Smile for Mr Reaper

In many ways it's easy to dismiss the teachings of JW's when you finally realise that they have been deceiving you for years.  When other ex-JW's (like me) point out the obvious flaws in their arguments and the contradictions that litter their publications it only takes a little courage to finally come to the conclusion that they don't have the 'Truth'.

However for most ex-Witnesses there is always that slight nag, that tiny voice in the background that keeps asking the question - 'what if they are right?'

That voice isn't the voice of reason, it's the residue of mind control, the result of years of brain washing and, whether you admit it or not, it means that every time something significant happens in the world, a tiny part of your mind wonders if this is the start of the 'Great Tribulation', or is this how Armageddon starts? 

It isn't just when things happen in the world, it can also be when things happen to you - when you have to face your own mortality.  

Many Witnesses leave the JW faith and take up another, I suppose because some faith in life after this one is preferable to the realisation that this life is the only one we will ever have.  The prospect of eternal oblivion is a prospect none of us really want to contemplate.  Whatever the faults in JW's beliefs you cannot over estimate the power of their hopes - living forever in a paradise earth where sickness, old age and death are gone forever.

Of course those hopes and beliefs are foolish, we are carbon based life forms that experience consciousness for long enough to reproduce and teach our offspring the rudiments of survival before we die.  Our life span is minuscule in the stream of time and our impression on life, should we be fortunate enough to create an impression, is transitory at best. 

Yet when confronted with the prospect of our own demise a part of our consciousness inevitably takes us back to that tantalising prospect of 'eternal life'.

Recently I have had to face the prospect that my time on this planet might be shorter than I had planned for.  (No sympathy please - in a billion year cycle fifty years and eighty years are pretty much the same).

Its a bit of a shock at first, so much so that it took me months to even tell my wife, but the reaction that concerned me most was that I began to consider if I had been wrong to leave the JW's!  Could they be right?  Might I have a chance of a resurrection?  Would Armageddon come before my heart gave up?  Was there a chance that I could cheat death by admitting JW's were right and returning to the congregation fold with my tail between my legs?

And then it dawned on me - that's why religion works, that's why all religions attract members even though their teachings are ludicrous.  It's because none of us want to accept the reality that at some point we are going to die and that will be the end of us.  Religion offers an alternative hope - a hope that the vast majority of humans are desperate to cling to, the hope of life beyond our death.

I don't have cancer or some other disease where a doctor can give a rough estimate on how long I have left to live.  I have a problem with my heart that could cause me issues in the next few minutes or the next few years - so my prospects are no different from every other person on the planet.  There are plenty of seemingly healthy people who will die tomorrow as a result of accidents and undiagnosed conditions.  

The fact is facing up to our mortality doesn't change a thing when it comes to truth and reality.  We might want to believe that this life isn't all there is, we might be desperate to believe there is something beyond this life but the facts don't change just because our circumstances have changed. Life's reality is simple - it's short, sweet and we can either fritter it away with religious nonsense or we can make the most of it, but whatever we do, we can never get it back.