Can anybody remember this?

Death comforts me.

I do not want to live forever.

At least not on this planet. If you haven't noticed, people as a whole (even me), kinda suck.

We "know" death in three ways, but we never truly KNOW it until it happens.

1. We hear about it, are told/taught about it (usually as children.) In this sense, death is a very abstract, usually far-off, concept. It doesn't mean very much...yet.

2. We experience it, first hand. A pet dies. A grandparent. A child. Something we loved and will miss is now gone for good, and death takes on "a whole new meaning." But it still hasn't threatened us directly.

3. We face it ourselves. A bad accident. A medical report. Going to war, etc. Death comes knocking, and what we've only seen happen to others is now a frighteningly real prospect. We now understand "the impending fear of death."

The only time death is real is when we die. Until that moment, all the illusions we have (or don't have) about god really mean little. A lifetime of conviction can vanish in a split second when faced with the moment of truth.

I had been raised in a Christian home and became born again when I was 5. I knew life on this earth didn't go on forever, but that there was eternal life with Christ someday if we were saved. I think at age 10, I actually came to the whole realization of death and what it really was. Then at age 13, after reaching the age of accountability, I realized my walk with Christ needed to be stronger. That's when i became serious about my relationship with him. Now I'm a stronger Christian, and feel that my life is worth something, because I'm living it for Christ.

*kicks into psychology mode*

It's actually an age range. Children start to wonder about death early, especially if a pet has died or a family member. Still when they are young, they think it's reversable. As they get older they can comprhend the finality of it. Surprisingly enough this isn't until around like 7 or 8 to nine that they really start to realize that death is permanent.

It most likely isn't a single moment that it dawns on a person. It is one of those philisophical questions that a child works out slowly along with other things. There could be an "aha!" moment but it blends into the others we have in life while our brain wraps around this crazy thing called life. ;)

Ok out of psych mode. It's summer!!!

And honestly I'm not sure if that's when one wonders about God/s. My daughter didn't. She asked about death far before she asked about faith.

The earliest recollection I have of death was when I was three years old. My grandmother died. I don't even think it was real to me. Just a realization that she wasn't there and people were very sad.

I experienced that again when my other grandmother died. I believe I was 11. At that time, I did feel a sense of personal loss and hurt.

As for my faith, I have believed in God for my entire life. I don't think that death had anything to do with it.

Pastor John

Yes.

At that point, it still didn't matter to me whether God existed.

I viewed religion as a game; you win, you go to Heaven, you die, you go to Hell. I didn't perceive God as real because I didn't *believe* he was real.

I've stopped playing the game. I'm an atheist.

But the factor of death doesn't have too much to do with that, in a direct sense. When I was six, I finally understood it completely, as I looked down into my grandfather's casket. One of the worst feelings I've ever felt, and I honestly wish I didn't know what death was.

Learning of death and its true meaning has added a harsh tint to the world; a cruel overlay that changes the way you view things.

What I get is that you shoulda written Missed, first, then remember. I'm not confused but maybe others are? I loved the fact that he could do great impersonations and Elvis was one of his faves. I doubt I was even born when Taxi was on, or you for that matter, LOL.

Hmmmm.....

I think I realized I didn't believe in any deities before the reality of death occured. It's very difficult for people under the age of 25 to comprehend that literally due to brain development (I just had two hours of human development training on adolescents, lol).

I was eight. My grandmother had died. My mom told me to just pretend she is an angel. That got me to thinking.... "What is going to happen when I die?" Terrified, I ran to my mom and told her I was scared of dying. She simply told me I didn't have to worry about it for 60 or 70 more years. That was before she was saved, and her reassurances were not the least bit comforting. Throughout my childhood, I continued to have panic attacks because thoughts of my death would creep up out of nowhere. Then, when I was 13 or so, my parents got saved and started taking me to church. When I discovered Jesus, my panic attacks went away.

For me, my step mom had a dog named Snoopy that I loved. I came home from school one day, and he was gone. I was about 9. No explanation. No nothing. It was par for the course in my house. [Children were seen, not heard] Later on in life, Jesus really mattered when I died. Satan was already at the party. Then JC showed up. Up until then, I was my own god and I was a hateful Atheist.

I think I discovered that death was the very end of life when I saw a dead, decomposing cat.