I have spoken at hundreds of funerals over the years. A funeral is, and please forgive the next phrase, a life changing event. It is the end of one life and it affects many others. It touches friends, family, children and many others. It's a time to remember, to grieve, to think about the mortality of us all.
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It's a tragic time for those who have no hope. But for those who believe in life after death it can be a time of celebration, a time of graduation. Faith and hope are beyond the worth of gold or silver. They offer so much more than we could ever imagine. Their value becomes evident when you hear how those without a hope of eternity speak about death.
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Below is a short portion of a message by the philosopher, Austin Dacey at the funeral of his friend and fellow atheist, Herbert Crimes.
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"Yes, dying may be harder for the atheist. But what I cannot understand, and reject totally, is the further claim that the life stopped short of eternity is thereby robbed of sense or worth: If it all comes to an end, what’s it all for? The first thing to observe about this existential anxiety is that we can’t resolve it just by postulating an eternal afterlife. Consider the sorts of good things that might possibly await us in paradise: knowing and loving other persons (including God), being known and loved, apprehending truth, experiencing beauty (and, in the afterlife of some, fine food, drink, and other sensual delights). These goods worth wanting in the next world are goods that we already have in this one—things like love, knowledge, beauty, and pleasure (even praising an Almighty!). If a life there is worth having, then a life here is worth having. Every treasure laid up in heaven has been stolen from Earth, and the joys of paradise are parasitic on the joys of the world."
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Here's the portion of his words I want to talk about, "But what I cannot understand, and reject totally, is the further claim that the life stopped short of eternity is thereby robbed of sense or worth:"
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If we are not different from the animal world...if we are not eternal beings...then we are robbed of our worth. We are no different that the rat who dies in the street. We are robbed of our worth when men claim we are not created in God's image. When the atheist tells us there is no God, there is no image to reflect, then we are indeed robbed of our worth.
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But the bible clearly states that we are eternal beings made in God's image. We have tremendous worth. These few years here on planet earth are not the sum total of our existence, but merely the beginning....and it's because we are eternal, made in God's image, that we have worth. Immense worth. If this life is all there is then, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians "let's eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die." But, dear Austin, this life is only the beginning. Eternity lies ahead and because we are made in God's image we are immensely valuable to Him and so to others. Sadly, for the atheists, they believe their lives are extinguished at death and that's the end. They are without hope and without God in the world. But for us, for the Christian, this is only the beginning....our hope and eternity awaits. I'm so glad that death is not the end, but merely the beginning of an amazing eternity!
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