When will I die?

Sincerely,
Unsure About Insurance

Dear Unsure About Insurance,

God is the only one who knows when we will die.  God measures your days and the boundaries of your life (Acts 17:25-26).  It is impossible to know when we will die, but it is important to think about how short our lives are, so we remember our frailty (Ps 39:4).  When we number our days, we get a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:12).  The shortness of life reminds us to prepare for the eternity that awaits us.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom

(This question is a follow-up to “You Are Here”)

Thank you for your prompt response.  You were very clear and left no room for misinterpretation.  I am, however, concerned with the phrase "get used to it".  You are saying, if I understand you correctly, that not only do I exist without my consent, I am also subject to "authority" without my consent as well as confronted by only a singular resolution to this tyrannical situation.

If I am correct in this interpretation, then this 'being' I exist as would be little more than a prisoner, born unfree, to remain unfree, and to become free only in death.  Everyone else who has ever existed and will ever exist would also be 'prisoners'.

If you could answer another question, I would be very appreciative.  What objective reason exists for me to procreate if all I would be doing is choosing to doom my child to the same imprisonment that I myself suffer?

Sincerely,
Wish I Wasn’t Here

Dear Wish I Wasn’t Here,

You are a prisoner as much as a child is a prisoner of the parents that raise him/her.  There are always two ways to look at things.  You view life as “I don’t want to be here, and God is forcing me to exist and serve Him”.  We view life as “What a blessing that we can move and breathe and exist; God is so awesome for giving us life”.  You are only a prisoner in this life if you choose to view it that way.  To answer your question – if you are a prisoner and trapped in this life… you probably ought not to procreate.  However, we believe that it is a blessing to be made in the image of God (Gen 1:26) and that life is inherently good.  When Adam and Eve sinned, they introduced sin and death into this life, but God designed this world perfectly and gives us hope for a better future in Jesus (1 Cor 15:22).  We here at AYP don’t believe that God being our Master is a bad thing – we enjoy the blessings of having a loving Father to care for us.  Just like you would have rules for your hypothetical children, God has rules for us… rules that are meant to protect and bless us (Heb 12:9-10).

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom

What if someone who is struggling with a sin and continues to fall but tries so hard… dies?

Sincerely,
I Try So Hard

Dear I Try So Hard,

When we die, we will be brought before the judgment seat of God (Heb 9:27).  Those who go to heaven will do so because they were faithful (Eph 2:8).  Being faithful doesn’t mean you have to be perfect – everyone has sinned (Rom 3:23).  However, a faithful life tries to remove sin and conquer it (Jas 4:8).  We couldn’t tell you what God would say to someone who struggled but continued to fail at defeating a sin because that isn’t our place to judge.  What we can tell you is that sometimes we fail to remove sin because we don’t really work hard enough to remove it.  Other times, sincerely faithful people struggle with the same sins their entire life.  The only safe thing to do is to keep trying and do whatever you can at whatever cost to exercise self-control and bring your life into subjection to God (1 Cor 9:25-27).