Yes, I learned from the best

I am a believer and that means I believe in The Holy Trinity. But if I was the one called upon to fulfill God’s mission, I wouldn’t think twice about it because I know the life we live today is just temporary and there is a better world after this one which I intend to be a part of.

Let me breakdown what it means to die for mankind. Dying for mankind is as simple as saying, you are dying for your country or you are dying to save your family. If you aren’t noble enough to set your own life aside to save the people you love, then this is clearly not the mission for you.

However, willing as I am to save the world, there are conditions that need to be put in place.

There are causes that I believe are worth my life, and causes that I believe are not. If I’m dying for this world to be a better place, then so be it. If I’m dying so that other people get to live peacefully, I’m in. It would be an honour.

I live in a country where some people lost their lives for the love of peace and the future that we now live comfortably in. That kind of self-sacrifice leaves me no option but to follow suit should I be given the chance to save other people.

We shall all die at one point anyway,but instead of dying in an accident – for nothing, which could happen any time, I would rather die for something.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul says "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This is the life every Christian should live and if they are to follow this, then giving up their lives for others shouldn’t be something to dwell on.

I do understand that it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Simon Peter, one of Jesus’disciples denied him three times just to save his own life. I am not saying I am better than he was, I’m sure it’s easy for him to do either as he clearly loved Jesus, but if I had to die with Him, I can’t think of a better way to go out.

patrick.buchana@newtimes.co.rw

It’s not worth it

Christians say that being stripped naked and whipped, then nailed to a cross was a humiliating way for Jesus Christ to die. Maybe they have a point considering that the act itself is held in high regard. I guess it’s something worth praising if it’ll save us from going to hell, that’s what we are told in the Bible. I would really want to believe that there’s a God, because we didn’t just find ourselves on earth but some stories in the Bible just don’t add up. But that’s a story for another day.

So, what has death got to do with going to heaven or being saved from going to hell? It’s not enough to say that I’m not strong enough to save humanity but again, I find dying to save someone else absolutely insane.

Life is important and it defeats the logic of being born if you are going to sacrifice yourself for humanity. And of which; probably just a handful of people will know or believe in your sacrifice.

No one should die to save another person because I believe all life is valuable. People who believe in such actions have probably had an overdose of fictional movies and books.

After watching such movies, they go around asking themselves, "Would I do the same thing if I were that character?” I have personally never answered yes to any such question. All I know is that I try my best to survive rather than be a hero by saving others.

You might say this is not a thing to be proud of and I am quite sure that some would think it is shameful. But certainly, we can’t save anyone without losing ourselves in the process, and even if we try, it is not guaranteed that we will succeed.

However, I find it important that people realise the power of taking full advantage of happiness and minimising negativity, which are the two driving forces of human nature. Most of the time, staying alive fulfills both, it facilitates being happy and we are naturally disinclined to the thought of dying.

People tend to think that dying will bring people happiness due to a sense of honour or responsibility, but they fail to properly weigh the option of staying alive and experiencing more happiness in the long run.

Every person gets one chance at life, what if there is no after life? To lose it is to cease your existence for eternity. If everyone were to value others’ preservation more than their own, basic systems such as competition and markets would cease to exist.

And no one should start on the whole hell thing! An eternity of excruciating pain (because mankind will continue being mankind) makes the pain of sacrificing oneself for mankind irrelevant by comparison.And it counts for nothing when you consider the billions that are apparently going to hell.

One last thing, would mankind still be saved if it was an atheist who sacrificed himself?

karemeradean@gmail.com