Sad News?

I heard on the radio today that Sir Roger Bannister, the first person to run a sub-four minute mile, died yesterday, the various presenters referring to this as "sad news." This struck me in a couple of ways, the first being was it sad news for that presenter, were they referring to the probable sadness being experienced by Sir Roger's family, or perhaps they were assuming that all their listeners and perhaps the entire country would be sad because we had lost such an iconic and history making athlete? But what would Sir Roger make of this, he may have pointed to that time in 1954 whilst studying at Oxford, when he reached the pinnacle of his athletic achievement watched by the young Norris McWhirter (the co-author of the Guiness Book of Records) as an exciting an event, but not something that defined his life. Roger received the full benefit of the education afforded by coming from a comfortable-off middle-class family and after studying at Oxford he went on to become a distinguished neurologist and the lives that he impacted positively as a result of his work in this field is perhaps more deserving of a knighthood than that heady, albeit brilliant achievement of 1954. So a distinguished Professor, from a middle-class family, record breaker and record setter who lived to the ripe old age of 88 dies and we should be sad? No! Yes, those who new him as father, brother, grandfather, husband and friend are entitled to be sad, to grieve his passing. The rest of us should take this opportunity to celebrate this esteemed gentleman's life, with his amazing athletic achievement as only part of this. To get to know the man better, his work better, his much greater achievements in the field of medicine and the live's he improved and celebrate this! Shouldn't we?

The second point that I reflected on given this "sad news" is the sadness of death is directly affected by what you believe happens next. If you are an atheist, agnostic, humanist or something of a similar ilk then you should be devastated. Death is the end and you should hope that the person who has passed has made the best of their life and the opportunities it presented. The finality of death in this is shocking, the dead return to ashes and dust and that is the end of it!

If one is a believer in re-incarnation, such as the Hindu, Janist's, Buddhist and Sikh religions, then its a kind of mixed bag; if one has exhibited good Karma then I will be reincarnated as a human being, if not, maybe an animal of some sorts. For Hindu's, if one has travelled through 8,400,000 species then one has achieved salvation! Whilst many of the worlds great religions share common threads on life and afterlife, Judaism is somewhat ambiguous and Christianity is somewhat confusing! Whilst Christians generally believe that everyone will be reborn after this tacit agreement things get a bit shaky and there are as many variations on this as their are denominations:

• Assemblies of God believe in a final judgement with people judged according to their works in life, those found wanting cosigned to ever lasting punishment along with the Devil and his cronies;
• Friends United Meeting (Quaker) also believe in lasting punishment but not based on works; if one has lived and impenitent life, denying the forgiveness offered by God, then one is condemned to eternal punishment;

And that is just two of the many interpretations of life after death for Christians. When you look at the major denominations it starts to get real shaky, probably due to hundreds of years trying to find an alternative to the Catholic doctrine which they rejected during the reformation as unbiblical. For the record Catholic doctrine is unambiguous and states:

• "The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs" (CCC 1035). 

So the other major denominations

• The Methodist: “reject the idea of purgatory but beyond that maintain silence on what lies between death and the last judgment.” (Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials by Ted A. Campbell);
• The Baptist are similarly vague these days, leaving it up to the individual church, or minister, to interpret scripture through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Baptist Declaration of Principle says that each church, "has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws." What about if one church's interpretation is widely different to the other? Predestination anyone? They weren't so vague in 1689! The London Baptist Confession of faith states "The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honour, and be made conformable to his own glorious body." (Article 31).
• Church of England: God has already decided who is going to be saved and who is not (predestination) so whatever happens at death is pre-ordained (article 17 of the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion). But again they are vague on what actually happens!

I have my own, clear beliefs in what happens when we die, I may choose to share these at some point. I think it's safe to say, however, that something happens, that we are all judged, and if we are found not to be in the Book of Life, to not have acknowledged Jesus and out Lord and Saviour, then we are potentially in for some unpleasant times! 

But back to the topic at hand; am I sad about Sir Roger Bannister death? No, but I am grateful for the enormous contribution he made to society and hope that the protestant beliefs of his ancestor s underpinned Sir Roger's life so that his death gives him some hope of eternal life, in whatever Christian form that may be!