Remainder

I guess it is ironic that this post will fall under the category of Living Life since it concerns death. I recently found this blog. The blogger recently died of cancer and his last post was made after his death. In it, he discusses the fact that when he died, he didn't go anywhere but just ceased to be. He references this cartoon.

Just a couple of notes on this point.  First, he speaks with great certainty that there is nothing to him but his physical presence.  This is a belief, not a provable fact.  Those that would say that there is no way to prove that there is a soul through scientific process are correct.  But just because you can't prove something scientifically does not mean that it isn't true.  So he has a faith that says that if you can't see it or test it, it doesn't exist.   Second, this cartoon and the blogger both equate human kind to the biological equivalent of a construction of legos.   Life is simply a biological construct of parts and processes and once the processes cease, that's it.  So what is there to give human life value if it is simply biological.  Perhaps it is the value that others assign you.  But then, what if you are not valued by others?  Do you then have no value?  That is what our society sometimes says.  If a pregnancy is unwanted, then the life that is growing there can be destroyed.  It has no value if it is unwanted.  But we as a society still draw a line.  If the baby is born and then you don't want it and destroy it, you are a murderer.  This is a tough question to answer if we are just biological legos.  What gives us value?  Is there inherent value in human life and if so, how is it derived?

As for me, my faith gives me a different framework.  According to the Bible, man was made by God, made in the image of God, and valued by God.  We are more than the sum of our parts and valuable regardless of whether we are valued by others.  There is worth in man and we remain after the legos are back in the box.  That's my faith and I can't prove it any better than the deceased blogger.  He now knows whether he or I was right, although really, if he is right, he doesn't know anything anymore.  So no matter whether he or I was right, he is lost.  That, to me, is sad.