Living On After Death

There are some amazing new unconventional ways in which people mourn the deaths of loved ones. A recent article in The Times lists an array of options. Your carbon can be extracted from a sample of the cremated ashes and turned into a memorial diamond. One daughter intends to carry her deceased geologist father on her hand as a ring when she marries. Or a sample of your DNA can be fused with a tree in order for you to 'live on'.

Combine that with the odd occasion of bizarre funerals for pets - our local paper recently reported the incredible send-off for one much-loved dog, involving flags, pipes and drums, a bell-ringer and a cortege including a Cadillac and we've moved a long way as a society from the traditions of only a few decades ago.

What strikes me most is the desire to 'live on' and the efforts people put into this desire. Maybe this is an example of where God has 'set eternity in our hearts' but isn't the good news that God has also made a promise that by faith in his Son Jesus we can live on? Resurrection is living on in a bodily sense that involves personal recognition, interaction and relationship. For me that's a far better deal than being turned into a diamond or fused with a tree.