Also, most Christians hold to the belief that life - physical life - is a precious gift in and of itself and that a sense of salvation should not lead you to have a callous disregard for your own survival. Christian doctrine is not that you are a soul trapped in a temporary vessel, but that body, mind, and soul make up a whole individual. Thus death of the body is a real and traumatic experience, to be held in awe and not taken lightly (otherwise, why canonize martyrs?); the dead have suffered a loss they won’t be able to replace until the Resurrection.
You know how virtually every war hero will say you have to be crazy or a damn fool to not be scared going into battle? It’s OK, normal, healthy. What’s wrong is being a bloody coward who’ll run and give up his comrades to save his own skin. Or a suicidally reckless lunatic who doesn’t care about his own life.
Similarly, however confident you are in your Savior, it is perfectly natural and healthy for you to fear death and avoid it, as long as you avoid it morally (don’t trade another life for yours, don’t become a traitor).
I wasn’t trying to say Christians didn’t commit atrocities. I was singling out Assyrians simply because they actually did have a pretty bleak version of the afterlife, compared to the Christian view.
Sheesh, kinda got a chip on yer shoulder about Christians don’tcha?
Wierddave, don’t get into that. Those with political power tend to abuse it. OH MY GOD, A REVALATION! Besides, since when have the convictions of a few twisted souls altered the purity of an ideal? Any competent historian could point a finger at any religion/culture/government.
Yeah, I think that happens just about every day in every part of the world. Take a “cause” and run with it, to benefit (fill in the blank). Never mind what the original intention was. Look at how Castro has capitalized on the Elian Gonzales thing. Yet one more opportunity to demonize the U.S. if it fails to get the little fart returned to his dad. Of course I’m not saying it’s OK, but it’s not unique to any one group.
Let me turn this around a little. Why are atheists afraid of death? After all, if death is The End, then there isn’t anything to be afraid of is there? Sure, you can’t watch next year’s Superbowl, go to your grandson’s graduation party, or do all those other things you look forward to, but that’s reason for regret, not fear.
People of all stripes are fearful of death because the instinct for self-preservation is very powerful in most of us. No matter what we may believe intellectually, the boys in the basement of your brain are going to do their best to get you the hell away from anything that looks like it means your imminent demise. Even if you manage to jump in the shark-infested water to pull out the kid or otherwise overcome your basic fear, those basement dwellers are still going to bang on the pipes as loudly as they can.
Reminds me of an incident where general “Stonewall” Jackson (in the Civil War) was having breakfast with his division’s chaplains-all of a sudden, a Federal shell screamed down and exploded nearby-the good men of the cloth all hugged the earth-and General Jackson admonished them “in your sermons gentlemen, you always talk about how eager you are to meet the Lord…and now that you have the opportunity, you shrink back”!
Aren’t we all like this?