Death; What good is it, and why does it have to happen?

I prematurely lost my best friend in the world, my dog Hailey, last Sunday evening...(12-16-12... one day after her birthday of 8 years ago). She was such a true spirit, full of love, not a bad bone in her body, a real trooper at the end of her short 8 years of life, and she loved people.

She was paralyzed, twice. She had surgery the first time, and came back about 80%, and then blew out another disk, and was paralyzed again.  I worked with her in a number of ways, including biomagnetics, (see http://www.purehealthsystems.com/magnetic-health.html) and got her back to about 90+%.  Really an amazing "miracle" dog.  However, she recently developed some bladder issues, infection of some sort that wouldn't go away, because of the weakened nerves of her back, but we were managing it seemingly OK. 

I was outside playing with her and her ball in the snow Friday night, something she loved to do, and she seemed fine and energetic.  Saturday she wasn't feeling so hot, would throw up the water shortly after drinking it, and wouldn't eat, didn't pee at all and wouldn't lick my nose, which is VERY unlike her. Sunday she seemed a bit better because she did lick my nose, so I was encouraged, but she had the same vomiting and no peeing, so I had Mom call the vet and he arranged for us to pick up an anti-nausea injection, and an anti-inflammatory for the bladder.  When I got home, I got those into her, but by then, she was really bad.  Stomach quivering, tight and you could tell she was in real pain, just laying on her stomach looking straight ahead with her tongue out a bit, but not making a sound. 

I called Dwight, the vet, about it and he said to bring her to the clinic.  He lives about an hour away, but the clinic is just down the road. When we went to put her into the car, she was really not doing well, and laying on her side a bit. I picked up her whole bed with her in it, and brought it into the car, and headed to the vet office, just a mile away, but just about when we arrived, I looked back and she was not moving at all.  At the vets, I got out and went around, and she did move a bit, but realized she had died, and told Mom who was with me.  She handled it a lot better than me. 

I'm heartbroken. She was such a companion and support to me.  I'm really having a hard time with it. She was my best friend, if you can believe that... my companion, support, joy, fun, encouragement, but now that is gone and I can feel Satan trying extremely hard to bring me to do something I shouldn't to escape the pain.  Today was the worst day of my life, likely also because my mother is moving back into town in January sometime to be closer to her friends and her social net, which I understand, but now, with a house completely empty, with no sounds, no company of any kind, and I work here as well... I can barely contain the emptiness and loneliness.

We buried her today, on 12-21-12, going into the Sabbath. Had to place her in my grow dome because outside ground is frozen and covered in two feet of snow. I plan to move the dome, so she can stay right where she is... her favorite place to be... home.

So, when these things hit you, you always want to ask why. Why did she have to die, why so young, and what can possibly be learned from it? We ask these questions of any we know who die. The pain is the worst I've ever experienced. Death is an enemy, as scriptures teach...

1 Cor 15:26 "The last enemy that will be destroyed is death."

What makes death an enemy? Well, for starters, it is the result of sin, another enemy...

Gen 2:17 "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

God told us that the person who sins, that person would die. Death is all around us, in every aspect of human life. Hailey didn't sin, but she received the results of sin in her flesh. How could that be? Genetic weakness from inferior breeding practices in this case, and likely often just for profit. In so many others cases, the sin is in poisoned food by various chemicals, vaccinations, etc., so many routinely give our best friends. Despite Hailey not having sinned, since it takes reason and conscious decision, she paid a penalty for man's foolishness and mismanagement of God's creation.

So, back to the question... what good is death? Most tend to believe that when a human dies, they go to either heaven or hell, but that is NOT death. Scriptures teach, clearly, that death is a sleep... unconsciousness... cessation of life. It is much easier to handle the emotions around death if we somehow believe death really isn't "death," and that the person we presume is in heaven is yet alive... however, THAT IS NOT DEATH.

Satan is the author of the lie that we would not die...

Gen 3:4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman."

He lied to the woman, and is still lying to Christianity today. He suggests that death really means an Immortal Soul that lives forever in hell or heaven. However, is this really true? NO, as the previous article link will show you.

So, what might God be wanting us to learn from the death we see around us and personally experience through family and friends, and our furfriends? The lesson is simple, straight forward and precise... Death means the absence of life. It means no more consciousness, no more emotions, no more joy, no more friends, or future. It means "nothingness" forever. THAT is how bad sin is to life. It destroys at every level of existence. It ends everything. God doesn't want us left with any doubt as to the nature of sin, and the way of Satan. It leads to death, and that death is forever... unless we understand what brings true life, and a true, eternal future, thank God.

The entire Plan of God) involves the giving of life that will not end. Humans have a unique destiny... that of being Born into a new life... one just like that of God Himself.

We must remember there are billions of people who are asleep in the grave... some who haven't been thought of for centuries, and millennia. The Last Great Day reminds us of the hope of the newness of life for all our human friends...

But, what of our animal friends?

What have I learned from Hailey and what purpose did she serve in my life? I learned what unconditional love should be. I was NEVER lonely when she was here and I knew I could go see her at any time. I even never felt lonely when I was away, just knowing she was waiting for me to return. I needed that during this time of struggle in being lonely. I've learned that life can be so wonderful, full, happy, exciting and fun. I learned what it means to truly want to embrace her life, and my own, forever, but that it doesn't happen automatically.

Eccl 3:18 "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

Perhaps you've never read these scriptures, or the link above about the "soul," but we have to allow God's word to teach us about life, and death and the seriousness of both. Death is death, as the above scripture states, and there is nothing to suggest man, or animals, live on after death immediately at the time of death.

Since her death, I've realized more fully, the emptiness that death leaves behind. She is now in the ground... sleeping, waiting, I believe, for a newness of life, just like other life, including all humans...

Rev 21:5 "Then He who sat on the throne said,"Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

God loves life, and He created these animals, especially the dogs, cats, etc., that so many have had as family members, to teach us so much. God created every animal, including our pets... and He called it "very good..."

Gen 1:31 "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good."

Remember also, God is even mindful of the death of a sparrow...

Matt 10:29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will."

God allows the sparrows to die ... so how much more are those creatures He created to help and support us throughout our lives might He bring back for us? There's other scriptures that have also come to mind...

Isa 25:8 "He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces;"

Rev 21:3 "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

We all have tears for the death of our loved ones, including furfriends and other animals... leaving wounds that simply don't go away, and they become part of our lives. Wouldn't God add these wounds to wiping away all tears? No more death, pain, sorrow... wouldn't that mean, since all humans will be reunited, (that will to do so), also that our pets would be reunited with us? I tend to believe so.

How about another leap of imagination...

Isa 11:6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

Isa 65:25 "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox...

Is it crazy to believe that God could change the nature of our pets to be able to communicate with us, and to retain every memory they had with us?

1 Tim 6:13 "God who gives life to all things..."

Col 1: 17 "...in Him all things consist."

I have to conclude He is also mindful of those animals far superior to a sparrow as well, and isn't excluding them from His plan or our future eternal happiness, healing and joy. If all things consist "in Him," then certainly He has perfect images of "all things" and can restore what is likely "still" in Him, even if it has passed from this physical existence.

I would love to believe that Hailey is running around in a new body, in perfect health forever, and can sense me here... anxiously waiting to cross the alleged "Rainbow Bridge" to be with us when we rise at the resurrection of the dead.

If not, I DO believe God, or we as spirit beings, can resurrect our pets to a new body and life, from the sleep they are in, to enjoy them forever. Would that be a bad thing, or too hard for God? After all... God will be resurrecting billions of human lives in the future, so what are some furfriends in the process?

Life is a great gift, death is the enemy. We all should do all we can to enter that life, doing it God's way, according to His plan and laws for achieving such a life. Do it for your family, friends and your furfriends, past, present, and future.

Eternity is big enough to encompass all of them. We just need to be sure we are choosing life, and not the ways of death so we don't disappoint them.

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