The Fear of Death

It seems that there is built into all of us a basic fear of death. I think God intended it that way so we will hold onto life. But for some, this normal fear of death becomes exaggerated, almost psychotic, and it colors the way we live.

I’ve said to you in a former blog that I have no fear of death; it’s the dying I dread.

And that’s true, with some qualifications. Let me explain myself. I grew up in a loving, caring church, but we had our annual round of revival preachers, most of whom were extremely fundamentalist. And no revival was complete without a sermon on the horrors of hell. Some preachers were really good at painting the terrors of those who died in an unforgiven state. I remember, as a little boy, literally “having the hell scared out of me.” Or, at least, that was the purpose of these sermons.

But what they did was to frighten me beyond reason about death and what might lie on the other side. I now realize that these sermons were more Miltonian (Paradise Lost), Dantean (Inferno) or Edwardian (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) than Biblical. Much damage and bad theology has been done through these images. Hell, as we know it in popular images of tormented souls is relatively new and has its roots in the Middle Ages. For instance, when Dante wrote his Divine Comedy, he gave us a blueprint for the soul’s descent into hell. But I didn’t know that then and a great fear of hell was engendered in my spirit. I was just a boy, for the most part still innocent, but I was made to fear death because of the reality of the horrors of hell that just might lie beyond.

Throughout my years of growing up, I had an unreasonable fear of death. I often dreaded going to sleep at night, because I might die during my sleep and wind up in some great “unknown.”

I think a secondary cause of my fear of death was the fact that in death I would lose control, and relinquishing all control was a frightening prospect. I liked to think that I had a modicum of control of my life — but that would be taken from me in death.

I wrestled with these inordinate fears long after I should have dealt with them. But gradually my faith in God overcame them. If God is good and gracious, if He wants the best for me, then I have no fear of dying. My sins have been forgiven and hell holds no power over me. I’m bound for heaven, not hell. In addition, why should I fear turning over control of my life to God when He wants nothing but the best for me?

That’s why I say that I have no fear of death. There is still uncertainty about what death entails. There is a degree of fear about the unknown. But the God who promises eternal life will be there to take me by the hand and escort me into the heavenly realm. As the psalmist discovered, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me” (Psalm 23).

I hope you will join me in that certainty as we all move toward the unknown known as death.



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