Facing Death
and Life
Alfred P. Sloan was involved in General Motors for many years and was its president at a time when he wanted to see Norman V.Peale. He was suffering from such depression that he would not leave his house, since he had lost his wife of 50 years.He was devoted to her. Sloan said to Peale, "I want to ask you a simple question and I don't want any weasel answer or philosophical discussion....Here's what I want to know. My wife recently died. I loved my wife and depended upon her. When I die, will I be with my wife again.?.... Peale's answer was yes! Why are you so sure? asked Sloan. "Mr. Sloan, to be sure that you will meet your wife in eternal life, that quality of life must be in you. Tell me, then, your identification with the verse of Scripture: 'And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that does not have the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. (I John. 5:11-13) Sloan looked him in the eye, "I believe and I do have the Son of God." Also, do you subscribe to the following? 'If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God
has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Rom. 10:9) Peace shared with him the parable of the unborn infant which is shared below. "In the course of years of ministering to the dying and as a result of my close association with death, I have gradually evolved an absolute conviction that physical death is by no means the end and that enhanced life continues after mortal life is concluded. And it is my unequivocal belief that life on the other side is of much higher grade than on this side. If we look upon mortal life as an incredible miracle, what an even more incredible experience will be that higher-level existence we call eternal life. For many years at services commemorating those who have been translated from mortality to immortality, I have used a parable, the truth of which I personally believe to be unassailable. I think this idea come to me from something written years ago by Leslie Weatherhead of London. Let us suppose that an unborn infant in its mother's womb is able to
reason
and express itself. The infant might protest, 'But I like it here. I am fed, warmed, loved, and cared for. It is so pleasant and I am very comfortable. I don't want to die out of this place or be what you call born. However, the change is inevitable and the moment comes when the
infant does 'die,' or finish its appointed time in the womb, and it is
born. Then what? The baby looks up into a beautiful face and into
eyes looking down upon it in love. The infant is cuddled in loving
arms,
and is astonished by the wonder of the thing that has happened. The
child
soon discovers that all it has to do to get anything he or she wants it
so cry or coo. Everybody loves the baby and runs to do its
bidding.
So quite soon the infant says, 'Why, this is wonderful. This
place
they call earth and what they describe as mortal life is so much better
than where I came from. This life is a great improvement over the
former one.' Again he is told, or more likely he tells himself, "I cannot say here. I will pass away. I am going to die.' And, as before, he protests, 'But I don't want to die. I love it here. I do not want to leave this place. This has been my home for so long. I love life, the mystery of the dawn, the glory of sunset, the loveliness of changing seasons. I love to feel the crunch of snow under my feet on a winter's night and to smell the rain on a summer's day and view the beauty of faraway hills half lost in their haze of blue. I don't want to leave those I love. I don't want to die. But nature again takes its course. He does die. Now what happens? May we not rationally believe that he does not die, but instead is born once more? He looks up into a face more beautiful than that of his mother. Loving eyes look down upon him and underneath him are the everlasting arms. Again the law of development and growth proceeds--this time in a land, as the old hymn has it, that is 'fairer than day.' (The true joy of positive living, p.276-77 Norman V. Peale) |