"Why should one be afraid of dying?"
It is ironic and incomprehensible that many refuse or fear the vaccine now that it is available. The fear is irrational and baseless. It springs not from disbelief or doubts over its efficacy but from the possibility, no matter how remote, of dying if they take it. They are afraid of death – what the vaccine precisely seeks to prevent.
This fear is wrong. It ignores the reality that death is inevitable; that we will all die anyway, with or without our consent.
What is sad is that this strong but baseless paranoia dismisses the universal belief that death does not extinguish life, it is the rebirth or actually a continuation of an earlier existence. It foolishly rejects the universal belief that life is eternal.
The great Greek philosophers, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, confirmed this. They were emphatic. They claim that death is the beginning of life.
Why, then, should one be afraid of dying?
The answers underline the paradoxes, the ironies and crucibles which have baffled mankind through the ages.
Most people do not want to lose their lives because of their mistaken notion that it is theirs. They forget that everyone owes his or her life to God. There is hardly anyone who does not believe in a Supreme Being who created the planets, the sun, the moon, the stars and the galaxies which move in perfect harmony glorious splendor of the entire universe. No one can deny that God created man and that He exists.
Even the celebrated agnostic and French philosopher Voltaire, in his deathbed, gasped and pleaded; “God, if there is a God, save my soul if there is a soul. And among the most ruthless and despicable tyrants, none has been confirmed as an atheist.”
In their erroneous belief that they own their individual lives and could spend it as they wish, they squander their lives with reckless abandon. Many people live with no purpose, direction or destination. They refuse to obey God’s commandments and divine instructions.
Most consider life as precious but they don’t really know its value. Otherwise, they would not carelessly waste it.
Life is not disjointed or divisible. The human body is corporeal; the soul is its spiritual anchor. Life is immutable. Only God can have it ended, revived or prolonged.
When he was tried and sentenced to death for his heretical beliefs, Socrates told the judges that they convicted themselves, not him, and that he can bear the pain of injustice while they will carry all their lives the unbearable burden of living with a guilty conscience.
A number of medical authorities, normally dismissive of miracles and unscientific theories, have attested to actual incidents involving the revival or rebirth of dead human beings.
To those who truly believe in God, reincarnation is an article of faith.
With hardly any exception, most of us have seen and talked with our loved ones in our dreams. This is interpreted often as a call or a plea of a loved one for us to pray for God’s salvation.
What is more plausible is that it is your loved ones who are reminding you of your religious obligations whenever they appear in your dreams.
It is funny gimmickry that some high public officials have volunteered to be the first to be injected with the vaccine. As usual, they want to be seen as leaders by good example.
Vaccines are not like ordinary tablets for colds and headaches. They are products of intensive research and experiments. They are guaranteed as safe and effective. The vaccine manufacturers have staked their honor and their reputation on the efficacy and safety of their products. They invested so much money to produce them. This explains why the vaccines are expensive.
The president and the heads of local governments should be the first registrants for vaccination. They must prove that they are not afraid to die. If they hesitate. they will betray their sinister thoughts that their constituents, not they, should serve as guinea pigs
The medical staff should inject themselves first in keeping with their professional mandate. Everyone else should follow, including those who are scared even of the brand name.
That there is life after death is not a prescient theory of the Greek philosophers. This is not a mere fiction foretold repeatedly in the Old Testament.
God sent Jesus Christ to redeem mankind and save him from eternal damnation and ignominy. Jesus validated the theories of the Greek philosophers and fulfilled l the prophecies in the Bible.
What more proof do we need to be convinced that there is life after death?
God created man in his own image to live with him forever in his vast and glorious universe.
That’s where we are all going.
Ernesto G. Banawis is a former general manager of the Philippine News Agency.