Are you on Belay?

Over at James place there was a fun post with some funny comments. However, one of the commenters made a reference to 'not wanting to know how the story ends, which is why he doesn't want to die', but he 'didn't understand why Christians had a problem with dying'. This caused me to wonder about such a comment, and what I felt and thought about the whole thing. I only partly answered him there, assuming his prompt wasn't rhetorical. But that wasn't enough and I had to continue with this thought; so, rather than drone on there with something that not all might be interested in, I thought rather to put it here. The pic is not of me, but it well could have been me, albeit 20 years ago when I was still quite wet behind the ears and naive to the world! :)

So, my answer to D was this: I think the answer in part, is that the Christian is, human, in the sense of having that strong pull to cherish life, to be alive. Without this drive perhaps mankind would have given up, perished a long time ago.

Then I continued here in thought with this: I liken being a Christian to being on a rock climb. Cliche' maybe; but the climb up the rock is like your life, a combination of your willingness to dare, to plan, to maneuver combined with what the rock/life has to offer, the variety of holds, outcroppings there for you to grab, etc. What we are willing to chance makes for the climb; and, the belay rope (Christ) is there to catch us when we fall. Other religions have different beliefs, as well as those who choose no Creator. I respect that; and, am okay with it, so long as it doesn't impose upon my freedoms. I cringe when the Christian religion (or any religion) starts shoving rules down my throat, to be honest. For Chrisitanity, it's not supposed to be about that (but that doesn't help all those burned on the pyre, does it?)

As for the afterlife, I suppose the rockclimb applies as well. There was one particular climb that was a favourite of our climbing group, but it was a bit 'narly'. There was a point in the climb however many feet up, maybe 100-200 feet, where in order to proceed upwards, you had to side step around this massive projecting boulder. This sideways move involved absolute commitment; if you failed, there would be a pendulum type fall, if you were lead climber. The move was easier to do for the guys who were 6ft, as they easily had the reach to almost where the ledge was, merely a small jump, but for lil ole me (I'm only 5'7), the reach was more of a comittment to a careful lunge....all done blindly mind you...the rock you were on, you had to wrap yourself around it (to get around it), and couldn't see to the other side. You just had to trust that the ledge was indeed there, as you've been told. So, to the Christian, our faith tells us the ledge is there...but we still have to leap at it, blindly.

Is human nature ever completely comfortable with the unknown? History, to me, reveals persons who thirst for the truth, who are inquisitive, who want to understand and want a hands on with things. Maybe that's why having faith, especially in something intangible, can be so difficult a concept to grasp. Yet, the creation really does reveal the Creator, one really only need to pause and soften their heart to look.