. ("For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life." [John 3:16])

What about you?

Are you ready to die?

See results

If you answered the above poll with anything but "YES," you need to check out the links below:

The Result of Dying Faith:

In I Corinthians 15:54-57, the apostle Paul says that "death is swollowed up in victory. He then asks a rhetorical question: "O death where is your sting?" and answers it by saying that "The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

In Colosians 3:3, we are told that as believers, our life is hid with God in Christ. That being true, as Neil Anderson points out, in his article, "Free From The Fear of Death, " ..."we won't suffer loss when we physically die. We can only gain. ...The person who is free from the fear of death is free to live today."

How often have you asked yourself the question, "I wonder what it will be like on the other side of death?". Whether you are a young person, middle aged, or senior adult, the cold hard facts are that we will all succumb eventually to that time in our lives where we will take that last breath as we feel ourselves being drawn away into eternity. We all have a fear of death or at least a healthy respect for it because of the uncertainties associated with not knowing what lies beyond the grave. We have been told many things over the years, which we have come to believe as truth, but it has never been explained how these things could be.

Earth seems to be exciting with new discoveries and adventures every day. The church has portrayed heaven over the years through novels and movies and paintings as a dull place. However, the kingdom of God, the afterlife and the place where God lives, is much more exciting and glorious than anything the earth could ever produce. The colors there are beyond the natural spectrum and there are inexpressible sounds. The discoveries that can be lived in the kingdom of heaven will make the earthly lifestyle bland by comparison.



John 14:3 and a related antidote:

In John 14:3, Jesus told his disciples (meaning all who believe on Him) that he is going to prepare a place for them. He didn't describe the place. But just to know that it will be a place prepared by Him is enough. Along that line, I offer the following story (author unknown) which was told to me 10 years ago by a friend, since it fits here very appropriately: A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said "Doctor, I'm afraid to die--tell me what lies on the other side? The doctor very quietly said--"I don't know".

"You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?

The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side of the door was a dog who sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient the doctor said "Did you notice my dog? He's never been in the room before. He did not know what was inside. He knew nothing except his master was here and when the door opened he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing. I know my master is there and that's enough." (--this was given to me by friend 10 years ago, but I have since found this on the web HERE)

Dying, Grieving, Faith and Family:

Thie great resource below enables grief counselors, pastors, hospice specialists, hospital chaplains, mental health practitioners, educators, and seminary students to bring an understanding of faith development, family systems, and gender and ethnic differences into their professional practice as they work with dying and grieving persons. No other book covers all these themes. Not only a great resource for practical guidance, this book is also meant to be provocative, suggestive, and stimulating to professionals and educators charged with working with and teaching about dying and grieving persons.With 50 years of providing pastoral care to dying and grieving persons and 30 years as a pastoral educator, George Bowman understands the nature and concerns of dying and grieving persons. In Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family he answers the questions you should be asking yourself--including: How does faith development affect relationships.

the  heavenly home
the heavenly home

My poem on faith for dying

By me (James M. Becher)

The span of man's life was never

Here on earth meant to be forever

Fact is, we were born to die--

Some sooner of us than others,

But, it isn't when or why

But, WHERE that counts, my brothers

For if the loved one knew the LORD,

Then be thou not afraid.

She is not lost, she is not dead,

But, only has gone on ahead

To wait in that fair land of dreams

Where all is pleasant and serene,

And life is like a peaceful chord

That's played and played and played.

Passport to a happy death:

Death is the one trip we all take, with no tour guide or travel agent to hold our hand. to this guide.

Heaven does exist.

Aside from the many references to heaven as a real place in the Bible itself, there is abundant proof of the existence of heaven in the testimonies of those who have gone there and come back to tell about it. I offer one example below. I have read this book and find it truly amazing and encouraging. Four-year-old Colton, son of a small town Nebraska pastor, emerged from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. He also told about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. Colton further told how he met his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born and his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about. He shared impossible-to-know details about each. He described the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "really big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us. Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place..--JMB.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)