What is Death?




Yesterday I shared with two clients the three types of questions principle.  This idea supposes that there are only three types of questions and that answers to those queries are all easy.  This is a useful tool when preparing anyone, but especially young people, for the courtroom setting. It provides them with a fundamental framework that allows them to find comfort in an uncomfortable environment.

The three types of questions are these:

You know the answer.
You don't know the answer.
You don't understand the question.

As I shared this concept I recognized the need to apply these principles to myself.  You see, a friend of mine died earlier this week.  She had lived out of state and I only learned of her severe illness on Sunday and that she had arrived to spend her last days at her parent's home.  On Monday, my dear wife was able to go and see her. On Tuesday morning she passed away.

So again I find myself asking, What is death?

Let me apply the three types of question principle.

Do I know that answer?  Certainly there are things that I know about death.  I know that when our body fails and our vital functions end we die.  I know that death scares me. I know that I take nothing with me when I die. These are things I know.

But there is so much more about death for which I don't know the answer.  I do not know if or how death feels.  I do not know what awaits me there, wherever there may be.  I do not know how I will think, what I might feel and who I might know in death.   I just don't know.

And what is death?  I don't think I understand the question.  I don't understand what death means when people die in cruel and obviously painful ways.  I don't understand what death means for the young and full of life.  I just don't understand the question.

But as I ponder this question I realize that life is not a courtroom.  There is a fourth approach to every question.  What do I believe?

I believe that there is peace in death.  I believe that there is hope in death.  I believe that  not only will we exist after death but that we can thrive.  My belief and faith in Jesus Christ allow me to rejoice in the memory of a life that has blessed mine and that same belief and faith compel me to create those same types of memories as I bless the lives of others.  I believe that death demands that we live well today so that we can die well in some future tomorrow.

What is death?  I know it is an end.  I don't know what it means.  I don't understand the question.  I do believe that death is more than a jury verdict pronounced at the end of our days.

What is death?  I believe that in death we find life.

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