Fear of Death.

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As a Christian and a Catholic why have I’ve been preoccupied for the last few months about death? I had an awakening so to speak in March. I’ve stopped smoking and have once again become a practicing Catholic. I feel God woke me up from living just in this world but I have also carried around a since of dread concerning death. Please pray for me.😦
 
Though I’m not in any better situation myself, but I can tell you that this is a tactic of the devil. He will threaten you with death, but through Christ there is no death. " O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?".
 
It is natural that you have a fear of death. However, try to focus on your life and what you have to do. Death is one of the only certainties in this world; you will die, and so will I.

However, you have responded to the grace of God; you have began practicing your faith again. You will die and leave this world behind, but by placing your faith in Christ, you will never cease to exist; you will live for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. With Christ there is no end. Without Christ, there is death and misery.

Hold firm to the faith. You are in my prayers.
 
It is natural that you have a fear of death. However, try to focus on your life and what you have to do. Death is one of the only certainties in this world; you will die, and so will I.

However, you have responded to the grace of God; you have began practicing your faith again. You will die and leave this world behind, but by placing your faith in Christ, you will never cease to exist; you will live for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. With Christ there is no end. Without Christ, there is death and misery.

Hold firm to the faith. You are in my prayers.
Thank you. It is bothering me that I have this fear. If I’m a good Catholic I should have no fear.
 
Wisdom 3:1 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. 2 In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: 3 And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. 4 And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. 5 Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
 
Wisdom 3:1 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. 2 In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: 3 And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. 4 And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. 5 Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
I think what you are trying to tell me is that if my faith is strong and I’m just, I should have no fear. That is what is bothering me. Perhaps I have not reached where I want to be spiritually. Will I ever?😦
 
I think what you are trying to tell me is that if my faith is strong and I’m just, I should have no fear. That is what is bothering me. Perhaps I have not reached where I want to be spiritually. Will I ever?😦
We all pray that we will be at our hour of death (Hail Mary) when the final fight comes. Tim
 
Through much of my adult life I had this fear. I could not meditate on the Stations of the Cross or the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. They frightened me. God gave us humans an instinct for survival, so having a lust for life and a healthy fear of death is natural. That said, we shouldn’t dwell on death.

I think my own obsessions came with the fear of dying, rather than death itself. I am now going through a very wet, happy time in my faith journey. Every morning when I awake I say to God: “Another day closer to you!” It’s a wonderful place to be.

I admit, however, that I might not remain there. Even the saints experienced a “dark night of the soul.” Even Jesus sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. You could be experiencing a “Gethsemane” of sorts, what with your quitting smoking and surrendering your life to Divine Providence. It could be a part of your coming to terms with your own mortality.
  • Westy
 
Ohwesty has a good point. We shouldn’t fear death, but have a healthy fear of God. To me, death is the devil and I have seen it when I nearly died during chemo 5 years ago. Christ is life, eternally, and through Him we continue on. I’m not talking out of thin air, but from experience. I really don’t think those who reach eternal life will encounter death in it’s fullness. I do think there is a final battle where death is present, but I also believe in divine mercy. For what it’s worth. Tim
 
Ohwesty has a good point. We shouldn’t fear death, but have a healthy fear of God. To me, death is the devil and I have seen it when I nearly died during chemo 5 years ago. Christ is life, eternally, and through Him we continue on. I’m not talking out of thin air, but from experience. I really don’t think those who reach eternal life will encounter death in it’s fullness. I do think there is a final battle where death is present, but I also believe in divine mercy. For what it’s worth. Tim
Ohwesty & Top thank you for your advice and experience. I’m a worry wart by nature. Thank God you beat your cancer. I think I fear God more than death. I had not lived a very spiritual life. I believed in God but believed in living in this world. I turned 42 and it hit me. I will die one day, I best get my soul into shape. I fear it is to little to late.
May God Bless You!
:signofcross:
 
I had not lived a very spiritual life. I believed in God but believed in living in this world. I turned 42 and it hit me. I will die one day, I best get my soul into shape. I fear it is to little to late.
It’s not too little too late. Remember the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. The master gave the same day’s wage to the man who arrived at dusk, as the man who arrived at dawn. One worked only one hour, the other worked twelve hours. Same wage.

God is generous and merciful. Please don’t be discouraged that you arrived at the “eleventh hour.” Instead rejoice that you found the Pearl of Great Price. You are just as rich as those who had it for years.
  • Westy
 
The fear you are expressing is more a fear of the unknown than of death itself. Death should not be feared, for it is nothing less than that moment when we achieve the purpose of our very creation by God, i.e., to be with him in heaven. Stay close to the sacraments. Go to confession often, Mass and communion as often as reasonable able That fear will leave. Trust in Jesus. A good book, devotion and way of life which will remove this fear is the Divine Mercy Way of Life. It is centered around reading the diary of St. Faustina (any good Catholic book store will have it), praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. The promises which come with this truly reveal the extent of Gods mercy for each of us. Once you get into this, it will truly change you for the better and what seemed fearful before will no longer seem that way.
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
 
As a Christian and a Catholic why have I’ve been preoccupied for the last few months about death? I had an awakening so to speak in March. I’ve stopped smoking and have once again become a practicing Catholic. I feel God woke me up from living just in this world but I have also carried around a since of dread concerning death. Please pray for me.😦
My gosh! God isn’t some kind of wicked badass! He’s your father above all fathers! He created you and loves you as his child! If he knows that you have sincere intentions to please him to the best of your ability most of the time, he won’t be awaiting your arrival with torture equipment!

He’s intelligent enough to realize you aren’t super human and will make mistakes occasionally. All he cares about is that you’re sorry enough about your mistakes that you are interested in proving it by struggling doubly hard not to make them again.

If you read “The Lost Book of Enki”, which is a translation of Sumerian tablets older than the bible, tablets that still exist today, you will begin to understand how it may have been misinterpreted by many people that he was a wicked, more or less unstable freak.

It appears that many people may have been confused by the appearance of people OTHER than God, who attempted to portray themselves as God did indeed fool them. That kind of thing still happens today and the bible warns it will happen again…

Certainly God expects the same type of discipline as any very very old-fashioned, upright and honest father would, who wants to create the “best” in his children. As long as you sincerely try, he WILL love and respect you to the same degree you have shown your love and respect toward him.
 
Read Mt 8:23-27
Even though these men had who they knew to be the Messiah in the boat with them, they were still afraid of death. The lesson He taught them is the same lesson we can learn today. If we truly have faith in His love and mercy, we have nothing to fear. It’s interesting to me that these men who were afraid of death in the boat are probably the same men who later gladly gave up their lives to preserve the faith (except John, who we know died a natural death). I can only hope to be as brave when my time comes. What I can say is that I no longer fear death. But I’m not sure I welcome it, either. There is a lot more I can do for the Lord before I am called to my rest. Lots and lots of prayers to say.
I try to remember that the happiest times and events I’ve experienced in this part of my eternal life in Christ, are not even blips on the radar compared to the happiness we will find in Heaven. Now that’s something to shoot for.
 
As a Christian and a Catholic why have I’ve been preoccupied for the last few months about death? I had an awakening so to speak in March. I’ve stopped smoking and have once again become a practicing Catholic. I feel God woke me up from living just in this world but I have also carried around a since of dread concerning death. Please pray for me.😦
Contrary to what one of the posters said, do not go searching for any alleged lost books. Stay with what is true and known. The Church has defined those books approved for the Bible and contain the word of God. Lost books of Samaria, a pagan culture, are not your answer.
Prayers & Blessings
Deacon Ed B
 
My gosh! God isn’t some kind of wicked badass! He’s your father above all fathers! He created you and loves you as his child! If he knows that you have sincere intentions to please him to the best of your ability most of the time, he won’t be awaiting your arrival with torture equipment!

He’s intelligent enough to realize you aren’t super human and will make mistakes occasionally. All he cares about is that you’re sorry enough about your mistakes that you are interested in proving it by struggling doubly hard not to make them again.

If you read “The Lost Book of Enki”, which is a translation of Sumerian tablets older than the bible, tablets that still exist today, you will begin to understand how it may have been misinterpreted by many people that he was a wicked, more or less unstable freak.

It appears that many people may have been confused by the appearance of people OTHER than God, who attempted to portray themselves as God did indeed fool them. That kind of thing still happens today and the bible warns it will happen again…

Certainly God expects the same type of discipline as any very very old-fashioned, upright and honest father would, who wants to create the “best” in his children. As long as you sincerely try, he WILL love and respect you to the same degree you have shown your love and respect toward him.
“The Lost Book of Enki”? Are you talking about Zachary Stichens book about how we were created by an advanced race of aliens? That is all rubbish and I will pray that you turn away from that nonsense.
 
Read Mt 8:23-27
Even though these men had who they knew to be the Messiah in the boat with them, they were still afraid of death. The lesson He taught them is the same lesson we can learn today. If we truly have faith in His love and mercy, we have nothing to fear. It’s interesting to me that these men who were afraid of death in the boat are probably the same men who later gladly gave up their lives to preserve the faith (except John, who we know died a natural death). I can only hope to be as brave when my time comes. What I can say is that I no longer fear death. But I’m not sure I welcome it, either. There is a lot more I can do for the Lord before I am called to my rest. Lots and lots of prayers to say.
I try to remember that the happiest times and events I’ve experienced in this part of my eternal life in Christ, are not even blips on the radar compared to the happiness we will find in Heaven. Now that’s something to shoot for.
What an excellent point. I know the story of the fishermen well but it never dawned on me to question why they were scared with the lord in their boat. Thank you.
 
can you give scripture explaing how old john was who he is how he died and your point why god decided to take his life before his time
 
can you give scripture explaing how old john was who he is how he died
I can only answer this question with the following I found in Wikipedia (I know, not the greatest source of reliable information, but) I think it’s as close to what we know about John as any other source available to my feeble means.

Saint John the Apostle was the son of Zebedee, and the brother of Saint James the Great. One tradition gives his mother’s name as Salome. They originally were fishermen and fished with their father in the Lake of Genesareth. He was first a disciple of John the Baptist and later one of the twelve apostles of Jesus.
Saint John had a prominent position in the Apostolic body. Saint Peter, St James and St John were the only witnesses of the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1) and of the Agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal (the Last Supper) (Luke 22:8). At the meal itself, his place was next to Jesus on whose chest he leaned (John 13:23-25). According to the general interpretation, John was also that “other disciple” who with Peter followed Jesus after the arrest into the palace of the high-priest (John 18:15). John alone remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary with Jesus’ mother, Mary, and the pious women and took Mary into his care as the last legacy of Jesus (John 19:25-27).
After the Resurrection, John and Peter were the first of the disciples to run towards the tomb and John was the first to believe that Jesus had truly risen (John 20:2-10). The author of the Gospel of John was accustomed to indicate the apostle in writing, identifying him as: “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. After Jesus’ Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, John, together with Peter, took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. He is with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts 3:1, et. seq.). With Peter he is also thrown into prison (Acts 4:3). He is also with Peter visiting the newly converted in Samaria (Acts 8:14).
There is no positive information concerning the duration of this activity in Judea. Apparently, John in common with the other Apostles remained some 12 years in this first field of labour, until the persecution of Herod Agrippa I led to the scattering of the Apostles through the various provinces of the Roman Empire (cf. Acts 12:1-17). It does not appear improbable that John then went for the first time into Asia Minor and exercised his Apostolic office in various provinces there. In any case a messianic community was already in existence at Ephesus before Paul’s first labours there (cf. “the brethren”, Acts 18:27, in addition to Priscilla and Aquila), and it is easy to connect a sojourn of John in these provinces with the fact that the “Holy Spirit did not permit” Paul on his second missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel in Asia, Mysia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6 sq.). Such a sojourn by John in Asia in this first period was neither long nor uninterrupted. He returned with the other disciples to Jerusalem for the Apostolic Council (about A.D. 51). Paul, in opposing his enemies in Galatia. names John explicitly along with Peter and James the Just as a “pillar of the Church” and refers to the recognition that his Apostolic preaching of a gospel free from the Law of Moses received from these three, the most prominent men of the messianic community at Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9).
Of the other New Testament writings, it is only from the three Letters of John and the Book of Revelation that anything further is learned about John. Both the Letters and Revelation presuppose that John belonged to the multitude of personal eyewitnesses of the life and work of Jesus (cf. especially 1 John 1:1-5; 4:14), that he had lived for a long time in Asia Minor, was thoroughly acquainted with the conditions existing in the various messianic communities there, and that he had a position of authority recognized by all messianic communities as leader of this part of the church. Moreover, Revelation says that its author was on the island of Patmos “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus”, when he was honoured with the vision contained in Revelation (Revelation 1:9).
Saint John is traditionally held to be the author of all five Johanine books of the New Testament, including the Gospel of John. However, almost all modern critical scholars place the writing of the final edition of John at some time in the late first or early second century.

Extra-biblical traditions
Roman Catholic tradition states that St. John and the Virgin Mary moved to Ephesus, where they eventually died, though there is an alternative tradition that holds Mary’s death to be in Jerusalem, where her tomb is), a tradition held true by Orthodox Christians.
Some believe, however, that there is support for the idea that John did go to Ephesus and from there wrote the three epistles traditionally attributed to him. John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos, where some believe that he wrote the Book of Revelation. According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that the entire colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle.
and your point why god decided to take his life before his time
I don’t think I said God took John’s life “before his time” (whatever that means). I merely alluded to what I have learned from catechism in the 60’s, that all of the Apostles except John were martyred. John, as Tradition states, lived out his life to a natural death. This is not to downplay his importance to our Lord’s plan, it was merely an observation.
 
well if your claiming the church wants me to believe that nature took his life then that one more reason not to believe in religion so i choose on my pedestal and state to believe god took johns life or the angel of death perhaps god said it was before his time not to be one to be included in such as the argument goes you can be deluded to believe everything religion tels you to as i have person god given choice to also live by the word of god
 
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