ALIVE: Chapter 26 God on a Mission: Destroy Death

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said let there be light; and there was light."

Out of darkness and void burst forth light and matter. God created the opposite of what always existed in projecting out from Himself to make our life-filled planet. Light to destroy darkness, matter to fill the void. Opposites obliterate. But how, thought God, could He best destroy death?

"I know, I know!" exclaimed Perambula the angel, to God. "Why don't you destroy death with its opposite?!"

A fatherly smile illuminated God's spirit face, and He replied, "Perfect! What is the opposite of death Perambula?"

"Life, of course!" chirped the cheerful angel.

"Not so," replied the all-knowing God. "It's a little more complicated than that. You are correct to say we can destroy death with its opposite though. Try again. What is the opposite of death?"

The little angel's countenance fell gently as Perambula tried to figure out what the opposite of death could be if it wasn't life. "After all," whined the angel, "a dead animal is still, and a live one is active...and stillness and activity are opposite." It was difficult for Perambula to get past that image. God waited patiently for Perambula to understand.

When He could tell that the angel's thoughts were leading nowhere, to help, He said, "Well then, what is life, besides activity?" God waited for several more moments while Perambula thought.

Finally, He heard Perambula say proudly, "My Lord, You are life, because life came from You! Everything that lives and breathes, the idea of all those processes and the colors and shapes and textures, the science of breathing and seeing, everything was generated in Your amazing mind. So, I would have to say that you define and personify Life. Is that right?"

God loved Perambula for the angel's cheerfulness and intelligence. "Correct! But because I AM life, I cannot annihilate death. This is why life is not the opposite of death. It was easy enough to make it rain for forty days, to drown the world and everything in it, or even to open the earth with quakes to swallow my enemies. I can destroy life, but death I cannot destroy."

Perambula's spirit smile broadened as the angel's face illuminated until God added, "Why are you so happy Perambula, we still haven't answered the question? What is the opposite of death, that it may be obliterated. We need to know." Of course God knew the answer but nevertheless enjoyed this conversation.

The more Perambula thought about it, the more the angel could tell how difficult the mission would be to destroy death. Perambula thought, "If God is life, and life cannot destroy death, then what is death?" Perambula decided to go back to the birth of death and try to tackle the problem from there.

Reading Parambula's angelic mind, God bellowed His first and most famous command, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Parambula's baby blue angel eyes grew as big as they could possibly get! "Were you going to kill the man if he ate the fruit?"

"NO! Of course not. I had just created him, why would I kill him? I never said I would kill him, I said he would die."

Parambula had not been in the celestial neighborhood of earth in those days and so this story of the birth of death was brand new. "So, did he eat it and die?"

God's sighed and replied, "Yes, his wife that I made for him as a helper as his partner was deceived by a snake into thinking that I lied to the man. The snake told her that the opposite would happen and that if she ate the fruit, her eyes would be opened, and she would be like Me knowing good and evil."

"Lord?"

"Yes Parambula?"

"I thought you told us that you made the man in your image and likeness."

"Yes Parambula, I did."

"Well then, the man and his wife were already like you."

God added, "Except that they didn't know the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. They still don't."

"Well, did they die?"

"Yes, immediately', replied God, "just as I warned them."

"Did their hearts stop beating and did they stop breathing?" Asked Perambula who was by now most curious about death.

"Oh no!" replied God to Perambula's relief. "Their bodies continued to function for almost a thousand years and would have never stopped because I created man to have dominion over nature. Adam's body would have lasted for eternity because it could know no illness or deterioration, until it died, when it fell under the power of nature."

"Then what caused death since You didn't kill them?"

"Their distrust gave birth to their death, not even their doubt, but acting on the seed of doubt planted by the serpent caused them to eat the fruit which proved that the woman, and then the man had separated themselves from me. Death was self inflicted. It was the result of distrust, a by product, not a force of itself. They didn't love me, nor trust in my love for them. Psychologically they floated farther and farther from my presence. As you said, I am life. So by opposing me with their distrust they died immediately." God paused and peered deeply into the radiant eyes of Perambula, "now can you see what death is?"

Perambula hesitated and said in a small gentle voice, "Is the opposite of life to distrust you? Is love which implies trust, the opposite of death?"

"YES!" exclaimed God with gusto! "The opposite of death is love (trust)."

"So, all we have to do, to destroy death is to make everyone trust you! Yippee!" Perambula's cheer return.

God enjoyed the moment with Perambula before adding, "At this point, that is nearly impossible. Since that first day mankind has been feasting on the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, day in and day out. To regain the loss of trust, and to have proof that it is lasting may take thousands of years. Besides through man death was born, only through man can it be destroyed." God seemed somber and pensive.

Perambula cheerfully replied, "Well than let's get started!"