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Death

DEATH IS PART OF LIFE

See https://www.lds.org/news/0,5014,5014-,00.html

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A renowned heart surgeon before leaving his profession in 1984 to become a full-time leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Russell M. Nelson has learned much about life and death in a variety of settings. He said it is Christ's death and subsequent resurrection that are the key to his knowledge of life beyond the grave.

Death

Oh, I so enjoyed this article. My particular favourite piece of it was:

This is so true! I can't stress it enough to my friends and family when they stress out over things that have such little spiritual meaning. I LOVE this!

Death Studies Doctrine Mormon

I just finished a book called There Is No Death by Sarah Menet. In it, she explains what happened after she committed suicide. Her thoughts about the transition that we call death are very interesting. She really thinks that there is no such thing as death.

I found it to be a very interesting wonderful read.

One thing that I have seen is that there are a lot of people in the Church who don't really seem to believe the teachings of the Church about death. We had a death in our ward this week, and from what I have heard, the man's wife is just falling completely apart. I have seen this in other cases before, as well. I know that it is difficult to consider the loss of a spouse or a child, but they really aren't in bad shape if this happens.

Having lost my dad not too long ago, and having attended a few family funerals, I find that my greatest thoughts concerning the deaths of loved ones is the comfort of knowing that the spirit world really is a good place. When my 103 year old grandfather died in 1995, it was a time of joy for many people, because they knew how he had longed for that day to come, to release him from a badly worn out body, and let him rejoin his wife and two children, along with all of his friends and family who had preceded him.

When my dad died, he was only 65 years old. He had not taken care of his body at all. He had alienated many members of the family. His funeral had very few people there other than close family, and there weren't very many of my cousins there. There was/is certainly a feeling of loss, knowing that it will be some time before we see him again. But there was also a great feeling of relief, that he wouldn't have to suffer the broken down body any more.

The Gospel gives us great, wonderful insights into life and death. If we focus on these wonderful doctrines, we can easily be prepared for the inevitable deaths that we will face in our lives. We can face them with a calm, even joyous demeanor, knowing that our loved ones are well, not suffering any more, and even progressing. There really is no death. There is only a birth into a new part of our eternal lives.

Death

I know that everyone dies and that it's better for some people, especially when they are in pain, but it still hurts when you loose someone close to you. It hurt when my grandmother died. I was happy that she wasn't in pain anymore and that she was in a better place, but it still hurt and I still miss her terribly, especially around the holidays.
So I can understand people weeping uncontrollably at a funeral. Even if they were members of the church and righteous people. You still miss them terribly. You still wonder what you're going to do without that person. And for me, loosing my grandmother made me think that now I have to think about loosing my parents next. Thinking about that hurts as well. So, don't be harsh on people that take funerals hard. They may be extremely emotional about those kinds of things as well, like I am.
Angela

Death

I don't mean at all to be harsh about people who have a very hard time at the beginning. I am talking more about people who let it affect their lives for a long time, who dwell on the loss, and have a hard time moving on.

From what I understand, after reading a LOT of LDS NDE stuff, the spirits who have passed on usually are very sad, not at dieing, but at the way their loved ones take it.

Certainly it is okay to miss a person. I have three children who live at least 20 hours away from me. I miss them terribly. True, I do get to talk to them frequently, but it isn't the same as being with them every day. That, though, is the way I look at how much I miss my grandparents and my father, as well as my father-in-law.

I do know a lot of members of the Church who treat death that way. But I also know people who dwell on the deaths of their loved ones for a long time. And I have experienced some who, I feel, can't seem to get their minds and hearts around the reality at the time near death.

Of course, there probably is a lot of the feeling and thought of "why me, why us, why does this happen to our family?"

In the case that has just happened in our ward, a man was killed in an accident in his front yard. He was cutting up logs, and one fell on him. He was 41 years old. His oldest son will be 12 years old in June. His middle son just turned 8, and would be baptized in a couple of weeks.

This is truly tragic, in that his wife and children are left alone. I am sure that the reality of life without Dad is weighing down on his wife. I understand that she is doing better now, but of course it is still very hard. I just hope that it isn't death itself that causes the problem, but rather the fact the he won't be around for the children and her.

I guess that I was a little hasty in my last post. Thanks for bringing it up.

I still am concerned with how many people in the Church have a hard time moving on, but thinking about it has pointed out the more personal aspects as well.

Death

I completely understand your point and I agree with it. As human beings whether we are LDS or not, we mourn after the temporal departure of a loved one. It's a natural process. But as Latter-Day Saints having the knowledge of a better life after this one should help us somehow to cope with that loss. I know a sister in the Church very well that if something would happen to her husband, I am afraid that she may literally kill herself. It concerns me. Of course, I am giving an extreme case of how emotional the person is but how many of us "die" with the loved one that have departed from this Earth? It's natural that we will always miss them but time should heal somehow the wounds, if after a period of time the person is abiding in depression, loneliness and sadness because of it, then a deep spiritual renewal needs to take place. In my opinion, of course.