Readers may think I am John Guillaumier’s shadow penfriend. In a way, I am, because when I consider that these last few years his letters were treated as if they had just been handed down from the mount on a tablet of stone, I should have the same facility to express my stance.

For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believein God, no explanation is possible (Weber).

Death is not the end of man. Even in patriarchal times, the idea of living on after death is contained in the phrase “he was gathered to his kinsmen” (Gen 25:8; 35:29). The psalmist is convinced that even though his flesh waste away, God is his portion forever (Ps 72:26).

Unsurpassed in the Old Testament are the words of Wisdom: “The souls of the just are in the hands of God… they seemed in the view of the foolish to be dead; and their passing away was judged an affliction… but they are in peace… they shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall be their King forever” (Wis 3:1-3,8).

Christ, though being the almighty and sinless Son of God, willed to die as a sacrifice of expiation for the sins of men (Rom 5:8-10). Hence, for the truly Christian soul, death is a means of conformity with Christ the Saviour rather than merely a punishment for sin (Phil 3:10).

Those who gave their life to Christ rest in the security of knowing that Christ’s resurrection is a glorious precursor of their own.

But, now, the hour of man’s metamorphosis has come as well. Those who have kept the faith will be rewarded with the crown of glory.