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LeftishBrit

(41,205 posts)
7. Well, I suppose according to most theist beliefs, it's God's will that everyone dies
Sat Mar 3, 2012, 05:28 AM
Mar 2012

And there is a tension between Christian (and some other religious) beliefs that death is God's will, and that the deceased person is 'in a better place', and the natural human tendency to mourn for family and friends when they die, especially if they die young.

I am not religious, don't believe in an afterlife, and amazing as it might seem to Americans, had no idea who Andrew Breitbart was, until the discussions of his death on DU! But I have often encountered the tensions for religious people between their natural grief, and their belief that their loved ones, or those whom they admire, have 'gone to glory'; that death is 'God's will'; that 'the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord'. Nor is this sort of conflict exclusive to the religious; there are other ideologies that endorse acceptance of death, and thus can be at times comforting, and at times guilt-provoking and distressing, for bereaved people. I know at least one atheist, who believes very strongly that death is natural and should be welcomed as a part of life; who strongly disapproves of non-acceptance of death; and I suspect that this has actually made it more difficult for her to deal with her own losses, and the grief that these have caused her.

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