My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

DEATH, THE THRESHOLD TO ETERNAL LIFE

Death constitutes the last chapter of the history of our human life. In many cases, the understanding of death penetrates the whole life and is the red thread throughout the activities and volition of human beings. Death is a unique episode at the end of the life of man, and as such, it is the object of important studies by the philosopher, the scientist, and the ordinary man. No other episode of human life as death equalizes the aspirations, demands, and ranks of men - as the Prophet cries - I meditate among the tombs -- and I say, who is a king, or rich, or poor, or just, or a sinner?"

Death is a mystery, and only in the light of Everlasting Life, in the Name of Jesus Christ, has its dreadful threat been transformed into a happy and victorious event for the believer.

The Christian should not neglect his earthly life. The Christian belief in everlasting life does not mean that our earthly life has no meaning and should be neglected. On the contrary, the truth is that the Everlasting Life of a Christian begins with his earthly life. This earthly life of ours has the merits, gifts, and purposes which the Creator has bestowed on it. Especially after the enlightenment brought about by the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, the earthly life of a Christian is the workshop of his future life. The main question is: Is the Christian working in the realm of his salvation? Is his moral stature growing? His task on earth is to progress from God's image to God's likeness.

The Christian should nourish his body, too. To attain this goal and fulfill this mission, the Christian must nourish his spirit as well as his body. It is an error and the outcome of heresy when the Christian does not maintain the theory of the co-existence of his body and soul. The Christian believes this theory because it tends to make the human body more acceptable, for the body is neglected, misunderstood, and misconstrued by individuals and groups. The soul that their separation means the earthly departure of human beings. Without the body, the soul of the human being cannot fulfill the mission that God the almighty has planned for it. The importance of the body is evident, moreover, by the fact that Jesus Christ's Body rose after His death. The Apostle Paul stresses the point that without the Resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection of the bodies of the Christians, the Gospel and Faith are in vain, saying: "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:13-14).

The human body was honored at the time of its creation and, after the Ancestral Sin ("Original Sin"), was restored again at the time of the incarnation of the everlasting Son of God Who became the God-Man, "for us men and for our salvation." The Divine Message was brought to mankind through chosen personalities, that is, through men and women who devoted their body and soul, together and in one entity, for the mission of God' Will among men. In short, the Divine Message is Truth through personalities. God has greatly honored the human body and as His creatures should respect His Will by protecting our own body and leading our steps to the fulfillment of our duty towards a better Christian Society.

Two directions are important in keeping our bodies in good condition. First, we must nourish it properly, not only with material things but also with a spiritual direction because the physical well-being of our body depends on our spiritual well-being. Secondly, to safeguard our body from physical ills. The human body is a complicated mechanism, and it is important to consult, from time to time, the special ministers of the body - that is, the medical doctors. It is very erroneous to think that the physician has no place in our faith and that the pains and ills of our body are merely a state of our mind. When we realize the role of the body in the fill of our ancestors and in our sins, we can understand the role of nature in physical living and our need for the physician to aid us throughout our life. Physicians are God's servants, and we accept their services as such - being, nevertheless, thankful to Almighty God for His Providence.

It is most profitable for all Orthodox Christians to know, on the one hand, the teaching of the Church on the existence and the substance of the hereafter, and, on the other hand, the contents of the prayers for the departed one and the teaching for the comfort of those left behind.

It is proper to examine the question of Everlasting Life in the light of the unfailing sources from which we derive our information and establish our belief in this truth. The belief in God is a belief in the living God forever. A Living God forever is the substance and the cause of everlasting life. Eternal Life has no value without a living God. The human conscience so consistently and unfailingly believes in this truth, without further aid from the physical and spiritual world, that it can be stated that the belief in God in the internal life of men, is an innate impulse of our nature, and only by distortions can it be diverted or uprooted. The fact that atheism is rather an exception under the pressure of stubborn presuppositions and the temptations of independent knowledge is proof in itself that the belief in the existence of God and eternal life cannot be destroyed or substituted by any other product of knowledge, art, or science.

The belief in the existence of God is fortified by the classical proof provided by the existence of the universe and its purpose. By obvious reasoning, we believe in the existence of a watchmaker by examining the mechanism of a watch. We cannot understand the verse without its Creator; we do not understand the existence of the purpose of the world without the mind behind it. The law of cause and effect is most convincing to human understanding and reasoning, and by it the human mind arrives at very definite conclusions. The Philosopher Kant, in the 18th century, stressed the ethical proof of the existence of God and asserted there is a Super Judge and an Everlasting Life to judge human events and activities and to reward each human being according to his deeds. To him the existence of God and an Everlasting Life and reward, along with the free will of man, were strong, self-evident demands of the human mind. As Saint Paul states:

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things! -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)

The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George