BETTER OFF DEAD?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.

And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Life can be oppressive sometimes.

People can be trapped in abusive or neglecting relationships. Financial struggles can leave us mired in the mud of poverty. Governmental rules can oppress and suppress a people by removing freedoms and punishing those who dare to challenge them. Diseases that are incurable can slowly lead someone down the path toward death. Christians are persecuted every day, oppressed by more dominant religious belief systems who forbid any other system but their own, even going so far as killing anyone who rejects their doctrine.

How hard can oppression be?

Perhaps our scripture passage for today can give us a glimpse:

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.

And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.  Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

At the root of oppression is an overpowering domination of someone or something over another. The oppressor seeks to control the oppressed by removing hope, by creating an environment where survival depends on conforming to the desires and demands of the oppressor. Often, the oppressed feel they have no advocate or chance to be rescued and saved, no one to comfort them with a promise of release from bondage into freedom.

Yes, oppression is as difficult a situation as someone might have to go through in life. And at its worst, it could even lead a person to think they would be better off dead than alive.

We get a sense that this is what Solomon is getting at as he witnessed the horrors of oppression. He expressed it in the following viewpoints:

1. The dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

In other words, oppression is so damaging to the human psyche that a person alive could be less happy than one who had lost their life, perhaps longing for death and seeing it as their only escape. Why do people commit suicide? Often times, it’s because they see death as better than life, a place where they would be happier than in their current repressed existence.

2. The one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Here, Solomon takes his feelings up another notch. If death is better than the life under oppression, then not even being born into an evil world in the first place is even better. Essentially, he is saying it would be more advantageous to not even be brought into a world where evil abounds.

So are people better off dead than alive? Is it better to not live at all than to face the troubles this world can bring?

I can only answer the question from a Christian perspective. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then what I will say will make sense. If you haven’t accepted Him, I pray you will after reading this devotion.

In regard to the first question, a Christian is better off dead than alive because this world cannot possibly offer what the eternal life we have in Jesus does. No more pain. No more suffering. No more sin. No more afflictions. No more darkness. No more oppression. Only absolute freedom from the troubles and trials the world can bring upon them.

Now, let me insert a caution here in my remarks. People are better off dead than alive but this doesn’t mean we have the right to determine when our life ends. That is solely God’s decision and choice. He brought us into His creation and at His appointed time, He will take us out of it. The good news is that for those in Christ Jesus, that day is not the end but just the beginning of an eternity living with God the Father and Jesus, His Son, in light and love. For those who are not in Christ, death is the end. There is nothing else.

In closing, let me tackle question two. For the answer to whether we would be better off not born at all is obvious when you understand why we’re better off dead than alive. In order to have the opportunity to experience eternal life, we first have to have worldly life. In other words, we have to be born, to live the life experience even with its hardships and adversities. Then and only then, will we have the opportunity to meet and know Jesus, to allow Him to lead and guide us to live as He lived ( a life that included oppression by the way), to then receive His offer of salvation through the justification only He can bring before the Father. A life in the world leads us to a life forever with the One who created it and us.

Friends, there is nothing in this world that should make us want to stay here instead of moving onto everlasting life free from the evil we experience under the sun. I don’t know about you but I give thanks for this life I have been given even when I have went through tough times, and I have had more than a few of those. For as I go through my experiences and witness the experiences of others, I find myself looking forward to the day when I will be set free by the Lord from the oppressions of this world and be delivered into the most amazing life anyone could ever hope for, the place where Jesus went after He suffered during His time on earth.

I pray that you will join me in that place when the Lord calls for you at His appointed time.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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