Answers
By BGEA Admin • December 16, 2023 • Topics: Eternal Life
Q:
Time magazine once featured an article about the great thinkers of history, even before the time of Jesus, and that most came to believe in life after death, in some fashion. It claims that Socrates and many Greek thinkers had subscribed to the idea of the immortality of the soul. It claimed that Jesus stood in a very long line of serious thinkers. I’ve never heard this before.
A:
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham
The belief in the immortality of the soul is intuitive and instinctive. When Charlemagne’s tomb was opened, all that was left was a jumble of moldy bones; his crown and scepter lay buried in the dust of his tomb. Powerless! The Taj Mahal holds the remains of a Mughal emperor and his favorite wife. The building itself is glorious, but as for the occupants? No more glory! Greek philosophers chased after immortality with an intellectual fervor. No unbeliever yearned more fervently for a pleasant eternity than Plato, who constantly felt the “longing after immortality.”
It has also been observed that Aristotle reflected that the “species of mankind possesses immortality.” Shakespeare wrote, “I have immortal longings in me.” They died and were buried. No more wisdom! Ancient Egyptians built pyramids for their dead and filled them with provisions for life beyond the grave. An African chief was buried with his wife to give him companionship in the future life. The Norsemen buried horses and armor with their warriors so that they might fight in the afterlife.
Christian missionaries have been heckled because there is no tomb with the bones of its leader. Christ followers speak of the empty tomb, for the eternal, immortal One who possesses all power, all glory, and all wisdom is the Life-giver Himself and is not dead—He lives! What a glorious truth!
(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
