Is the Dead Alive?

 

 

 

What do the dead know?

I surely would like to know,

No, not that I want to die

Oh, dear me, No! No!

 

I am so enthralled with life

I could live forever,

That’s why I consecrated my life

To the heavenly Father.

 

Some believe the dead lives

And they are definitely sure,

Others will tell you straight up

The dead lives no more.

 

Atheists believe the latter:

When one dies, that is the end,

There is nothing after death

For either foe or friend.

 

That is a good conversation

But for another time,

Right now, let me get back

To what’s foremost on my mind.

 

Is the dead alive?

It would appear so for some

Given what they say at funerals

When one’s life is done.

 

 

Rest in Peace (RIP)

Is conferred upon the dead

Certainly, giving the impression

The dead is living instead.

 

A rest in peace

Indicates there is a rest otherwise

And any kind of conscious rest

Doesn’t fit the demise.

 

So, why do we say rest in peace

When the individual is dead?

He hears and knows nothing

The grave is his final bed.

 

Maybe it is because

The dead is not really dead

But somewhere the dead is alive

And living life instead.

 

Sounds like pure madness

That the individual could be alive

And we hold a funeral service

For someone that survives.

 

 

And we say rest in peace

As though the dead can hear

But then hurry him off for burial

In a hearse and bier.

 

If death is a rest,

Is it only peaceful for some?

Are some therefore in turmoil

When this life is done?

 

In either case I dare say

That none can be dead,

If they can experience any rest

They must be alive instead.

 

I pose the question again:

Is the dead alive?

If your considered opinion is yes

Then how do they thrive?

 

No doubt some will say

Not in their bivouac of the flesh

But surely in their spirit or their soul-

Their answer would be yes.

 

For others, I can tell you

It would be a resounding no

For from dust they were created

And it’s back to the dust they go.

 

No spirit and no soul:

They believe that nothing is left

Barring the result of ongoing decay

From at the point of one’s death.

 

Psalm 146:4

 

In the day a man dies

His thoughts also die with him,

His breath goes from him

And he returns to the earth.

 

Ecclesiastes 9:5

 

What do the dead know?

The dead know they shall die

But the dead know not any thing

When in the dust they lie.

 

John 11:25-26

 

We still hold to Jesus’ words

Regarding all that are in Christ,

They that live shall never die

And they that die shall live.

 

I have never experienced death

So, I cannot say I know

And I am in no hurry to die

To see if I can tell you so.

 

 

Let me repeat again,

I am not excited about death

But I will refrain from saying RIP

And simply say, at rest.

 

Stewart Russell © September 11, 2022