Why do people die, what kind of benevolent God would allow it to happen, especially when the justification is that some bloke four thousand years back ate an apple, apparently, after being created by a God who gave him the kind of character which meant he was always going to eat the d*mn apple.

De Maria

It is God's kindness to us. Eternal life would be unbearable without the grace of God. Therefore since man chose to sin, God removed the Tree of Life so that man would have a temporary time of suffering in that sin, instead of an eternity of suffering:

“Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin ... began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labour and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing”[6]. A little earlier, Ambrose had said: “Death is, then, no cause for mourning, for it is the cause of mankind's salvation”[7].
"Spe Salvi" - Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI on Christian Hope

Sincerely,

De Maria

Wangdoodle

That was a post De Maria.

I was thinking about God giving us free will. The choice to be obedient or not.
It gives more glory to God to be able to freely choose to love and serve Him, rather then to just uncontrollably obey.

Galveston1

I we were controlled, love for God would be impossible. Only with knowledge of good and evil can we have freedom to choose good. The responsiblity to respond to God's offer of everlasting life is ours. The ball is in our court.

0rphan

The body we are born into is the vehicle we use whilst we are living on earth ( our earthly body) it will have various differing life spans, depending sometimes on the life we use it for, eg smoking, achohol abuse, drugs and so on, it is said that the effects of the aforementioned will shorten the body's life.

There are of course illness and decease which will have the same effect, also accidents, be it traffic or some other tragedy which again will shorten the bodies life.

However it is said that the human body life span is 3 score years and 10, which means the body should live a minimum of 70 years...we all know most go on for much longer all being well.....

When it has served us for many years ( hopefully) it is then discarded as it has no further use, our life then becomes a spiritual one which is set free when we leave our earthly vehicle behind.

As for the tragedies in the world,well... that's a whole new discussion, many are mans fault, whilst others are simply changes within the elements of this earth, you could say it's the earth groaning for the way we abuse it!

Choux

I would be interested in seeing some *proof* for all the outrageous fantasies posted here since my last post in this thread!!!

Creative writing at its worst.

Fr_Chuck

Actually Choux it was your post that had the one error in it, death was not part of creation, there was no death at creation or after it, untill sin entered the world. It was only after sin became part of earth that death then became part of it also.

And then one has to divide up the physcial and spiritual death,

Choux

Chuck, Where is your *proof* for anything you say?..... it is all wishful thinking.

All living creatures die, that is the cycle of life....birth, life, death.
Ashes to ashes dust to dust.
There is no proof of a supernatural.

De Maria

The truth does not depend on your believing it in order to be true.

Life is itself, supernatural. Spirit means life. It is precisely "super" natural, that is greater than the natural, because it animates and gives meaning to the natural. And no man has yet been able to create life. The best they can do is admit its existence in their own bodies and in the bodies of other living creatures by secondary observance of its effects on the material flesh which it animates.

So, unless you can prove that "life" is not "supernatural", that is, unless you can prove that life is not a "spiritual", "ethereal" principle which is greater than the material flesh which it animates, you are looking at the proof of the supernatural when you look at yourself in the mirror.

Sincerely,

De Maria

Mr_am

I agree to many answers above ... death is there because this life is not eternal ... the real life begind after death (the hereafter) .. which depends upon ones good deeds. Something like a test periode .. or labour periode .. one works hard to be compensated at the end of the day/test. Also .. death is there so as not to forget (and not be fooled with life) ... that this is not a real life because it is not permanent, every one is here for a short life span.