19 For
what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same;
as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no
advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.
20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust
all return. 21 Who knows
whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down
into the earth?
- Ecclesiastes
3:19-21
2 It is
the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked,
to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices
and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he
who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens
to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness
is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all
the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they
will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the
memory of them is forgotten. 6
Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever
they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes
9:2-6
This
might seem weird, but I’ve always found it oddly comforting that the Bible
doesn’t sugarcoat death. Unlike other
religions or worldviews that see death as a way of transcending our earthly
shells, the Bible views it as an unnatural enemy and curse that must be
destroyed (1 Cor 15:26). For me, this
affirms the ghastly reality that is death.
