Quest for Afterlife by Rev. Raymond Parnell

There is a huge hunger for knowledge that will enable one to enjoy life after death. Job voiced it well asking: "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come" (Job 14:14). Many are confused and utter senseless notions, and nonsensical ideas. The Jehovah's Witness people concluded that hell does not exist, except that it is the grave! No fire, no torment. Others have paid good money so that their loved ones could leave "purgatory" and go to heaven. On and on goes the list of man's thoughts for good afterlife.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently had an exhibit from Egypt which featured those people's quest for afterlife happiness. "The Egyptian god of the nether world lies on his belly and raises his head, his eyes open at the moment of his resurrection", according to the Indianapolis Star's account. The name of that deity is Osiris. It represented a goal of ancient Egyptians: triumph over death! Quest for immortality!

"Judgment before Osiris" painted papyrus from The Book of the Dead - 1285 BC
British Museum, London

Many objects were displayed, granite statues, gold jewelry, alabaster jars and other art and funerary objects from the tombs of kings and nobles. Many were made as long as 4,000 years ago by people who believed they would help the dead in the afterlife. The red granite sarcophagus of a princess who lived about 2,500 years ago proved so heavy that the exhibit could only feature the coffin's 7,000 pound lid.

There was an 8-foot long painted wooden boat found in a king's tomb; the craft was meant to take him through the waters of the nether world after his death. Mummy-shaped figures called ushebtis were buried with the dead to do their labor. Four alabaster jars that held the internal organs of a prince who was mummified, were viewed by the public. More than 60,000 tickets were sold in the first two weeks, and The Milwaukee Public Museum spent more than $6 million to stage it. There is such an interest in death and afterlife!

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). One's faith in God is sufficient for a happy afterlife.