Death is something that scares a lot of people. Well, it scares me anyway. I have never been a fan of the idea of leaving Earth and leaving my family and friends and loved ones behind. It just seems scary to me. I am totally not alone in this, I know. There are many people, even those who know they are going to heaven, who just do not look forward to death.

I have been reading Genesis a lot lately. Studying and stuff. A few days ago, I was reading and thinking about Adam and Eve and their kids, Cain and Able. We all know the story…Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were evicted. God said Adam would have to toil and work the land and stuff and it would be very painful for Eve to bear children. So they left and has kids and toiled. Cain killed Able out of jealousy, and his life pretty much sucked for him after that, from what I can tell. They had another kid or two, and eventually died.

Here is the thing. Do you think after Eve went through great pain to give birth to two beautiful boys, only to watch them destroy one another, she was thankful for death in the end? Do you think as Adam died after working the land for like, 900 years, he silently thanked God as he died, for the oppertunity to die? I think they probably were so grateful that God gave them the gift of death at that point.

I have thought a lot about this. I can imagine what it was like to be Adam and Eve. They had a taste of wonder and bliss in the garden. They had all the food they wanted, they could do what they wanted, they had a great life. And then God kicked them out for breaking the only rule they had. They were sent out to make their way in life, working hard and toiling and hurting. After having something so wonderful, being thrown out to the world that we all know must have sucked. I imagine that it might have seemed life hell to them. How happy must they have been when they died, knowing that they didn’t have to feel like that forever.

Fast forward to the future. Somehow, only thousands of years, we have grown accustomed to the toil and this work, so much that we are afraid to die. Has the living and the work just gotten easier, or have people changed that much?

I really don’t know.