Whether Bodily Death is inherently evil, good, or neutral?

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Birdmanman

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As the title says, my question is whether Catholics are to consider bodily death in itself good, evil, or neutral.

Before reading the Catechism on the matter, I thought that it would be appropriate to call bodily death a good; its implementation is a just punishment for mankind’s sin, it leads one closer to God if one dies in a state of grace and reminds us of our creatureliness and limitations. I could have reasoned as follows:
1. Bodily Death is a really existent thing
2. All existent things, as creations of God, are inherently good
3. Bodily Death is inherently good

But then I saw this in the Catechism:
1008 Death is a consequence of sin. The Church’s Magisterium, as authentic interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on account of man’s sin. Even though man’s nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin. “Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned” is thus “the last enemy” of man left to be conquered.
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So, it would seem that Bodily Death is not inherently good, as it is contrary to the will of God. I further wonder how it could be that “God had destined [man] not to die”, and yet, contrary to this destination, man could die, which I would think would imply some mutability to God’s will, which I don’t know if we can say is possible. However, I could rationalize this lack of inherent goodness as follows:
I. All really existent things, as creations of God, are good.
II. Bodily Death is not good.
III. Therefore, Bodily Death is not really an existent thing, but merely a phrase that describes the lack of an existent thing (life), just as sin is not an existent thing, but a term to describe a lack of an existent thing (goodness/virtue).

But one further passage of the Catechism might contradict this above rationalization, with the following:
1007 Death is the end of earthly life.
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Which seems to speak of Bodily Death not as a non-existent thing, or a mere lacking of life, but a concrete, really existing change or transformation of life. If this is so, then my conclusion (III.) above is false, as Bodily Death is really an existent thing. But if Bodily Death is really an existent thing, it would seem that it is a creation of God, and so is inherently good, which seems to go against the sense of the Catechism in section 1008 above.

If anyone could resolve my above dilemma, I would be grateful!
 
Birdmanman said:
my question is whether Catholics are to consider bodily death in itself good, evil, or neutral.
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I like to think of death in Gods timing a very happy moment, it means finally going home to God and Jesus.
1008 Death is a consequence of sin. The Church’s Magisterium, as authentic interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on account of man’s sin. Even though man’s nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin. “Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned” is thus “the last enemy” of man left to be conquered.
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Ah, Adam and Eve introduced death to us. Really humans were made to be eternal and living in paradise, but Adam and Eve introduced both ‘Spiritual’ and ‘Physical’ death. God wasn’t kidding when he said that you would die if you ate the fruit, Satan plays with words, and what Satan most likely was meaning was that you would not die instantly. . . But he also called God a liar in the first place by saying you won’t die. Therefore dying, yes is going against God due to the circumstances it originated from.
I. All really existent things, as creations of God, are good.
II. Bodily Death is not good.
III. Therefore, Bodily Death is not really an existent thing, but merely a phrase that describes the lack of an existent thing (life), just as sin is not an existent thing, but a term to describe a lack of an existent thing (goodness/virtue).
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All things that God created, yes were created good, but Satan has perverted many of his creations, and made them bad, but that doesn’t mean that God himself created them bad.
 
I don’t know what I am “supposed” to feel; but I hate death with everything that is in me.

If anybody tried to tell me death was “good,” I’d LMBOOL.

ICXC NIKA
 
If I was a martyr then, I’d say, that I would enjoy my death. 🙂
 
Personally I feel it is just a part of my life. I can’t wish away. Everyone that has ever lived died. You can’t have life without death, just as much as you can’t have a light without a dark.

What I find confusing is:
008 Death is a consequence of sin. The Church’s Magisterium, as authentic interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on account of man’s sin. Even though man’s nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin. “Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned” is thus “the last enemy” of man left to be conquered.
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If we are mortal by nature, that means we will die, that’s what it means to be mortal. How can it be said that death is a consequence of sin. It is a consequence of life 🙂
 
Nonsmoker said:
If I was a martyr then, I’d say, that I would enjoy my death. 🙂
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Depending on how I would be martyred, I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘enjoyable’, but I would be hopeful.

Or maybe, if I use your use of ‘enjoy’ that it would be enjoyable, but not pleasurable…
 
Enjoy, using the word joy in it, joy is grace that is given from God. It is a different from happiness due to the fact that a Godless sinner can experience happiness but not joy.
 
Physical deah is evil because it is not what God had intended for us at the beginning of Creation, death and sickness entered the world because of sin, thus why it’s natural to feel grief and anger when our love ones die. It is also the reason why we look forward to the resurrection of the body as stated in our Creeds, that is when our eternal souls will be reunited with a resurrected eternal body.
 
JuantheTuba said:
Physical deah is evil because it is not what God had intended for us at the beginning of Creation, death and sickness entered the world because of sin, thus why it’s natural to feel grief and anger when our love ones die. It is also the reason why we look forward to the resurrection of the body as stated in our Creeds, that is when our eternal souls will be reunited with a resurrected eternal body.
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Death, in its nature, is indeed evil, but God has turned it into something good. Something to at least look forward to:)
 
Nonsmoker said:
Enjoy, using the word joy in it, joy is grace that is given from God. It is a different from happiness due to the fact that a Godless sinner can experience happiness but not joy.
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Good point. Then I’ll stick to the second definition. Enjoyable, but not pleasurable…
 
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